Santa Clara County, California

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County of Santa Clara
—  County  —

Seal
Location in the state of California
Country  United States
State  California
Region/Metro Area San Francisco Bay Area
Incorporated February 18, 1850[1]
Named for Mission Santa Clara de Asís
St. Clare of Assisi
County seat San Jose
Largest City San Jose
Area
 • Total 1,304.01 sq mi (3,377.4 km2)
 • Land 1,290.69 sq mi (3,342.9 km2)
 • Water 13.325 sq mi (34.51 km2)
Population (2010)
 • Total 1,781,642
 • Density Bad rounding here1,400/sq mi (Bad rounding here530/km2)
Time zone Pacific Standard Time (UTC-8)
 • Summer (DST) Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
Area code(s) 408, 669, 650
Website www.sccgov.org

Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley. Santa Clara is the most populous county in the Bay Area region, and one of the most affluent counties in the United States.

Contents

History [edit]

Main article: History of Santa Clara County, California

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, residing on Coyote Creek and Calaveras Creek. Part of the county's territory was given to Alameda County in 1853.

The county is named after Mission Santa Clara, which was established in 1777, and named for Saint Clare of Assisi, Italy.

In 1882, Santa Clara County tried to levy taxes upon property of the Southern Pacific Railroad within county boundaries. The result was the U.S. Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 118 U.S. 394 (1886), in which the Court extended Due Process rights to artificial legal entities.

Once promoted as the "Valley of the Heart's Delight",[2] 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 selected San Jose as its West Coast headquarters in 1943. Varian Associates, Fairchild Semiconductor, 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" 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 AMD, Apple, Cisco Systems, eBay, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Sun Microsystems, Yahoo, and many others. The valley is currently home to approximately 6500 high technology companies. 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 [edit]

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 1,304.01 square miles (3,377.4 km2), of which 1,290.69 square miles (3,342.9 km2) (or 98.98%) is land and 13.32 square miles (34.5 km2) (or 1.02%) is water.[3]

The San Andreas Fault runs along the Santa Cruz Mountains in the south of the county.

Cities, towns, and neighborhoods [edit]

Incorporated cities and towns [edit]

There are 15 incorporated cities and towns in the county:

Unincorporated communities [edit]

Census-designated places [edit]
Other unincorporated communities [edit]

Former townships [edit]

Adjacent counties [edit]

 San Mateo County Alameda County
Stanislaus County
  Santa Clara County, California  
Santa Cruz County San Benito County and Santa Cruz County Merced County

National protected area [edit]

Transportation infrastructure [edit]

Freeways and expressways [edit]

The county has an extensive freeway system and a separate expressway system. Expressways 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.

There is also a large street 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 [edit]

Main article: State highways in California

County routes [edit]

See also: List of county routes in California

Other roads [edit]

Mass transit [edit]

Santa Clara County has consolidated its transportation services into the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, 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 commuter rail service, and the ACE Train system, which runs between San Jose and Stockton.

County Bicycle Network [edit]

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, Regional Bikeway Network.

Ports [edit]

The county's main airport is Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport (SJC). It is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection port of entry.[4] San Francisco International Airport, is also often used by residents of Santa Clara County. Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ), a former U.S. Naval Air Station, is used by the Air National Guard, NASA, Lockheed Martin, Google, and by the San Jose Police and Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department as an air operations base.[5] There are also smaller general aviation airports in Palo Alto (PAO), San Jose (RHV), and San Martin (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 for transport of ocean cargo.

Economy [edit]

The San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara metropolitan region, comprising much of Santa Clara County, was ranked as the highest performing metropolitan area in the US in 2012, ahead of Austin, Texas and Raleigh, North Carolina, according to the Milken Institute.[6]

Demographics [edit]

Historical populations
Census Pop. %±
1860 11,912
—
1870 26,246 120.3%
1880 35,039 33.5%
1890 48,005 37.0%
1900 60,216 25.4%
1910 83,539 38.7%
1920 100,676 20.5%
1930 145,118 44.1%
1940 174,949 20.6%
1950 290,547 66.1%
1960 642,315 121.1%
1970 1,064,714 65.8%
1980 1,295,071 21.6%
1990 1,497,577 15.6%
2000 1,682,585 12.4%
2010 1,781,642 5.9%
Est. 2012 1,837,504 3.1%

2010 [edit]

