Tower Landlord

States / California

CA · #2 of 51 by structures

Cell towers in California

California has 6,864 constructed antenna structures in the FCC registry — 5% of the national total and number 2 of 51. The most common kind is the tower (28%), the median overall height is 77 feet, and 12% stand taller than 200 feet. The largest owner is SBA Communications, with 884 structures (13%).

Look up towers Value a buyout offer

1234
  1. 1Constructed structures 6,864
  2. 2Median height 77 ft
  3. 3Largest owner SBA Communications
  4. 4Counties with a county page 56
Los Angeles County1,295San Bernardino County580Riverside County574San Diego County485Kern County332Orange County313Fresno County234Sacramento County232Alameda County231Santa Clara County215
Constructed FCC-registered structures in California's ten counties with the most, bars to scale. Source: FCC ASR, October 2026.

Who owns California's towers

The FCC registry names the owner of each structure. In California the eight largest owner groups hold 3,860 of the 6,864 structures. Where a tower stands on leased land, that owner — or whoever bought the tower from it — is usually the landowner's tenant and the party a lease buyout offer is ultimately about.

SBA Communications884Crown Castle629T-Mobile629American Tower502Los Angeles SMSA Limited Par481AT&T342PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPA210CALIFORNIA, STATE OF183
Constructed structures in California by owner group, bars to scale. Families group registrant names carrying the brand; private owners' names are withheld. Source: FCC ASR.

Types and age

More of California's registered structures went up in the 2000s than in any other decade (33%). A tower's age matters to a landowner because a ground lease runs for a set term plus renewals: the older the tower, the more of that term has been used, and the fewer years of rent are left to value when an offer arrives.

Tower1,893Pole1,648Monopole1,256Lattice tower641Other or unspecified459On a building449Tree / stealth212Guyed tower160Mast105Water tank41
Constructed structures in California by type, bars to scale. Source: FCC ASR structure types.
361950s1071960s1381970s3621980s1,3891990s2,2772000s1,7042010s8082020s
Structures in California by decade built (1950s on), columns to scale. Source: FCC ASR construction dates.

Every county

Alameda County 231Alpine County 1Amador County 10Butte County 54Calaveras County 12Colusa County 10Contra Costa County 116Del Norte County 20El Dorado County 65Fresno County 234Glenn County 17Humboldt County 49Imperial County 107Inyo County 39Kern County 332Kings County 93Lake County 14Lassen County 19Los Angeles County 1295Madera County 41Marin County 26Mariposa County 27Mendocino County 52Merced County 77Modoc County 24Mono County 11Monterey County 119Napa County 33Nevada County 30Orange County 313Placer County 77Plumas County 35Riverside County 574Sacramento County 232San Benito County 25San Bernardino County 580San Diego County 485San Francisco County 18San Joaquin County 119San Luis Obispo County 72San Mateo County 153Santa Barbara County 103Santa Clara County 215Santa Cruz County 19Shasta County 59Sierra County 2Siskiyou County 24Solano County 78Sonoma County 57Stanislaus County 93Sutter County 20Tehama County 19Trinity County 17Tulare County 116Tuolumne County 22Ventura County 110Yolo County 40Yuba County 29

Counties with fewer than 10 structures have no page of their own; their towers are in the lookup.

Source: FCC Antenna Structure Registration, weekly public access file (r_tower.zip, created 2026-10-18); county names from the U.S. Census Bureau 2024 gazetteer. Checked 2026-10-23. Methodology.