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Where am ILOCATED

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area

The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area is made up of 2 counties in California: Santa Clara and San Benito. About 1,984,473 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 0.8% fewer than in April 2020.

San Benito County, outlyingSanta Clara County, centralSan JoseSunnyvaleSanta Clara
Central Outlying 2 counties in California
Population, July 2025
1,984,473 0.8% fewer than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
Counties
2: 1 central, 1 outlying
Land area
2,680 sq mi (6,940 km²)
Time zone
Pacific TimeUTC-08:00 in January; UTC-07:00 in July
State
California
Combined statistical area
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
CBSA code
41940
Open this area in the metro area finder

Counties in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area, largest first

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025Share of the area
Santa Clara CountyCentral1,914,39196.5%
San Benito CountyOutlying70,0823.5%

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. An outlying county is in the area because of commuting: at least a quarter of its workers have jobs in the central county, or at least a quarter of the people working there live in them. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal cities, largest first

  1. San Jose990,138 people
  2. Sunnyvale154,236 people
  3. Santa Clara130,256 people
  4. Mountain View83,732 people
  5. Milpitas78,578 people
  6. Palo Alto67,237 people
  7. Cupertino58,566 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Part of the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other 7 areas in this one, largest first:

  1. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area4,630,041 people
  2. Stockton-Lodi, CA Metro Area823,815 people
  3. Modesto, CA Metro Area557,719 people
  4. Vallejo, CA Metro Area455,376 people
  5. Merced, CA Metro Area297,260 people
  6. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area258,852 people
  7. Napa, CA Metro Area132,949 people

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area25 mi southwest
  2. Salinas, CA Metro Area43 mi south
  3. Modesto, CA Metro Area50 mi northeast
  4. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area73 mi northwest
  5. Merced, CA Metro Area74 mi east
  6. Fresno, CA Metro Area117 mi east

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