- City proper (2005 est.)
 - Density (average)

279,800
579.0/km²

Latitude:
Longitude:

37°58' N
121°18' W

Stockton is a city in California and the seat of San Joaquin County (the 5th largest agricultural county in the United States). According to 2005 estimates by the California Department of Finance, Stockton has a population of 279,800 and is the 13th largest city in California. Stockton is also the fourth largest inland city in California, behind Fresno, Sacramento, and Bakersfield.

Stockton was founded in 1849 and incorporated on July 23, 1850. The area now known as Weber Point is the same spot where Captain Charles Maria Weber built the first permanent residence in the San Joaquin Valley after acquiring 49,000 acres through a Spanish land grant. Soon, he established this spot as a stop for 49ers on their way to the Sierra Nevada. It didn't take long for this stop to grow and flourish.

Encompassing Interstate 5, State Route 99 and State Route 4, Stockton is strategically located about 60 miles east of the San Francisco Bay Area and 45 miles south of Sacramento, the capital of California. Stockton is surrounded by the rich and fertile lands of the California Central Valley and is home to the largest inland seaport in California. In and around Stockton are thousands of waterways, canals, and rivers that comprise the California Delta.

In the past decade, Stockton and the nearby communities of Tracy and Manteca have experienced a population boom. This is largely due to thousands of people settling in the area to escape the relatively high cost of living of the San Francisco Bay Area. This influx of new residents, however, resulted in a sharp increase in the cost of living of Stockton, although it is still significantly lower than any Bay Area city of comparable size.

In the midst of a massive, city-wide redevelopment project (still in progress), Stockton was twice named an All-America City, in 1999 & 2004.