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 (8.6% Chinese, 7.1% Vietnamese, 6.6% Indian, 4.9% Filipino, 1.6% Korean, 1.4% Japanese, 1.9% Other Asian), 7,060 (0.4%) Pacific Islander, 220,806 (12.4%) from other races, and 87,248 (4.9%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 479,210 persons (26.9%): 22.5% Mexican, 0.4% Puerto Rican, 0.1% Cuban, 3.8% Other Hispanic.[7]

Demographic profile[8] 2010
Total Population 1,781,642 - 100.0%
One Race 1,694,394 - 95.1%
Not Hispanic or Latino 1,302,432 - 73.1%
White alone 626,909 - 35.2%
Black or African American alone 42,331 - 2.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native alone 4,042 - 0.2%
Asian alone 565,466 - 31.7%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone 6,252 - 0.4%
Some other race alone 3,877 - 0.2%
Two or more races alone 53,555 - 3.0%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 479,210 - 26.9%
Population reported at 2010 United States Census
The County
Total
Population
White
African
American
Native
American
Asian
Pacific
Islander
other
races
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
two or
more races
Hispanic
or Latino
(of any race)
Campbell 39,349 26,315 1,158 275 6,320 161 2,713 2,407 7,247
Cupertino 58,302 18,270 344 117 36,895 54 670 1,952 2,113
Gilroy 48,821 28,674 942 831 3,448 111 12,322 2,493 28,214
Los Altos 28,976 20,459 148 48 6,815 59 195 1,252 1,132
Los Altos Hills 7,922 5,417 37 4 2,109 8 50 297 213
Los Gatos 29,413 24,060 269 86 3,203 52 462 1,281 2,120
Milpitas 66,790 13,725 1,969 309 41,536 346 5,811 3,094 11,240
Monte Sereno 3,341 2,698 14 12 464 0 28 125 162
Morgan Hill 37,882 24,713 746 335 3,852 125 5,779 2,332 12,863
Mountain View 74,066 41,468 1,629 344 19,232 391 7,241 3,761 16,071
Palo Alto 64,403 41,359 1,197 121 17,461 142 1,426 2,697 3,974
San Jose 945,942 404,437 30,242 8,297 303,138 4,017 148,749 47,062 313,636
Santa Clara 116,468 52,359 3,154 579 43,889 651 9,624 6,212 22,589
Saratoga 29,926 16,125 94 41 12,376 23 202 1,065 1,034
Sunnyvale 140,081 60,193 2,735 662 57,320 638 12,177 6,356 26,517
Census-designated
places
Total
Population
White
African
American
Native
American
Asian
Pacific
Islander
other
races
two or
more races
Hispanic
or Latino
(of any race)
Alum Rock 15,536 6,581 207 298 2,039 70 5,466 875 10,977
Burbank 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 8,269 4,853 205 78 1,445 41 1,219 428 3,118
Fruitdale 935 633 31 11 110 4 88 58 244
Lexington Hills 2,421 2,148 10 5 90 0 59 109 193
Loyola 3,261 2,291 19 1 760 2 37 151 114
San Martin 7,027 4,329 27 71 470 18 1,752 360 3,249
Stanford 13,809 7,932 651 86 3,777 28 263 1,072 1,439
Unincorporated
communities
Total
Population
White
African
American
Native
American
Asian
Pacific
Islander
other
races
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

2000 [edit]

As of the census[9] of 2000, there are 1,682,585 people, 565,863 households, and 395,538 families residing in the county. The population density 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 53.8% White, 2.8% Black or African American, 0.7% Native American, 25.6% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 12.1% from other races, and 4.7% from two or more races. 24.0% 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 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 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.

Libraries [edit]

Santa Clara County Library, 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 areas of the county.[10]

Government and politics [edit]

