City in California, United States
Santa Clara
(
SAN
-t?
KLARR
-?
;
Spanish
for "
Saint Clare
")
[8]
is a city in
the county of the same name
. The city's population was 127,647 at the
2020 census
, making it the
eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area
. Located in the southern
Bay Area
, the city was founded by the Spanish in 1777 with the establishment of
Mission Santa Clara de Asis
under the leadership of
Junipero Serra
.
Santa Clara is located in the center of
Silicon Valley
and is home to the headquarters of companies such as
Intel
,
Advanced Micro Devices
, and
Nvidia
. It is also home to
Santa Clara University
, the oldest university in California,
[9]
and
Levi's Stadium
, the home of the
National Football League
's
San Francisco 49ers
, and
Cedar Fair
's
California's Great America
Park. Santa Clara is bordered by
San Jose
on all sides, except for
Sunnyvale
and
Cupertino
to the west.
History
[
edit
]
Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 18th century, the
Tamien tribe
of the
Ohlone
nation of
Indigenous Californians
had inhabited the area for several millennia.
Spanish period
[
edit
]
The first European to visit the valley was
Jose Francisco Ortega
in 1769. The Spanish began to colonize California with 21
missions
, and the
Mission Santa Clara de Asis
was founded in 1777.
Mexican period
[
edit
]
The
Battle of Santa Clara
, one of the last battles of the
Conquest of California
, was fought between a contingent of
Californios
, led by
Francisco Sanchez
, against the invading American forces.
American period
[
edit
]
In 1851,
Santa Clara College
was established on the grounds of the original Mission. In 1852, Santa Clara was
incorporated
as a town; it became state-chartered by 1862.
For the next century, the economy centered on agriculture since orchards and vegetables were thriving in the fertile soil. By the beginning of the 20th century, the population had reached 5,000 and stayed about the same for many years.
In 1905, the first public high-altitude flights by humans were made over Santa Clara in gliders designed by
John J. Montgomery
. The
semiconductor industry
, which sprouted around 1960, changed the city and surrounding
Valley of Heart's Delight
; little of its agricultural past remains.
Santa Clara's first medical hospital was built in 1963. This structure, on Kiely Boulevard, was replaced in 2007 with a new Kaiser Permanente medical center located on Lawrence Expressway at Homestead Road.
Santa Clara was also home to a major mental health facility,
Agnews State Hospital
. According to the National Park Service, more than 100 persons were killed at this site in the 1906 earthquake. The site is the former home to
Sun Microsystems
and is listed in the
National Register of Historic Places
.
In 1963, Santa Clara City Council voted to knock down the eight-block grid of Downtown Santa Clara, in order to receive federal funding for
urban renewal
.
[10]
[11]
Since 2017, there has been a grassroots movement to rebuild Santa Clara's historic downtown.
[12]
Geography
[
edit
]
Santa Clara is drained by three seasonal creeks, all of which empty into the southern portion of
San Francisco Bay
; these creeks are
San Tomas Aquino Creek
,
Saratoga Creek
, and
Calabazas Creek
.
There are some significant biological resources within the city including
habitat
for the
burrowing owl
, a
species
of special concern in California due to reduction in habitat from urban development during the latter 20th century.
[13]
This owl uses burrows created by
ground squirrels
and prefers generally level grasslands and even disturbed areas.
Coyotes
have also become active in the area in recent years.
[14]
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau
, the city covers an area of 18.4 square miles (48 km
2
), all of it land.
Climate
[
edit
]
The average daily temperatures in July range from 82 °F (28 °C) to 53 °F (12 °C). Winters are mild, with the mean daily temperatures in January ranging from 58 °F (14 °C) to 38 °F (3 °C). Most of the annual rainfall comes in the winter months; the summer months are generally rainless.
