This list of museums in California is a list of museums, defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Also included are non-profit and university art galleries. Museums that exist only in cyberspace (i.e., virtual museums) are not included.
To use the sortable tables: click on the icons at the top of each column to sort that column in alphabetical order; click again for reverse alphabetical order.
Central Coast and Monterey Bay Area
Includes Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Ventura counties
Inland Empire
Riverside County and San Bernardino County (includes the Coachella Valley)
Los Angeles County
North Coast
Includes Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino counties
Orange County
San Diego County
San Francisco Bay Area
Includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties
San Joaquin Valley
Includes Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tulare counties
Shasta Cascade
Includes Butte, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity counties
Elsewhere The museums below are found in the following counties, which may be split over different regions:
Gold Country – includes Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Sierra and Tuolumne counties. High Sierra – includes Amador, El Dorado, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono and Placer counties Imperial Valley – Imperial County Napa Valley – Napa County Sacramento Valley – includes Colusa, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties