Central California, sometimes referenced as Mid-State, is an area of California south of the San Francisco Bay Area and north of Southern California. It includes the southern portion of the San Joaquin Valley south of the San Joaquin River Delta, the Central Coast and central hills of the California Coast Ranges, and the foothills and mountain areas of the central Sierra Nevada.
Central California is generally considered a sub-region within Northern California. Both have their southern boundary where they meet Southern California at either the Tehachapi Mountains or the county lines which cross the state west to east below Kern and San Luis Obispo Counties. Central California is considered to be west of the crest of the Sierra Nevada. (East of the Sierras is Eastern California.)
The largest cities (over 50,000 population) in the region are Fresno, Modesto, Salinas, Visalia, Clovis, Merced, Turlock, Madera, Tulare, Porterville, and Hanford.
Famous quotes containing the words central and/or california:
“Parental attitudes have greater correlation with pupil achievement than material home circumstances or variations in school and classroom organization, instructional materials, and particular teaching practices.”
—Children and Their Primary Schools, vol. 1, ch. 3, Central Advisory Council for Education, London (1967)
“It shone on everyone, whether they had a contract or not. The most democratic thing I’d ever seen, that California sunshine.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)