Economy

In nearly all respects California is the most productive of the 50 states. Were it an independent nation, it would rank among the leading countries of the world in value of total output. Manufacturing plants make almost everything from tiny electronic items to autos and jet aircraft. From irrigated valleys comes a large share of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States. Rich fields yield great quantities of petroleum and natural gas. In finance and insurance, California is exceeded by few states; in retail and wholesale trade it is the national leader.

Nearly 85 per cent of California's nonagricultural workers are employed in service industries, wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, and government.

California ranks as the country's leading manufacturing state, a position it reached in the early 1970's. Before World War II California's leading manufacturing industries consisted largely of those processing farm products, timber, and seafood. The war stimulated growth of more technologically advanced industries, such as the building of electronic equipment, aircraft, and motor vehicles. These and other manufacturing activities boomed after the war. Since the end of the Cold War in 1991, cuts in the defense spending have caused a decline in some of California's high technology industries, especially the aerospace industry.

Most manufacturing is done in and around Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and San Diego. At Fontana, near Los Angeles, is one of the largest iron and steel mills in the western United States. This plant and smaller ones in the Bay Area make much of the steel used in the state. Aerospace research, development, and manufacture is a California specialty. Factories around Los Angeles and San Diego make missiles, military and commercial aircraft, and highly complicated equipment for crewed and un-crewed spaceflights.

Electronics manufacturing is a rapidly expanding industry. It has close ties to the aerospace industry and also to the state's large universities, which have extensive research facilities and highly skilled staffs. The chief center of electronics manufacturing is the so-called Silicon Valley, extending roughly between San Jose and Palo Alto. The valley takes its name from the mass production of silicon chips, the heart of the modern electronic computer.

Near Los Angeles and in the San Francisco Bay Area are large motor-vehicle assembly plants. Oil refineries, chemical plants, and factories making pipe, valves, and similar equipment are located near oil fields south of Los Angeles and in the Central Valley.

Printing and publishing and the making of scientific instruments, clothing, wood products, paper products, and machinery and other fabricated metal products are also major activities.

Throughout California's rich farmland are many processing and canning plants. Here fruits, vegetables, sugar, rice, and other foods are prepared for market. Wine is a valuable product of vineyards in the Central Valley and in numerous valleys along the coast, especially near San Francisco. California also has many factories that supply the food industry with cans, bottles, and many types of paper and plastic packaging materials.

The Los Angeles area, especially Hollywood, Culver City, and Burbank, is the nation's main center for producing motion pictures and television programs.

By value of production, California is the leading agricultural state. Its abundant and varied crops include almost everything grown elsewhere in the United States. Many California farms are quite small, consisting of less than 50 acres (20 hectares), while others have hundreds of acres. Many of the largest farms, each covering thousands of acres, are owned and operated by corporations.

The key to California's agriculture is irrigation. Nearly 90 per cent of the state's cropland is irrigated. Most of the irrigated land is in the Central Valley. The Sierra Nevada, with abundant rain and snow, feeds the San Joaquin River and other streams that water the thirsty lands of the southern part of the Central Valley. Water from the Sacramento River in the north irrigates part of the Sacramento Valley and is also sent southward through a system of pumps, pipelines, and canals. In southern California, irrigation water is brought in by canal from the distant Colorado River to the Imperial Valley and neighboring areas. Wells are another major source of irrigation water.

Fruits are grown in many parts of California. Hardy fruits, including apples, pears, plums, apricots, cherries, and peaches, grow in the Central Valley and in the valleys of the coastal mountains. Most widely grown are peaches, of which California is the country's leading producer. In grape production as well, California is far ahead of the other states. By value, grapes are California's chief crop.

Near Los Angeles and in the southern part of the Central Valley, citrus orchards cover large areas. California produces about 80 per cent of all the lemons grown in the United States and ranks high in the production of oranges, grapefruit, and tangerines. Other semitropical fruits of southern California include figs, olives, dates, and avocados. Great quantities of nuts, particularly almonds and English walnuts, are grown in the Central Valley.

Many different kinds of winter and summer vegetables thrive in California. By tonnage the state normally accounts for more than half of the commercial vegetables grown in the United States; by value the state accounts for nearly half of the United States total. Among the chief vegetables are broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, lettuce, onions, and tomatoes. The Central Valley, the Imperial Valley, and the Salinas Valley are major centers of production.

California was the first state to grow sugar beets successfully, and it remains a leading producer. Cotton is grown mainly in the San Joaquin Valley; normally, production is second only to that of Texas.

Wheat and barley are important California crops. Both are produced largely by dry-land methods, although some irrigation is practiced. Rice, grown entirely by irrigation, comes largely from the Sacramento Valley.

About 25 per cent of all farm income is derived from the sale of livestock and livestock products. Milk and beef cattle account for nearly all of this income.

Greenhouse and nursery products, including flowers, seeds, and plants, are also major sources of agricultural income.

Many minerals are mined in California, but petroleum accounts for the largest share of the production by value. In the early 1990's California ranked third among the petroleum-producing states of the nation. Large amounts of natural gas are also extracted. Both petroleum and natural gas are produced in southern California at onshore and offshore sites and in the southern part of the Central Valley.

In value of nonfuel mineral production, California normally ranks first or second among the states. Of greatest value are gold, boron minerals, sand and gravel, and crushed stone. California is the only state to produce tungsten and is usually the nation's leading source of asbestos, boron, diatomite, rare earths, and sand and gravel.

Lumbering is a widespread industry, especially in the mountains of the northwest and in the Sierra Nevada. In wood and lumber production only Oregon surpasses California. Douglas fir and redwood are the chief commercial species in northwestern California, Ponderosa pine in the Sierra Nevada. About 65 per cent of the forests are under the control of the federal government.

California usually is among the top 10 fishing states in the United States. The principal species taken are mackerel, sardine, sole, squid, and rockfish. Los Angeles, Crescent City, and San Francisco are the leading fishing ports.

Although California's long coast has only a few good harbors, those few are among the finest on the Pacific Ocean. San Francisco Bay is one of the largest and most important anchorages in the world. Ships from ports around the Pacific and other areas of the world dock at Oakland and San Francisco and at other ports on the bay. At Los Angeles and Long Beach, forming a giant complex, are two of the nation's busiest and most rapidly growing ports. Both use largely artificial harbors.

San Diego, with a deep, protected harbor, has long been the home port of many United States naval vessels, but is not a major shipping port. Sacramento, which is linked to San Francisco Bay by a deep water channel, is a major inland port serving the Central Valley.

California was one of the first states to begin building a network of freeways and expressways. Now a vast system of these roads and Interstate highways carries traffic through, around, and between the major cities and towns. California has a number of large bridges, probably the best known of which are the Golden Gate Bridge, across the mouth of San Francisco Bay, and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, linking San Francisco with Oakland.

Most of California's railways extend in a north-south direction either through the Central Valley or along the coast. A few main lines run eastward over the Sierra Nevada and the deserts, linking the state with the rest of the country. Airlines serve the larger cities, providing a large choice of regional, national, and international flights. International airports in the larger metropolitan areas, particularly Los Angeles and San Francisco, are major terminals for flights to and from Asia and many other parts of the world.