The County of Santa Clara is located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay and encompasses 1,312 square miles. The fertile Santa Clara Valley runs the entire length of the county from north to south, ringed by the rolling hills of the Diablo Range on the east, and the Santa Cruz Mountains on the west. Salt marshes and wetlands lie in the northwestern part of the county, adjacent to the waters of San Francisco Bay.

Today, the County is a major employment center for the region, providing more than a quarter of all jobs in the Bay Area. It has one of the highest median family incomes in the country, and a wide diversity of cultures, backgrounds and talents. The County of Santa Clara continues to attract people from all over the world.

The County''s population of nearly 1.7 million is one of the largest in the state, following Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange Counties, and the largest of the nine Bay Area counties. Its population constitutes about one fourth of the Bay Area''s total population. There are 15 cities including Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga, and Sunnyvale ranging from Palo Alto to the north, to Gilroy in the south. San Jose is the largest city in the County, with a population of nearly 900,000, and is the administrative site of County Government. A significant portion of the county''s land area is unincorporated ranch and farmland. Nearly 92% of the population lives in cities.

The County of Santa Clara operates 27 parks covering more than 50,000 acres including scenic lakes, streams, and miles of hiking and biking trails.