The US cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento have all been rattled by large earthquakes 1.5 magnitude or greater in the past day.

The largest quake measured 2.6 magnitude and struck 4.30am local time at a depth of 23km near Tuolumne City, around 213km from San Francisco.

Eleven of the tremors were over 2.0 magnitude, while the rest were between 1.0 to 2.0 magnitude, according to Earthquake Track. 

Although relatively small, the wave of earthquakes will entrench fears that a massive tremor measuring 7.0 or above could strike the region.

Scientists believe the US state is overdue a "big one" magnitude 7 or over earthquake by around 50 years.