Santa Clara County, California
Encyclopedia
Santa Clara County is a county
County (United States)
In the United States, a county is a geographic subdivision of a state , usually assigned some governmental authority. The term "county" is used in 48 of the 50 states; Louisiana is divided into parishes and Alaska into boroughs. Parishes and boroughs are called "county-equivalents" by the U.S...

 located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley
Santa Clara Valley
The Santa Clara Valley is a valley just south of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. Much of Santa Clara County and its county seat, San José, are in the Santa Clara Valley. The valley was originally known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight for its high concentration...

 within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

. Santa Clara is the most populous county in the Bay Area region, and one of the most affluent counties
Highest-income counties in the United States
There are 3,141 counties in the United States. The source of the data is the U.S. Census Bureau and the data is current as of the indicated year. Independent cities are considered county-equivalent by the Census Bureau.-2011:...

 in the United States.

History

Santa Clara County was one of the original counties of California, formed in 1850 at the time of statehood. The original inhabitants included the Ohlone
Ohlone
The Ohlone people, also known as the Costanoan, are a Native American people of the central California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the area along the coast from San Francisco Bay through Monterey Bay to the lower Salinas Valley...

, residing on Coyote Creek
Coyote Creek
Coyote Creek is a river that flows through the Santa Clara Valley in California, United States.-History:Coyote Creek was originally named Arroyo del Coyote by Padre Pedro Font when the de Anza Expedition reached it on Sunday, March 31, 1776....

 and Calaveras Creek
Calaveras Creek
Calaveras Creek is a waterway that starts near Martinez, Texas and runs for fifteen miles to its mouth at the San Antonio River. It is the source of Calaveras Lake where it is dammed near Elmendorf. Calaveras means skulls in Spanish....

. Part of the county's territory was given to Alameda County
Alameda County, California
Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...

 in 1853.

The county is named after Mission Santa Clara
Mission Santa Clara de Asís
Mission Santa Clara de Asís was founded on January 12, 1777 and named for Santa Clara de Asis , the foundress of the order of the Poor Clares. Although ruined and rebuilt six times, the settlement was never abandoned.-History:...

, which was established in 1777, and named for Saint Clare of Assisi
Clare of Assisi
Clare of Assisi , born Chiara Offreduccio, is an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

In 1882, Santa Clara County tried to levy taxes upon property of the Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

 within county boundaries. The result was the U.S. Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad
Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad
Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with taxation of railroad properties...

, 118 U.S. 394
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...

 (1886), in which the Court extended Due Process rights to artificial legal entities.

Once promoted as the "Valley of the Heart's Delight", after two centuries of an agricultural economy started by the Spanish missionaries, the focus has shifted to technology. This trend is not new. Hewlett Packard was founded in 1939, and IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 selected San Jose as its West Coast headquarters in 1943. Varian Associates
Varian Associates
Varian Associates was one of the first high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1948 by Russell H. and Sigurd F. Varian, William Webster Hansen, and Edward Ginzton to sell the klystron, the first tube which could generate electromagnetic waves at microwave frequencies, and other...

, Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing...

, and other early innovators, were located in the county by the late 1940s and 1950s. The U.S. Navy had a large presence in the area and began giving large contracts to Silicon Valley electronics companies. The term "Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

" was coined in 1971. The trend accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s, as agriculture has been nearly eliminated from the northern part of the county. Today, Santa Clara County is the headquarters for such companies as Apple, Facebook, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard, Google, Yahoo, eBay, Intel and many others. Most of Silicon Valley's (Santa Clara Valley) high tech companies are located within the county, with some adjoining tech regions in San Mateo, Alameda, and Santa Cruz counties also being considered Silicon Valley.

Geography

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 1304.01 square miles (3,377.4 km²), of which 1290.69 square miles (3,342.9 km²) (or 98.98%) is land and 13.32 square miles (34.5 km²) (or 1.02%) is water.

The San Andreas Fault
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental strike-slip fault that runs a length of roughly through California in the United States. The fault's motion is right-lateral strike-slip...

 runs along the Santa Cruz Mountains
Santa Cruz Mountains
The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central California, United States. They form a ridge along the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco, separating the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley, and continuing south,...

 in the
south of the county.

Incorporated cities and towns

There are 15 incorporated cities and towns in the county:
  • San Jose
    San Jose, California
    San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

    , which includes all or portions of the former cities/communities of:
    • Alum Rock
      Alum Rock, California
      Alum Rock is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and a community of San Jose. The CDP, which excludes all annexed areas, had a population of 15,536 at the 2010 census. Alum Rock was named after a rock formerly thought to be composed of alum in nearby Alum...

      ,
    • Cambrian Park,
    • Willow Glen
      Willow Glen, California
      Willow Glen is a neighborhood of San Jose, California, in Santa Clara County. Geographically speaking, the Willow Glen neighborhood is centered around Lincoln Avenue, which was re-named from "Willow Glen Road" in 1865 shortly after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.By 1863 the small...

      ,
    • East San Jose, and
    • Alviso
  • Campbell
    Campbell, California
    Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...

  • Cupertino
    Cupertino, California
    Cupertino is an affluent suburban city in Santa Clara County, California in the U.S., directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 58,302 at the time of the 2010 census. Forbes...

  • Gilroy
    Gilroy, California
    Gilroy is the southernmost city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 48,821 at the 2010 census. Gilroy is well-known for its garlic crop and for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, featuring various garlicky foods, including garlic ice cream. Gilroy also produces...

  • Los Altos
    Los Altos, California
    Los Altos is a city at the southern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 28,976 according to the 2010 census....

  • Los Altos Hills
    Los Altos Hills, California
    Los Altos Hills is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 7,922 at the 2010 census. Located in Silicon Valley, Los Altos Hills is one of the wealthiest cities in the nation.-Strictly residential:...

