California ranks #1 among US states for total patents filed in 2023, with 157,379 patents from 67,585 inventors across 745 cities. On a per-capita basis that is 4.0 patents per 1,000 residents, a standard benchmark for comparing state-level R&D intensity.
Top Cities in California 2023
| Rank | City | Patents | Inventors |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | San Diego, CA | 18,965 | 4,615 |
| #2 | San Jose, CA | 16,961 | 6,843 |
| #3 | San Francisco, CA | 16,882 | 7,301 |
| #4 | Sunnyvale, CA | 7,084 | 3,136 |
| #5 | Mountain View, CA | 5,610 | 2,712 |
| #6 | Palo Alto, CA | 4,984 | 2,084 |
| #7 | Santa Clara, CA | 4,846 | 2,204 |
| #8 | Fremont, CA | 4,205 | 1,926 |
| #9 | Los Angeles, CA | 3,767 | 1,895 |
| #10 | Cupertino, CA | 3,592 | 1,427 |
| #11 | Redwood City, CA | 2,323 | 1,096 |
| #12 | Irvine, CA | 2,235 | 1,127 |
| #13 | San Mateo, CA | 1,947 | 916 |
| #14 | Los Altos, CA | 1,912 | 741 |
| #15 | Saratoga, CA | 1,856 | 590 |
| #16 | Oakland, CA | 1,767 | 945 |
| #17 | Menlo Park, CA | 1,743 | 775 |
| #18 | Los Gatos, CA | 1,639 | 582 |
| #19 | Pleasanton, CA | 1,566 | 657 |
| #20 | Santa Monica, CA | 1,460 | 643 |
| #21 | Berkeley, CA | 1,426 | 752 |
| #22 | Milpitas, CA | 1,376 | 644 |
| #23 | Campbell, CA | 1,229 | 502 |
| #24 | San Ramon, CA | 1,210 | 493 |
| #25 | Foster City, CA | 1,136 | 545 |