Cupertino was ranked by Forbes in 2015 as one of the most educated places in the United States based off of the percentage of high school and college graduates. It is one of the nation’s wealthiest cities and home to Apple Inc.’s headquarters. Cupertino is located on the western edge of Santa Clara County, with some of its boundaries extending into the hills. Originally known as West Side, much of what is now Cupertino was a small rural village invested in fruit agriculture. It began developing more with the introduction of the railroad and the suburban housing boom that followed World War II. In the 1960s, its development flourished even more with the creation of VALLCO Business and Industrial Park, still a commercial section today, and the founding of De Anza College. It is now one of several cities that claim to be the “heart” of Silicon Valley due to its many semiconductor and computer software companies.

Gilroy is the southernmost city in Santa Clara County and is most-popularly known for its garlic crop and the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival. It is also recognized for its boutique wine production, which takes up most of the city’s western area in the form of family estates. It is nested between the Santa Cruz mountains to the west and the Diablo Range in the east. While being a part of Santa Clara County, Gilroy is not often seen as an extension of Silicon Valley. It remains a largely agricultural and vinicultural community, though some residents still commute north to tech-industry jobs. In addition to its annual garlic festival, Gilroy is also home to the retail-oriented Gilroy Outlet Mall. Gilroy also offers multiple public schools, a library, and even one college.

Los Gatos is an affluent town in the southwest foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. While it has a lively downtown full of shops, restaurants, and offices, much of Los Gatos is suburban with several notable schools. While it is on the southern end of the Silicon Valley, it is still the home of several high-tech companies—most notably the streaming and content creator Netflix.

Like most of Santa Clara County, Los Gatos started out as an agrarian town. It was also involved in the logging industry and railway transportation between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. These early pursuits led to the buildup of its Downtown area, which maintains many restored Victorian-era homes and commercial buildings.

Today, Los Gatos is a thriving community that hosts a number of local events and activities. It includes large recreational spaces for daily use by residents and visitors alike. Los Gatos is close to multiple major highways and offers small town charm within access to major city hubs.

Milpitas is located in the very northeast section of the South Bay. It is home to a number of high-tech companies near the North San Jose technology district. While most residents work in other nearby cities, its population actually increases during the daytime as workers commute from other cities to jobs in Milpitas. The area stretches from the shore of the San Francisco Bay in the west to the high foothills of the Diablo Range in the east. Many of the hillsides are still used for cattle livestock.

Modern-day Milpitas contains a mix of residential, industrial, and commercial areas. While it lacks an official downtown “center,” it has a number of retail centers near residential developments. Noteworthy public schools, multiple visual and performing arts projects, parks and open space preserves, and shopping malls give residents many recreational options. Milpitas is also ranked first in the United States with the largest percentage of employed residents working the computer and electronic products industry.

Morgan Hill sits at the southern tip of Silicon Valley as the location of several high-tech companies. Primarily affluent residents often work within the tech industry and enjoy Morgan Hill’s eminent dining, entertainment, and recreational opportunities. It is home to Michelin-star chefs, luxurious hospitality, wineries, nature parks, and many community events. Morgan Hill is situated between San Jose and Gilroy in the southernmost section of the Santa Clara Valley, between the eastern Diablo Range and western Santa Cruz Mountains. It combines agricultural roots with modern Silicon Valley investments. It is part of the Santa Clara Valley American Viticultural Area, and houses multiple technology companies, start-ups, and research and development firms.

The city is served by the Morgan Hill Unified School District and numerous private schools, both religious-based and nonsectarian. It has convenient public transportation to educational and career opportunities in the denser areas of Santa Clara County.

Located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, Mountain View remains the location for many high-tech company headquarters, including Google, Mozilla Foundation, Symantec, and Intuit. It was also the location of the Shockley Semiconductor Factory–the first company to develop silicone semiconductor devices that led to nicknaming the area “Silicon Valley.”

What would become Mountain View began as a stagecoach station and agricultural community between San Francisco and San Jose until World War II. It then grew more urbanized by engaging in the new aerospace and electronic industries. High technology is now the foundation of the local economy. Specialized tax districts in Mountain View’s technology sectors led to recreational growth along the North Shoreline and investment in its well-maintained Downtown district.

Mountain View is mostly made up of residential neighborhoods with the majority of business parks in the North Shoreline area north of Highway 101 and east of Highway 85. It has a lively downtown well-suited for daytime activities, nightlife, and community events. It includes both private and public schools with a sought-after ratio of students to full-time-equivalent teachers of 20.4 to one.

Founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, Santa Clara is one of California’s oldest cities and the namesake of Santa Clara County. It built up around Mission Santa Clara– now Santa Clara University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of California.
Today, it is also one of the most-central parts of Silicon Valley’s tech industry and home to the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers’ Levi Stadium.

Once an agricultural community like the rest of the valley, the beginning of the semiconductor industry in the early 1960s sparked the beginning of a new era for Santa Clara, and little of its rural past remains. The city owns and operates its own electric utility, Silicon Valley Power, that provides considerably cheaper electricity to its residents. Santa Clara is also the headquarters of hundreds of global high-tech companies.

Santa Clara offers both notable educational opportunities through its public and private school systems, and through athletics. In addition to the 49ers, Santa Clara is home to the San Jose Earthquakes, Division I NCAA athletic programs at the university, nationally competitive swimming and synchronized swimming teams and the Santa Clara Vanguard, a competitive marching music organization. It also hosts one of Silicon Valley’s largest event and meeting venues, the Santa Clara Convention Center, and California’s Great America.

Saratoga sits on the western edge of Silicon Valley, directly west of San Jose. It is known for its small-town feel, high-end restaurants, and wineries. It is also recognized for such attractions as the Hakone Gardens and the artists’ retreat Villa Montalvo.

On top of its appeal, Saratoga is consistently ranked as one of the most expensive and wealthiest suburbs in the United States. It is often noted as a bedroom community for the upper-middle class in the Silicon Valley tech industry. Saratoga is also listed as one the most-educated small towns, with its local schools often achieving competitive rankings. Saratoga began as a mostly-agrarian community. It didn’t transform into a more-urban community until after World War II, and became incorporated in 1956 to avoid annexation by San Jose.

Sunnyvale is one of Northern California’s largest cities by population size and home to many high-tech companies. It is also home to multiple aerospace and defense companies, most notably Moffett Field. Sunnyvale began as a farming community in the early 1800s. Following World War II, its fruit development facilities were replaced with urban, industrial, and commercial developments. The southern half of Sunnyvale is predominantly residential, while the northern portion is zoned for industrial use. Sunnyvale includes many parks, including a large community garden. Schools are within the Sunnyvale School District, Cupertino Union School District, and Santa Clara Unified School District.

Once an independent city adjacent to San Jose, Willow Glen’s citizens opted to be annexed by San Jose in 1936. The area developed in the 1860s in the marshy area between the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos Creek. A channel was built to drain the marsh and open the area up for farmland and orchards, and it became one of the most sought-after spots for growing in the Santa Clara County. Now, Willow Glen encompasses a neighborhood of tree-lined streets, diverse architecture, specialty shops, independent businesses, and a historic downtown with many shops and restaurants. Numerous community events and traditions make it a lively area great for families.

As the largest urban center in Silicon Valley, Downtown San Jose is the city’s central business district, cultural and political center, and one of the valley’s biggest tech-industry clusters.

San Jose was founded on the banks of the Guadalupe River in 1777, becoming California’s first city and first state capital when it incorporated in 1850. Downtown remained a small, agricultural-based community until an aggressive expansion in the 1950s and 60s. It has grown in the last few decades to produce high-rise residential towers and businesses. To this day, the downtown district is a mix of contemporary buildings and historic ones dating back to their early 1900s construction.

Downtown San Jose homes feature a variety of architectural styles with some dating back to the city’s founding. In addition to tech companies, Downtown includes a large concentration of hospitality services, bars and nightlife, dining options, museums, and community events. It is also the home of San Jose State University, the oldest public university on the West Coast.

Cambrian Park is a census-designated community within West San Jose. It arose as a distinct place around the Union school and Cambrian school areas in the late 1800s. Parts of it remain unincorporated, but it is bordered by incorporated San Jose and the cities of Campbell and Los Gatos.

Cambrian Park includes a commerce center known as the Cambrian Park Plaza, which includes an iconic, colorful carousel atop the center sign. The plaza maintains a country-style construction and has housed numerous stores since its building in 1953. The center uses its parking lot to host a weekly farmer’s market and other community events throughout the year.

The Rose Garden is a historical and cultural neighborhood not far from Downtown San Jose. It’s known for its historic homes dating back to the mid-19th century and community institutions, including Rosicrucian Park and the area’s namesake: The San Jose Municipal Rose Garden.

The popular thoroughfare, The Alameda, runs along the northern border of the Rose Garden neighborhood and is still home to many local eateries and shopping centers. It has nationally ranked public schools and private schools such as Bellarmine College Prep, one of the oldest secondary schools in the state of California.

Evergreen is a neighborhood beneath the Eastern foothills in San Jose. It was the original site of multiple gliding experiments in the early 1900s by aeronautic pioneer John J. Montgomery. The area is now home to multiple schools and parks bearing his name. It is a mostly residential neighborhood that includes two public libraries and Evergreen Community College.