  • Los Gatos
    Los Gatos, California
    The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...

  • Milpitas
    Milpitas, California
    Milpitas is a city in Santa Clara County, California. It is a suburb of the major city of San Jose, California. It is located with San Jose to its south and Fremont to its north, at the eastern end of State Route 237 and generally between Interstates 680 and 880 which run roughly north/south...

  • Monte Sereno
    Monte Sereno, California
    Monte Sereno is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. The population was 3,341 at the 2010 census. The city is located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, about 10 miles southwest of San Jose and is immediately northwest of Los Gatos. The city is named for the 2249 ft...

  • Morgan Hill
    Morgan Hill, California
    Morgan Hill is a city located in the southern part of Santa Clara County, California, United States. Founded on November 10, 1906, the city was named after Hiram Morgan Hill, a San Franciscan who built a country retreat home there in 1884...

  • Mountain View
    Mountain View, California
    -Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...

  • Palo Alto
    Palo Alto, California
    Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...

  • Santa Clara
    Santa Clara, California
    Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...

  • Saratoga
    Saratoga, California
    Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay area. The population was 29,926 at the 2010 census....

  • Sunnyvale
    Sunnyvale, California
    Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...


Census-designated places
  • Alum Rock
    Alum Rock, California
    Alum Rock is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and a community of San Jose. The CDP, which excludes all annexed areas, had a population of 15,536 at the 2010 census. Alum Rock was named after a rock formerly thought to be composed of alum in nearby Alum...

  • Burbank
    Burbank, Santa Clara County, California
    Burbank is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California. Part of the neighborhood has been annexed to San Jose, while the rest consists of unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. The population was 4,926 at the 2010 census...

  • Cambrian Park
  • East Foothills
    East Foothills, California
    East Foothills is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and a neighborhood of San Jose. The population was 8,269 at the 2010 census. The area is more commonly referred to as East San Jose, and is located about 4 miles east of downtown San Jose...

  • Fruitdale
    Fruitdale, California
    Fruitdale is an unincorporated Census Designated Place in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 935 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Fruitdale is located at...

  • Lexington Hills
    Lexington Hills, California
    Lexington Hills is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 2,421 at the 2010 census. The area is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains, about five miles south of Los Gatos and about north of Santa Cruz...

  • Loyola
    Loyola, California
    Loyola is a census-designated place and an unincorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 3,261 at the 2010 census. The area is located between the cities of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills...

     also known as Loyola Corners
  • San Martin
    San Martin, California
    San Martin is a census-designated place and an unincorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It takes its name from St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of early pioneer Martin Murphy, who built the first Catholic church in the area...

  • Stanford
    Stanford, California
    Stanford is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and is the home of Stanford University. The population was 13,809 at the 2010 census....


Other unincorporated communities
  • Bell Station
    Bell Station, California
    Bell Station is an unincorporated area located along State Route 152 between Casa de Fruta and Pacheco Pass near the southeast extent of Santa Clara County, California....

     also known as Bell's Station and Hollenbeck's Station.
  • Casa Loma
    Casa Loma, Santa Clara County, California
    Casa Loma along with Loma Chiquita are private roads, in a rural area of Santa Clara County covering over 5,500 acres with an unofficial population of 175...

     also known as Loma Chiquita.
  • Chemeketa Park
    Chemeketa Park, California
    Chemeketa Park is an unincorporated community of approximately 150 homes located in Lexington Hills, in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Santa Clara County, California. The postal designation for Chemeketa Park is "Los Gatos 95033", although it lies approximately five miles South of the official...

     (part of Lexington Hills CDP)
  • Coyote
    Coyote, California
    Coyote, originally Burnett is an unincorporated community in a narrowing of Santa Clara Valley astride Coyote Creek, between San Jose and Morgan Hill, in Santa Clara County, California. Its ZIP Code is 95013; there is a small U.S. Post Office....

     also known as Burnett circa 1860–1882.
  • Redwood Estates
    Redwood Estates, California
    Redwood Estates is a rural community along State Route 17 in the coastal Santa Cruz Mountains of California, USA. The Census Bureau includes it in a census-designated place named Lexington Hills. It lies inside the confines of Santa Clara County...

     (part of Lexington Hills CDP)
  • Rucker
    Rucker, California
    Rucker is a historic district in unincorporated Santa Clara County, California located halfway along the five miles of Monterey Highway between Gilroy, California and San Martin. The name is official, but not in common use among locals today. Its elevation is listed as 235 feet above mean sea level...

  • San Antonio
    San Antonio Valley, California
    The community of San Antonio Valley, also called San Antonio or San Antone, is located along the Diablo Range in eastern Santa Clara County, California. The locale is on the border of Alameda County and Stanislaus County. The sparsely-populated area is located at the junction of San Antonio Valley...

     also known as Deforest circa 1892–1924.

Former townships

  • Almaden Township: Present-day Almaden Valley
    Almaden Valley, San Jose, California
    Almaden Valley is an upper-class neighborhood of about 37,000 in the southwestern portion of San Jose, California, USA, roughly equivalent to the 95120 ZIP Code. The neighborhood is south east of the town of Los Gatos, west of the Santa Teresa neighborhood of San Jose and south of Coleman Ave...

    , Cambrian Park
    Cambrian Park, San Jose, California
    Cambrian Park is a census-designated place and neighborhood of San Jose, a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Cambrian Park was never incorporated as a town , and there was never a Post Office for Cambrian Park...

     and portions of Campbell
    Campbell, California
    Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...

     and Los Gatos
    Los Gatos, California
    The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...

    .
  • Alviso Township: Present-day Alviso
    Alviso, San Jose, California
    Alviso is a small community in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California. It is located approximately south of Drawbridge, at the north end of San José where it meets the southern end of the San Francisco Bay and borders the nearby city of Milpitas....

