the sun setting on Joshua Tree (BDUngard via Flickr)

1) MOST HATED STATE IN AMERICA. Public Policy Polling found that California was least popular state among Americans in a 2011-12 poll. We'll take this as a compliment. Having haters means we're doing something right.

2) MOST INNOVATIVE STATE GOVERNMENT. California is a trailblazer when it comes to policy decisions. By tracking which states are first and which are last (Mississippi, quite often) to adopt laws such as seatbelt requirements, Frederick Boehmke and Paul Skinner of the University of Iowa found that California leaves other states in the dust: California is "not only first but it's first by a large margin. It's 50 per cent more innovative than the second most innovative state," Boehmke said. 

 3) MOST MONEY SPENT ON COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH EXCESSIVE DRINKING. In a study to be published in October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in 2006, California spent roughly $32 billion on "excessive alcohol consumption." This is about two times as much as any other state spent on reduced workplace productivity, health care, car accidents, and other associated costs.

4) STRICTEST GUN LAWS. California is in a league of its own on the Brady Campaign's ranking of state gun laws. Universal background checks and limitations on handgun purchases "are just some of the laws that provide a road map to preventing gun violence," according to the Campaign.

5) MOST EXTREME POLITICAL POLARIZATION. We're not all hippies here, it turns out. In a study which measured the average "distance between party medians," Nolan McCarty of Princeton University and Boris Shor of University of Chicago found that Californian conservatives and liberals shared the least common ground of any state, by far (you can view a graph of their results here).

6) MOST POLLUTED CITIES. According to the American Lung Association, we've got the number one most polluted city by ozone (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside), by year-round particle pollution (Bakersfield-Delano), and by short-term particle pollution (Bakersfield-Delano). Not only that, but California dominates the top FIVE spots in each category. Yikes.

Reach Deputy Editor Lauren Madow here. Follow her on Twitter.