San Jose (IPA: [sæn hoʊˈzeɪ]) is the third-most populous city in California after Los Angeles and San Diego, and is the county seat of Santa Clara County. It is the tenth-most populous city in the United States, and has held the title of The Safest Big City in America for the past several years. The city is located at the south end of the San Francisco Bay within the informal boundaries of Silicon Valley. With an estimated population of 950,000, San Jose is also the largest city in Northern California.

San Jose was the first town in the Spanish colony of Nueva California (later Alta California), founded in 1777. Originally, the city served as a farming community to provide food for nearby military installations. It served as the first capital of California after it gained statehood in 1850. After over 150 years as an agricultural center, increased demand for housing from soldiers and other veterans returning from World War II and starting families, as well as aggressive expansion during the 1950s and 1960s led to San Jose being a bedroom community for Silicon Valley in the 1970s, which attracted more businesses to the city. By the 1990s, San Jose's central location within the booming technology industry in the area earned the city the nickname as the Captial of Silicon Valley.

On April 3, 1979, the city council adopted San José as the spelling of the city name on the city seal and official stationery; however, the name is still more commonly spelled without the diacritical mark. The official name of the city is The City of San José.