San Ramon ( Spanish: ''San Ramón'', meaning "St. Raymond") is a city in Contra Costa County,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, located within the

San Ramon Valley The San Ramon Valley is a valley and region in Contra Costa County and Alameda County, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Geography The valley is between the Oakland Hills on the west, and the Diablo Rang ...

, and east of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. San Ramon's population was 84,605 per the 2020 census, making it the 4th largest city in Contra Costa County, behind

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

and

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

. San Ramon is home to the

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

Chevron Corporation Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened to Socal or CalSo), it is headquartered in S ...

, Cooper Companies,

24 Hour Fitness 24 Hour Fitness is a privately owned and operated fitness center chain headquartered in Carlsbad, California. It is the second largest fitness chain in the United States based on revenue after LA Fitness, and the fourth in number of clubs (behi ...

, the West Coast headquarters of

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...

, GE Digital, as well as the San Ramon Medical Center. Major annual events include the Art and Wind Festival on Memorial Day weekend and the Run for Education in October. On April 24, 2001, San Ramon was designated a Tree City USA.

History

The lands now occupied by the City of San Ramon were formerly inhabited by Seunen people, an Ohlone/Costanoan group who built their homes near creeks. Sometime around 1797, they were taken by

Mission San José Mission San José may refer to: *Mission San José (California), a Spanish mission in Fremont, California * Mission San Jose, Fremont, California, a neighborhood *Mission San Jose High School, a high school in Fremont, California * Mission San José ...

for use as grazing land. In 1834, they were part of the Rancho San Ramon land grant to José María Amador. Amador named ''San Ramón'' () not after a real

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Or ...

but rather after a Native American vaquero who tended mission sheep on the land. Amador added the "San" per Spanish custom. In 1850, the first permanent American settlers, Leo and Mary Jane Norris, purchased the northwest corner of Amador's Rancho San Ramon, near the intersection of present-day Bollinger Canyon Road and Crow Canyon Road. The tracks for the San Ramon Branch Line of the Southern Pacific Railroad were laid down and completed in 1891. The line extended from San Ramon to an unincorporated area known as Avon, east of Martinez, where it connected to the Oakland/Stockton Line. On February 7, 1909, Southern Pacific extended the line south to Radum (near Pleasanton). In 1934, passenger service ended. By 1986, Contra Costa County had obtained the railroad

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

and the

Iron Horse Regional Trail The Iron Horse Regional Trail is a rail trail for pedestrians, horse riders and bicycles in the East Bay Area in California. This trail is located in inland central Alameda and Contra Costa counties, mostly following a Southern Pacific Rai ...

was established along its path.

Geography

Mount Diablo Mount Diablo is a mountain of the Diablo Range, in Contra Costa County of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. It is south of Clayton and northeast of Danville. It is an isolated upthrust peak of , visible from most ...

flanks the city to the northeast and is prominently visible from almost all parts of the city. The

Las Trampas Regional Wilderness Las Trampas Regional Wilderness is a regional park located in Alameda and Contra Costa counties in Northern California. The nearest city is Danville, California. ''Las Trampas'' is Spanish for ''the traps'', or ''the snares''. The park belongs t ...

borders San Ramon's extreme northwest, at the northern end of Bollinger Canyon. The smaller

Bishop Ranch Regional Preserve Bishop Ranch Regional Preserve (BRRP), also known as Bishop Ranch Regional Open Space Preserve is a regional park on a ridge top at the edge of San Ramon, California. It is near a residential area, west of San Ramon Valley Road and south of Bol ...

straddles San Ramon's western border, located approximately between Interstate 680 and the Alameda County line. The topography of San Ramon is varied, featuring a mix of the rolling hills of the

Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley ...

and the flatter basin of the

. The city is predominantly urban and residential with many new housing developments; however, much of the land around the city's perimeter regions remains undeveloped, and is covered by

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

s and oak tree orchards. During the drier months the grasses are golden, but with the precipitation of winter and spring, the grasses turn green.

Climate

San Ramon's weather typifies a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

, seasonal, and moderate. Summers can range from warm to hot and dry, while winters are mild or cool, wet and rather short. Its weather is similar to the adjacent cities of Danville,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

and Pleasanton.

Fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

can be infrequent but occurs normally in the western reaches of the city, at the eastern mouth of Crow Canyon, through which marine weather patterns funnel in from the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water f ...

via

Castro Valley Castro Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Alameda County, California, United States. At the 2010 census, it was the fifth most populous unincorporated area in California and the twenty-third most populous in the United States. The popul ...

. It usually burns off by mid-to-late morning.

