Santa Clara County Real estate

A little about Santa Clara County

Part of the San Francisco Bay area, Santa Clara County, California, is the primary location for much of Silicon Valley. It has a population of around 1.7 million, and the county seat is San Jose. The southern part of the county is home to the infamous San Andreas Fault runsin the Santa Cruz Mountains. Transportation options are abundant in the county, with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority operating a light-rail system and a large number of bus routes, the Caltrain commuter rail service, and the ACE Train system, which runs between San Jose and Stockton. The largest cities in the county include Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Cupertino. The county operates 27 parks covering more than 50,000 acres, including Almaden Quicksilver County Park, Grant Ranch Park, Henry W. Coe State Park, Sanborn Park and Vasona Park. It is home to professional soccer and minor-league baseball teams, and the San Jose Sharks, the only professional ice-hockey team in Northern California.

There are 33 public school districts within the county in addition to a number of private institutions. The county is home to such famed colleges as Stanford University, Santa Clara University and San Jose State University, as well as a number of top-rate community colleges. As home of Silicon Valley, the county is host to the headquarters of a number of high-profile companies, like Apple, Intel, Sun Microsystems, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems Inc. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center serves medical needs here. There are a number of museums, from technology to children's to art, theaters, concerts, opera, symphonies and more for visitors and residents to enjoy. Vineyards populate the area and are popular visits, and attractions also include Paramount''s Great America, Bonfante Gardens, Raging Waters, and the Santa Clara County Fair.