How many lighthouses are in California?

There are 49 California lighthouse-related sites in The Lighthouse Circuit field guide, spanning active Coast Guard aids, retired tower museums, ruins, relocated structures, lightships, and the two inland Lake Tahoe lights.

The Lighthouse Circuit dataset covers 49 sites — every lighthouse, lightship, or lighthouse ruin worth knowing about in California. The full list spans:

• 18 Tier 1 stations (the essential circuit, including the Flagship 12)
• 19 Tier 2 stations — notable but secondary to the essential circuit
• 12 Tier 3 curiosities — ruins, demolished sites, relocated towers, the Bay Area's surviving harbor lights, lightships, and the two inland Lake Tahoe lights

Counts that exclude Bay Area harbor lights or Lake Tahoe usually land at 33 to 40 depending on the source. We include them because they're part of the state's lighthouse story even when they aren't classic coastal towers. The full filterable list lives in the California Lighthouse Atlas.

If you've only got time for the headline stations, start with Old Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego, Pigeon Point Lighthouse on the San Mateo coast, and Point Reyes Lighthouse in Marin — three of the most-visited stations in the state.