Demographics

2010 census

The

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...

reported that San Ramon had a population of 72,148. The population density was . The racial makeup of San Ramon was 38,639 (53.6%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 2,043 (2.8%)

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 205 (0.3%) Native American, 25,713 (35.6%) Asian, 156 (0.2%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 1,536 (2.1%) from other races, and 3,856 (5.3%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 6,250 persons (8.7%). The Census reported that 72,073 people (99.9% of the population) lived in households, 52 (0.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 23 (0%) were institutionalized. There were 25,284 households, out of which 11,988 (47.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 16,318 (64.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1,997 (7.9%) had a female householder with no husband present, 850 (3.4%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,067 (4.2%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 187 (0.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 4,682 households (18.5%) were made up of individuals, and 1,105 (4.4%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.85. There were 19,165 families (75.8% of all households); the average family size was 3.30. The population was spread out, with 21,351 people (29.6%) under the age of 18, 3,557 people (4.9%) aged 18 to 24, 22,798 people (31.6%) aged 25 to 44, 18,815 people (26.1%) aged 45 to 64, and 5,627 people (7.8%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males. There were 26,222 housing units at an average density of , of which 25,284 were occupied and 18,056 (71.4%) of them were owner-occupied, and 7,228 (28.6%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.0%. 54,705 people (75.8% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 17,368 people (24.1%) lived in rental housing units. The median income for a household in the city was $119,297, and the median income for a family was $132,339. Males had a median income of $97,475 versus $70,083 for females. The per capita income for the city was $50,736. About 2.0% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.9% of those under age 18 and 3.5% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2000, there were 44,722 people, 16,944 households, and 12,148 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was 1,491.1/km² (3,862.0/mi²). There were 17,552 housing units at an average density of 585.2/km² (1,515.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 36.82%

, 1.93%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

, 0.36% Native American, 50.94% Asian, 0.21%

, 2.16% from other races, and 3.58% from two or more races. 7.24% of the population were

or Latino of any race. There were 16,944 households, out of which 37.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 7.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.3% were non-families. 21.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.12. In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.3% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 35.7% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 6.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $95,856, and the median income for a family was $106,321. Males had a median income of $73,502 versus $50,107 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $42,336. About 1.4% of families and 2.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 1.4% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Bishop Ranch Bishop Ranch is a large business park in San Ramon, California. Tenants include AT&T, Chevron, Bank of the West, PG&E, Robert Half International, Ford Motor Company, SAP, General Electric, and JPMorgan Chase. Over 30,000 employees work in Bisho ...

, a master-planned

office park A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typically ...

development, with some retail elements, began major construction in the early 1980s, and provides a healthy tax base for the city. Bishop Ranch is situated on 585 acres once owned by Western Electric, and was

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bo ...

before that. Current tenants include the corporate headquarters of

(formerly ChevronTexaco), as well the West Coast headquarters of AT&T Inc. (which had been the headquarters of Pacific Bell from about 1983, when it relocated from downtown San Francisco, until the merger with

SBC Communications The history of AT&T dates back to the invention of the telephone. The Bell Telephone Company was established in 1877 by Alexander Graham Bell, who obtained the first US patent for the telephone, and his father-in-law, Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Bell ...

that created the current AT&T).

United Parcel Service United Parcel Service (UPS, stylized as ups) is an American multinational shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializing in telegraphs, UPS has grown t ...

has a regional distribution center in Bishop Ranch. Toyota has a regional office and parts distribution center located there. GE Global Research started its Global Software Center in Bishop Ranch in 2011. Bishop Ranch covers the vast majority of "Central San Ramon", which is the large square formed by Freeway 680 on the west, Crow Canyon Road on the north, Iron Horse trail on the east, and Bollinger Canyon Road on the south (though several complexes are south of Bollinger). In December 2016, the Ligier EZ-10 began use in the first

autonomous vehicle Vehicular automation involves the use of mechatronics, artificial intelligence, and multi-agent systems to assist the operator of a vehicle (car, aircraft, watercraft, or otherwise).Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Lanzon, A.,Group Coordinated Control ...

passenger shuttle route in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, looping through Bishop Ranch Office Park, with on-sight operation and maintenance by First Transit. ChevronTexaco's headquarters moved from

to San Ramon in 2001 but 12 years later, 800 jobs were moved to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

, a quarter of the San Ramon workforce due to high corporate costs and to consolidate existing units in Houston.

Largest employers

According to the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,City of San Ramon 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
Retrieved June 26, 2022 the top employers in the city are:

Downtown

In 2014, the city approved the project's design that called for an animated civic space featuring . The City Center has a variety of shops, including furniture, clothing, food, and an indoor movie theater. The city center was designed by international architectural firm

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2 ...

Building Workshop. The grand opening was on November 8, 2018.

