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calmatters.org

19 technologies
VerifiedVisit1.4M/mo$23M14919 Tech19 Leads
Deep Dive

CalMatters: The Nonprofit Disrupting California News

How 149 people built a $22.9M machine that outperforms legacy media

While local newspapers across California collapse, CalMatters has quietly built a $22.9M nonprofit newsroom that reaches 1.4 million monthly readers. They're not just covering politics—they're rewriting the playbook for sustainable journalism in the digital age.

$22.9M
annual revenue
149
employees
1.43M
monthly visits
21.6M
backlinks

""They're not just reporting on California—they're building the infrastructure for its future information economy.""

The Attention Paradox

Here's the counterintuitive insight: CalMatters' top traffic driver isn't California policy—it's 'Trump news' with 528,960 monthly searches. They've mastered the art of leveraging national political interest to fund deep local reporting. This isn't accidental; it's a calculated SEO strategy that turns broad interest into sustained local journalism funding.

The Growth Engine

With 48% organic search and 42% direct traffic, CalMatters has built a rare dual-engine model. The direct traffic indicates a loyal, returning audience—crucial for a nonprofit relying on membership. Meanwhile, their 21.6M backlinks suggest they've become a canonical source for California policy, earning links from major publications and government sites alike.

The tech stack reveals their operational philosophy: jQuery, Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap, and Google Analytics. It's pragmatic, not flashy—built for speed and reliability over cutting-edge features. This mirrors their editorial approach: substance over spectacle. Their social presence across TikTok, X, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram shows they meet audiences where they are, not where legacy media thinks they should be.

  • Nonprofit model eliminates shareholder pressure, enabling long-term thinking
  • Nonpartisan stance builds trust across political divides in polarized California
  • Multi-platform strategy (TikTok to LinkedIn) captures diverse demographics
  • SEO dominance for 'Gavin Newsom' (362K monthly searches) and 'University of California' (45.7K searches)
No paywall blocking access
Sustainable membership model
No corporate ownership influence
Editorial independence guaranteed
No clickbait or sensationalism
Deep policy expertise over surface-level reporting

The Blueprint for Sustainable News

CalMatters proves that in the attention economy, the most valuable asset isn't clicks—it's trust. And trust, it turns out, is scalable.

What tech stack does Calmatters use?

33 detected
Programming Languages1
Marketing Automation1
Customer Support1
E-commerce & Payments1
Performance1
Web Standards2
UI Libraries1
JavaScript Libraries3
Tracking & Analytics14
G
Google Analytics
G
Google Tag Manager
H
HubSpot
G
Google APIs
H
HubSpot
G
Google Static
A
Analytics Service
T
Tracking Service
G
Google DoubleClick
G
Google Tag Manager
T
Tracking Pixel
G
Google Analytics
G
Google Ads
G
Google AdSense

How much traffic does Calmatters get?

Traffic & Engagement

1.3M
Monthly Visits
-42.5%
1.9
Pages/Visit
5:53
Avg. Duration
72%
Bounce Rate
Monthly Traffic Trend-21%
1.7M
Oct 2025
Oct
2.3M
Nov 2025
Nov
1.3M
Dec 2025
Dec

Rankings

#38,831
Global Rank
#8,763
United States Rank
Newspapers
Category

Backlinks & Authority

21.6M
Backlinks
34.4K
Ref. Domains
61
Authority Score
Low
Penalty Risk
Backlinks Trend+28%
16.9M
Jul 2025
Jul
18.3M
Aug 2025
Aug
19.4M
Sep 2025
Sep
20.9M
Oct 2025
Oct
21.5M
Nov 2025
Nov
21.6M
Dec 2025
Dec

Search Traffic

Organic
1.0M
Paid
42.2K

Top Organic Keywords

#1trump news
2,740,000 vol10.3%
#11trump
24,900,000 vol4.0%
#3california fires map
246,000 vol2.2%
#2trump news today
450,000 vol1.7%
#11donald trump
7,480,000 vol1.2%

Where is Calmatters's audience located?

🇺🇸United States97.7%
🇩🇪Germany0.4%
🇨🇦Canada0.4%
🇬🇧United Kingdom0.3%
🇪🇬Egypt0.2%

Who competes with Calmatters?

