What is the Population of California?

Pedestrians on Pier 39 in San Francisco, California. Editorial credit: Francesco Cantone / Shutterstock.com.

California is the third-largest American state by land area and the most populated. The population of California is estimated to be 39 million people. The exact population estimate is 39,557,045. This is a higher population than countries like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Poland, and Morocco.

The state’s $2 trillion economy is bigger than that of Florida, and Texas combined and larger than the economy of any American state. California would have the world’s fifth-biggest economy if it were a country.

Population Growth

The population of California grew by 6.18% from 2010 (37,253,956 people) to 2018 (39,557,045 people). California’s population is projected to exceed 40 million by 2020. The number of residents in California increased by 3,090,016 people (5,058,440 births minus 2,179,958 people) from 2000 to 2009. A research conducted by the Manhattan-Institute for Policy-Research confirmed that over 3.4 million Californians have migrated to other American states since 1990. A huge percentage of Californians migrated to Arizona, Nevada, and Texas.

The second-most highly populated sub-national region in the western Hemisphere is California. It is the third-most highly populated sub-national entity outside Asia. The county of Los Angeles is more-populous than 42 American states. Four out of the top 15 highly populated American cities are from California.

Ethnicity Of California's Population

California is a multicultural and a multiethnic place. The largest ethnic group in California is white (including Hispanic white), accounting for 72.7%. The next largest ethnic group is Asian (15%) followed by Black (6.2%).

Languages Spoken In California

The de facto and de jure official language of California is English. About 57.02% of Californians over the age of 5 years used only English at home while 42.98% used another language by 2010. Other than English, there are more than 16 languages being used in California as the primary languages by over 100,000 Californians. The second most spoken language in the state is Spanish. California has the highest Chinese and Vietnamese speaking populations in the U.S. and third-highest Tagalog-speakers. Historically, California has been the most linguistically diverse place of the planet with over 70 Inidigenous languages.