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.
