Santa Clara is the most populous county in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Northern California.
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23 Facts About Santa Clara County
2.
Home to Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County is an economic center for high technology, and in 2015 had the third-highest gross domestic product per capita in the world, according to the Brookings Institution.
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3.
Santa Clara County is named for Mission Santa Clara, which was established in 1777, and was in turn named for Saint Clare of Assisi.
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4.
Santa Clara County was one of the original counties of California, formed in 1850 at the time of statehood.
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5.
In 1882, Santa Clara County tried to levy taxes upon property of the Southern Pacific Railroad within county boundaries.
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6.
Counties which border with Santa Clara County are, clockwise, Alameda County, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, San Benito, Santa Cruz, and San Mateo County.
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7.
Santa Clara County formerly shared borders with Contra Costa, San Francisco, Mariposa, Monterey, and Tuolumne counties until 1853,1856,1874, and 1854 respectively.
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8.
The elk herds in eastern Santa Clara County are blocked from dispersal to the west by US Highway 101, with environmentalists advocating re-purposing the Metcalf Road bridge at the Coyote Gap into a wildlife overcrossing.
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9.
Santa Clara County is among the most religiously diverse counties in the US.
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10.
Santa Clara County has five elected supervisors, elected within their districts.
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11.
Santa Clara County pays the $340,000 salary and benefits of the California state Department of Social Services director, which is reimbursed by the state, skirting the $165,000 state law cap for the position.
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12.
Historically, Santa Clara County was a Republican stronghold in presidential elections.
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13.
From 1872 through 1984, the only Democrats to carry Santa Clara County were Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Hubert Humphrey.
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14.
Law Enforcement in Santa Clara County is handled by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and the local police department.
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15.
Technology, both hardware and software, dominates the service sector by value, but like any other county, Santa Clara has its share of retail and office support workers.
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17.
Santa Clara County is served by Caltrain commuter rail from Gilroy through San Jose and Silicon Valley north to San Francisco Airport and San Francisco.
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18.
Santa Clara County has consolidated its transportation services into the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which operates a bus system.
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19.
Santa Clara County has an extensive freeway system and a separate expressway system.
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20.
However, unlike expressways virtually everywhere else in California, the Santa Clara County expressways were built, signed, and maintained as county roads; they are not maintained by Caltrans, although they are patrolled by the California Highway Patrol.
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21.
Santa Clara County has no commercial seaports, although small boats can access San Francisco Bay from several points.
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22.
Santa Clara County has an extensive park system, much of it founded in the major park expansion of the late 1970s.
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23.
Santa Clara County contains Ulistac Natural Area, a volunteer maintained natural open space.
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