California
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182 free California trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
50 free California trivia questions with answers. Think you're a California expert? Put your knowledge to the test with our comprehensive 182-question trivia quiz covering everything from Gold Rush history to modern landmarks. Whether you're a native Californian or just curious about the Golden State, this quiz will challenge your understanding of California's rich culture, geography, and iconic attractions.
30 of 182 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which sport did California make its official state sport in 2018?
Surfing
Surfing was born in Hawaii, but California made it the state sport in 2018; the neoprene wetsuit was developed there, opening up water once thought too cold to surf.
Q 02Which deal in Congress admitted California as a free state?
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 brought California in as the 31st state and upset the Senate's balance between free and slave states; in return the South got a stricter fugitive slave law.
Q 03Which peak is the highest point in California and the contiguous United States?
Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney was named in 1864 by a California Geological Survey party for Josiah Whitney, the state geologist who sponsored it; three men from nearby Lone Pine made the first ascent in 1873.
Q 04Which university's 1951 industrial park helped seed Silicon Valley?
Stanford
Stanford opened part of its grounds to technology companies to raise income for the university; Varian Associates moved in first, and Hewlett-Packard soon followed.
Q 05Which San Francisco neighborhood was the center of the 1967 Summer of Love?
Haight-Ashbury
Haight-Ashbury drew tens of thousands of young people in 1967, many protesting the Vietnam War and mainstream materialism; the hippie district was later gentrified, pushing its rents and property values up.
Q 06What bird is the official state bird of California?
California Quail
The California Quail, with its drooping black head plume, became the state bird in 1931; it is still a prized game bird, legally hunted across the state each fall and winter.
Q 07What is California's official state flower?
Golden poppy
The golden poppy became the state flower in 1903 after botanist Sara Plummer Lemmon led a campaign for it that lasted about a decade.
Q 08Which animal is featured on California's state flag and is its official state animal?
California Grizzly Bear
The California Grizzly Bear was named state animal in 1953, three decades after the last known one was shot in 1922; the flag honors an animal the state had hunted and poisoned out of existence.
Q 09Which city is the most populous in California?
Los Angeles
With nearly 4 million residents, Los Angeles is not only the largest city in California but also the second-most populous city in the United States.
Q 10What is the official state motto of California?
Eureka
Eureka, Greek for 'I have found it', has appeared on the state seal since 1849; a 1957 bid to replace it with 'In God We Trust' failed, and it was made official in 1963.
Q 11California is popularly known by which nickname?
The Golden State
The Golden State became the official nickname only in 1968, though the name had long been popular, in part a nod to the 1848 gold discovery that set off the state's rapid growth.
Q 12Who owned the sawmill where James Marshall found gold in 1848?
John Sutter
John Sutter tried to keep the find secret, but word got out; gold seekers overran his estate and destroyed nearly everything he had built, so the strike ruined him instead of making him rich.
Q 13How many counties are there in the state of California?
58
58 counties, the newest being Imperial County, carved out in 1907.
Q 21Which California valley's intense vegetable farming earned it the nickname of America's 'Salad Bowl'?
Salinas
Salinas Valley farms thrive on the cool ocean air that flows in from the coast; John Steinbeck, born in Salinas, set East of Eden and Of Mice and Men among its fields.
Q 22Which three-tiered national park waterfall in California, 2,425 feet high, ranks among the world's tallest?
Yosemite Falls
Yosemite Falls drops 2,425 feet in three stages, yet it runs on snowmelt, so by August it often shrinks to a trickle or dries up completely.
Q 23Which California port was the busiest in the United States by container volume in 2024?
Los Angeles
Q 14Which California valley is internationally renowned as one of the world's premier wine regions?
Napa Valley
Napa Valley vaulted to fame at the 1976 Paris tasting, when French judges tasting blind gave their top official scores to a Napa Chardonnay and a Napa Cabernet over France's best.
Q 15Which famous earthquake fault slices through much of California?
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is where the Pacific Plate grinds northwest past the North American Plate, up to about two inches a year; when a locked stretch slipped in 1906, roads and fences across it were offset by several yards.
Q 16Which lake in Lake County is the largest natural freshwater lake entirely within California?
Clear Lake
Clear Lake once drained west toward the Russian River until a landslide blocked the way; the water rose and found a new outlet through Cache Creek.
Q 17Which type of ancient tree, known for its longevity, can be found in the White Mountains of California?
Bristlecone Pine
Bristlecone pines in the White Mountains include Methuselah, more than 4,800 years old; the harsh cold and wind are their secret, since slow growth lays down dense wood that resists insects and rot.
Q 18Hollywood merged with Los Angeles in 1910 mainly to secure what?
A water supply
A water supply was the prize: Hollywood, a town of its own since 1903, had too little water, so residents voted in 1910 to join Los Angeles; the first film studio arrived a year later.
Q 19Which state sits across California's ruler-straight northern border?
Oregon
Oregon meets California along the 42nd parallel, a line fixed by an 1819 treaty between Spain and the United States, decades before either state existed.
Q 20Which name does California's State Route 1 carry through Malibu and Huntington Beach?
Pacific Coast Highway
Pacific Coast Highway is only one of State Route 1's names; farther north its Big Sur stretch took from 1919 to 1937 to build, partly with convict labor from San Quentin.
Combined with its neighbour at Long Beach, the complex ranked about tenth in the world.
Q 24Which California basketball team has met the Boston Celtics in a record 12 NBA Finals?
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers lost their first eight Finals against Boston, the first as the Minneapolis Lakers in 1959, before finally beating the Celtics in 1985.
Q 25Which Major League Baseball team left Brooklyn for California after the 1957 season?
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers moved after owner Walter O'Malley failed to win city backing for a new Brooklyn ballpark; planner Robert Moses would offer him only a site outside the borough, in Queens.
Q 26Which NFL team won five Super Bowls between January 1982 and January 1995?
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers had gone 2-14 in both 1978 and 1979; coach Bill Walsh and quarterback Joe Montana then turned them into champions by the 1981 season, the first of the five titles.
Q 27Which island in San Francisco Bay did Native American activists occupy for 19 months starting in 1969?
Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island, whose federal prison had closed in 1963, was held by a group calling itself Indians of All Tribes; the protest helped push Washington to drop its policy of terminating tribes.
Q 28Which species, concentrated in Humboldt and Del Norte counties, includes Earth's tallest living trees?
Coast redwood
Coast redwoods are the tallest living trees; the record holder, Hyperion, stands about 116 metres (380 feet) in Redwood National Park, where rangers have closed the ground around it and hikers who go looking risk a fine.
Q 29Which southern-coast city is California's second-most populous?
San Diego
San Diego, home to about 1.4 million people, wraps around one of the world's finest natural deep-water harbors, and the Navy has made it the main home port of its Pacific Fleet.
Q 30Which port city, the most populous in the East Bay, sits directly across the bay from San Francisco?
Oakland
Oakland took in a wave of refugees after San Francisco's 1906 earthquake, and so many stayed that the city's population swelled almost overnight.