Compared to what? Texas?
Edited to add: Wikipedia:
> The economy of the State of California is the largest in the United States, boasting a $3.2 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2019.[9] If California were a sovereign nation (2019), it would rank as the world's fifth largest economy, ahead of India and behind Germany.[10][11]…
California's large GDP could then be in spite of its management, not a product of it.
CA's large GDP is the result of the diversification of its industries. CA has the largest agricultural industry in the U.S., the largest manufacturing industry (yes, people still make things in the U.S.), the largest entertainment industry, and the largest tourism industry.
And that doesn't even take into account the purely local-market GDP in the Bay Area, LA/OC metro area, or San Diego, each of which boasts a local GDP larger than the total GDPs of most of the Midwestern states, or, for that matter, industries where CA has a large market but isn't a national leader, such as finance, biotech, or resource extraction.
Shouldn’t you at least divide these by population to get any meaningful metrics? Otherwise you’re just saying it’s the largest state in different ways
Everyone thinks CA is just tech and entertainment, but CA is a very diversified state, which is why it has been able to weather COVID19 so well despite essentially no tourism in 2020.