    .
  • Burnett Township: Present-day Coyote
    Coyote, California
    Coyote, originally Burnett is an unincorporated community in a narrowing of Santa Clara Valley astride Coyote Creek, between San Jose and Morgan Hill, in Santa Clara County, California. Its ZIP Code is 95013; there is a small U.S. Post Office....

    , Santa Teresa
    Santa Teresa, San Jose, California
    Santa Teresa is a neighborhood in the south of San Jose, California, USA. It is east of Almaden Valley, surrounding Santa Teresa Boulevard, with access to Highway 85...

     and Morgan Hill
    Morgan Hill, California
    Morgan Hill is a city located in the southern part of Santa Clara County, California, United States. Founded on November 10, 1906, the city was named after Hiram Morgan Hill, a San Franciscan who built a country retreat home there in 1884...

    .
  • Fremont Township: Present-day Palo Alto
    Palo Alto, California
    Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...

    , Sunnyvale
    Sunnyvale, California
    Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...

    , Mountain View
    Mountain View, California
    -Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...

    , Los Altos
    Los Altos, California
    Los Altos is a city at the southern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 28,976 according to the 2010 census....

    , Los Altos Hills
    Los Altos Hills, California
    Los Altos Hills is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 7,922 at the 2010 census. Located in Silicon Valley, Los Altos Hills is one of the wealthiest cities in the nation.-Strictly residential:...

     and part of Cupertino
    Cupertino, California
    Cupertino is an affluent suburban city in Santa Clara County, California in the U.S., directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 58,302 at the time of the 2010 census. Forbes...

    .
  • Gilroy Township: Present-day Gilroy
    Gilroy, California
    Gilroy is the southernmost city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 48,821 at the 2010 census. Gilroy is well-known for its garlic crop and for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, featuring various garlicky foods, including garlic ice cream. Gilroy also produces...

     and San Martin
    San Martin, California
    San Martin is a census-designated place and an unincorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It takes its name from St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of early pioneer Martin Murphy, who built the first Catholic church in the area...

    .
  • Milpitas Township: Present-day Milpitas
    Milpitas, California
    Milpitas is a city in Santa Clara County, California. It is a suburb of the major city of San Jose, California. It is located with San Jose to its south and Fremont to its north, at the eastern end of State Route 237 and generally between Interstates 680 and 880 which run roughly north/south...

    .
  • Redwood Township: Present-day Los Gatos
    Los Gatos, California
    The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...

    , Monte Sereno
    Monte Sereno, California
    Monte Sereno is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. The population was 3,341 at the 2010 census. The city is located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, about 10 miles southwest of San Jose and is immediately northwest of Los Gatos. The city is named for the 2249 ft...

    , Saratoga
    Saratoga, California
    Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay area. The population was 29,926 at the 2010 census....

    , Redwood Estates
    Redwood Estates, California
    Redwood Estates is a rural community along State Route 17 in the coastal Santa Cruz Mountains of California, USA. The Census Bureau includes it in a census-designated place named Lexington Hills. It lies inside the confines of Santa Clara County...

     and portions of Cupertino
    Cupertino, California
    Cupertino is an affluent suburban city in Santa Clara County, California in the U.S., directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 58,302 at the time of the 2010 census. Forbes...

     and Campbell
    Campbell, California
    Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...

    .
  • San Jose Township: Most of present-day San Jose
    San Jose, California
    San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

    .
  • Santa Clara Township: Present-day Santa Clara
    Santa Clara, California
    Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...

     and portions of San Jose
    San Jose, California
    San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

    , Cupertino
    Cupertino, California
    Cupertino is an affluent suburban city in Santa Clara County, California in the U.S., directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 58,302 at the time of the 2010 census. Forbes...

     and Campbell
    Campbell, California
    Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...

    .

Adjacent counties

  • San Benito County, California
    San Benito County, California
    San Benito County is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California, south of San Jose. As of 2010 the population was 55,269. The county seat is Hollister, which includes nearly two-thirds of the county's population. El Camino Real passes through the county and...

    —south
  • Santa Cruz County, California
    Santa Cruz County, California
    Santa Cruz County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, on the California Central Coast. The county forms the northern coast of the Monterey Bay. . As of the 2010 U.S. Census, its population was 262,382. The county seat is Santa Cruz...

    —south, southwest
  • San Mateo County, California
    San Mateo County, California
    San Mateo County is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula just south of San Francisco, and north of Santa Clara County. San Francisco International Airport is located at the northern end of the county, and...

    —northwest
  • Alameda County, California
    Alameda County, California
    Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...

    —north
  • Stanislaus County, California
    Stanislaus County, California
    Stanislaus County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. As the price of housing has increased in the San Francisco Bay Area, many people who work in the southern reaches of the Bay Area have opted for the longer commute and moved to Stanislaus County for the...

    —east
  • Merced County, California
    Merced County, California
    Merced County , is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, north of Fresno and southeast of San Jose. As of the 2010 census, the population was 255,793, up from 210,554 at the 2000 census. The county seat is Merced...

    —southeast

Freeways and expressways

The county has an extensive freeway
Controlled-access highway
A controlled-access highway is a highway designed exclusively for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow and ingress/egress regulated...

 system and a separate expressway system. Expressway
Limited-access road
A limited-access road known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a controlled-access highway , including limited or no access to adjacent...

s in California are distinct from freeways; although access to adjoining properties is eliminated, at-grade intersections are allowed. However, unlike expressways virtually everywhere else in California, the Santa Clara County expressways were built, signed, and maintained as county roads; they are not maintained by Caltrans, although they are patrolled by the California Highway Patrol
California Highway Patrol
The California Highway Patrol is a law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and also acts as the state police....

.