Silver Creek is a primarily affluent residential area on the southern edge of Evergreen. Both the Silver Creek Valley Country Club and the Ranch at Silver Creek are popular golf clubs and event centers within the area’s borders. Most neighborhoods are gated with private security.

The development of West San Jose began in the 1950s with moderately-priced housing. Most recently, however, the neighborhood has become quite upscale with the average cost of homes rising above $1 million. It includes the major commercial thoroughfare Stevens Creek Boulevard, which includes Westfield Valley Fair Mall and Santana Row.

West San Jose includes multiple California Distinguished Schools, and is bordered by Santa Clara, Saratoga, and Cupertino. It includes over 20 movie theaters and the historic California landmark, the Winchester Mystery House.

Campbell is situated comfortably near several Silicon Valley job hubs. It’s bordered by San Jose on the east and north, Los Gatos on the South, and a small portion of Saratoga on the west. It features a comfortable mix of suburban developments, shops, restaurants, parks, community services, and a lively, restored downtown. Campbell hosts annual community events around holidays and a weekly farmer’s market. It also features a pedestrian/bike path along both sides of the Los Gatos Creek on the east side of the city.

Mostly full of residential homes, Campbell provides many service clubs and activities for families and children. It includes two public school districts with multiple California Distinguished Schools. One high school even includes one of the last Future Farmers of America programs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Historically a small farming town, Campbell holds onto its roots by maintaining multiple landmarks, such as the Ainsley House, Campbell Water Tower, and Campbell Community Center—formerly the original Campbell High School. With its communal setting, Campbell remains a welcoming and friendly city for both newcomers and long-time residents.

Santa Teresa is a neighborhood in South San Jose on the east side of Almaden Valley. It is home to the historic Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch, which once provided fruit, dairy products, and fresh spring water to nearby neighborhoods. The ranch is now a Santa Clara County park full of hiking trails, cultural education, and recreational opportunities.

Today, the Santa Teresa neighborhood is primarily residential and includes schools from the Oak Grove School District, Morgan Hill School District, and Santa Teresa High School.

Located in the southern region of San Jose, Blossom Valley sits northeast of the Los Capitancillos Ridge, separating it from Almaden Valley. It is slightly east of Cambrian and northeast of the Almaden neighborhoods and Santa Teresa Hills. It includes many parks for hiking, fishing and swimming, and the Westfield Oakridge Mall offers major department and specialty stores. It offers a mix of public and private educational opportunities for school-age children.

Alum Rock is a census-designated neighborhood in the eastern portion of San Jose and home to Alum Rock Park, the oldest municipal park in California. In the early 19th and 20th century, the area was mostly composed of fruit orchards. In the mid-1900s, developers began building housing that led to community’s initiation. It remains an area distinct from the rest of San Jose. Residents of Alum Rock come from diverse backgrounds and take up an area of 1.2 square miles. Many of its community remains unincorporated.

Known as the Innovation District, North San Jose is home to numerous high-tech company headquarters and campuses. It is also interconnected with multiple biking and walking/running paths including the Coyote Creek Trail and Guadalupe River Trail.

Berryessa is within the northeast region of San Jose, between Coyote Creek and the Diablo Range Foothills. While initially a small farming community, it is now recognized as a rapidly growing bedroom community. The Berryessa Union School District provides public K-12 education programs. The community also boasts an annual Art & Wine festival featuring local artists, food, service groups and nonprofits, businesses, and entertainment.

Almaden Valley is nestled between the Santa Teresa Hills and the Santa Cruz Mountains in the southeastern portion of San Jose. It received its namesake from the New Almaden Quicksilver Mines, the oldest and most-productive mercury mines in the United States. The mines have since been converted into the recreational site of Almaden Quicksilver County Park.

Almaden Valley is home to mostly upper-middle-class families, with a 2011 estimate placing the median income at $182,981. It is home to the IBM Almaden Research Center and includes top-ranking K-12 schools. The cost of a home in the neighborhood is generally above $1 million.

Hailed as the capital of Silicon Valley, San Jose covers an expansive 180 miles of Santa Clara County. As the third most-populated city in California, it makes a name for itself by being the cultural, political, and economic center of the high-tech industry. San Jose is often recognized for its innovativeness, affluence, high cost-of-living, and sought-after Mediterranean climate.

On top of tech, San Jose is also home to a thriving arts community, professional sports teams, multiple museums and institutions of learning, and a diverse arrangement of neighborhoods. San Jose’s large size doesn’t detract from its communal appeal. The city is differentiated into a number of communities that offer their own unique charm.