Southern California
Southern California | |
|---|---|
Images top to bottom, left to right: Hermosa Beach Pier, Disneyland Resort, Village of La Jolla, Santa Monica Pier, Surfer at Black's Beach, Hollywood Sign, Downtown Los Angeles, San Diego Skyline | |
Red: The ten counties of Southern California | |
Interactive map of Southern California | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Counties | Imperial Kern Los Angeles Orange Riverside San Bernardino San Diego San Luis Obispo Santa Barbara Ventura |
| Largest city | Los Angeles |
| Area (10-county) | |
• Total | 56,505 sq mi (146,350 km2) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 23,762,904 |
| Demonym | Southern Californian |
| GDP | |
| • Total | $1.95 trillion (2022) |
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal region includes Greater Los Angeles (the second-most populous urban agglomeration in the United States) and San Diego County (the second-most populous county in California). The region generally contains ten of California's 58 counties: Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Imperial counties.
Although geographically smaller than Northern California in land area, Southern California has a higher population, with 23.76 million residents as of the 2020 census. The sparsely populated desert region of California occupies a significant portion of the area: the Colorado Desert, along with the Colorado River, is located on Southern California's eastern border with Arizona, and the Mojave Desert shares a border with Nevada to the northeast. Southern California's southern border with Baja California is part of the Mexico–United States border.