Sacramento, California – California has crossed a line no other U.S. state has reached: more than $4.5 trillion in annual economic output, reinforcing its position as the world’s fourth-largest economy.
The scale of that growth is striking. Since 2019, California’s economy has expanded by about $1.58 trillion, while the state’s private sector alone has now surpassed $4 trillion for the first time.
New data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis shows California ranked first in economic output across nearly every major sector in 2025, including agriculture, manufacturing, technology, entertainment, healthcare and wholesale trade.
Over the past year alone, the state added nearly $300 billion in economic output, the largest dollar increase of any state. That gain was $76 billion greater than second-place Texas. After adjusting for inflation, California’s economy grew 3.5% in 2025, faster than Texas, Florida and New York.
Wages moved higher as well. Total wages and salaries increased 5.2%, while California ranked first nationally for dollar gains in personal income during the most recent quarter.
“California didn’t become a $4.5 trillion economy by accident. It happened because working people show up every day and build, grow, manufacture, invent, and move to power this state. Small businesses take the risks. Workers put in the hours. Entrepreneurs bet on the future. That’s the California story, and nobody does it at our scale,” Governor Gavin Newsom said.
Manufacturing remains one of the state’s largest engines. California manufacturers generated $391 billion in economic output in 2025, representing about 9% of state GDP. The state also accounted for more than 40% of U.S. computer and electronics manufacturing and over half of national film and sound-recording output.
California is home to roughly 1.2 million manufacturing workers and exported $159 billion in goods in 2024. Since 2021, more than $215 million has also been invested through over 675 contracts to train more than 194,000 manufacturing workers.
The broader business base is similarly large. California has more than 4.3 million small businesses, representing 99.8% of all businesses in the state and employing 7.6 million people.
Despite having about 11.5% of the U.S. population, California generates nearly 14% of national GDP. The state also continues to rank first in areas including new business creation, agriculture, high-tech industries and venture capital, giving its $4.5 trillion milestone a foundation spread across many parts of the economy.