Climate data for Santa Clara, California (
Santa Clara University
, 1893?1976)
|
Month
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Year
|
Mean daily maximum °F (°C)
|
58
(14)
|
62
(17)
|
66
(19)
|
70
(21)
|
74
(23)
|
79
(26)
|
82
(28)
|
82
(28)
|
81
(27)
|
76
(24)
|
67
(19)
|
59
(15)
|
71
(22)
|
Mean daily minimum °F (°C)
|
38
(3)
|
41
(5)
|
42
(6)
|
44
(7)
|
47
(8)
|
50
(10)
|
53
(12)
|
52
(11)
|
51
(11)
|
47
(8)
|
42
(6)
|
39
(4)
|
46
(8)
|
Average
precipitation
inches (mm)
|
3.03
(77)
|
2.56
(65)
|
2.30
(58)
|
1.03
(26)
|
.40
(10)
|
.09
(2.3)
|
.01
(0.25)
|
.04
(1.0)
|
.27
(6.9)
|
.63
(16)
|
1.47
(37)
|
2.66
(68)
|
14.49
(367.45)
|
Average precipitation days
(≥ .01 in)
|
10
|
9
|
9
|
5
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
6
|
9
|
56
|
Source: Western Regional Climate Center
[15]
|
Demographics
[
edit
]
Historical population
Census
| Pop.
| Note
| %±
|
1880
| 2,416
| | ?
|
---|
1890
| 2,891
| | 19.7%
|
---|
1900
| 3,650
| | 26.3%
|
---|
1910
| 4,348
| | 19.1%
|
---|
1920
| 5,220
| | 20.1%
|
---|
1930
| 6,302
| | 20.7%
|
---|
1940
| 6,650
| | 5.5%
|
---|
1950
| 11,702
| | 76.0%
|
---|
1960
| 58,880
| | 403.2%
|
---|
1970
| 86,118
| | 46.3%
|
---|
1980
| 87,700
| | 1.8%
|
---|
1990
| 93,613
| | 6.7%
|
---|
2000
| 102,361
| | 9.3%
|
---|
2010
| 116,468
| | 13.8%
|
---|
2020
| 127,647
| | 9.6%
|
---|
2020
[
edit
]
Santa Clara, California ? Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Race / Ethnicity
(
NH = Non-Hispanic
)
|
Pop 2000
[17]
|
Pop 2010
[18]
|
Pop 2020
[19]
|
% 2000
|
% 2010
|
% 2020
|
White
alone (NH)
|
49,392
|
42,026
|
35,930
|
48.25%
|
36.08%
|
28.15%
|
Black or African American
alone (NH)
|
2,237
|
2,929
|
2,713
|
2.19%
|
2.51%
|
2.13%
|
Native American
or
Alaska Native
alone (NH)
|
275
|
240
|
186
|
0.27%
|
0.21%
|
0.15%
|
Asian
alone (NH)
|
29,791
|
43,531
|
59,678
|
29.10%
|
37.38%
|
46.75%
|
Pacific Islander
alone (NH)
|
416
|
604
|
390
|
0.41%
|
0.52%
|
0.31%
|
Other race
alone (NH)
|
275
|
321
|
797
|
0.27%
|
0.28%
|
0.62%
|
Mixed race or Multiracial
(NH)
|
3,611
|
4,228
|
5,403
|
3.63%
|
3.63%
|
4.23%
|
Hispanic or Latino
(any race)
|
16,364
|
22,589
|
22,550
|
15.99%
|
19.40%
|
17.67%
|
Total
|
102,361
|
116,468
|
127,647
|
100.00%
|
100.00%
|
100.00%
|
2010
[
edit
]
The
2010 United States census
[20]
reported that Santa Clara had a population of 116,468. The population density was 6,327.3 inhabitants per square mile (2,443.0/km
2
). The ethnic makeup of Santa Clara was 52,359 (45.0%)
White
, 3,154 (2.7%)
African American
, 579 (0.5%)
Native American
, 43,889 (37.7%)
Asian
(13.6% Indian, 6.9% Chinese, 6.2% Filipino, 3.9% Vietnamese, 3.0% Korean, 1.5% Japanese), 651 (0.6%)
Pacific Islander
, 9,624 (8.3%) from
other races
, and 6,212 (5.3%) from two or more races. There were 22,598 people (19.4%) who identified as
Hispanic
or
Latino
; 14.6% of Santa Clara's population was of Mexican ancestry.
