California has become the fourth largest GDP in the world, surpassing Japan.

Contributing 14% of GDP of the entire USA, CA leaves the other states to contribute only 1.75% each, on average.

Just think what CA could have done if run by Republicans instead of those feckless libruls!

I don't know how much credits Democrats get for that. The Terminator was our governor too.

A lot of rich people like to live in California because of the climate, and a wide variety of - well, everything, food, culture, entertainment, you name it. California budget relies almost entirely on taxes paid by the super-rich. Note that California taxes both *long-term* and short term capital gains as income. Plus, it's 10% of the US by population so it would be surprising if the GDP was < 10%.

Silicon Valley and Hollywood happen to be in California. That's the major contributor to the GDP. Agriculture too is a minor one, though it seems wasteful to have water-hungry crops like almonds in a state that is mostly desert.
Also lots of high COL areas, elevating the GDP numbers but not the quality of life.