San Jose

San Jose, officially San José (; Spanish: [sa xose]; Spanish for 'Saint Joseph'), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley. 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 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 the world's largest overseas Vietnamese population, a Hispanic community that makes up over 40% of the city's residents, and historic Japanese and Portuguese neighborhoods. San Jose was founded on November 29, 1777, as the Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the first city founded in the Californias. It then became a part of Mexico in 1821 after the Mexican War of Independence. Following the American Conquest of California during the MexicanAmerican War, the territory was ceded to the United States in 1848. After California achieved statehood two years later, San Jose became the state's first capital. In 1988, Mayor Tom McEnery adopted the city the motto of "Capital of Silicon valley" in 1988. Major global tech companies including Cisco Systems, eBay, Adobe Inc., PayPal, Broadcom, Samsung, Acer, and Zoom maintain their headquarters in San Jose.

Name

In the 19th century, print publications used the spelling "San José" for both the city and its eponymous township. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names ruled that the city's name should be spelled "San Jose" based on local usage and the formal incorporated name. In the 1960s and 1970s, some residents and officials advocated for returning to the original spelling of " San José", with the acute accent on the "e" On June 2, 1969, the city adopted a flag designed by historian Clyde Arbuckle that prominently featured the inscription "SAN JOSÉ, CALIFORNIA". On June 16, 1970, San Jose State College officially adopted "San José" as the city name, including in the college's own name. As late as 2010, the 1965 city charter stated the name of the municipal corporation as City of San Jose, without the accent mark, but later editions have added it. The accent reflects the Spanish version of the name, and the dropping of accents in all-capital writing was once typical in Spanish. By convention, the spelling San José is only used when the name is spelled in mixed upper- and lowercase letters, but not when theName is spelled only in uppercase letters, as on the city logo. The city's official guidelines indicate that it should be spell with the accent most of the time. The name is used on social media sites where the diacritical mark does not render properly, and where San Jose is part of the proper name of another organization or business, such as San Jose Chamber of Commerce.

History

San Jose was officially founded as California's first civilian settlement on November 29, 1777, as the Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe by José Joaquín Moraga. San Jose served as a strategic settlement along El Camino Real, connecting the military fortifications at the Monterey Presidio and the San Francisco PresIDio, as well as the California mission network. In 1835, San Jose's population of approximately 700 people included 40 foreigners, primarily Americans and Englishmen. By 1845, the population of the pueblo had increased to 900, primarily due to immigration to the area from other parts of the U.S. and Mexico. The city is located in the Santa Clara Valley, which was once home to the Tamien group of the Ohlone people. The Tamien spoke the Tamyen language of the ohlone language family, and were baptized and educated to be Catholic neophytes, also known as Mission Indians. The mission was secularized by the Mexican Government in 1833, in order to diminish the Catholic Church's power within Alta California by secularizing the California missions. The San Jose area was part of the First Mexican Empire from 1821 to 1845. It is now the site of the San Jose International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the United States. The airport is located on the Bay Area's main north-south artery, which runs from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The Bay Area is home to some of the world's busiest airports, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

Geography

San Jose is located in the Santa Clara Valley, in the southern part of the Bay Area in Northern California. The city has a total area of 180.0 sq mi (466 km²), making it the fourth-largest city in California by land area. San Jose lies between the San Andreas Fault, the source of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and the Calaveras Fault. Most of the city is made up of southern coastal scrub community, with dominant species being Artemisia californica, Eriogum fascicatum, Mimbantiacus, various Salvia species, and Sambucus nigucus. The highest point in San Jose is 2.125 ft (648 m) at the San Francisco Bay in Alviso, the lowest point is 13 ft (4.0 m) below sea level. The Guadalupe River runs from the Santa Cruz Mountains (which separate the South Bay from the Pacific Coast) flowing north through San Jose, ending in the San Bay at Alvisa. Along the southern side of the river is the neighborhood of Almaden Valley, originally named for the mercury mines which produced mercury needed for gold extraction from quartz during the California Gold Rush. In 1963, the State of California imposed Local Agency Formation Commissions statewide, but largely to try to maintain order with San Jose's aggressive growth. Eventually the political forces against growth grew as local neighborhoods bonded together to elect their own candidates, ending Hamann's influence and leading to his resignation.