The Census reported that 113,272 people (97.3% of the population) lived in households, 2,860 (2.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 336 (0.3%) were institutionalized.
There were 43,021 households, out of which 14,477 (33.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 21,817 (50.7%) were
opposite-sex married couples
living together, 4,081 (9.5%) had a female householder with no husband present, 2,038 (4.7%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 2,146 (5.0%)
unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
, and 312 (0.7%)
same-sex married couples or partnerships
. 10,906 households (25.4%) were made up of individuals, and 2,945 (6.8%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63. There were 27,936
families
(64.9% of all households); the average family size was 3.18.
The age distribution of the population was as follows: 24,774 people (21.3%) were under the age of 18, 12,511 people (10.7%) aged 18 to 24, 41,876 people (36.0%) aged 25 to 44, 25,628 people (22.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 11,679 people (10.0%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.9 males.
There were 45,147 housing units at an average density of 2,452.7 units per square mile (947.0 units/km
2
), of which 19,747 (45.9%) were owner-occupied, and 23,274 (54.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.6%. 53,694 people (46.1% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 59,578 people (51.2%) lived in rental housing units.
Economy
[
edit
]
Santa Clara owns and operates an electric utility called
Silicon Valley Power
. In 2005 Silicon Valley Power brought online the
Donald Von Raesfeld (DVR) Power Plant
. The new
combined cycle
gas turbine plant produces 147 megawatts of electricity for the city and its residents.
[21]
As a result, the going rate for electricity in Santa Clara is considerably cheaper than that offered by Northern California's dominant utility,
Pacific Gas and Electric
.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
,
Affymetrix
,
Agilent Technologies
,
Applied Materials
,
Arista Networks
,
Aruba
, Auditoria.AI,
Brillio
,
Chegg
,
Cloudera
,
Coherent
,
FileMaker
,
Hortonworks
,
Infoblox
,
Intel
,
Intevac
,
Marvell
,
McAfee
,
Move inc
,
National Semiconductor
,
Nvidia
,
OmniVision
,
Ooyala
,
Palo Alto Networks
,
Rovi
,
ServiceNow
,
SVB Financial Group
,
Trident Microsystems
and
Veritas Technologies
are among the companies headquartered in Santa Clara.
[
citation needed
]
The North American offices of
Bandai Namco Entertainment
(formerly
Namco
) was in Santa Clara until its consolidation with its existing offices in
Irvine, California
.
[22]
[23]
[24]
Top employers
[
edit
]
According to the city's 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,
[25]
the top employers in the city are:
#
|
Employer
|
# of employees
|
1
|
Applied Materials
|
8,500
|
2
|
Intel
|
7,801
|
3
|
AMD
|
3,000
|
4
|
California's Great America
|
2,500
|
5
|
Nvidia
|
2,500
|
6
|
Dell
|
2,088
|
7
|
Santa Clara University
|
2,000
|
8
|
City of Santa Clara
|
1,752
|
9
|
SVB Financial Group
|
1,250
|
10
|
Macy's
|
1,200
|
Government
[
edit
]
The current mayor of Santa Clara is Lisa M. Gillmor. Its city councilmembers are: Kathy Watanabe (District 1), Raj Chahal (District 2), Karen Hardy (District 3), Kevin Park (District 4), Suds Jain (District 5), and Anthony Becker (District 6).
[3]
Santa Clara is represented in
California's 17th congressional district
for the
U.S. House of Representatives
, currently represented by
Ro Khanna
(
D
).
In the
California Legislature
, Santa Clara is part of
California's 10th State Senate district
and
California's 26th State Assembly district
, represented in the
Senate
by
Aisha Wahab
(
D
)
[26]
and in the
Assembly
by
Evan Low
(
D
).
[26]
The city operates the
Santa Clara City Library
, which is not part of the
Santa Clara County Library District
.
