Santa Clara County, California facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Santa Clara County
County
Clockwise: Downtown San Jose skyline; Hills near Morgan Hill; Alviso, San Jose; View of Santa Clara Valley; Almaden Reservoir; Stanford University.
Flag Seal
Location in the state of California
Country	United States
State	California
Region	San Francisco Bay Area
Incorporated	February 18, 1850
Named for	Mission Santa Clara de Asís, St. Clare of Assisi
County seat and largest city	San Jose
Government
• Type	Council–CEO
• Body	Board of Supervisors
Area
• Total	1,304 sq mi (3,380 km2)
• Land	1,290 sq mi (3,300 km2)
• Water	14 sq mi (40 km2)
Highest elevation	4,216 ft (1,285 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	1,936,259
• Density	1,484.9/sq mi (573.31/km2)
GDP
• Total	$400.778 billion (2022)
Time zone	UTC−8 (Pacific)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−7 (Pacific Daylight Time)
Area codes	408/669, 650
FIPS code	06-085
GNIS feature ID	277307
Congressional districts	16th, 17th, 18th, 19th

Santa Clara County is a large county in California, United States. It is the sixth most populated county in the state. In 2020, about 1.9 million people lived there.

Santa Clara County is part of the larger San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland area. It is the most populated county in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Northern California.

The main city and county seat is San Jose. It is the 13th largest city in the U.S. and the third largest in California. San Jose is also the biggest city in Northern California.

Santa Clara County is known as the home of Silicon Valley. This area is a major hub for high technology companies. In 2015, it had one of the highest economic outputs per person in the world.

The county is located on the southern coast of San Francisco Bay. Most people live in the Santa Clara Valley. Recently, California has had many droughts. This has made it harder for the county to get enough water.

In 2020, the average household income was $130,890. This makes it one of the richest counties in the United States.

County Name: Where it Comes From

The Santa Clara County Government Center in San Jose.

Santa Clara County gets its name from Mission Santa Clara de Asís. This mission was built in 1777. The mission itself was named after Saint Clare of Assisi.

County History

Santa Clara County was one of California's first counties. It was created in 1850 when California became a state. The first people to live here were the Ohlone tribe. They lived near Coyote Creek and Calaveras Creek.

In the early 1900s, this area was called the "Valley of the Heart's Delight." This was because of its beautiful natural scenery and many fruit orchards. The writer Jack London even called it the "sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley."

The first big technology company here was Hewlett-Packard. It started in a garage in Palo Alto in 1939. Later, IBM set up its West Coast office in San Jose in 1943. Other new tech companies like Varian Associates and Fairchild Semiconductor also came to the county.

The U.S. Navy had a big presence here. They gave many contracts to local electronics companies. The name "Silicon Valley" was first used in 1971. Over time, more and more tech companies moved in. This led to farming almost disappearing from the northern part of the county.

Today, Santa Clara County is home to about 6,500 high-tech companies. Many of the world's largest tech companies are here. These include AMD, Nvidia, Cisco Systems, Intel, Apple Inc., Hewlett-Packard, eBay, Google, and Yahoo!. Most of what people call Silicon Valley is located right here.

County Geography

Santa Clara County covers about 1,291 square miles (3,344 square kilometers).

It shares borders with several other counties. These include Alameda County, San Joaquin County, Stanislaus County, Merced County, San Benito County, Santa Cruz County, and San Mateo County.

The San Andreas Fault runs along the Santa Cruz Mountains. This is in the southern and western parts of the county.

Protected Natural Areas

• Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge (part of it is in the county)

County Wildlife

Tule elk can be seen on Coyote Ridge from U.S. Highway 101.

Three tule elk near U.S. Highway 101.

Long ago, tule elk and pronghorn lived in Santa Clara County. Spanish explorers saw them in the 1700s. They described the elk as very large with huge horns. They also saw pronghorn, which looked like small deer and could run very fast.

In 1978, efforts began to bring tule elk back to the area. Thirty-two elk were moved from the Owens Valley to a ranch near Morgan Hill. Since then, the number of elk has grown. By 2012, about 400 tule elk lived in parts of Santa Clara and Alameda County.

Today, there are several herds of elk in the eastern part of the county. You can often see them from U.S. Highway 101. Experts hope to help the elk spread to other areas.

Pronghorn were also brought back in 1990. However, their numbers have gone down due to various reasons.