There is also a large street
Street
A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable...

 network dominated by four- and six-lane arterials. Some of the newer boulevards (primarily in the West Valley) are divided with landscaped medians.

Major highways

  • Interstate 280
    Interstate 280 (California)
    Interstate 280 is a 57-mile long north–south Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It connects San Jose and San Francisco, running along just to the west of the cities of San Francisco Peninsula for most of its route.I-280 from its northern end at King...

  • Interstate 680
    Interstate 680 (California)
    Interstate 680 is a north–south Interstate Highway in Northern California. It curves around the eastern cities of the San Francisco Bay Area from San Jose to Interstate 80 at Cordelia, bypassing cities along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay such as Oakland and Richmond while serving...

  • Interstate 880
    Interstate 880
    Interstate 880 is an Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area connecting San Jose and Oakland, running parallel to the southeastern shore of San Francisco Bay...

  • U.S. Route 101
  • State Route 9
    California State Route 9
    State Route 9 is mainly a rural and mountainous route in the U.S. state of California that travels 35 miles from SR 1 near Santa Cruz to SR 17 in Los Gatos, passing through the San Lorenzo Valley and the Saratoga Gap...

  • State Route 17
  • State Route 25
    California State Route 25
    State Route 25 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California between Gilroy and State Route 198. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System.-Route description:...


  • State Route 82
    California State Route 82
    State Route 82 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from U.S. Route 101 at Blossom Hill Road in San Jose to Interstate 280 in San Francisco following the San Francisco Peninsula...

  • State Route 85
    California State Route 85
    State Route 85 is a freeway which connects Mountain View and southern San Jose. The entire freeway is named the West Valley Freeway. The majority of the route is also named the Norman Y. Mineta Highway, with the exception of the portion of Highway 85 passing through Saratoga which is named the CHP...

  • State Route 87
    California State Route 87
    State Route 87 , locally called Highway 87 or the Guadalupe Freeway, is a north–south state highway entirely within San Jose, California, United States. Its name was changed from Guadalupe Parkway in 2004 after its entire constructed length was upgraded to a freeway...

  • State Route 130
    California State Route 130
    State Route 130 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California in Santa Clara County. The route runs between San Jose, California, and Mount Hamilton. Much of its length goes through the Diablo Range as Mount Hamilton Road where it is a narrow 2 lane highway...

  • State Route 152
    California State Route 152
    State Route 152 is a state highway that runs near the latitudinal middle of the U.S. state of California from Watsonville to Route 99 southeast of Merced...

  • State Route 156
    California State Route 156
    State Route 156 is a state highway in California, USA, running from Castroville to State Route 152 near Hollister.This route is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System.-Route description:...

  • State Route 237
    California State Route 237
    State Route 237 runs from El Camino Real in Mountain View to Interstate 680 in Milpitas. It runs south of the San Francisco Bay, connecting the East Bay to the Peninsula.This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System....



County routes

  • Santa Clara County Expressway System
  • Santa Clara County Route G2—Lawrence Expressway
  • Santa Clara County Route G3—Page Mill Road/Oregon Expressway
  • Santa Clara County Route G4—San Tomas Expressway/Montague Expressway
  • Santa Clara County Route G5—Foothill Expressway
  • Santa Clara County Route G6—Central Expressway
  • Santa Clara County Route G8—Almaden Expressway
  • Santa Clara County Route G10—Blossom Hill Road
  • Santa Clara County Route G21—Capitol Expressway

  • Mass transit

    Santa Clara County has consolidated its transportation services into the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
    Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
    The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is a special-purpose district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, specific highway improvement projects, and countywide transportation planning for Santa Clara County, California, United States...

    , which operates a rapidly expanding light rail system and a large system of bus routes. It also manages certain county-funded highway and expressway projects.

    Besides SCVTA, the County is also served by Caltrain
    Caltrain
    Caltrain is a California commuter rail line on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Clara Valley in the United States. The northern terminus of the rail line is in San Francisco, at 4th and King streets; its southern terminus is in Gilroy...

     commuter rail service, and the ACE Train system, which runs between San Jose and Stockton.

    County Bicycle Network

    The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is establishing a bicycle network throughout the county. Santa Clara County Bicycle network is part of the San Francisco Bay Area
    San Francisco Bay Area
    The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

    , Regional Bikeway Network.

    Ports

    The county's main airport is Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport
    San Jose International Airport
    Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport is a city-owned public-use airport serving the city of San Jose in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is named for San Jose native Norman Yoshio Mineta, who was Transportation Secretary in the Cabinet of George W...

     (SJC). It is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection
    U.S. Customs and Border Protection
    U.S. Customs and Border Protection is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing U.S. regulations, including trade, customs and immigration. CBP is the...

     port of entry
    Port of entry
    In general, a port of entry is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has a staff of people who check passports and visas and inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. International airports are usually ports of entry, as are road and rail crossings on a...

    . San Francisco International Airport
    San Francisco International Airport
    San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO...

    , is also often used by residents of Santa Clara County. Moffett Federal Airfield
    Moffett Federal Airfield
    Moffett Federal Airfield , also known as Moffett Field, is a joint civil-military airport located between northern Mountain View and northern Sunnyvale, California, USA. The airport is near the south end of San Francisco Bay, northwest of San Jose. Formerly a United States Navy facility, the former...

     (NUQ), a former U.S. Naval Air Station
    Naval Air Station
    A Naval Air Station is a military airbase, and consists of a permanent land-based operations locations for the military aviation division of the relevant branch of their Navy...

    , is used by the Air National Guard
    Air National Guard
    The Air National Guard , often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the fifty U.S. states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States. Established under Title 10 and...

    , NASA
    NASA
    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

    , Lockheed Martin
    Lockheed Martin
    Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

    , Google
    Google
    Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

    , and by the San Jose Police
    San Jose Police Department (California)
    The San Jose Police Department protects the streets of San Jose, California, and keeps San Jose one of the safest large cities in the United States...

     and Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department as an air operations base. There are also smaller general aviation airports in Palo Alto
    Palo Alto, California
    Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...

