California’s economy leads again, grows another 5% in 2025 to record $4.25 trillion GDP  

Success under the Newsom administration

Since 2019, when Governor Newsom took office, California’s GDP has grown by $1.182 trillion. In the last two years, California saw gains exceeding $200 billion each year. As noted in a recent Bloomberg piece, during the Newsom administration, California “became the top performing economy not just among its 49 siblings but also any developed nation.”

This success didn’t come by chance, but through strong economic policies that have helped grow the success of the Golden State, including through the Governor’s Economic Blueprint and Jobs First plan, guiding the state’s investments in key sectors to drive sustainable economic growth, innovation, and help Californians access good-paying jobs over the next decade. These plans were developed in partnership with communities and business leaders throughout the state, creating a statewide plan built locally from the ground up. 

Nice try, losers*

California’s economic output dwarfed that of every other state. As Texas and Florida attempt to make headlines by joining with NINE other states* to artificially boost their numbers, California stands on its own as the leader nationwide. In addition to year-over-year gains, California also stood atop the four largest state economies in the 4th quarter of last year, posting the largest dollar increase at $44.5 billion, more than New York, Texas, and Florida.

*Bless your heart, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

California’s growth and economic output dominate.

The data supporting California’s dominance continues to pour in. Here’s what Bloomberg recently reported:

✅ After Newsom took office in January 2019, California’s gross domestic product surged 40% to more than $4 trillion, accounting for 14% of all US output. This outpaced major economies, including China (expanded 32%) and Germany (expanded 16%).

✅ California drove 40%+ of the growth in value of the nation’s publicly traded equities, despite being less than 12% of the entire U.S. population.

✅California companies are thriving since 2019 – spending $527 billion annually on acquisitions, almost three times the $179 billion spent annually in the 20 years prior to 2019.

California is a talent pipeline. 

✅ California produces the talent fueling its growth, with more than 600 colleges and universities – more than any other state.

✅California has the highest density of higher education to create a top talent pipeline, with one college or university for every 64,000 citizens, more than the UK and Germany. 

✅California produces more engineers than any other state.

California’s industries are fueling the nation.

According to Bloomberg, here are the industries contributing to California’s economic dominance:

✅Technology firms based in California lead the nationwide industry with 41 companies producing a 603% total return over the past decade. That’s four times the gain of their global peers in the past two, three and five years. 

✅Innovation, with California making up 62% of all U.S. venture capital funding and 31.5% of all venture capital deals last year. 

✅Health care contributed 52% to California’s GDP since 2019, and despite MAGA attacks on the industry, its uninsured rate declined to a record-low 6.4% in 2023, the largest drop in the US, from more than 17% a decade ago.

✅ Infrastructure and trade keep the U.S. economy moving due to this administration’s infrastructure investments. California’s Port of Los Angeles alone handles more than $300 billion of cargo annually.

✅ Clean energy and clean transportation are helping California maintain its future-facing dominance with its largest eight clean energy companies seeing the value of their stocks appreciate an average 56% since 2019, compared to 40% for their global peers.