6 Reasons to Move to San Jose, CA

1. Geography

San Jose is located at the southern edge of the San Francisco Bay in Santa Clara County; 50 miles south of San Francisco and 390 miles north of Los Angeles. The city is generally divided into the following areas (that once, were unincorporated communities or separate municipalities, until they got annexed by the city): Downtown San Jose, Central, West San Jose, North San Jose, East San Jose, and South San Jose.
Copernicus Peak is the highest point in the county at 4,372 feet, and the lowest point is 13 feet below sea level at the San Francisco Bay in Alviso.
The total area of the city is 180.0 sq mi, of which 3.4 sq mi (1.91%) is water. Four distinct valleys in the region are: Almaden Valley, on the south-west fringe of the city; Evergreen Valley to the south-east; Santa Clara Valley, which includes the flat, main urban expanse of the South Bay; and the rural Coyote Valley, to the city’s extreme southern fringe.
The Guadalupe River flows north through San Jose from the Santa Cruz Mountains, ending in the San Francisco Bay at Alviso.

1.a Climate

San Jose has a subtropical Mediterranean climate with moderate year-round temperatures. The average annual temperature is 70 degrees; 84 degrees in July and 41 degrees in December.
The city annual precipitation is just 15.82 in, due to a prominent rain shadow from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Precipitation is usually three times that amount in some other parts of the Bay Area.
Measurable precipitation falls in downtown San Jose on an average of 62 days a year, primarily from November through April or May.
With the light rainfall, residents of San Jose enjoy 300 days of full or partly sunny days each year.
Snow rarely falls in San Jose, but occasionally it coats nearby Mount Hamilton, and the Santa Cruz Mountains (which is extremely rare).

3. Education

Primary and secondary public education is provided by four high school districts, fourteen elementary districts, and four unified school districts (which serve both elementary and high schools).
Besides San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD), there are other nearby unified school districts, such as Milpitas Unified School District, Morgan Hill Unified School District, and Santa Clara Unified School District. San Jose High School was the only option in the city, until the opening of Lincoln High School in 1943. Private schools in San Jose are mainly run by religious groups, like the Catholic Diocese of San Jose which operates several schools in the city, including six high schools: Archbishop Mitty High School, Bellarmine College Preparatory, Notre Dame High School, Saint Francis High School, St. Lawrence High School, and Presentation High School Private high schools not run by the Diocese include, two Baptist high schools: Liberty Baptist School and White Road Baptist Academy; one Non-Denominational Protestant high school: Valley Christian High School; one University-preparatory school: Cambrian Academy, and a nonsectarian K-12, Harker School situated in the Blackford neighborhood.
San Jose is also home to multiple colleges and universities. The largest is San Jose State University with approximately 30,000 students in over 130 different bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.
Other area schools are: the University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University, California State University, East Bay, Santa Clara University, and Stanford University. Every year, these schools pump thousands of engineering and computer science graduates into the local economy. The National Hispanic University focuses on Hispanic students; the institution offers associate and bachelor’s degrees and teaching credentials to the alumni. California University of Management and Technology (CALMAT) have MBA, Computer Science, and Information Technology programs. Lincoln Law School of San Jose and University of Silicon Valley Law School provide law degrees to its students. National University has a campus in San Jose at The San Jose campus of Golden Gate University has business bachelor and MBA degrees programs available.
San Jose’s community colleges provide associate degrees, general education units to transfer to CSU and UC schools, and adult and continuing education programs. These colleges are: San Jose City College, West Valley College, Mission College and Evergreen Valley College. Palmer College of Chiropractic is also located in San Jose. WestMed College imparts paramedic training, emergency medical technician training, and have licensed vocational nursing programs. Western Seminary supplies theological training in a variety of ministry roles including pastors, marriage and family therapists, educators, missionaries and lay leadership. The institution offers four master’s degrees, and multiple graduate-level programs.

3.a Library

The San Jose Public Library is the largest public library system between San Francisco and Los Angeles; it holds more than 2 million items, serves a culturally diverse population of over 1 million people, and it is one of the busiest library systems in the country with an annual checkout rate of nearly 14 million items.

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library and the San Jose Public Library system have received much recognition in different years.
The library system has 23 neighborhood branches including the Biblioteca Latinoamericana, The East San Jose Carnegie Branch Library, Almaden, Alviso, Bascom, Berryessa, Calabazas, Cambrian, Dr. Roberto Cruz – Alum Rock, Edenvale, Educational Park, Evergreen, Hillview, Joyce Ellington, King Library, Pearl Avenue, Rose Garden, Santa Teresa, Seven Trees, Tully Community, Village Square, Vineland, West Valley, and Willow Glen.

5. Infrastructure

5.a Transportation

San Jose is well-connected to the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area and further regions; major freeways provide easy access to the city, including 101, 280 / 680, 880, and 237. A wide variety of public transportation options are available for easy travel from San Jose to other areas in the region; these transportation options include: CalTrain, ACE train, VTA, Greyhound, Amtrak, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Capitol Corridor. San Jose covers a geographic area of nearly 180 miles; throughout the city, there are multiple recreational and commute trails such as: Coyote Creek Trail, Guadalupe River Trail, Los Gatos Creek Trail, Los Alamitos Creek Trail, Penitencia Creek Trail and Silver Creek Valley Trail. Downtown and other parts of the City are suitable for walking.

5.b Utilities

The San Jose Municipal Water supplies water services to the community.

Four companies collect recycling, garbage, and yard trimmings: California Waste Solutions, Garden Sanitation and GreenWaste Recovery serve Downtown, north, east, and south San Jose. GreenTeam of San Jose provides garbage and recycling collection, large item pickup, and used motor oil & filter collection to residents and businesses of West San Jose.