Perhaps you’re an extra tall individual or you sleep with a partner and you’d both love some extra foot room. If you’re ready to take the plunge on a new dream bed and land yourself in the best California king mattress on the market, stay with us. We took a close look at which mattresses work best in the California king size.
Regardless of what mattress type you’re looking for — a memory foam mattress, gel memory foam mattress, innerspring mattress, hybrid mattress, a soft or firm mattress or some other variation that caters to your preferred sleeping style — here are the best California king mattress options we’ve found. (All prices listed are the regular, nonsale list price.) Once you pick out the perfect mattress, you’ll be able to experience the true comfort of the California King Bed Rihanna couldn’t stop singing about.
Prices below reflect the costs of California king size mattresses.
Video: Best California King Mattresses for 2023
Watch CNET video producer Owen Poole review the best California king size mattresses for 2023.
These reflect MSRP or list prices. Sales might make a mattress less expensive, but are always changing.
When deciding the best California king mattress overall, I wanted to pick a mattress that was suitable for singles, couples, all body types, most sleeping positions and most budgets. The Brooklyn Bedding Signature fits that bill to a tee, and it’s ultracomfortable.
The Brooklyn Bedding Signature is a hybrid mattress that’s more affordable than most of its competitors. Brooklyn Bedding manufactures its own mattresses, eliminating the need for a middle man. That makes it able to sell you your mattress for less than the other big brands. When you catch this mattress during a promo, you can get a quality California king bed for under $1,200.
It’s a comfortable, accommodating hybrid mattress that feels soft and springy. I’d compare it to the foam in your favorite comfy couch, or like memory foam without that dense, “stuck” feel. It’s available in three firmness levels, making the soft and medium models perfect for side and combination sleepers, while the firm model is ideal for back and stomach sleepers. Read more about this mattress in our full Brooklyn Bedding Signature review.
Type Flippable hybrid mattressFirmness Firm: 5 or medium | Soft: 3 or medium-softTrial 120 nightsWarranty 10-year limited warrantyPrice$$
Layla Hybrid
The Saatva Classic is a supportive mattress with a combination of contouring latex foam, supportive innerspring coils and special lumbar technology that makes it great for back and stomach sleepers. The Luxury Firm model of this mattress is a solid medium-firm and its dual-coil construction is a unique feature that makes the Saatva bed incredibly supportive. As such, it’s one of the best California king mattress models you can buy.
The Saatva Classic hybrid mattress is unique in the direct-to-consumer realm in that it doesn’t arrive in a box (so make sure your doorways and stairs can fit a California king’s dimensions). But that means it can be made to order after you select your preference of firmness level as well as your choice of height: 11.5 inches or 14.5 inches.
Based on my own testing, I found the beds range from medium to firm, depending on the firmness level you choose. Finally, the California king bed mattress reaches new levels of coziness with a three-inch Euro pillow top. All of this also works well for larger mattresses like the Cal king.
With your purchase at Saatva, you get a 180-night sleep trial, a 15-year warranty and free delivery with in-room setup and old mattress removal. Read more for our full Saatva mattress review.
Saatva Classic
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Having enjoyed a hands-on test of the Avocado Green mattress, I can say from experience that it’s a joy to sleep on. And on top of being highly comfy, especially for back, stomach and heavy sleepers, this Cal king mattress is also eco-friendly — Avocado’s mattresses are made of organic wool, cotton and latex.
In addition to using organic materials, Avocado sources its wool from its own co-owned Indian wool farm, where more than 200,000 sheep roam freely across 40 organic hectares. If you’d prefer a vegan mattress without wool of any kind, Avocado also makes the same mattress in a vegan variety, which also comes in a California king. The company also grows and processes its own organic Dunlop latex. Each mattress is handcrafted in its California factory, where the company bypasses the use of toxic glues by implementing a traditional hand-tufting technique. And if that’s not enough, their mattresses are all tested to ensure low emissions, guaranteeing that they meet air quality standards.
If you need a firm mattress to support a larger or taller body, the Avocado Green in California king size is a great choice. You can also buy the pillow-topper for $500 which softens up the feel to a medium-firm. It’s an ideal firmer mattress for back and stomach sleepers, as well as those with back pain. A little extra space lengthwise gives the healing body plenty of room to do its thing.
Avocado’s US-made mattresses come with free shipping, a one-year sleep trial and a 25-year warranty. Read more at our full Avocado mattress review.
Avocado Green
Amerisleep’s AS2 Hybrid mattress features a proprietary memory foam called Bio-Pur, which is highly responsive and quick to recover whenever a sleeper moves, adding some motion isolation. It’s remarkably supportive with a medium-firm density, so it relieves pressure and helps with spinal alignment. For taller folks or couples with back pain, the California king AS2 Hybrid is a wise choice.
The Bio-Pur foam is also well ventilated and breathable compared to more common varieties, leaving sleepers cool throughout the night. And an eight-inch layer of coils and a layer of HIVE technology (hundreds of hexagonal cutouts spread across five zones) allow for ideal support and cushioning right where your body needs them.
The AS2 Hybrid California king mattress is beneficial for all types of sleepers, including folks who move around and change sleeping positions a lot at night. In addition, it’s CNET’s pick for the best mattress for couples, and the California king bed offers extra leg room.
With the AS2 Hybrid, you get free shipping and returns, a 100-night sleep trial and a 20-year warranty. Read more in our full Amerisleep mattress review.
Amerisleep AS2 Hybrid
The Helix Plus is designed to offer a firmer mattress with extra support and comfort for those with larger or taller-than-average bodies, making it an ideal plus-size mattress in the California king size. However, it also makes a great fit for just about all sleepers, regardless of size or sleep position preference. As long as the 7-to-8 firmness level rating doesn’t bother you (it’s a medium to firm feel), this mattress is likely to be a superb match.
Providing excellent pressure relief, the Helix Plus Cal king mattress offers just enough give to maintain support while letting the sleeper get cozy in the contours of the memory foam. This mattress also offers fantastic motion transfer, so you may not even notice your sleeping partner getting in and out of bed.
The California king size of the Helix Plus contains all the extra support, higher density foam and conveniently low motion transfer of the smaller versions, providing a longer mattress and the width of a spacious king. And for any bigger or taller folks who may sleep better with a little more space between them, this size is ideal. Read more in our full Helix mattress review.
Helix Plus
It will be worth the money for a California king if you have a lot of extra space in your bedroom, are a big and tall individual, or you want a mattress that offers more leg space for your furry friends. California king beds are more narrow than a standard king, but are longer to allow for more leg and foot room.
Many California king mattresses will cost you around $1,200 to $1,600, especially if you’re looking for a premium bed. Luxury California king mattresses are known to retail for $1,800 or more, but you can also find a budget California king mattress like Allswell for under $500.
If you have animals that sleep on the bottom of your mattress, are 6 feet, 5 inches (or taller) or you just want the extra leg space, a California king is a good option because it offers more length than your standard king bed. However, if you expect your kiddos to be snuggling up next to you in bed some nights, you might want a wider standard king bed to fit all your loved ones. It’s worth noting that brands often price their king and California king beds the same, so you usually don’t end up paying more for one or the other.