     (PAO), San Jose
    San Jose, California
    San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

     (RHV), and San Martin
    San Martin, California
    San Martin is a census-designated place and an unincorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It takes its name from St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of early pioneer Martin Murphy, who built the first Catholic church in the area...

     (E16).

    The county has no commercial seaports, although small boats can access San Francisco Bay from several points. Like many other Bay Area counties, it is dependent upon the Port of Oakland
    Port of Oakland
    The Port of Oakland was the first major port on the Pacific Coast of the United States to build terminals for container ships. It is now the fifth busiest container port in the United States, behind Long Beach, Los Angeles, Newark, and Savannah...

     for transport of ocean cargo.

    Demographics

    2000

    As of the census
    Census
    A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

    of 2000, there are 1,682,585 people, 565,863 households, and 395,538 families residing in the county. The population density
    Population density
    Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

     is 503/km² (1,304/mi²). There are 579,329 housing units at an average density of 173/km² (449/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 53.83% White, 2.80% Black or African American, 0.67% Native American, 25.56% Asian, 0.34% Pacific Islander, 12.13% from other races, and 4.66% from two or more races. 23.98% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

    There were 565,863 households out of which 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.9% were married couples
    Marriage
    Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

     living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.1% were non-families. 21.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.41.

    In the county the population was spread out with 24.7% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 35.4% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 102.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.90 males.

    The median income for a household in the county was $74,335, and the median income for a family was $81,717. Males had a median income of $56,240 versus $40,574 for females. The per capita income
    Per capita income
    Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

     for the county was $32,795. About 4.9% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.4% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.

    As of 2011, Santa Clara County has the second-highest median household income of any county in California, the highest being Marin County.

    2010

    The 2010 United States Census reported that Santa Clara County had a population of 1,781,642. The racial makeup of Santa Clara County was 836,616 (47.0%) White, 46,428 (2.6%) African American, 12,960 (0.7%) Native American, 570,524 (32.0%) Asian, 7,060 (0.4%) Pacific Islander, 220,806 (12.4%) from other races
    Race (United States Census)
    Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

    , and 87,248 (4.9%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 479,210 persons (26.9%).
    Population reported at 2010 United States Census
    The County
    Total
    Population
    White
    African
    American
    Native
    American
    Asian
    Pacific
    Islander
    other
    races
    Race (United States Census)
    Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

    two or
    more races
    Hispanic
    or Latino
    (of any race)
    Santa Clara County 1,781,642 836,616 46,428 12,960 570,524 7,060 220,806 87,248 479,210
    Incorporated
    cities and towns
    Total
    Population
    White
    African
    American
    Native
    American
    Asian
    Pacific
    Islander
    other
    races
    Race (United States Census)
    Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

    two or
    more races
    Hispanic
    or Latino
    (of any race)
    Campbell
    Campbell, California
    Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...

    39,349 26,315 1,158 275 6,320 161 2,713 2,407 7,247
    Cupertino
    Cupertino, California
    Cupertino is an affluent suburban city in Santa Clara County, California in the U.S., directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 58,302 at the time of the 2010 census. Forbes...

    58,302 18,270 344 117 36,895 54 670 1,952 2,113
    Gilroy
    Gilroy, California
    Gilroy is the southernmost city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 48,821 at the 2010 census. Gilroy is well-known for its garlic crop and for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, featuring various garlicky foods, including garlic ice cream. Gilroy also produces...

    48,821 28,674 942 831 3,448 111 12,322 2,493 28,214
    Los Altos
    Los Altos, California
    Los Altos is a city at the southern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 28,976 according to the 2010 census....

    28,976 20,459 148 48 6,815 59 195 1,252 1,132
    Los Altos Hills
    Los Altos Hills, California
    Los Altos Hills is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 7,922 at the 2010 census. Located in Silicon Valley, Los Altos Hills is one of the wealthiest cities in the nation.-Strictly residential:...

    7,922 5,417 37 4 2,109 8 50 297 213
    Los Gatos
    Los Gatos, California
    The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...

    29,413 24,060 269 86 3,203 52 462 1,281 2,120
    Milpitas
    Milpitas, California
    Milpitas is a city in Santa Clara County, California. It is a suburb of the major city of San Jose, California. It is located with San Jose to its south and Fremont to its north, at the eastern end of State Route 237 and generally between Interstates 680 and 880 which run roughly north/south...

    66,790 13,725 1,969 309 41,536 346 5,811 3,094 11,240
    Monte Sereno
    Monte Sereno, California
    Monte Sereno is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. The population was 3,341 at the 2010 census. The city is located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, about 10 miles southwest of San Jose and is immediately northwest of Los Gatos. The city is named for the 2249 ft...

    3,341 2,698 14 12 464 0 28 125 162
    Morgan Hill
    Morgan Hill, California
    Morgan Hill is a city located in the southern part of Santa Clara County, California, United States. Founded on November 10, 1906, the city was named after Hiram Morgan Hill, a San Franciscan who built a country retreat home there in 1884...

    37,882 24,713 746 335 3,852 125 5,779 2,332 12,863
    Mountain View
    Mountain View, California
    -Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...

    74,066 41,468 1,629 344 19,232 391 7,241 3,761 16,071
    Palo Alto
    Palo Alto, California
    Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...

    64,403 41,359 1,197 121 17,461 142 1,426 2,697 3,974
    San Jose
    San Jose, California
    San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

    945,942 404,437 30,242 8,297 303,138 4,017 148,749 47,062 313,636
    Santa Clara
    Santa Clara, California
    Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...

