San Jose

San Jose, officially the City of San José, is the economic, cultural, and political center of Silicon Valley, and the largest city in Northern California (both by population and area). San Jose is the county seat of Santa Clara County, the most affluent county in California, and one of the most affluent counties in the United States. San Jose is the most populous city in both the San Francisco Bay Area and the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area, which contains 7.7 million and 8.7 million people, respectively.

 

San Jose's location within the booming high-tech industry, as a cultural, political, and economic center, has earned the city the nickname "Capital of Silicon Valley". San Jose is one of the wealthiest major cities in the United States and the world, and has the third-highest GDP per capita in the world (after Zürich, Switzerland, and Oslo, Norway), according to the Brookings Institution. The San Jose Metropolitan Area has the most millionaires and the most billionaires in the United States per capita. With a median home price of $1,085,000. San Jose has the most expensive housing market in the country and the fifth most expensive housing market in the world, according to the 2017 Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey. Major global tech companies, including Cisco Systems, eBay, Adobe Systems, PayPal, Broadcom, Samsung, Acer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Western Digital, maintain their headquarters in San Jose, in the center of Silicon Valley.

 

The city is generally divided into the following areas: Downtown San Jose, Central, West San Jose, North San Jose, East San Jose, and South San Jose. Many of these regions were originally unincorporated communities or separate municipalities that were later annexed by the city.

 

Besides those mentioned above, some well-known communities within San Jose include Japantown, Rose Garden, Midtown San Jose, Willow Glen, Naglee Park, Burbank, Winchester, Alviso, East Foothills, Alum Rock, Communications Hill, Little Portugal, Blossom Valley, Cambrian, Almaden Valley, Silver Creek Valley, Evergreen Valley, Edenvale, Santa Teresa, Seven Trees, Coyote Valley, and Berryessa. A distinct ethnic enclave in San Jose is the Washington-Guadalupe neighborhood, immediately south of the SoFA District; this neighborhood is home to a community of Hispanics, centered on Willow Street.

 

With an astounding network of 60 miles of trails (walking, hiking, biking) and 285 miles of on-street bikeways, San Jose extensively connects residential neighborhoods to places of recreation and work, making it a leader in green commuting. Often commended as one of the healthiest USA cities, San Jose and its vicinity offer dozens of nature-cherished, outdoor activities, such as the 5.5-acre Municipal Rose Garden (4,000 rose shrubs with 189 varieties), 5,242-acre Castle Rock State Park (with giant redwood and fir trees, horseback riding and rock climbing), 3.3-acre Historic Orchard (with more than 200 fruit trees), 4,471-acre Calero Reservoir County Park, 740-acre Alum Rock Park (within a canyon in the foothills of the Diablo Mountain Range), 172-acre Kelley Park (with a butterfly garden and Japanese friendship gardens) and Almaden Lake Park with 65 acres of land, 30 acres of the lake (for paddle boating, fishing, playing horseshoes, volleyball and bocce ball).