San Jose, officially the City of San José ( SAN hoh-ZAY, -SAY; Spanish: [saŋ xoˈse]), is the most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California, and the 13th-most populous in the United States, with an estimated 989,814 residents as of 2025. The city's metropolitan area is home to nearly two million people, while the broader combined statistical area (the fifth-largest in the United States) has a population of over nine million. Located in Santa Clara Valley on the southern shore of San Francisco Bay, San Jose covers an area of 179.97 sq mi (466.1 km2) and is the county seat of Santa Clara County.
Before the arrival of the Spanish, the area around San Jose was long inhabited by the Tamien nation of the Ohlone people. San Jose was founded on November 29, 1777, as the Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the first city founded in the Californias. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 after the Mexican War of Independence. Following the U.S. Conquest of California during the Mexican–American War, the territory was ceded to the United States in 1848. After California achieved statehood two years later, San Jose served as the state's first capital.
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