San Jose, California

San Jose, officially the City of San José (Spanish for 'Saint Joseph'[12] /ˌsæn hoʊˈzeɪ, -ˈseɪ/ SAN hoh-ZAY, -⁠SAY; Spanish: [saŋ xoˈse]),[13] is the largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2022 population of 971,233,[9] it is the most populous city in both the Bay Area and the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland Combined Statistical Area, which has a 2015 population of 7.7 million and 9.7 million people respectively,[14] the third-most populous city in California after Los Angeles and San Diego, and the 12th-most populous in the United States.[15][16] Located in the center of the Santa Clara Valley on the southern shore of San Francisco Bay, San Jose covers an area of 179.97 sq mi (466.1 km²). San Jose is the county seat of Santa Clara County and the main component of the San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara Metropolitan Statistical Area, with an estimated population of around two million residents in 2018.[17]

Quick facts: San Jose, Country, State, County, Region... ▼

San Jose
City
City of San José
Downtown skyline Hotel De Anza BoI Building City Hall Santana Row SAP Center Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton
Flag Seal
Motto:  Capital of Silicon Valley
Show San Jose Show Santa Clara County Show California Show the United States
Coordinates: 37°20′10″N 121°53′26″W
Country	United States
State	California
County	Santa Clara
Region	San Francisco Bay Area
Metro	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
CSA	San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland
Pueblo founded	November 29, 1777
Founded as	Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe
Incorporated	March 27, 1850[1]
Named for	Saint Joseph
Government
• Type	Council–manager[2]
• Body	San Jose City Council
• Mayor	Matt Mahan[3] (D)
• Vice mayor	Rosemary Kamei (D)
• City Council	Sergio Jimenez (D) Omar Torres (D) David Cohen (D) Peter Ortiz (D) Dev Davis (I) Bien Doan (R) Domingo Candelas (D) Pam Foley (D) Arjun Batra (D)
• City Manager	Jennifer Maguire[4]
• Assemblymembers[5]	List Marc Berman (D) Alex Lee (D) Ash Kalra (D) Evan Low (D) Gail Pellerin (D)
Area [6]
• City	181.36 sq mi (469.72 km2)
• Land	178.24 sq mi (461.63 km2)
• Water	3.12 sq mi (8.09 km2)  1.91%
• Urban	285.48 sq mi (739.4 km2)
• Metro	2,694.61 sq mi (6,979 km2)
Elevation [7]	82 ft (25 m)
Lowest elevation [8]	0 ft (0 m)
Population  (2020)
• City	1,013,240
• Estimate  (2022)[9]	971,233
• Rank	32nd in North America 12th in the United States 3rd in California
• Density	5,684.69/sq mi (2,194.92/km2)
• Urban	1,837,446 (US: 28th)
• Urban density	6,436.4/sq mi (2,485.1/km2)
• Metro [10]	2,000,468 (US: 35th)
Demonym(s)	San Josean(s) San Joséan(s) Josefino/a(s)
Time zone	UTC−08:00 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−07:00 (PDT)
ZIP Codes	List 95002 95008 95101 95103 95106 95108–95113 95115–95141 95148 95150–95161 95164, 95170 95172 95173 95129 95190–95194 95196[11]
Area code(s)	408/669
FIPS code	06-68000
GNIS feature IDs	1654952, 2411790
Website	www.sanjoseca.gov

San Jose is notable for its innovation, cultural diversity,[18] affluence,[19] and sunny and mild Mediterranean climate.[20] Its connection to the booming high tech industry phenomenon known as Silicon Valley[21] prompted Mayor Tom McEnery to adopt the city motto of "Capital of Silicon Valley" in 1988 to promote the city.[22] Major global tech companies including Cisco Systems, eBay, Adobe Inc., PayPal, Broadcom, Samsung, Acer, and Zoom maintain their headquarters in San Jose. San Jose is one of the wealthiest major cities in the world, with the third-highest GDP per capita (after Zürich and Oslo)[23] and the fifth-most expensive housing market.[24] It is home to one of the world's largest overseas Vietnamese populations,[25] a Hispanic community that makes up over 40% of the city's residents,[26] and historic ethnic enclaves such as Japantown and Little Portugal.

Before the arrival of the Spanish, the area around San Jose was long inhabited by the Tamien nation of the Ohlone peoples of California. San Jose was founded on November 29, 1777, as the Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the first city founded in the Californias.[27] It became a part of Mexico in 1821 after the Mexican War of Independence.

Following the American Conquest of California during the Mexican–American War, the territory was ceded to the United States in 1848. After California achieved statehood two years later, San Jose was designated as the state's first capital.[28] Following World War II, San Jose experienced an economic boom, with a rapid population growth and aggressive annexation of nearby cities and communities carried out in the 1950s and 1960s. The rapid growth of the high-technology and electronics industries further accelerated the transition from an agricultural center to an urbanized metropolitan area. Results of the 1990 U.S. census indicated that San Jose had officially surpassed San Francisco as the most populous city in Northern California.[29] By the 1990s, San Jose had become the global center for the high tech and internet industries and was California's fastest-growing economy for 2015–2016.[30] Between April 2020 and July 2022, San Jose lost 42,000 people, 4.1% of its population, dropping to 12th largest city position in largest city ranking.[31]