>Open carry licenses do exist, and you can get them, from the Sheriff of a County with population under 200,000;
It looks like the 30 California counties with population of less than 200,000 have a combined land area of 73,063 square miles, while the 27 counties with populations over 200,000 have a combined land area of 83,022 square miles. So about 47% of the state is composed of counties with a population less than 200,000.
There's either an error in one of the counts or a county left out somewhere in there, because California has 58, not 57, counties, but it probably doesn't change the percentage of land area much either way.
Good catch. I apparently was off by one in counting the over 200,000 population counties, but there are actually 28 counties in my spreadsheet, so the area should be correct (but someone might want to double check anyway).
It looks like the 30 California counties with population of less than 200,000 have a combined land area of 73,063 square miles, while the 27 counties with populations over 200,000 have a combined land area of 83,022 square miles. So about 47% of the state is composed of counties with a population less than 200,000.