California CPA statistics
Counted from the California Board of Accountancy licensee file, checked Oct 20, 2026.
Short answer: the Board file checked Oct 20, 2026 lists 57,689 CPA and CPA firm records: 38,834 active, 9,924 inactive and 8,931 delinquent. Of the active licenses with a current expiration date, 29,955 are individual CPAs and 4,333 are CPA firms.
Active CPAs by county (top 15)
| County | Active CPAs |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 8,704 |
| Orange | 4,279 |
| San Diego | 2,711 |
| Santa Clara | 2,597 |
| San Francisco | 1,532 |
| Alameda | 1,386 |
| Contra Costa | 1,205 |
| San Mateo | 910 |
| Sacramento | 841 |
| San Bernardino | 708 |
| Riverside | 661 |
| Ventura | 658 |
| Fresno | 429 |
| Placer | 359 |
| Sonoma | 335 |
Active CPAs by city (top 15)
| City | Active CPAs |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 1,917 |
| San Francisco | 1,530 |
| San Diego | 1,475 |
| San Jose | 1,400 |
| Irvine | 974 |
| Sacramento | 403 |
| Fremont | 345 |
| Fresno | 294 |
| Torrance | 290 |
| Pasadena | 259 |
| Walnut Creek | 256 |
| Long Beach | 237 |
| Glendale | 230 |
| Arcadia | 226 |
| Woodland Hills | 224 |
Active CPAs by decade first licensed
| Decade | Active CPAs |
|---|---|
| 1950s | 3 |
| 1960s | 110 |
| 1970s | 1,044 |
| 1980s | 3,307 |
| 1990s | 3,716 |
| 2000s | 4,469 |
| 2010s | 5,805 |
| 2020s | 11,495 |
Renewals coming up
4,031 active licenses in the file expire within 90 days of Oct 20, 2026. A license that is not renewed by its expiration date becomes delinquent.
Method
Counts use the Board's public licensee file as downloaded and checked on Oct 20, 2026. “Active” excludes records whose expiration date has already passed. City and county are as written in the file. Per-capita figures are not shown because we have not added a sourced population file. Check any individual license with our CPA license check.