Stop the calls on your own phone
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Public FCC data
How many spam calls do people in California report? They filed 12,899 FCC complaints in 12 months, 24th most per person.
From October 2025 to September 2026, people in California filed 12,899 unwanted-call complaints with the FCC, or 32.8 for every 100,000 residents, which ranks 24th among the 50 states and DC. California ranks first for total complaints but 24th for every 100,000 people.
- 12,899unwanted-call complaints filed with the FCC by people in California, October 2025 to September 2026
- 32.8complaints for every 100,000 residents, 24th of 51 (the whole country: 36.6)
- 310the area code people there named most, on 236 complaints (Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, California)
Source: Federal Communications Commission, CGB - Consumer Complaints Data (dataset 3xyp-aqkj), issue "Unwanted Calls", read on November 4, 2026. Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025. All sources.
People in California reported area code 310 most, and 3 of the 10 busiest area codes are in California.
Each row counts the complaints from people in California whose caller ID started with that code. 6 codes in the list are toll-free and belong to no place. Together these 10 codes account for 1,845 of the 5,002 complaints that gave a caller ID.
| Rank | Code | Where it is | In California? | Complaints |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 310 | Santa Monica and Beverly HillsIn California | Yes | 236 |
| 2 | 833 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 220 |
| 3 | 916 | SacramentoIn California | Yes | 219 |
| 4 | 877 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 209 |
| 5 | 866 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 184 |
| 6 | 888 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 184 |
| 7 | 855 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 181 |
| 8 | 844 | Toll-free, tied to no placeNo place | No place | 173 |
| 9 | 562 | Long Beach and southeast Los Angeles CountyIn California | Yes | 121 |
| 10 | 202 | Washington, D.C.In DC | No, DC | 118 |
Monthly complaints from California ran from 895 in May to 1,607 in December.
October 2025 and November 2025 are shaded and dotted because the FCC file holds only 323 and 16,267 complaints of any kind in those months, against about 29,400 in a usual one.
Complaints from California by month
Unwanted-call complaints filed from California per month, October 2025 to September 2026.
- Complaints filed from California
- Months the FCC file is thin
| Month | All complaints |
|---|---|
| October 2025 | 7 |
| November 2025 | 853 |
| December 2025 | 1,607 |
| January 2026 | 1,524 |
| February 2026 | 1,150 |
| March 2026 | 1,028 |
| April 2026 | 997 |
| May 2026 | 895 |
| June 2026 | 933 |
| July 2026 | 1,197 |
| August 2026 | 1,159 |
| September 2026 | 1,549 |
Prerecorded calls are the biggest group of complaints from California, at 44% against 41% across the country.
The FCC files robocalls, live callers and texts under one issue, "Unwanted Calls". The bar shows how the 12,899 complaints from California split by what the person says reached them.
What reached people in California
How the 12,899 complaints from California split.
- Prerecorded call44% · 5,736 complaints
- Live caller27% · 3,434 complaints
- Text message13% · 1,716 complaints
- Kind not stated16% · 2,013 complaints
Across the country the split is prerecorded call 41%, live caller 26%, text message 15%, kind not stated 17%.
About half of the US numbers people in California reported carry a California area code, 2,055 of 3,747 (55%), against 50% across the country.
Of 5,002 complaints that gave a caller ID, 2,055 named a California code, 1,692 a code from another state, 1,185 a toll-free code and 70 something else, such as a special-use code, a number abroad or a prefix that is not assigned.
Where the numbers people in California reported came from
Where the 5,002 caller ID numbers from California came from.
- California area codes41% · 2,055 complaints
- Other states' area codes34% · 1,692 complaints
- Toll-free codes24% · 1,185 complaints
- Other or not assigned1% · 70 complaints
After California, people there named New York, Florida and District of Columbia codes most.
California ranks 24th of 51 for complaints per 100,000 people, between Oklahoma and Idaho.
Colorado leads the list at 109.8 and North Dakota is last at 13.8. The 50 states and DC together file 36.6.
California next to the states ranked around it
Complaints for every 100,000 residents, the states ranked next to California.
Here is what to do when a spam call reaches you in California.
See why so many calls reach you
Quote forms, data brokers, leaked databases and recycled numbers are the routes callers use to find a number.
Check one number that called you
Paste it into the spam number lookup to see its line type, its carrier and a risk level.
Get a number with a California area code
Each of these area codes of California has a page that shows how to get a number in it that rings the phone you already carry.
These are the questions people ask about spam calls in California, answered from the data.
12,899 unwanted-call complaints from October 2025 to September 2026, which is 32.8 for every 100,000 residents. That ranks 24th among the 50 states and DC per person and first by total count.
310 (Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, California) was named on 236 complaints, 5% of the complaints that gave a caller ID number. Next were 833 (toll-free, tied to no place) with 220 and 916 (Sacramento, California) with 219.
About half do. 55% of the complaints that named a US area code carried a California code, against 50% across the country. After California, the area codes named most belonged to New York (204), Florida (125) and District of Columbia (124). Caller ID can be faked, so a code shows what appeared on the phone, not where the caller was.
44% were about prerecorded calls, 27% about a live caller and 13% about text messages, and 16% did not say. Across the country the split is 41%, 26% and 15%.
About the same. People in California filed 3,905 complaints in July to September 2026, 5% more than the 3,702 in January to March 2026. For the whole country the change over the same months was up 28%.
File a complaint with the FCC's Consumer Help Center at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov. Complaints filed there are the ones counted on this page, listed by the state of the person who filed. To report a scam or fraud call, use ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
A state with more people files more complaints just by being bigger. Dividing by the Census Bureau's July 1, 2025 estimate for California (39,355,309 residents) puts every state on one scale, which is why California ranks 24th per person and first by total count.
Every number on this page comes from two public sources.
The complaints come from the FCC.
Federal Communications Commission, CGB - Consumer Complaints Data (dataset 3xyp-aqkj), issue "Unwanted Calls", filed October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, read from opendata.fcc.gov on November 4, 2026.
The population comes from the Census Bureau.
U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (NST-EST2025-POP), Vintage 2025 estimate for July 1, 2025, released January 2026, checked November 2026.
Data: FCC Consumer Complaints, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026, analysed by ExpressNumber. www.expressnumber.com/spam-calls-by-state/california
See every state ranked
All 50 states and DC by complaints per 100,000 people, with California marked.
See which area codes send the most
The 25 busiest local area codes, the toll-free codes and a search of every code in the data.
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