California's 65 Churches on the National Register of Historic Places

65 California churches stand on the National Register of Historic Places among the 21,472 congregations in the state's directory, and the list spans the deepest architectural range of any state: Spanish mission churches predating the United States itself, Gold Rush parish buildings, and twentieth-century sanctuaries. Los Angeles County leads with 13 listings, Orange County holds 7, and Alameda 5.

The earliest entry is Unity Church of Santa Barbara, listed October 15, 1966 with the register's founding cohort. Mission San Luis Rey Parish in Oceanside, the largest of the California missions and still an active parish, entered in 1970.

The complete list of California churches on the National Register

The table lists all 65 California congregations in this directory whose buildings hold National Register of Historic Places listings as of June 11, 2026. Click a column to sort; the county menu filters the list.

When did California churches enter the National Register?

California front-loaded its register work: 21 church listings in the 1970s and 13 in the 1980s, more than half the total in two decades, as the state documented its mission chain and Victorian-era sanctuaries. The pace has slowed since — 5 listings in the 2010s, 3 in the 2020s — which mostly means the obvious landmarks are done; recent listings document Japanese-American, Chinese-American, and Black congregation buildings.

Which California counties hold the most register-listed churches?

Where the register-listed churches stand: the map

How this list was assembled

The list joins the Churches List directory (21,472 California congregations as of June 11, 2026) against the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places database by building location and name. 65 matches hold as of the snapshot date; the earliest California church listing dates to 1966. A register listing covers the building, not the congregation, and some listed buildings house congregations younger than the walls. Corrections are applied through the corrections page.

Related reading in The Letter: the Los Angeles guide covers the county that leads this list, San Diego holds the mission trail's southern anchor, and California's 3,278 non-denominational churches shows the state's newest cohort against this oldest one. The California state page lists all 21,472 congregations.