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