Sunnyvale, "The Heart of Silicon Valley," and home to an extraordinary array of high technology companies is a community bordering the picturesque San Francisco Bay and located on the peninsula approximately 45 miles south of that city.
As a full service city that spans 24 square miles, Sunnyvale reflects in its approach to government the same entrepreneurship that drives its sophisticated business community. We are nationally famous for our innovative management systems. Over the last several years, the City has been recognized by many eminent governmental and professional associations as having one of the most progressive planning and management systems in the nation. Moreover, we have received the prestigious All America City award for citizen participation.
We take pride in our racially and ethnically diverse population of approximately 132,000. Like many California cities in recent years, the face of our community has changed dramatically. According to recent census data, our diversity of the resident population is 46% Caucasian, 32% Asian, 16% Hispanic, and 2% African-American.
We are justifiably proud of the services we have been able to provide to our citizens. We boast one of the finest parks and recreation systems anywhere and a wide range of cultural and educational services, including renowned public and private universities, excellent community college districts, and K through 12 school systems which are consistently among the superior performers in California. In addition, we take enormous pride in having one of the lowest crime rates in the nation for cities over 100,000 in population.