[27]
Education
[
edit
]
Santa Clara Unified School District
is the public school district that serves Santa Clara and small portions of Sunnyvale and North San Jose. The city is home to nineteen K?8, elementary, and high schools. Many of the schools are named for former farmers, ranchers, and other notable Santa Clara residents such as Bowers and Bracher elementary schools, Buchser Middle School,
Wilcox High School
,
Santa Clara High School
, and Mission Early College High School.
A small part of the city however is served by
Cupertino High School
and its feeder schools in the nearby town of its namesake.
Private schools in Santa Clara include three Catholic schools operated by the
Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose
?
Saint Clare School
(the oldest elementary school in California), Saint Lawrence Elementary and Middle School, and Saint Justin School ? and the
Granada Islamic School
(
Islamic
school, grades K-12).
[28]
[29]
Higher education
[
edit
]
Colleges and universities in Santa Clara include
Santa Clara University
(private Jesuit university),
Mission College
(public community college),
UC Santa Cruz
Silicon Valley extension campus, and
Golden State Baptist College
(private Baptist college).
Culture
[
edit
]
Santa Clara is also home to
California's Great America
, an amusement park currently operated by
Cedar Fair, L.P.
Nearby is the
Santa Clara Convention Center
, one of Silicon Valley's largest event and meeting venues. Santa Clara also offers several museums such as the
Intel Museum
,
Triton Museum of Art
, and the Harris ? Lass historical house. The
Our Lady of Peace Shrine
is notable for its 32-foot-tall (9.8 m) statue which is visible from
Highway 101
. The Mission City Center for Performing Arts is the city's venue for theatrical productions and entertainment.
Sports
[
edit
]
The
Santa Clara Broncos
are the
Division I NCAA
athletic programs of
Santa Clara University
. Santa Clara sponsors 19 different teams, most of which compete in the
West Coast Conference
. The red and white of the Santa Clara Broncos is featured on the flag of the city, as is the Mission which lies at the heart of the campus.
The
George F. Haines International Swim Center
is home and host to numerous local, regional, and international
competitive swimming
matches.
The
Santa Clara Vanguard
, a competitive marching music organization, has been headquartered in Santa Clara since its inception. The organization runs and operates a
winter guard
, an
indoor percussion ensemble
, and two
drum and bugle corps
, all of which compete across the country every year. All four ensembles have been very successful competitively, especially the two drum corps, one of which has won 6 Open Class titles and the other 7 World Class titles.
The
San Francisco 49ers
National Football League
football team has its headquarters and practice facilities in Santa Clara. On Wednesday, November 8, 2006, the 49ers announced their intention to
move the team
to Santa Clara in time for the fall 2014 season, after negotiations failed with the city of San Francisco to build a new stadium.
[30]
Santa Clara will host multiple matches during the
2026 FIFA World Cup
at
Levi's Stadium
.
[31]
[32]
Transportation
[
edit
]
Santa Clara has two major train stations: the
Santa Clara ? Great America station
and the
Santa Clara station
. Both stations are served by
Amtrak
's
Capitol Corridor
train and the
Altamont Corridor Express
(ACE); the latter is also served by
Caltrain
.
The city is served by the
VTA light rail
system, which operates four stations:
Reamwood station
,
Old Ironsides station
,
Great America station
, and
Lick Mill station
.
Santa Clara is located adjacent to
San Jose International Airport
.
Notable people
[
edit
]
Sister cities
[
edit
]
As of May 2015
[update]
, Santa Clara has three
sister cities
:
[33]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"California Cities by Incorporation Date"
. California Association of
Local Agency Formation Commissions
. Archived from
the original
(Word)
on November 3, 2014
. Retrieved
August 25,
2014
.
- ^
"Government"
. City of Santa Clara
. Retrieved
April 20,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Councilmembers"
. City of Santa Clara.
- ^
"2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files"
. United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
July 1,
2020
.
- ^
"Santa Clara"
.
Geographic Names Information System
.
United States Geological Survey
,
United States Department of the Interior
. Retrieved
November 18,
2014
.
- ^
"Santa Clara (city) QuickFacts"
.
United States Census Bureau
.
