Southern California

Southern California
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Southern California
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Los Angeles, rush hour on the Harbor Freeway
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San Diego

Southern California, sometimes abbreviated SoCal, is an informal name for the southern one-third of the state of California. There are no clear, exact boundaries for this area; instead, residents rely on physical features to establish the boundary. On the west is the Pacific Ocean; to the south is the international border between the United States and Mexico; and to the east is the state border between California and Arizona.

The northern boundary is more difficult to define. One generally accepted 'physical' boundary between Southern California and the rest of the state is the Tehachapi Mountain range located about 100 miles north of Los Angeles . Another useful boundary is the San Gabriel Mountain range located about 10 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Depending on which of the two mountain ranges is used for the northern boundary of the region, different communities/cities and counties are included in, or excluded from, the area called "Southern California":

Southern California is also divided into the Coastal Region (Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, and Santa Barbara County) and the larger, more sparsly populated, desert Inland Empire (San Bernardino County, Ventura County, Riverside County, and Imperial County). The division between the Coastal Regions and the Inland Empire winds along the backs of the coastal mountain ranges such as the Santa Ana Mountains.

Southern California is a heavily developed urban environment. It is one of the most urbanized regions in the United States, second only to the Washington, D.C./New York/Boston megalopolis (BosWash). Much of SoCal is famous for its large, spread-out, suburban communities. The dominant areas are Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Ana/Orange County; each of which is the center of their respective metropolitan areas, which comprise numerous other cities and communities. Review the metropolitan pages for more information regarding these cities, the economy, demographics, etc. The Tech Coast is a moniker that has gained popular use as a descriptor for the region's diversified industrial base.

A related geographical term is cismontane Southern California, which refers to the portion of California on the coastal side of the Transverse and Peninsular mountain ranges. The term "Southern California" often refers to this region specifically, as opposed to largely desert areas comprising the rest of the southern portion of the state, which are referred to as transmontane Southern California.


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Regions

Counties

South of the San Gabriel mountains
North of the San Gabriel mountains


Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura are also counties in the Central Coast.

Geographic features

External links


Flag of California

State of California

Capital Sacramento
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California poppy



Regions
Antelope Valley | Central Valley | Central Coast | Channel Islands | Coachella Valley | Conejo Valley | Death Valley | Emerald Triangle | Gold Country | Greater Los Angeles | Imperial Valley | Inland Empire | Mojave | Northern California | Owens Valley | Palm Springs Area | Pomona Valley | Sacramento Valley | The Peninsula | Redwood Empire | San Fernando Valley | San Francisco Bay Area | San Gabriel Valley | Santa Clara Valley | Santa Clarita Valley | Shasta Cascade | Sierra Nevada | Silicon Valley | Southern California | Wine Country
California state seal

Urban areas and major cities
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine | Antioch-Pittsburg | Arroyo Grande-Grover Beach | Atascadero-Paso Robles | Bakersfield | Camarillo | Chico | Concord-Walnut Creek-Pleasanton | Davis | El Centro | Fairfield | Fresno-Clovis | Gilroy-Morgan Hill | Hemet | Indio-Palm Springs-Cathedral City | Livermore | Lodi | Lompoc | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale | Madera | Manteca | Merced | Mission Viejo-Lake Forest | Modesto | Napa | Oakland-Berkeley | Oxnard-San Buenaventura | Palmdale-Lancaster | Petaluma | Porterville | Redding | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario | Sacramento-Folsom-Roseville | Salinas | San Diego-Encinitas-Oceanside | San Francisco-Richmond-Redwood City | San José-Cupertino-Mountain View | San Luis Obispo | San Rafael-Novato | Santa Barbara-Goleta | Santa Clarita | Santa Cruz | Santa Maria | Santa Rosa | Seaside-Monterey-Marina | Stockton | Temecula-Murrieta | Thousand Oaks-Simi Valley | Tracy | Turlock | Vallejo | Victorville-Hesperia-Apple Valley | Visalia-Tulare-Porterville | Watsonville | Yuba City
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California map



Counties
Alameda | Alpine | Amador | Butte | Calaveras | Colusa | Contra Costa | Del Norte | El Dorado | Fresno | Glenn | Humboldt | Imperial | Inyo | Kern | Kings | Lake | Lassen | Los Angeles | Madera | Marin | Mariposa | Mendocino | Merced | Modoc | Mono | Monterey | Napa | Nevada | Orange | Placer | Plumas | Riverside | Sacramento | San Benito | San Bernardino | San Diego | San Francisco | San Joaquin | San Luis Obispo | San Mateo | Santa Barbara | Santa Clara | Santa Cruz | Shasta | Sierra | Siskiyou | Solano | Sonoma | Stanislaus | Sutter | Tehama | Trinity | Tulare | Tuolumne | Ventura | Yolo | Yuba


bg:Южна Калифорния de:Sdkalifornien

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