Demographics

The 2010 United States Census reported that San Jose had a population of 945,942. The racial makeup of San Jose was 404,437 (42.8%) White, 303,138 (32.0%) Asian, 148,749 (15.7%) from other races, and 47,062 (5.0) from two or more races. There were 313,636 residents of Hispanic or Latino background (33.2%) 28.2% of the city's population was of Mexican descent; the next largest Hispanic groups were those of Salvadoran. and Puerto Rican heritage. Non-Hispanic Whites were 28.7% of. the population in 2010, down from 75.7%. The median age was 35.2 years, and for every 100 females, there were 101.1 males. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.6%; the rental vacancy rates was 4.3%. 553,436 people (58.5% ofthe population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 379,184 people (40.1%) lived in rental housing units. San Jose is the largest U.S. city with an Asian plurality population. It is currently the 10th most populous city in the United States, with 1,015,785 residents. The city has a population density of 5,256.2 inhabitants per square mile (2,029.4/km²) and a population growth rate of 2.4% in the past decade.

Economy

San Jose lists many companies with 1000 employees or more, including the headquarters of Adobe, Altera, Brocade Communications Systems, Cadence Design Systems, Cisco Systems, eBay, Lee's Sandwiches, Lumileds, PayPal, Roku, Inc., Rosendin Electric, Sanmina-SCI, Western Digital and Xilinx. The North American headquarters of Samsung Semiconductor are located in San Jose. The city received its Foreign Trade Zone grant from the U.S. Federal Government in 1974, making it the 18th foreign-trade zone established in the United States. Households in the city limits have the highest disposable income of any city with over 500,000 residents. With a median home price of $1,085,000 and the highest percentage of million-dollar (or more) homes in the US, San Jose has the most expensive housing market in the country and the fifth most expensive in the world. The large concentration of high-technology engineering, computer, and microprocessor companies around San Jose have led the area to be known as Silicon Valley. By April 2018, Google was in the process of planning the "biggest tech campus in Silicon Valley" San Jose and Silicon Valley are home to more than 1,000 colleges and universities, many of which produce thousands of engineering and computer science graduates every year. On October 15, 2015, the. United States Patent and Trademark Office opened a satellite office to serve Silicon Valley and the Western States.

Culture

Downtown San Jose is in the flight path to nearby Mineta San Jose International Airport. There is a height limit for buildings in the downtown area, which is underneath the final approach corridor to the airport. The height limit is dictated by local ordinances, driven by the distance from the runway and a slope defined by Federal Aviation Administration regulations. Core downtown buildings are limited to approximately 300 ft (91 m) but can get taller farther from the Airport. Public art is an evolving attraction in the city. The city was one of the first to adopt a public art ordinance at 2% of capital improvement building project budgets. In 2001, the city-sponsored SharkByte, an exhibit of decorated sharks based on the mascot of the hockey team, the San Jose Sharks, and modeled after Chicago's display of decorated cows. In 2007, Adobe Systems commissioned an art installation titled San Jose Semaphore by Ben Rubin, at the top of its headquarters building. The visual art installation is supplemented with an audio track, transmitted from a low-power AM station, that provides clues to decode the message being transmitted. San Jose has many examples of houses with fine architecture. Late 19th century and early 20th century styles exist in neighborhoods such as Hanchett Park, Naglee Park, Rose Garden, and Willow Glen (including Palm Haven).Styles include Mediterranean Revival architecture, Spanish Colonial architecture, Neoclassical architecture, Craftsman, Mission Revival, Prairie style, and Queen Anne style Victorian. The new City Hall, designed by Richard Meier & Partners, opened in 2005 and is a notable addition to the growing collection of municipal building projects.

