California Unclaimed Property: Most Records vs Most Money

• Wells Fargo reports the most records among California's largest holders, 266,625, but Bank of America holds the most money, $371,024,638.
• Charles Schwab holds the fewest records of the six largest holders, 39,669, yet its average record is worth about $7,981, far above the group's other averages.
• Los Angeles holds more total unclaimed property than any other California city, $1,092,615,160 across 1,135,910 records, but its average record, about $962, trails Irvine's average of about $1,249.
• Record count and dollar total are different measures, and neither tells an individual reader what their own entry, if any, is worth.
• A name search is the only way to find out whether a specific record belongs to you.

Why do record counts and dollar totals point to different holders?

If you have ever closed a bank account after a move, let a stock dividend sit uncashed, or left an insurance policy behind when a company merged, your name could already sit inside one of 14,775,153 property records the California State Controller holds. That number by itself says nothing about what any single record is worth. Two different lists make that clear. One ranks holders — the banks, brokerages and insurers that report property — by how many records they filed. The other ranks them by how much money sits behind those records. The two lists do not agree, and the gap between them is the point: a company that files hundreds of thousands of small entries can hold less money overall than one that files far fewer, much larger ones. The same split shows up among California cities. Knowing where your old bank or your old address ranks on either list will not tell you what, if anything, is sitting under your own name.

Which company holds the most records, and which holds the most money?

Among the largest reporting companies in California’s file, Wells Fargo Bank NA files the most records, 266,625, holding $359,995,204. Bank Of America — California NA files fewer records, 139,263, but holds more money, $371,024,638, making it the largest holder by value among this group. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and MetLife Inc. appear separately — 121,469 records worth $252,477,940, and 201,402 records worth $210,251,384 — a reminder that related companies can file under different names and different totals.

Charles Schwab & Co Inc. makes the gap most visible. It reports only 39,669 records, the fewest of the six, yet those records are worth $316,593,196 — third highest by value. Divide the two figures and the average Schwab record is worth about $7,981. The average Wells Fargo record, by the same math, is worth about $1,350. Brokerage holdings tend to carry larger balances than routine bank fees or lapsed cashier’s checks, and that difference, multiplied across thousands of accounts, is what separates the two lists.

Does the same split show up among cities?

Los Angeles tops both city lists: 1,135,910 records and $1,092,615,160, more than any other California city on either measure. But the two lists split further down. San Francisco holds 505,732 records worth $597,054,488, an average of about $1,181 per record. Irvine holds far fewer records, 141,706, worth $177,043,296, for an average of about $1,249 per record — higher than San Francisco’s and higher than Los Angeles’s own average of about $962.

San Diego, San Jose and Sacramento sit lower on both counts — 488,762, 355,035 and 249,522 records respectively — and their averages, around $844, $874 and $814 per record, are lower again. The pattern repeats: the city with the most total dollars is not the city with the highest typical record, and a shorter list of records does not mean a smaller typical payout.

Does the pattern repeat within property types?

The same divergence appears inside property categories. Cashier’s Checks account for the most records among the largest categories, 688,548, worth $797,643,439. Checking Accounts carry fewer records, 396,236, but more money, $1,075,997,337, the highest value of any category in this data. Proceeds Due Beneficiaries sit further down the record count, 233,994, yet average about $4,035 per record, well above Cashier’s Checks’ average of about $1,158. A record’s category says more about its likely size than its holder’s name does, though neither tells you what a specific record is worth without checking it directly.

What does this mean if I'm trying to work out whether I'm on either list?

None of these totals describe an individual. They describe the holders and the cities, not the people whose names sit inside the records. A record can be a small refund or a six-figure brokerage balance, filed by a company with 266,625 other records or by one with only a few thousand. The only way to know what, if anything, is sitting under your name is to search for it directly, not to reason from a company’s size or a city’s total.

Estates are counted separately from this file. California also lists 37,166 probate estates, of which 4,438 remain claimable, holding $59,038,273 across 38 counties — a different file, refreshed twice a year, built from county probate records rather than holder reports.

What should I do next?

A name search is the fastest way to find out whether any of this applies to you; aggregate totals like the ones above cannot tell you that. If a search turns up a result reported under §1530, our fee is capped at 10 per cent of what is recovered under CCP §1582, and nothing is owed unless the Controller pays the claim. Estates reaching the State through county probate are not subject to that cap, since they arrive under the Probate Code rather than §1530.

If you are searching for yourself, start with our free search and the individual claim guide. If you are searching on behalf of an estate, the probate estates page explains how that separate file works and what a claimable balance looks like before any fee is discussed.

Questions People Ask

Figures on this page are from our copy of the State Controller’s published file as it stood on 6 November 2026. The State republishes the file weekly, so current totals will differ. Search is always against the latest copy.