California Cities starting with SAN or SANTA

Try to name all the cities and towns in California whose names start with the word "San" or "Santa".

Not counting cities where San or Santa is not a separate word

Incorporated places only. Population estimates as of 2024.

Quiz by

Featured Quiz

Rate:

Last updated: September 11, 2025

You have not attempted this quiz yet.

More quiz info >>

First submitted	July 27, 2018
Times taken	18,513
Average score	30.3%
Rating	4.33

Quiz and answer stats >>

Shared scores >>

7:00

Enter answer here

/ 33 guessed

The quiz is paused. You have remaining.

Copied!

Scoring

You scored / = %

This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%

The average score is

Your high score is

Your fastest time is

more stats >>

shared scores >>

Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...

Population	City
12,645	San Anselmo
224,775	San Bernardino
109,831	Ventura, officially San Buenaventura
42,035	San Bruno
29,403	San Carlos
62,627	San Clemente
1,404,452	San Diego
33,226	San Dimas
23,488	San Fernando
827,526	San Francisco
37,926	San Gabriel
55,515	San Jacinto

Population	City
3,679	San Joaquin
997,368	San Jose
2,118	San Juan Bautista
35,469	San Juan Capistrano
86,571	San Leandro
49,729	San Luis Obispo
96,620	San Marcos
12,105	San Marino
103,006	San Mateo
31,562	San Pablo
59,961	San Rafael

Population	City
85,924	San Ramon
316,184	Santa Ana
87,291	Santa Barbara
133,132	Santa Clara
229,159	Santa Clarita
62,581	Santa Cruz
18,683	Santa Fe Springs
111,346	Santa Maria
90,729	Santa Monica
31,786	Santa Paula
177,524	Santa Rosa

Save Your Stats

Your Next Quiz

U.S. State Capitals Quiz

I finally learned them all. Can you name all 50?

Majority Muslim Countries

Can you name the countries of the world where at least 50% of residents are Islamic?

U.S. Cities with the Biggest Economies

Name the American metro areas with the largest economies.

Landlocked Countries - Sudden Death

Click all the landlocked countries without clicking any countries which border the sea.

37 Comments

Level 97

Aug 7, 2018

Excellent quiz. Might I suggest that 'Ramon' and 'Fe Springs' be acceptable type-ins?

Level ∞

Aug 8, 2018

Thanks for the suggestion. Ramon will work now. Fe Springs would have worked before.

Level 63

Aug 7, 2018

May I ask why you did not include Santa Rosa (which has a nice Charles Shultz museum up near the wine country)...

And also San Simeon where the famous Hearst Castle sits ...

???

Thanks

(Nice Quiz!!)

Level ∞

Aug 8, 2018

Rosa is include. San Simeon is not a city or town according to the Wikipedia article cited.

Level 73

Oct 17, 2018

I also tried San Simeon. I looked it up and it is listed on Wikipedia as a "census-designated place" in San Luis Obispo County. CDPs are considered neither incorporated nor unincorporated. The 2010 population was 462, which surprised me. I guess all those people are tourists or beach visitors.

Level 69

Aug 8, 2018

I know it‘s nitpicking, but what about San Buenaventura (commonly shortened to Ventura)?

Level 78

Aug 8, 2018

As it meets the criteria of being an Incorporated city in California, I have added this now.

Level 90

Aug 10, 2018

San Dimas High School football rules!!!

Level 92

Aug 16, 2018

You sound like San Dimas' most famous residents, Bill and Ted.

Level 58

Oct 17, 2018

69 dudes!

Level 84

Oct 23, 2018

Bogus!

Level 60

Sep 20, 2019

I thought that city was fictional! It should have tried it

Level 61

Sep 4, 2018

What about San Ysidro, about 28,000? Or is this considered part of San Diego?

Level ∞

Sep 5, 2018

I think you answered your own question. :)

Level 83

Oct 17, 2018

I tried San Quentin, it's home to some people. I just started putting San and guessing saint's names in Spanish which got me a bunch.

Level 73

Oct 17, 2018

I got most of mine that way.

Level 88

Feb 4, 2024

You don’t need to put San or Santa.

Level 65

Oct 17, 2018

Great Quiz, nice mixture of educated guessing and hard knowledge.

Level 58

Oct 17, 2018

San Pedro? Is it a town or a Long Beach neighborhood? I remember that great band The Minutemen came from there.

Level 85

May 19, 2023

It's a part of the City of Los Angeles

Level 81

Oct 17, 2018

I just typed in San Marino as a joke, looks like humor paid off this time!

Level 55

Jan 11, 2019

It is named indirectly after the country, which is weird but not as weird as the history of Pasadena's name!

Level 60

Sep 20, 2019

Nice! Too bad it didn’t work for me when I typed in Salvador :-/

Level 47

Oct 19, 2018

Missed San Bruno and San Mateo despite living about 15 minutes from both

Level 47

Oct 29, 2018

Missed San Leandro where I live...Doh!

Level 28

Oct 1, 2019

Santa Ynez? Near Michael Jackson's ranch.

Level 74

Nov 21, 2019

Santa Ysabel?

Level 67

Aug 14, 2021

when the population update?

Level 79

May 3, 2023

are there none beginning with Santo, or were they just not included here? or have i misunderstood something about how spanish works?

you get santo domingo (obviously not in the usa) so i don't see why there couldn't be others. just curious

Level 88

Feb 4, 2024

It seems that san is generally used as an abbreviation of santo except when the saint’s name begins with “do” or “to” where santo is used in order to avoid confusion. For example, San Domingo could sound like Santo Mingo so to make it clear they say Santo Domingo.

Level 78

Sep 10, 2025

Please update this quiz. The population figures are very outdated.

Level 76

Oct 20, 2025

No San Fierro?? Disappointed.

Level 74

Oct 20, 2025

The non incorporated places that are just a village and a post office really part of a bigger town are not counted

Level 66

Oct 20, 2025

shoutout San Juan Bautista and San Juan Capistrano from learning about the missions in 4th grade