The Nature Conservancy is working to protect land in the Mount Hamilton area. They have saved over 100,000 acres of land. This helps protect habitats for animals like the California tiger salamander and tule elk.

Santa Clara County has many Superfund Sites. These are places that need to be cleaned up because of hazardous materials. Most of these sites were caused by high-tech companies in Silicon Valley.

County Population

Population in 2020

In 2020, Santa Clara County had a population of 1,936,259 people.

Population Trends

Ethnic groups in Santa Clara County.

Since 2014, Asian Americans have become the largest ethnic group in Santa Clara County.

In 2013, Santa Clara County had the highest average household income in California. The average was $84,741.

County Economy

The county's economy is mostly based on services. Technology, like computer hardware and software, is a huge part of this. But the county also has many retail stores and office jobs.

The San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara area is one of the best-performing metro areas in the U.S. In 2011, its total economic output was $176.7 billion. This means it produced a lot of goods and services.

The economy here has grown a lot. This growth is linked to the high cost of homes. In August 2013, the average price for a single-family home was over $1 million. By late 2021, the average home value was $1,253,400. This makes it one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S.

Education in the County

Schools for Kids and Teens

Santa Clara County has many school districts. They are divided into three types:

Unified School Districts

These districts include elementary, middle, and high schools.

High School Districts

These districts only have high schools.

Elementary School Districts

These districts only have elementary and sometimes middle schools.

Libraries

The Santa Clara County Library system serves many cities and areas. These include Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Saratoga, and other unincorporated areas. Some cities have their own separate library systems.

Getting Around: Transportation

Airports

San Jose International Airport is a busy airport in the county.

The main airport in the county is Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport (SJC). It has flights to other countries and many cities in the western U.S.

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is also used by many people in Santa Clara County.

There are also smaller airports like Moffett Federal Airfield, Palo Alto (PAO), San Jose (Reid-Hillview) (RHV), and San Martin(E16).

Trains

The VTA light rail system serves 11 million people annually in Silicon Valley.

Santa Clara County has several train services:

• Caltrain: This train takes people from Gilroy through San Jose and Silicon Valley all the way north to San Francisco.
• VTA light rail: This train system mainly serves San Jose. One line goes north to Mountain View.
• Altamont Corridor Express: This train connects Santa Clara and San Jose to places like Stockton.
• Amtrak: This train offers services to Sacramento and Oakland. The Coast Starlight train also stops in San Jose.
• BART: This train system currently serves Milpitas and North San Jose. There are plans to extend it to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara.

Roads

A VTA bus arriving at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills.

Buses

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) runs the bus system in Santa Clara County.

Bike Paths

The VTA is also building a network of bike paths across the county. These paths are part of the larger San Francisco Bay Area bike network.

• Bikeways Map (Effective April 2011)

Major Roads

The county has many freeways and expressways. Expressways are like highways but can have intersections where cars stop. In Santa Clara County, these expressways are managed by the county, not the state.

Here are some of the main highways:

County Roads

County Parks

Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department manages many parks. Many of these parks were created in the late 1970s.

• Almaden Quicksilver County Park
• Grant Ranch Park
• Henry W. Coe State Park
• Sanborn Park
• Vasona Park

There are also open space preserves:

• El Sereno Open Space Preserve

Ulistac Natural Area is another special place. Volunteers help remove plants that don't belong and plant native ones. This area is important for migratory birds and butterflies.

County Climate

Sister Counties

Santa Clara County has a "Sister County" program. This program helps build friendships and understanding with other countries. It connects with places where many people in the county originally came from. As of 2023, Santa Clara County has two sister counties:

• Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy
• Hsinchu County, Taiwan (Republic of China)

Communities in Santa Clara County

Los Altos is one of the most expensive places to live in the United States.

Palo Alto is known for its highly educated residents and high living costs.

Morgan Hill is another expensive place to live in the United States.

Los Gatos is also one of the wealthiest cities in the U.S.

Saratoga is a wealthy city with many educated people.

Cities

There are 15 incorporated cities and towns in Santa Clara County:

Towns

• Los Altos Hills
• Los Gatos

Census-Designated Places (CDPs)

These are areas that are like towns but are not officially incorporated as cities.

Unincorporated Communities

These are smaller communities that are not part of any city or CDP.

Population Ranking of Communities

This table shows the population of cities and towns in Santa Clara County based on the 2020 census.

† county seat

Images for kids

• 

  Mission Santa Clara de Asís in 1849.

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Santa Clara para niños