Sacramento. Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco are all larger, but the legislature and the governor have been in Sacramento since 1854.
Sacramento is the capital of California, and it is neither the largest city in the state nor close to it. It is about the sixth.
The California State Capitol, the State Legislature, the governor's office and the state departments. The Supreme Court of California is based in San Francisco, with courtrooms in Los Angeles and Sacramento, which is one more reason the answer surprises people.
California moved its government four times in five years after statehood:
Sacramento won because of the Gold Rush. It sat at the head of navigation on the Sacramento River, at the gateway to the gold country, and it had the money and the will to build a capitol. Flooding nearly cost it the title in 1862, when the government decamped to San Francisco for a few months; the city responded by raising its own streets by a full storey.
The largest city is rarely the capital in the United States, and California is a strong case of it. So is New York.
The places above come from GeoNames, reconciled against Wikidata. Last checked 21 September 2026. How we know · Suggest a correction