Santa Clara Valley in California

7 April 2026 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, San Francisco Bay Area Reading Time:  8 minutes

Santana Row in San Jose © flickr.com - Payton Chung/cc-by-2.0

Santana Row in San Jose © flickr.com – Payton Chung/cc-by-2.0

The Santa Clara Valley (Spanish: Valle de Santa Clara) is a geologic trough in Northern California that extends 90 miles (140 km) south–southeast from San Francisco to Hollister. The longitudinal valley is bordered on the west by the Santa Cruz Mountains and on the east by the Diablo Range; the two coastal ranges meet south of Hollister. The San Francisco Bay borders the valley to the north, and fills much of the northern third of the valley. The valley floor is an alluvial plain that formed in the graben (tectonic depression) between the San Andreas Fault to the west and the Hayward and Calaveras faults to the east. Within the valley and surrounding the bay on three sides are the urban communities of San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, and Alameda County, while the narrow southern reaches of the valley extend into rural San Benito County to Hollister. In practical terms, the central portion of the Santa Clara Valley is often considered by itself, contained entirely within Santa Clara County.   read more…

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