CACalifornia
Golden State · Capital: Sacramento · West (Pacific)
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Quick stats
Capital
Sacramento
Largest city
Los Angeles
Population
Over 10 million
Area rank
#3 of 50
Admitted
1850
Time zone
Pacific Time
Region
West
Letters
10
Bordering states: Oregon, Nevada, Arizona.
4 fun facts about California
- If California were a country, its GDP would rank 4th globally — bigger than the UK, France, or Russia.
- Death Valley once recorded the highest air temperature ever measured on Earth (134°F / 56.7°C in 1913).
- The first McDonald's opened in San Bernardino in 1948; the first Apple computer was built in Los Altos in 1976.
- It's the only state with both the highest point in the lower 48 (Mt. Whitney, 14,505 ft) and the lowest point in North America (Badwater Basin, -282 ft) — within 85 miles of each other.
Learn more
→ How to learn the 50 states (full guide)