San Jose, California is a great place to live or holiday. Here are some historical facts and figures to help you understand the city before your visit.
San Jose was founded in 1777 and incorporated as a town in 1850. Its name comes from the Spanish language and means "St. Joseph" who is seen as the patron of fathers, immigrants and workers by the Catholic church. It is the tenth largest city in the USA with just over 1 million residents in the actual city. The metropolitan area surrounding the city has roughly 7.5 million more people who consider it home. Perhaps San Jose's biggest claim to fame in recent years is becoming known as 'The capital of Silicon Valley", which is quite possibly one of the biggest hubs for technology related companies in the world.
Demographics
The population density of San Jose is just over 5,000 people per square mile. Within the city boundaries of the city there are over 280.000 houses or apartments with a density of 1,600 per square mile. Out of these homes 38% of them had children who were younger than 18 living with them. As well, the average household size is 3.6.
The two biggest age segmentation's are the "under 18" segment with 26.4% of the total population fitting into that segment. The other is the "25-44" segment coming in at 35.4% of the total population. Out of all the residents, the median age is 33 and for every 100 females there are 102.5 males. Also, White Americans made up for over 49% of San Jose's population.
Geography
The recent US census calculated that the total area of San Jose was 178.2 square miles and that 3.3 square miles of that total was water. One of the biggest geological features near the city is the San Andreas Fault which is the cause of many earthquakes in California. The most recent major earthquake to hit the city was 1906. Another big feature would have to be the Guadalupe River which runs right through the city. This river starts in the Santa Cruz Mountains and it ends in the San Francisco bay.
Climate
The climate in the San Jose area could be described as a Mediterranean one. Unlike San Francisco it is inland from the ocean and is actually surrounded by mountains on three sides. This creates a semi-arid dessert with an average rainfall of only 14.4 inches per year. However, a big bonus is that the mountains block out almost all of the smog that comes from San Francisco.
With the small amounts of rainfall a year, the people of San Jose experience well over 300 days a year of sunlight. These keeps the average temperature somewhat high at 59 degrees Fahrenheit. The highest temperature ever recorded was actually on July 23, 2006 with 112 degrees Fahrenheit. It rarely experiences snow. Snow does occassionally fall on the nearby mountains but it only stays for a few days at a time. The last time snow remained on the ground in the actual city itself, was in 1976 on February 5th when over 3 inches came down.
Travel Tip
If you are planning a visit, be sure to book ahead, as frequent events and and a high volume of holiday traffic make it likely that you will have difficulty finding a decent place to stay if you simply arrive without any hotel lined up.