    116,468 52,359 3,154 579 43,889 651 9,624 6,212 22,589
    Saratoga
    Saratoga, California
    Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay area. The population was 29,926 at the 2010 census....

    29,926 16,125 94 41 12,376 23 202 1,065 1,034
    Sunnyvale
    Sunnyvale, California
    Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...

    140,081 60,193 2,735 662 57,320 638 12,177 6,356 26,517
    Census-designated
    places
    Census-designated place
    A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

    Total
    Population
    White
    African
    American
    Native
    American
    Asian
    Pacific
    Islander
    other
    races
    Race (United States Census)
    Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

    two or
    more races
    Hispanic
    or Latino
    (of any race)
    Alum Rock
    Alum Rock, California
    Alum Rock is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and a community of San Jose. The CDP, which excludes all annexed areas, had a population of 15,536 at the 2010 census. Alum Rock was named after a rock formerly thought to be composed of alum in nearby Alum...

    15,536 6,581 207 298 2,039 70 5,466 875 10,977
    Burbank
    Burbank, Santa Clara County, California
    Burbank is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California. Part of the neighborhood has been annexed to San Jose, while the rest consists of unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. The population was 4,926 at the 2010 census...

    4,926 2,994 135 64 379 16 1,049 289 2,509
    Cambrian Park 3,282 2,598 26 29 221 19 190 199 591
    East Foothills
    East Foothills, California
    East Foothills is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and a neighborhood of San Jose. The population was 8,269 at the 2010 census. The area is more commonly referred to as East San Jose, and is located about 4 miles east of downtown San Jose...

    8,269 4,853 205 78 1,445 41 1,219 428 3,118
    Fruitdale
    Fruitdale, California
    Fruitdale is an unincorporated Census Designated Place in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 935 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Fruitdale is located at...

    935 633 31 11 110 4 88 58 244
    Lexington Hills
    Lexington Hills, California
    Lexington Hills is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 2,421 at the 2010 census. The area is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains, about five miles south of Los Gatos and about north of Santa Cruz...

    2,421 2,148 10 5 90 0 59 109 193
    Loyola
    Loyola, California
    Loyola is a census-designated place and an unincorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 3,261 at the 2010 census. The area is located between the cities of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills...

    3,261 2,291 19 1 760 2 37 151 114
    San Martin
    San Martin, California
    San Martin is a census-designated place and an unincorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It takes its name from St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of early pioneer Martin Murphy, who built the first Catholic church in the area...

    7,027 4,329 27 71 470 18 1,752 360 3,249
    Stanford
    Stanford, California
    Stanford is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and is the home of Stanford University. The population was 13,809 at the 2010 census....

    13,809 7,932 651 86 3,777 28 263 1,072 1,439
    Unincorporated
    communities
    Unincorporated area
    In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

    Total
    Population
    White
    African
    American
    Native
    American
    Asian
    Pacific
    Islander
    other
    races
    Race (United States Census)
    Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

    two or
    more races
    Hispanic
    or Latino
    (of any race)
    All others not CDPs (combined) 30,494 21,985 439 256 3,175 84 3,234 1,321 7,651

    Libraries

    Santa Clara County Library
    Santa Clara County Library
    The Santa Clara County Library is a public library system headquartered in Los Gatos, California. The library serves the communities and cities of Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Morgan Hill, Saratoga, and all unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County...

    , is a public library system serving the communities and cities of Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Saratoga, and all unincorporated area
    Unincorporated area
    In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

    s of the county.

    Government and politics

    Santa Clara County vote
    by party in presidential elections
    Year GOP
    Republican Party (United States)
    The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

    DEM
    Democratic Party (United States)
    The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

    Others
    2008
    United States presidential election, 2008
    The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...

    69.5% 462,241 1.8% 12,255
    2004
    United States presidential election, 2004
    The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...

    63.9% 386,100 1.4% 8,622
    2000
    United States presidential election, 2000
    The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....

    60.7% 332,490 4.9% 26,889
    1996
    United States presidential election, 1996
    The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack...

    56.9% 297,639 11.0% 57,361
    1992
    United States presidential election, 1992
    The United States presidential election of 1992 had three major candidates: Incumbent Republican President George Bush; Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot....

    49.2% 296,265 22.4% 134,920
    1988
    United States presidential election, 1988
    The United States presidential election of 1988 featured no incumbent president, as President Ronald Reagan was unable to seek re-election after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the...

    51.3% 277,810 1.7% 9,276
    1984
    United States presidential election, 1984
    The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...

    43.7% 229,865 1.5% 8,136
    1980
    United States presidential election, 1980
    The United States presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter and his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan, as well as Republican Congressman John B. Anderson, who ran as an independent...

    35.0% 166,995 17.0% 80,960
    1976
    United States presidential election, 1976
    The United States presidential election of 1976 followed the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal. It pitted incumbent President Gerald Ford, the Republican candidate, against the relatively unknown former governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter, the Democratic...

    46.9% 208,023 3.6% 15,927
    1972
    United States presidential election, 1972
    The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...

    45.6% 208,506 2.5% 11,453
    1968
    United States presidential election, 1968
    The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected...

    48.4% 173,511 6.0% 21,410
    1964
    United States presidential election, 1964
    The United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's...

    63.1% 202,249 0.3% 858
    1960
    United States presidential election, 1960
    The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th American presidential election, held on November 8, 1960, for the term beginning January 20, 1961, and ending January 20, 1965. The incumbent president, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, was not eligible to run again. The Republican Party...

    47.1% 117,667 0.3% 690
    1956
    United States presidential election, 1956
    The United States presidential election of 1956 saw a popular Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully run for re-election. The 1956 election was a rematch of 1952, as Eisenhower's opponent in 1956 was Democrat Adlai Stevenson, whom Eisenhower had defeated four years earlier.Incumbent President Eisenhower...

