San Diego County, California - Geography

Geography

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 4,525.52 square miles (11,721.0 km2), of which 4,199.89 square miles (10,877.7 km2) (or 92.80%) is land and 325.62 square miles (843.4 km2) (or 7.20%) is water.

The county is larger in area than the combined states of Rhode Island and Delaware.

San Diego County has a varied topography. On its western side is 70 miles (110 km) of coastline. Most of San Diego between the coast and the Laguna Mountains consists of hills, mesas, and small canyons. Snow-capped (in winter) mountains rise to the northeast, with the Sonoran Desert to the far east. Cleveland National Forest is spread across the central portion of the county, while the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park occupies most of the northeast. Although the western third of the county is primarily urban, the mountains and deserts in the eastern two-thirds of the county consist primarily of undeveloped backcountry. Most of these backcountry areas are home to a native plant community known as chaparral. San Diego County contains more than a million acres (4,000 km²) of chaparral, twice as much as any other California county.

North San Diego County is known as North County; the exact geographic definitions of "North County" vary, but it includes the northern suburbs and sometimes certain northern neighborhoods of the City of San Diego.

The eastern suburbs are collectively known as East County, though most still lie in the western third of the county. The southern suburbs and southern detached portion of the city of San Diego, extending to the Mexican border, are collectively referred to as South Bay.