Silicon Valley is in a populous region and is cultured.
San Jose ( [ ˌsæn_hoʊˈzeɪ ] , Spanish for `` Saint Joseph '' ; [ saŋ xoˈse ] ) , officially the City of San José , is the economic , cultural , and political center of Silicon Valley and the largest city in Northern California . With an estimated 2015 population of 1,026,908 , it is the third most populous city in California ( after Los Angeles and San Diego ) and the tenth most populous in United States . Silicon Valley is a nickname for the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area , in the northern part of the U.S. state of California . The `` valley '' in its name refers to the Santa Clara Valley in Santa Clara County , which includes the city of San Jose and surrounding cities and towns , where the region has been traditionally centered .