California’s Economy Is Now Bigger Than All of the U.K.

Sat May 05 2018
Julie Young (582 articles)
California’s Economy Is Now Bigger Than All of the U.K.

California’s economy just made a huge leap.

If the state –with its 39.5 million people – was an independent country, it would have the fifth largest economy in the world, according to new federal figured released on Friday – just surpassing the United Kingdom, which has a population of 65.6 million.

California’s economy of $ 2.7 trillion sits behind the United States, China, Japan and Germany. California’s large economy is attributed to its thriving tech sector and Hollywood, according to the Associated Press. It has 12% of the U.S. population, but has contributed 16% of total job growth between 2012 and 2017. California’s gross domestic product also went up by $ 127 billion from 2016 to 2017, helping to give it a push to reach the fifth spot.

Most of the economic activity is centered around California’s big cities along the coast – including San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Other top ranking states include Texas, in the 11th spot worldwide with an economy of $ 1.7 trillion and New York at No. 13 with $ 1.5 trillion.

California actually ranked in 5th place before in 2002 before falling all the way to 10th in 2012 after the recession.

Julie Young

Julie Young

Julie Young is a Senior Market Reporter and Analyst. She has been covering stock markets for many years.