- ^
"Population and Housing Unit Estimates"
. Retrieved
May 21,
2020
.
- ^
Gannett, Henry (1902).
"The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States"
.
Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey
(197). U.S. Government Printing Office:
231
. Retrieved
April 24,
2014
.
- ^
"
Santa Clara University Ethnobiographical Background
Archived
May 28, 2010, at the
Wayback Machine
."
Santa Clara University
. Retrieved on March 13, 2010.
- ^
Santa Clara Journal
microfilm, Santa Clara, California Wednesday, January 2, 1963, First (Front) page, Article: Renewal Hits Homestretch, Vol 91 No. 9, Santa Clara City Public Library Archives in Santa Clara, CA
- ^
Santa Clara City Urban Renewal: Home Movie Clips 1963?1966 Source by Warburton, Austen; Warburton, Margot: VHS: 1 Tape of 1 Call Number: Video 979.473 S23 Case, Rights: Copyrighted. Rights are owned by Santa Clara City Library
- ^
"New Movement To Rebuild Old Downtown Santa Clara"
– via YouTube.
- ^
Environmental Impact Report for the Esperanca property, Santa Clara, California
, Earth Metrics Inc., California State Clearinghouse (1990)
- ^
"Coexisting with Coyotes in Santa Clara"
.
The Silicon Valley Voice
. November 8, 2019
. Retrieved
December 24,
2020
.
- ^
"Santa Clara University, California ? Climate Summary"
.
Western Regional Climate Center
.
- ^
"Census of Population and Housing"
. Census.gov
. Retrieved
June 4,
2015
.
- ^
"P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race ? 2000: DEC Summary File 1 ? Santa Clara city, California"
. United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
January 26,
2024
.
- ^
"P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race ? 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) ? Santa Clara city, California"
. United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
January 26,
2024
.
- ^
"P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race ? 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) ? Santa Clara city, California"
. United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
January 26,
2024
.
- ^
"2010 Census Interactive Population Search: CA ? Santa Clara city"
. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from
the original
on July 15, 2014
. Retrieved
July 12,
2014
.
- ^
Silicon Valley Power Dedicates Donald Von Raesfeld Power Plant on June 15, 2005
, City of Santa Clara news release (2005)
- ^
"
Company Info
."
Namco Bandai
. Retrieved on December 8, 2008.
- ^
Williams, Hayley (April 20, 2021).
"Bandai Namco Is Closing Its Santa Clara Office And Moving To Southern California"
.
GameSpot
.
Archived
from the original on April 21, 2021
. Retrieved
April 21,
2021
.
- ^
Takahashi, Dean (April 20, 2021).
"Bandai Namco will close its Santa Clara office and move employees to Southern California"
.
VentureBeat
.
Archived
from the original on April 21, 2021
. Retrieved
April 21,
2021
.
- ^
"Annual Comprehensive Financial Report : Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2022"
. City of Santa Clara
. Retrieved
March 10,
2023
.
- ^
a
b
"Statewide Database"
. UC Regents
. Retrieved
April 20,
2024
.
- ^
"
Library
." City of Santa Clara. Retrieved on December 7, 2009.
- ^
"Granada Islamic"
.
California School Directory
. California Department of Education
. Retrieved
July 24,
2018
.
- ^
"St. Clare Elementary"
.
California School Directory
. California Department of Education
. Retrieved
July 24,
2018
.
- ^
Cote, John; Vega, Cecilia M.; Lagos, Marisa (November 9, 2006).
"Niners to leave SF, move to Santa Clara"
.
sfgate.com
. Retrieved
January 29,
2020
.
- ^
"FIFA unveils stellar line-up of FIFA World Cup 2026™ Host Cities"
. FIFA
. Retrieved
March 19,
2023
.
- ^
"San Francisco Bay Area, Levi's® Stadium Selected to Host FIFA World Cup 2026™"
. June 16, 2022.
- ^
"News : New Sister City"
. City of Santa Clara. Archived from
the original
on November 20, 2009
. Retrieved
May 1,
2015
.
External links
[
edit
]
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