San Jose, CA
Silicon Implant
QUICK, WHAT'S THE third-largest city in California after L.A. and San Diego? Is it San Francisco? Sacramento? Oakland? No, no and no — say hello to San Jose, which in just a few decades has risen from irrelevant afterthought to become the center of the world's high-tech industry.
Tech's dominance in the local economy means that San Jose, in the heart of Silicon Valley, is a major outlier compared to most U.S. cities, with median incomes in the stratosphere and a cost of living to match. (Nonetheless, unemployment has shot up in the recession, which is in part the fault of statewide troubles.)
Extreme hospitability to entrepreneurship is in San Jose's DNA; among the tech firms headquartered in its metro area are Apple, eBay, Yahoo, Intel and some company called Google. Investment money abounds, even in a dud economy; Sand Hill Road in nearby Menlo Park is widely considered the global capital of venture capital. Bring your A game, though — the top dogs around here have heard it all before. But if you've got a great idea and can snag the means to make it happen, San Jose is a money factory like nowhere else.
- ASIAN POPULATION
- 30.7%
- BLACK POPULATION
- 3.2%
- LATINO POPULATION (OF ANY RACE)
- 31.3%
- WHITE POPULATION
- 49.3%
- POPULATION GROWTH
- 4.0% since 2000 (U.S. average: +8%)
- POPULATION EDUCATION: HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE (U.S. AVERAGE: 84%)
- 81.6%
- POPULATION EDUCATION: UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE (U.S.AVERAGE: 27%)
- 35.3%
PEOPLE
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- Population:
- City 899,000
- Metro: 1,000,000
- Neighboring Cities:
- Oakland - 40 miles
- San Francisco - 50 miles
- Los Angeles - 340 miles
- PROS
Probably the best-developed entrepreneurial culture in human history; nice weather; close to the Bay Area and Central California coast.
- CONS
Extremely high cost of living; fickle local economy tied to the fortunes of high-tech; fewer African-Americans per capita than even Cheyenne, Wyoming.
San Jose Featured Content
in Business
Sand Hill Angels
is headquartered 25 miles northwest of San Jose in Redwood City. It's an organization that makes startup investments in technology companies.
in Pleasure
San Jose's proximity to the Bay Area and all its outdoor recreation are a major selling point for the city; the beach-bum town of Santa Cruz and many other beautiful places along the central California coast are just a short drive to the south. Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park are east of San Jose, while California's wine country and northern forests are a few hours' drive north. San Jose's only major professional sports franchises are the NHL's Sharks and Major League Soccer's Earthquakes.
in Networking
The Greater San Jose Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
provides a resource center and frequent networking opportunities for the large Hispanic business community in the San Jose area.