Law and government

San Jose is a charter city under California law, giving it the power to enact local ordinances that may conflict with state law. The city has a council-manager government with a city manager nominated by the mayor and elected by the city council. Like all California cities except San Francisco, the boundaries of what the city government controls are determined by the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) The goal of a LAFCO is to try to avoid uncontrolled urban sprawl. San Jose is the county seat of Santa Clara County. It is home to one of three courthouses of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the other two being in Oakland and San Francisco. The San Jose Police Department has consistently innovated crime prevention, which made San Jose the first American city to make 911 calls available online. In 2020, crime per 100,000 people has been the lowest the city has seen in the U.S. From 2002 to 2006, Morgan Quitno Press named San Jose as the safest city in the States with a population over 500,000. In 2017, homicide rate has been highest since 2016; property crime has been lowest since 2000. In 2021, SmartAsset ranked San Jose tied as the 10th safest city for property owners in the world, with a property crime rate of less than 0.5 per cent. In 2016, San Jose had the lowest property crime rates in the country; in 2017, it was the lowest for property Owners Association members.

Education

San Jose has 127 elementary, 47 middle, and 44 public high schools. Public education in the city is provided by four high school districts, fourteen elementary districts, and four unified school districts. The Catholic Diocese of San Jose has the second largest student population in the Santa Clara County, only behind its diocese. The city is home to several colleges and universities, including San Jose State University, National University, and Western Seminary. The San Jose area's community colleges, San Jose City College, West Valley College, Mission College and Evergreen Valley College offer associate degrees, general education units to transfer to CSU and UC schools, and adult and continuing education programs. San Jose's public schools declared bankruptcy in 1983; this was the largest school district bankruptcy to that date in the US. The public schools in San Jose are primarily run by religious groups; the city has five high schools, including five Catholic schools and two non-denominational private schools, Liberty Baptist School and White Road Baptist Academy, one Non-Denominational Protestant high school, and one non-Denational Catholic high school.

Community services and utilities

San Jose is protected by the San Jose Police Department and San Jose Fire Department. Drinking water is supplied by San José Municipal Water System (Muni Water) San Jose Water Company and Great Oaks Water Company provide wastewater treatment and reclaimed water. The San JoséSanta Clara Regional Wastewater Facility provides advanced wastewater treatment. San Jose is home to the San Francisco Giants, San Francisco Warriors, and San Francisco Bay 49ers. The city is also home to San Jose State University, San Jose City College, and the University of California, San Diego. It is also the home of the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, which provides medical care for more than 100,000 patients and their families each year. The City of San Jose has a population of 2.2 million. It has a history of being one of the largest cities in the United States, with a population growth rate of 3.7 percent between 1950 and 1960. It also has a reputation for being a great city to live in, with more than 1.5 million people living in the city in the early 1990s. It was the site of the first U.S. presidential election in 1968, and has since been home to a number of major political parties, including the California Democratic Party and the California Republican Party. In the 1990s, the city's population grew to 2.7 million, and in the 2000s, it reached 2.8 million. In 2010, it had a population increase of 1.9 percent, with the majority of residents living in San Jose and its surrounding areas.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California = 11.8. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 40. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in San Jose = 5.1 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 1,013,240 individuals with a median age of 36 age the population grows by 7.73% in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 5,684.69 residents per square mile of area (2,194.92/km²). There are average 3.23 people per household in the 295,221 households with an average household income of $83,213 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 13.20% of the available work force and has dropped -6.14% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 14.52%. The number of physicians in San Jose per 100,000 population = 263.9.

Weather

The annual rainfall in San Jose = 14.5 inches and the annual snowfall = 0 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 58. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 257. 82 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 41.5 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 51, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California which are owned by the occupant = 59.75%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 34 years with median home cost = $439,060 and home appreciation of -13.51%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $5.62 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,924 per student. There are 21.3 students for each teacher in the school, 14371 students for each Librarian and 1321 students for each Counselor. 7.67% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 20.56% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 10.54% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).