Arts and culture

The San Ramon Library and Dougherty Station Library branches of the

Contra Costa County Library The Contra Costa County Library is the public library system in Contra Costa County, California, United States. There are 26 community libraries including the NRHP-listed Martinez Library, access to electronic information via a website, over 45 ...

and Ramona Library are in San Ramon. Forest Home Farms in San Ramon is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Parks and recreation

San Ramon features 58 separate parks and an 18-hole gold course, the San Ramon Golf Club.

Memorial Park

Originally, this city park, located on a hill overlooking Bollinger Canyon Road and San Ramon Valley Blvd., was to be named Alta Mesa Park. During the construction of the park, the City Council voted to change the name to Memorial Park to honor Tom Burnett, a San Ramon resident, and other victims from

Flight 93 United Airlines Flight 93 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight that was hijacked by four al-Qaeda attackers aboard the plane on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The plane eventually crashed in S ...

killed in the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

of 2001. A plaque was installed at the base of a lighted flagpole dedicated to those victims and the surrounding meadow is part of the city's memorial tree program dedicated to local residents who have perished. The park was dedicated on September 11, 2002. This 16-acre park includes a play area, a BMX course, a picnic area, a bocce ball court, horseshoe courts, a ball field, a dog park, rest rooms and water fountains (including a doggy water fountain). The play area has two big play structures, one for ages 2–5 and another for ages 5–12.

Government

San Ramon is governed by a five-body City Council composed of individuals elected to four-year overlapping terms in coordination with a two-year elected mayor. Police services were provided under contract by the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department until July 1, 2007, when the city officially took over providing police services. The city of San Ramon is in Contra Costa County. As of 2020, the elected representatives are Dave Hudson (Mayor), Scott Perkins (Vice Mayor), Mark Armstrong, Sridhar Verose, and Sabina Zafar (Council members). In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

, the city is split between and . According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, San Ramon has 41,872 registered voters. Of those, 16,518 (39.4%) are registered Democrats, 8,907 (21.3%) are registered Republicans, and 12,147 (29%) have declined to state a political party.

Education

San Ramon's public schools are part of the

San Ramon Valley Unified School District The San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD) is a public school district in Contra Costa County, California. It has 36 school sites serving more than 32,000 students within the communities of Alamo, Danville, Blackhawk, Diablo, and ...

(SRVUSD), serving approximately 32,000 students. The city has 12 elementary schools and four middle schools. The high schools are California High School and

Dougherty Valley High School Dougherty Valley High School (commonly Dougherty, Dougherty Valley, Dougherty Valley High, DVHS, or DV High) is a Public school (government funded), public high school located in the Windemere development of San Ramon, California, San Ramon, Calif ...

. An alternative K–12 school is operated by the SRVUSD to support home-schooled students: Venture Independent Study School. The district has three additional high schools outside San Ramon, including Monte Vista, Del Amigo, and

. California High School was founded in 1973 and ranked 1049th best high school in the United States by

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

. Dougherty Valley High School was founded in 2007 and is ranked 42nd within California; it is ranked No. 158 in the national rankings and earned a gold medal.

Higher education

Diablo Valley College Diablo Valley College (DVC) is a public community college with campuses in Pleasant Hill and San Ramon in Contra Costa County, California. DVC is one of three public community colleges in the Contra Costa Community College District (along wit ...

– San Ramon branch campus * University of San Francisco – San Ramon regional campus *

UC Davis Graduate School of Management The UC Davis Graduate School of Management (GSM) is a graduate business school at the University of California, Davis. Established in 1981, its degree programs include MBA, MPAc and MSBA. The GSM offers Master of Business Administration (MBA) de ...

– the Bay Area working professional program

Transportation

Bus and rail

Local bus service in the San Ramon Valley is provided primarily by

County Connection The County Connection (officially, the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, CCCTA) is a Concord-based public transit agency operating fixed-route bus and ADA paratransit (County Connection LINK) service in and around central Contra Costa Count ...

(Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, or CCCTA). The closest Bay Area Rapid Transit station is West Dublin/Pleasanton station, away from San Ramon.

Roads

The major freeway in the area is Interstate 680. No US highways or California state highways run through San Ramon.

Air

San Ramon is located halfway between Buchanan Field Airport and

Livermore Municipal Airport Livermore Municipal Airport is three miles west of Livermore, California, in Alameda County, California. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 categorized it as a regional relieve ...

, though Buchanan Field only flies to destinations in

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Co ...

, and Livermore has no regularly scheduled commercial service. The closest airport with regularly-scheduled commercial service to domestic and international destinations is

Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger ...

, though San Francisco International Airport handles the majority of international traffic to San Ramon and the rest of the Bay Area.

Notable people

References

External links

*
Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control 1983 establishments in California Cities in Contra Costa County, California Cities in the San Francisco Bay Area Incorporated cities and towns in California Populated places established in 1983