The city is about 175 square miles and perfectly situated in northern California. It’s the third largest in the state of California and the 11^th largest in the nation with over 912,000 residents. San Jose is located in the Santa Clara Valley and nearby city neighbors Buena Vista and Burbank. After a 14.2% increase in population from 1990 to 2000, the number of people heading over to San Jose slowed down in recent years. Based from the 2005 statistics of the U.S. Census Bureau, the median age of city residents was 34.7 years. Three parts make nearly the whole population of San Jose with 32% of White

non-Hispanic, 32% Asian and 31% Hispanic races. Accounting for 73% of city households is the average of 3.1 people per home. English is not the primary language for 55% of city homes because 38% of San Jose’s residents are foreign-born.

San Jose has low unemployment and poverty; their earnings are among the best in California. People going to San Jose are finding well-paying jobs with a median household income of $70,921, as of 2005. Management, professional and other related occupations, which make up 40% of the workforce, are among the most common in the city. Also in 2005 study, poverty was 3% below the national average of 10%, only 4.9% for White non-Hispanic residents. A large part of the city’s economy is Agriculture with wine production and food processing and distribution among the leading industries. However, it is technology that has made San Jose what it is today. At the heart of the city is Silicon Valley, known for its prominence in semiconductor and computer-related technology. In Silicon Valley, you’ll find some of the industry giants’ headquarters, like Adobe Systems, Cisco and eBay. Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Hitachi also have bases in the city.

San Jose real estate has some high property values that have risen greatly since 2000, when the median home was marked at a value of $427, 800. The value went up to 625,400 in 2005. This is a very moderate increase in a state with surging home values. Still, new home construction is in decline. The number of building permits has dwindled from 2329 building built in 1997 to 602 permits in 2006. Home ownership in San Jose is high compared to the rest of California with 62% of homes occupied by owners. The average age of city dwellings is below the state average with 18% of housing units built since 1990. The median housing costs of mortgaged owners was $2409, non-mortgaged owners $439, and renters $1,153.

San Jose is one of the safest places to live in America, especially for its size. Morgan Quitno ranked it #1 among the big cities for 3 years in a row. Stolen reports, however, have been on the rise from 2615 thefts in 1999 to over 5,500 in 2005. The FBI Crime Rate dropped during the same period to 236.8 compared to the U.S. average of 325.2. In San Jose, 36% of its citizens hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, which is high compared to the national average. One big college in the city is San Jose State University having full-time enrollment of 20,861 students.

San Jose also has a good climate. Residents enjoy mild but semi-arid weather with about 15 inches of annual precipitation. The average temperature in January is 48.7 while July sees high temperatures averaging 84 degrees. With 300 sunny days per year, the average annual temperature is 70 degrees.

Cranium Inc., named San Jose as the Most Fun City in America. This is due to several things like a number of popular beaches on the Pacific Ocean are 20 minutes away from San Jose. Nearby Santa Cruz is a popular hangout for surfers. Residents can also access nearby mountain ranges for summer hiking and water skiing. The city is also a short distance from the topnotch golf courses, including the popular Pebble Beach. One major sports franchise, the NHL’s San Jose Sharks makes their home on the ice at the HP Pavilion, known as the “Shark Tank”. Commuters seldom use public transportation. In 2005, 78% of workers drove to work alone while only 3% used mass transit. Those who commuted to work took an average of 25 minutes to arrive at their respective jobs. There are also three international airports in the area, with Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International being the closest, followed by Oakland and San Francisco. Amtrak also offers its services to San Jose.

The “Dot-com” era, also known as the “dot-com bubble” was an economic bubble that lasted from 1998 to 2001 and was a period in which many internet based companies were established.  Born largely out of the numerous technology companies such as Google and Yahoo based in Silicon Valley in California, the “dot-com” era gained momentum when many companies found that establishing internet based businesses or simply adding an “e-” prefix or “.com” suffix to the company name often caused company stock prices to shoot up.

Many of the internet based companies founded during this era are known as “dot-com” companies.  These companies experiences record-setting rises in stock values, causing many companies to move faster and with less caution than usual.  The main goal of these “dot-com” companies was to establish as large a network as possible in order to attract as large a customer base as possible.  For this reason, many companies such as Google and Amazon did not see any profit in their first years.  Many companies worked upon the wisdom of the day: “Get large or get lost.”  However, by 2000, the economy was beginning to lose speed, right after the Federal Reserve had increased interest rates six times during the period of 1999 to early 2000.  The dot-com bubble burst on March 10, 2000, when the NASDAQ fell due to what some think was caused by the massive, multi-billion dollar sell orders for major high-tech companies’ stocks such as Cisco, IBM, and Dell, which happened by chance to be processed in the same day.  By the end of the dot-com era, many online companies ran out of capital and were acquired or liquidated.  However, a few large dot-com companies such as Amazon and eBay survived the turmoil, while others such as Google emerged as mega-firms dominating the online industry.