A Brooking Institute study focused on the growth of the "clean economy" cited California as the national leader for "green jobs". The state is home to 320,000 such jobs, out of a national total of 2.7 million. The study defined a wide variety of work as green, moving beyond such mainstays as the renewable energy industry and including fields such as mass transit. While urban areas such as the L.A. Basin have an impressive number of green jobs, they make up a smaller percentage of the total work force there than in other cities across the country.
See "California leads nation in 'green jobs,' study says", Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2011