California ranks #1 among US states for total patents filed in 2022, with 145,260 patents from 65,961 inventors across 768 cities. On a per-capita basis that is 3.7 patents per 1,000 residents, a standard benchmark for comparing state-level R&D intensity.
Top Cities in California 2022
| Rank | City | Patents | Inventors |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | San Francisco, CA | 16,381 | 6,999 |
| #2 | San Jose, CA | 15,721 | 6,617 |
| #3 | San Diego, CA | 14,404 | 4,447 |
| #4 | Sunnyvale, CA | 6,725 | 3,097 |
| #5 | Mountain View, CA | 5,225 | 2,575 |
| #6 | Palo Alto, CA | 4,744 | 2,072 |
| #7 | Santa Clara, CA | 4,650 | 2,128 |
| #8 | Fremont, CA | 3,998 | 1,867 |
| #9 | Los Angeles, CA | 3,521 | 1,855 |
| #10 | Cupertino, CA | 3,464 | 1,445 |
| #11 | Irvine, CA | 2,027 | 1,077 |
| #12 | Redwood City, CA | 2,005 | 1,047 |
| #13 | San Mateo, CA | 1,873 | 919 |
| #14 | Los Altos, CA | 1,811 | 762 |
| #15 | Saratoga, CA | 1,780 | 602 |
| #16 | Oakland, CA | 1,651 | 883 |
| #17 | Los Gatos, CA | 1,631 | 593 |
| #18 | Menlo Park, CA | 1,554 | 754 |
| #19 | Pleasanton, CA | 1,437 | 617 |
| #20 | Milpitas, CA | 1,311 | 650 |
| #21 | Santa Monica, CA | 1,245 | 554 |
| #22 | Berkeley, CA | 1,212 | 657 |
| #23 | Campbell, CA | 1,122 | 456 |
| #24 | Carlsbad, CA | 1,107 | 500 |
| #25 | San Ramon, CA | 1,088 | 478 |