Device Distribution

Desktop27.1%
Mobile72.9%

What keywords does Calmatters rank for?

5 keywords
1trump news529.0K vol
2calmatters4.6K vol$3.06
3gavin newsom362.4K vol
4trump news today86.3K vol
5university of california45.7K vol$3.50

How is Calmatters's SEO?

Open Graph Image

OG Image preview
og:image

https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/calmatters-logo-social-thumbnail.jpg

Meta Tags

title60 chars

CalMatters - California Politics, Policy, and Political News

description113 chars

CalMatters is the leading nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom committed to explaining California politics and policy.

og:title

CalMatters

og:description

CalMatters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom committed to explaining California policy and politics.

languageEN-US

H1 Tags

h1Home
h1Search results

Schema Types

Unknown

Who works at Calmatters?

Loading leads...

What do customers think of Calmatters?

No Trustpilot reviews available for this company.

Frequently Asked Questions about Calmatters

What is Calmatters's Revenue?
Calmatters generates approximately $23M in annual revenue. With 149 employees, that's $154,000 per employee.
What does Calmatters do?
CalMatters is the leading nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom committed to explaining California politics and policy.
How fast is Calmatters growing?
Calmatters has declined by 42.5% in the last 6 months according to traffic data. employee count has changed by 20% year over year.
How do people interact with Calmatters?
When visiting Calmatters, visitors view an average of 1.9 pages per visit, and spend around 5:53 on the site, and the bounce rate is 71.8%.
How do people find Calmatters?
227.6K people (17%) visit Calmatters directly. 1.0M (79%) find them through organic search. 42.2K (3%) come through paid advertising.
Who uses Calmatters?
Calmatters's top market is United States with 1.3M visitors (97.7%). Germany is 2nd with 4.9K (0.4%). Canada is 3rd with 4.8K (0.4%).
What technologies does Calmatters use?
Calmatters uses 19 technologies across their website including Fonts, Programming Languages, CMS. Key technologies include Google Fonts, PHP, Contentful, WordPress.
Who are Calmatters's competitors?
Calmatters's main competitors include Paradigm, PRN Ambulance, GOQii, Awair, Apixio. These companies operate in similar markets and compete for the same customer base.

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About calmatters.org

CalMatters is the leading nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom committed to explaining California politics and policy.

Company Overview

calmatters.org
Website
law_and_government
Industry
#50,701
Global Rank
1.4M
Monthly Visitors
19
Technologies
19+
Employees

Technology Stack

calmatters.org uses 19 technologies across their website including Google Fonts, PHP, Contentful, WordPress, and more.

Fonts

Google Fonts

Programming Languages

PHP

CMS

Contentful, WordPress

Marketing Automation

HubSpot

Advertising

DoubleClick Floodlight

Customer Support

Zendesk

Traffic & Audience

1.4M
Monthly Visits
63%
Bounce Rate
1.5
Pages/Visit
0:57
Avg. Duration

calmatters.org receives approximately 1.4M monthly visitors and ranks #50,701 globally. The website has a bounce rate of 63% with visitors viewing an average of 1.5 pages per visit. Users spend an average of 0:57 on the site.

The majority of calmatters.org's traffic comes from undefined, undefined, .

Frequently Asked Questions

What is calmatters.org?
CalMatters is the leading nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom committed to explaining California politics and policy.
What technologies does calmatters.org use?
calmatters.org uses 19 technologies including Google Fonts, PHP, and 13 more. View the full tech stack analysis above.
How do I contact calmatters.org?
You can contact calmatters.org via email at [email protected] or through their contact page.
What are calmatters.org's social media accounts?
calmatters.org is active on tiktok, twitter, youtube, facebook, linkedin, instagram. You can find links to all their social media profiles in the social section above.
Is calmatters.org hiring?
Check calmatters.org's careers page for current job openings and opportunities. The company has 19+ known employees.
How popular is calmatters.org?
calmatters.org receives approximately 1.4M monthly visitors and ranks #50,701 globally. Traffic is declining by 39.2% month-over-month.

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This page provides publicly available information about calmatters.org. Data is collected from various public sources and may not always be up to date. For the most accurate information, please visit calmatters.org directly at https://calmatters.org.