History and Naming
– San Jose is named after el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the city’s predecessor.
– The spelling of the city’s name was officially changed to San Jose in 1943.
– In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a movement to return to the original spelling of San José.
– The city adopted a flag featuring the inscription SAN JOSÉ, CALIFORNIA in 1969.
– The spelling of the city’s name was officially changed to San José on April 3, 1979.
– San Jose was founded on November 29, 1777, as the Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe.
– It became a part of Mexico in 1821 after the Mexican War of Independence.
– Following the American Conquest of California, it was ceded to the United States in 1848.
– San Jose was designated as the state’s first capital after California achieved statehood.
– The city experienced rapid population growth and urbanization in the 1950s and 1960s.
Pre-colonial and Spanish Period
– San Jose has been home to the Tamien group of the Ohlone people since around 4,000 BC.
– The Tamien people were forcibly enslaved and converted to Catholicism at Spanish missions.
– Mission Santa Clara de Asís and Mission San José played a significant role in the lives of the Tamien people.
– Many Tamien people died from disease or as a result of state-sponsored genocide.
– Some surviving Tamien families migrated to Santa Cruz after losing their ancestral lands.
– California was claimed as part of the Spanish Empire in 1542 by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo.
– Alta California and the Baja California peninsula were administered together as Province of the Californias.
– The Californias remained a distant frontier region largely controlled by Native Nations.
– San Jose was part of the Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe during the Spanish period.
– The city had a series of pre-statehood mayors during this time.
Notable Features and Economic Growth
– San Jose is the largest city in Northern California by both population and area.
– It is the most populous city in the Bay Area and the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland Combined Statistical Area.
– Major global tech companies like Cisco Systems, eBay, and Adobe Inc. have headquarters in San Jose.
– San Jose has one of the highest GDP per capita and is one of the wealthiest major cities in the world.
– The city is known for its cultural diversity, affluence, and sunny Mediterranean climate.
– San Jose is known as the capital of Silicon Valley.
– The city is home to numerous technology companies and startups.
– San Jose surpassed San Francisco as the most populous city in the Bay Area in 1990.
– The city experienced significant housing-cost increase, with a 936% rise between 1976 and 2001.
– San Jose has a political propensity toward Smart Growth planning principles, with a majority of housing built since 2000 being multifamily structures.
Geography and Climate
– San Jose is located within the Santa Clara Valley in Northern California.
– The city is situated in the southern part of the Bay Area.
– San Jose touches San Francisco Bay at Alviso.
– The city has a total area of 180.0 sqmi (466km²), making it the fourth-largest city in California by land area.
– San Jose lies between the San Andreas Fault and the Calaveras Fault.
– San Jose experiences a Mediterranean climate with warm to hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters.
– The city has an average of 298 days of sunshine per year.
– San Jose is somewhat sheltered from rain due to its inland location and surrounding mountains.
– The annual mean temperature in San Jose is 60.5°F (15.8°C).
– San Jose has a mean annual rainfall of 15.82in or 401.8mm.
Parks and Recreation
– San Jose has about 15,950 acres (6,455ha) of parkland.
– Alum Rock Park is the city’s oldest park, established in 1872.
– San Jose ranks 11th in park system quality among the 50 most populous U.S. cities.
– Other notable parks include Almaden Quicksilver County Park, Emma Prusch Farm Park, and Kelley Park.
– San Jose Municipal Rose Garden is a 5+12 acres (22,000m) park in San Jose.
San Jose, officially the City of San José (Spanish for 'Saint Joseph' /ˌsæn hoʊˈzeɪ, -ˈseɪ/ SAN hoh-ZAY, -SAY; Spanish: [saŋ xoˈse]), is the largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2022 population of 971,233, it is the most populous city in both the Bay Area and the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland Combined Statistical Area—which in 2022 had a population of 7.5 million and 9.0 million respectively—the third-most populous city in California after Los Angeles and San Diego, and the 12th-most populous in the United States. 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.
San Jose | |
|---|---|
| City of San Jose | |
.svg) Seal  | |
| Motto: Capital of Silicon Valley | |
    | |
| Coordinates: 37°20′10″N 121°53′26″W / 37.33611°N 121.89056°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 |
| Named for | Saint Joseph |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council–manager |
| • Body | San Jose City Council |
| • Mayor | Matt Mahan (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 |
| • Assemblymembers | List |
| Area | |
| • 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 | 82 ft (25 m) |
| Lowest elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
| • City | 1,013,240 |
| • Estimate (2022) | 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 | 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
|
| Area code(s) | 408/669 |
| FIPS code | 06-68000 |
| GNIS feature IDs | 1654952, 2411790 |
| Website | www |
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San Jose is notable for its innovation, cultural diversity, affluence, and sunny and mild Mediterranean climate. Its connection to the booming high tech industry phenomenon known as Silicon Valley prompted Mayor Tom McEnery to adopt the city motto of "Capital of Silicon Valley" in 1988 to promote the city. 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) and the fifth-most expensive housing market. It is home to one of the world's largest overseas Vietnamese populations, a Hispanic community that makes up over 40% of the city's residents, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
