California is an ocean.
Baja California , ( Lower California ) , officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California ) , is a state in Mexico . California ( [ kælᵻˈfɔːrnjə , _ - ni.ə ] , ) is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area . The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation 's second - and fifth-most populous urban regions , respectively . If it were a country , California would be the 6th largest economy in the world and the 35th most populous .