    40.6% 72,528 0.4% 633
    1952
    United States presidential election, 1952
    The United States presidential election of 1952 took place in an era when Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union was escalating rapidly. In the United States Senate, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin had become a national figure after chairing congressional...

    39.7% 61,035 0.6% 932
    1948
    United States presidential election, 1948
    The United States presidential election of 1948 is considered by most historians as the greatest election upset in American history. Virtually every prediction indicated that incumbent President Harry S. Truman would be defeated by Republican Thomas E. Dewey. Truman won, overcoming a three-way...

    42.1% 41,905 4.6% 4,615
    1944
    United States presidential election, 1944
    The United States presidential election of 1944 took place while the United States was preoccupied with fighting World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been in office longer than any other president, but remained popular. Unlike 1940, there was little doubt that Roosevelt would run for...

    52.4% 43,869 0.6% 499
    1940
    United States presidential election, 1940
    The United States presidential election of 1940 was fought in the shadow of World War II as the United States was emerging from the Great Depression. Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt , a Democrat, broke with tradition and ran for a third term, which became a major issue...

    49.6% 40,449 1.2% 947
    1936
    United States presidential election, 1936
    The United States presidential election of 1936 was the most lopsided presidential election in the history of the United States in terms of electoral votes. In terms of the popular vote, it was the third biggest victory since the election of 1820, which was not seriously contested.The election took...

    58.5% 38,346 1.1% 732
    1932
    United States presidential election, 1932
    The United States presidential election of 1932 took place as the effects of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, the Revenue Act of 1932, and the Great Depression were being felt intensely across the country. President Herbert Hoover's popularity was falling as...

    49.1% 28,272 3.3% 1,906
    1928
    United States presidential election, 1928
    The United States presidential election of 1928 pitted Republican Herbert Hoover against Democrat Al Smith. The Republicans were identified with the booming economy of the 1920s, whereas Smith, a Roman Catholic, suffered politically from Anti-Catholic prejudice, his anti-prohibitionist stance, and...

    35.4% 17,589 0.8% 395
    1924
    United States presidential election, 1924
    The United States presidential election of 1924 was won by incumbent President Calvin Coolidge, the Republican candidate.Coolidge was vice-president under Warren G. Harding and became president in 1923 when Harding died in office. Coolidge was given credit for a booming economy at home and no...

    7.4% 2,560 34.6% 11,952
    1920
    United States presidential election, 1920
    The United States presidential election of 1920 was dominated by the aftermath of World War I and a hostile response to certain policies of Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic president. The wartime economic boom had collapsed. Politicians were arguing over peace treaties and the question of America's...

    22.6% 6,485 9.1% 2,682


    Santa Clara County has five elected Supervisors, elected within their districts.

    Santa Clara is a strongly Democratic county in presidential
    President of the United States
    The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

     and congressional
    United States Congress
    The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

     elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

     in 1984
    United States presidential election, 1984
    The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...

    . With the exceptions of Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga, all of the cities, towns, and the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County have more registered Democrats than Republicans. In the 2008 US Presidential Election
    United States presidential election, 2008
    The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...

    , Democratic nominee Barack Obama
    Barack Obama
    Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

     carried every city and town in the county, as well as the unincorporated areas.

    In the House of Representatives
    United States House of Representatives
    The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

    , all of California’s 15th
    California's 15th congressional district
    California's 15th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that covers part of Santa Clara County west of San Jose and includes the cities of Los Gatos and Cupertino in Silicon Valley...

     and 16th
    California's 16th congressional district
    California's 16th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that covers part of Santa Clara County and includes much of central San Jose.The district is currently represented by Democrat Zoe Lofgren....

     districts, as well as some of the 11th
    California's 11th congressional district
    California's 11th congressional district is a congressional district located in the U.S. state of California. Based in Northern California, it encompasses parts of San Joaquin, Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara counties....

     and 14th
    California's 14th congressional district
    California's 14th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. It is located between San Francisco and San Jose. The district includes portions of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties and most notably contains part of Silicon Valley. Major cities in...

     districts, are in the county and are all held by Democrats: Jerry McNerney
    Jerry McNerney
    Gerald "Jerry" McNerney is an engineer, energy specialist, and the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party...

     in the 11th, Anna Eshoo
    Anna Eshoo
    Anna Georges Eshoo is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, which includes part of Silicon Valley, includes the cities of Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto...

     in the 14th, Mike Honda
    Mike Honda
    Michael Makoto "Mike" Honda is an American Democratic Party politician. He currently serves as the U.S. Representative for , encompassing western San Jose and Silicon Valley...

     in the 15th, and Zoe Lofgren
    Zoe Lofgren
    Zoe Lofgren is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1995. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is based in San Jose.-Early life, education, and early career:...

     in the 16th.

    In the State Assembly
    California State Assembly
    The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...

    , all of the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th districts, as well as parts of the 20th, 21st, 27th, and 28th districts are in the county. The districts are all held by Democrats; in order of district number they are Bob Wieckowski
    Bob Wieckowski
    Bob Wieckowski is an American attorney and politician in California. He was elected November 2, 2010 to the California State Assembly to represent the 20th District, which includes the cities of Fremont, Newark, Union City, and Milpitas, as well as portions of San Jose, Pleasanton, Hayward, and...

    , Rich Gordon
    Rich Gordon
    Richard S. Gordon is an American politician from Menlo Park, California who currently serves in the California State Assembly representing the 21st district...

    , Paul Fong
    Paul Fong
    Paul Fong is a Democratic California State Assembly member from California's 22nd State Assembly district. Prior to being elected to the assembly, he served as a Foothill De Anza Community College District Trustee....

    , Nora Campos
    Nora Campos
    Nora Campos is a California State Assembly member representing the 23rd district. She was formerly elected to the San Jose City Council in a special election in March 2001 and was twice overwhelmingly re-elected to represent the residents of District 5, allowing her to represent her community on...

