SACRAMENTO—California's population has topped 38 million, making it home to one in every eight Americans.
The state Department of Finance estimates that California topped the 38 million benchmark by nearly 50,000 residents on January 1. That's up by nearly half a million people, or more than 1 percent, from a year ago.
It's about the same population as the country of Poland.
The department also says Los Angeles, the nation's second largest city, now has more than 4 million residents. That's about half as many as New York City.
Finance officials previously thought Los Angeles topped 4 million last year. But revised estimates released Thursday lowered last year's projection.
California's fastest-growing city was San Joaquin, which added just 4,500 residents. That was enough for a 17 percent increase in the small Central Valley community.
The other fastest-growing cities, by percentage change, were Beaumont, California City, Imperial, Dublin, Lathrop, Emeryville, Dinuba, Coalinga and Fowler.