Santa Clara County vote
by party in presidential elections
Year GOP DEM Others
2012 27.2% 174,843 70.2% 450,817 2.5% 16,290
2008 28.6% 190,039 69.5% 462,241 1.8% 12,255
2004 34.6% 209,094 63.9% 386,100 1.4% 8,622
2000 34.4% 188,750 60.7% 332,490 4.9% 26,889
1996 32.2% 168,291 56.9% 297,639 11.0% 57,361
1992 28.4% 170,870 49.2% 296,265 22.4% 134,920
1988 47.0% 254,442 51.3% 277,810 1.7% 9,276
1984 54.8% 288,638 43.7% 229,865 1.5% 8,136
1980 48.0% 229,048 35.0% 166,995 17.0% 80,960
1976 49.5% 219,188 46.9% 208,023 3.6% 15,927
1972 51.9% 237,334 45.6% 208,506 2.5% 11,453
1968 45.6% 163,446 48.4% 173,511 6.0% 21,410
1964 36.6% 117,420 63.1% 202,249 0.3% 858
1960 52.7% 131,735 47.1% 117,667 0.3% 690
1956 59.1% 105,657 40.6% 72,528 0.4% 633
1952 59.7% 91,940 39.7% 61,035 0.6% 932
1948 53.3% 52,982 42.1% 41,905 4.6% 4,615
1944 47.0% 39,409 52.4% 43,869 0.6% 499
1940 49.2% 40,100 49.6% 40,449 1.2% 947
1936 40.4% 26,498 58.5% 38,346 1.1% 732
1932 47.5% 27,353 49.1% 28,272 3.3% 1,906
1928 63.8% 31,710 35.4% 17,589 0.8% 395
1924 58.0% 20,056 7.4% 2,560 34.6% 11,952
1920 68.1% 19,565 22.6% 6,485 9.1% 2,682
Santa Clara County vote
by party in gubernatorial elections
Year GOP DEM
2010 34.9% 178,695 61.3% 314,022
2006 52.2% 225,132 42.9% 185,037
2003 39.2% 160,807 39.9% 163,768
2002 32.4% 116,862 55.3% 49,512
1998 31.7% 133,015 64.3% 270,105
1994 47.5% 212,075 47.5% 211,904
1990 42.6% 178,310 52.2% 218,843
1986 59.9% 227,285 37.6% 142,907
1982 44.0% 180,232 52.9% 216,781
1978 29.8% 110,444 61.4% 227,493
1974 46.7% 153,761 50.6% 166,760
1970 51.5% 172,562 46.1% 154,570
1966 55.4% 164,970 44.6% 132,793
1962 47.6% 112,700 51.2% 121,149
Santa Clara County Government Center

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

Since 1992, Santa Clara County has been a strongly Democratic county in presidential and congressional elections, although it was a bellwether state for much of the twentieth century. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was Ronald Reagan in 1984. As of November 2012, all of the cities, towns, and the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County have more registered Democrats than Republicans.[11] In the 2008 US Presidential Election, Democratic nominee Barack Obama carried every city and town in the county, as well as the unincorporated areas.[12]

In the House of Representatives, Santa Clara County is split between California’s 17th, 18th, and 19th districts, represented by Mike Honda (D–San Jose), Anna Eshoo (D–Atherton), and Zoe Lofgren (D–San Jose), respectively.[13]

In the State Assembly, 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, Rich Gordon, Paul Fong, Nora Campos, Jim Beall, Bill Monning, and Luis Alejo.

In the State Senate, 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, Joe Simitian, and Elaine Alquist, respectively. The 15th is held by Republican Sam Blakeslee.

Following the passage of Proposition 8, Santa Clara County joined San Francisco and Los Angeles in a lawsuit, becoming, along with San Francisco and Los Angeles, the first governmental entities in the world to sue for same sex marriage.[14] The county is among one of three counties in California to establish a separate department to deal with corrections pursuant to California Government Code §23013, the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections, along with Napa County and Madera County.

According to the California Secretary of State, as of October 22, 2012, Santa Clara County has 817,837 registered voters, out of 1,122,390 eligible (72.9%). Of those, 373,066 (45.6%) are registered Democrats, 178,554 (21.8%) are registered Republicans, and 236,758 (29.0%) have declined to state a political party.[15] Democrats hold voter-registration advantages in all political subdivisions in Santa Clara County. The closest registration differential is in the city of Monte Sereno, in which Democrats only hold a 19-vote (0.77%) registration advantage. Democrats' largest registration advantage in Santa Clara is in the city of Palo Alto, wherein there are only 5,973 Republicans (15.6%) out of 38,313 total voters compared to 20,176 Democrats (52.7%) and 11,144 voters who have declined to state a political party (29.1%).