    , Jim Beall, Bill Monning
    Bill Monning
    William "Bill" Monning is an American educator, lawyer and politician. Monning was elected to the California State Assembly from the 27th Assembly District in the 2008 Assembly election....

    , and Anna Caballero.

    In the State Senate
    California State Senate
    The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 state senators. The state legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...

    , all of the 13th as well as parts of the 10th, 11th, and 15th districts are in the county. The 10th, 11th, and 13th districts are held by Democrats, Ellen Corbett
    Ellen Corbett
    Ellen Marie Corbett is a Democratic politician from San Leandro, California. She is currently serving her second term in the California State Senate. Corbett represents the 10th District, which includes San Leandro, Hayward, Pleasanton, Union City, Fremont, Newark, Milpitas and part of San Jose...

    , Joe Simitian
    Joe Simitian
    Saren Joseph Simitian is a Democratic California State Senator elected in 2004. Simitian represents the 11th Senate District, which encompasses all or part of 13 cities in San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties....

    , and Elaine Alquist
    Elaine Alquist
    Elaine Kontominas Alquist is currently a Democratic State Senator from California's 13th Senate District...

    , respectively. The 15th is held by Republican Sam Blakeslee
    Sam Blakeslee
    Samuel Norman Blakeslee is a Republican California State Senator representing California's 15th State Senate district, a former California State Assemblyman from California's 33rd State Assembly district, and a former State Assembly Republican Leader...

    .

    Following the passage of Proposition 8
    California Proposition 8 (2008)
    Proposition 8 was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment passed in the November 2008 state elections...

    , Santa Clara County joined San Francisco and Los Angeles
    Los Ángeles
    Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

     in a lawsuit
    Lawsuits to overturn Proposition 8
    Strauss v. Horton 46 Cal.4th 364, 93 Cal.Rptr.3d 591, 207 P.3d 48, was the consolidation of three lawsuits following the passage of California's Proposition 8 on November 4, 2008, which went into effect on November 5. The suits were filed by a number of gay couples and governmental entities. Three...

    , becoming, along with San Francisco and Los Angeles, the first governmental entities in the world to sue for same sex marriage. The county is among one of three counties in California to establish a separate department to deal with corrections
    Corrections
    In criminal justice, particularly in North America, correction, corrections, and correctional, are umbrella terms describing a variety of functions typically carried out by government agencies and involving the punishment, treatment, and supervision of persons who have been convicted of crimes....

     pursuant to California Government Code §23013, the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections, along with Napa County and Madera County.

    Parks

    Santa Clara County has an extensive park system, much of it founded in the major park expansion of the late 1970s. Some of the parks within the county are:
    • Almaden Quicksilver County Park
      Almaden Quicksilver County Park
      Almaden Quicksilver County Park is a 4,147 acres park that includes the grounds of former mercury mines adjacent to south San Jose, California, USA...

    • Grant Ranch Park
      Grant Ranch Park
      Grant Ranch Park is the largest park in Santa Clara County, California, USA. Also known as Joseph D. Grant County Park, this site is situated in the eastern foothills of Santa Clara Valley....

    • Henry W. Coe State Park
      Henry W. Coe State Park
      Henry W. Coe State Park is a California state park located in Santa Clara and Stanislaus counties. It contains over 86,000 acres , making it the largest state park in northern California, and the second-largest in the state...

    • Sanborn Park
      Sanborn Park
      Sanborn Park is a public park situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains owned and managed by the county of Santa Clara, California. The park, originally named Sanborn-Skyline County Park is also known as Sanborn Skyline Park or Sanborn County Park. The holding is heavily forested and offers hiking...

    • Vasona Park
      Vasona Park
      Vasona Park, formerly Vasona Lake County Park, is a park located in Los Gatos, California and part of the Santa Clara County Parks system. Adjacent Oak Meadow Park is owned by the Town of Los Gatos. Vasona Park surrounds Vasona Reservoir, which, like Lexington Reservoir in Los Gatos' southern edge,...


    Open space preserves include:
    • El Sereno Open Space Preserve
      El Sereno Open Space Preserve
      El Sereno Open Space Preserve is a park unit of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District located on the peak and slopes of 2249 ft. El Sereno mountain, a peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The preserve is located in Santa Clara County, California....


    Sister counties

    To promote friendship and understanding and to build bridges with countries of origin for various ethnic populations in the county, the County of Santa Clara has created a Sister County Commission to coordinate the program. As of 2009, there are three sister counties:

    See also

    • Santa Clara Valley
      Santa Clara Valley
      The Santa Clara Valley is a valley just south of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. Much of Santa Clara County and its county seat, San José, are in the Santa Clara Valley. The valley was originally known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight for its high concentration...

    • List of attractions in Silicon Valley
    • List of California public officials charged with crimes, Santa Clara County
    • Committee for Green Foothills
      Committee for Green Foothills
      The Committee for Green Foothills is a local-level nonprofit environmental organization working to protect open space and habitat in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, located in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.-History:...

    • Old Almaden Winery
      Old Almaden Winery
      The Old Almaden Winery is an historic wine production site in Santa Clara County, California situated on the eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains...

    • Santa Clara County expressway system
      California County Routes in zone G
      There are 21 routes assigned to the "G" zone of the California Route Marker Program, which designates county routes in California. The "G" zone includes county highways lying in the counties of Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz.-G1:...

    • List of school districts in Santa Clara County, California
    • National Register of Historic Places listings in Santa Clara County, California
      National Register of Historic Places listings in Santa Clara County, California
      This list includes properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Santa Clara County, California. Click the "Map of all coordinates" link to the right to view a Google map of all properties and districts with latitude and longitude coordinates in the table...


    External links

    The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
     
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