California Became the World’s Fourth-Largest Economy in 2024

The state’s economy ranked fourth-largest internationally behind the United States as a whole, China, and Germany.

Construction workers on the site of a new development in Long Beach, Calif., on March 5, 2025. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on April 23 that California had the fourth-largest economy in the world in 2024, overtaking Japan.

According to Newsom’s spokeswoman, Tara Gallegos, the governor used preliminary estimates of nominal gross domestic product (GDP) for 2024, issued by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).