Silicon Valley City Profiles

So, what's the big deal about Silicon Valley?

Well, this is the home of all things good for those with a technological bent. From microprocessors, personal computers, 3D graphics, Ethernet, search technologies, it all began here - once upon a time.

Take the one-hour drive along the U.S. 101 from San Francisco to San Jose, and you will drive by buildings with names like PayPal, eBay, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, McAfee, Microsoft, Intel, Yahoo, and NASA.

Take the off ramp at Cupertino and see Apple, the off ramp at Palo Alto and see the famous HP garage or continue on to Stanford University; the breeding ground of tomorrows entrepreneurs.

For those wanting the really nerdy tech tour - just get off at Shoreline and you will find yourself lost in Google's goliath grotto.

Silicon Valley is different from anything you know. It provides more than one quarter of the Bay area's population with employment and lures the talented and creative from all over the world. With a population of over 900,000, Silicon Valley has long been considered one of the best places in the world to live, work and play.

• Santa Clara County
• Campbell
• Cupertino
• Gilroy
• Los Altos
• Los Altos Hills
• Los Gatos
• Milpitas
• Monte Sereno
• Morgan Hill
• Mountain View
• Palo Alto
• San Jose
• Santa Clara
• Saratoga
• Sunnyvale