Santa Clara

Formed February 18, 1850 (17^th county)

Santa Clara County (1,936,274), San Jose (1,013,221)

A Modern building best describes the facility housing the Santa Clara courthouse.  The courthouse was built in 1964 from the designs of Ernest J. Krump Associates.  The facility was constructed in 1866 and remodeled in 1932.  The Hall of Justice was added in 1991.  There is a Family Justice Courthouse under construction in 2015 in San Jose, the only county seat.  Another original county, Santa Clara was formed on February 18, 1850.  It is the 17^th county.  The courthouse is located on Park Center Plaza to the west of Market Street.  Interstate Highway 280 passes seven blocks south of the location.  There are augmenting courthouses in Morgan Hill, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale. 

Santa Clara County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, controller, and treasurer (executive).  It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.)  Seventy-seven Superior Court Judges, clerk, and counsel serve Santa Clara County (judicial.)  The county is at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay to the southeast of San Francisco, California.  The county center is in San Jose 3.2 miles Southeast of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Alameda, Stanislaus, Merced, San Benito, Santa Cruz, and San Mateo counties.  The county is named for the Mission Santa Clara de Asis.  San Jose was named after the San Jose Mission in nearby Fremont.  The mission was named for Saint Joseph.  A bag of marbles leaning northwest is the best description of the county.  San Jose is in the northwest corner of the county.  The county seat is pronounced SAN HOE-SAE.  San Jose is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 52.3% of the county population.  

The area of the county is 3344 square miles.  It is 16 out of 58 in the state.  It ranks 6 out of 58 in population in the state.  It has a density of 579.0 persons per square mile making it 10 out of 58 in the state.  Santa Clara County has 95.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Numerous Interstate Loops go through the county.  United States Highway 101 transits from San Mateo County, northwest, into San Benito County, south.  This county is in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara Metropolitan Statistical Area.