The graph below ranks each California County by total residents according to the 2012 census estimates.
California total population by county
| County | Total Population |
| Los Angeles |  9,951,690 |
| San Diego | 3,176,138 |
| Orange | 3,085,355 |
| Riverside | 2,264,879 |
| San Bernardino | 2,077,453 |
| Santa Clara | 1,836,025 |
| Alameda | 1,553,960 |
| Sacramento | 1,448,053 |
| Contra Costa | 1,078,257 |
| Fresno | 947,581 |
| Kern | 855,498 |
| Ventura | 834,398 |
| San Francisco | 827,420 |
| San Mateo | 738,681 |
| San Joaquin | 701,151 |
| Stanislaus | 521,450 |
| Sonoma | 490,596 |
| Tulare | 451,043 |
| Santa Barbara | 430,426 |
| Monterey | 426,072 |
| Solano | 420,335 |
| Placer | 361,420 |
| San Luis Obispo | 274,622 |
| Santa Cruz | 266,508 |
| Merced | 261,632 |
| Marin | 255,841 |
| Butte | 221,016 |
| Yolo | 203,838 |
| El Dorado | 180,616 |
| Shasta | 178,368 |
| Imperial | 176,768 |
| Madera | 152,235 |
| Kings | 151,382 |
| Napa | 138,916 |
| Humboldt | 134,584 |
| Nevada | 98,267 |
| Sutter | 94,659 |
| Mendocino | 87,373 |
| Yuba | 72,969 |
| Lake | 63,965 |
| Tehama | 63,264 |
| San Benito | 56,869 |
| Tuolumne | 54,050 |
| Calaveras | 44,731 |
| Siskiyou | 44,223 |
| Amador | 37,003 |
| Lassen | 33,657 |
| Del Norte | 28,248 |
| Glenn | 27,957 |
| Colusa | 21,355 |
| Plumas | 19,338 |
| Inyo | 18,441 |
| Mariposa | 17,888 |
| Mono | 14,349 |
| Trinity | 13,506 |
| Modoc | 9,346 |
| Sierra | 3,075 |
| Alpine | 1,138 |