Parks [edit]

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:

Open space preserves include:

Ecology and Conservation [edit]

In 1978, California Department of Fish and Game warden Henry Coletto urged the department to choose the Mount Hamilton area as one of California's relocation sites under a new statewide effort to restore tule elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes). While other ranchers refused, tech pioneers Bill Hewlett and David Packard allowed Coletto and state biologists to translocate 32 tule elk from the Owens Valley in the eastern Sierra onto the 28,000-acre San Felipe Ranch, which the families jointly own, in the hills east of Morgan Hill.[16] From the three original 1978-1981 translocations to the Mount Hamilton region of the Diablo Range, there are multiple herds in different locations including the Isabel Valley, San Antonio Valley, Livermore area, San Felipe Ranch, Metcalf Canyon, Coyote Ridge, Anderson Reservoir, and surrounding areas. Currently an estimated 400 tule elk roam 1,875 square kilometres (724 sq mi) in northeastern Santa Clara County and southeastern Alameda County.[17]

The Nature Conservancy "Mount Hamilton Project" has acquired or put under conservation easement 100,000 acres (400 km2) of land towards its 500,000 acres (2,000 km2) goal for habitat conservation within a 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km2) area encompassing much of eastern Santa Clara County as well as portions of southern Alameda County, western Merced and Stanislaus Counties, and northern San Benito County. Acquisitions to date include the 1,756-acre Rancho Cañada de Pala, straddling the Alameda Creek and Coyote Creek watersheds for California tiger salamander habitat; a conservation easement on the 3,259-acre Blue Oak Ranch Reserve, which abuts the north side of Joseph D. Grant County Park; a conservation easement on the 28,359-acre San Felipe Ranch, connecting Joseph D. Grant County Park with Henry W. Coe State Park; the 2,899-acre South Valley Ranch which protects a tule elk herd in the San Antonio Valley, and other properties.[18][19]

Sister counties [edit]

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:[20]

See also [edit]

Portal icon San Francisco Bay Area portal

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Chronology". California Counties. California State Association of Counties. Retrieved 2012-05-14. 
  2. ^ "Automobiles: Good Roads". Sunset 32. 1914. p. 918. 
  3. ^ "Census 2000 U.S. Gazetteer Files: Counties". United States Census. Retrieved 2011-02-13. 
  4. ^ http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/contacts/ports/ca/2834.xml
  5. ^ Verne Kopytoff (September 13, 2007). "Google founders pay NASA $1.3 million to land at Moffett Airfield". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-09-23. 
  6. ^ "Santa Clara County economy ranked best performing", San Jose Mercury News, January 17, 2013
  7. ^ "2010 Census P.L. 94-171 Summary File Data". United States Census Bureau. 
  8. ^ http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov "Demographic Profile Bay Area Census". 
  9. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  10. ^ "Contact Us." Santa Clara County Library. Retrieved on March 27, 2010.
  11. ^ http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror/ror-pages/15day-general-12/politicalsub1.pdf
  12. ^ http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2008_general/ssov/5-pres-by-political-districts.pdf
  13. ^ "California's 19th Congressional District - Representatives & District Map". Civic Impulse, LLC. Retrieved March 12, 2013. 
  14. ^ "Herrera Joined by Los Angeles, Santa Clara Counterparts in Suing to Invalidate Prop 8". Office of the City Attorney of San Francisco. 2008-11-05. Retrieved 2008-12-20. 
  15. ^ CA Secretary of State – Report of Registration – October 22, 2012
  16. ^ "Restoration of tule elk - California success story". Billings Gazette. 2006-12-06. Retrieved 2013-01-27. 
  17. ^ Julie Phillips, Ryan Phillips, Neela Srinivasan, Deborah Aso, Wendy Lao, and Pat Cornely (2012). Safe Passage for the Coyote Valley - A Wildlife Linkage for the Highway 101 Corridor (Report). De Anza College. http://www.deanza.edu/es/wildlifecorrproj/Safe%20Passagelowres.pdf. Retrieved 2013-01-27.
  18. ^ "California: Mount Hamilton". The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved 2013-01-27. 
  19. ^ Draft Environmental Impact Report and Environmental Impact Statement for the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan (Report). County of Santa Clara, City of San José, City of Morgan Hill, City of Gilroy, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. 2010-12. http://www.scv-habitatplan.org/www/Portals/_default/images/default/Public%20Draft/EIR%20EIS/SCV-HCP_EIR-EIS_Draft_Dec2010.pdf. Retrieved 2013-01-27.
  20. ^ "Sister County Commissions (PRG)". The County of Santa Clara. Retrieved 2010-01-07. 

External links [edit]

Coordinates: 37°22′N 121°58′W / 37.36°N 121.97°W / 37.36; -121.97

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