Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, with a 2020 population of about 155,800. It is the second-most-populous city in the county, after San Jose, and the seventh-most-populous in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city's modern identity is inseparable from the technology industry. Sunnyvale is a major tech employment center, having hosted or currently hosting headquarters and campuses for companies including Yahoo!, AMD, NetApp, and Juniper Networks, while Apple and Alphabet hold large office footprints in the city. This concentration of employers has drawn a highly skilled, globally diverse workforce and made Sunnyvale one of the most patent-productive cities in the country. Sunnyvale grew from the orchard lands of the Santa Clara Valley, which transformed in the mid-twentieth century into the high-tech corridor that defines the region today. El Camino Real runs through the city, anchoring a corridor of commerce and transit that links Sunnyvale to the rest of the valley. The city's neighborhoods span a wide spectrum. The Heritage District preserves the city's oldest homes — Victorian, Craftsman, and ranch-style — near downtown, while mid-century single-family neighborhoods such as Birdland and Lakewood offer established suburban streets, and Lakewood sits near Sunnyvale Baylands Park and the bayfront. Newer multi-family development clusters near transit and commercial corridors, giving the city an urban-suburban mix with a substantial renter population. Education is a major draw. Depending on address, students attend the Sunnyvale School District, the Cupertino Union School District, or Santa Clara Unified for elementary and middle grades, and the top-rated Fremont Union High School District for high school. Sunnyvale suits a range of households — tech workers who want to live near their jobs, families drawn to strong schools and safe neighborhoods, and renters and buyers seeking central Silicon Valley convenience with bayfront open space at hand. Its combination of jobs, schools, and safety consistently places it among California's most desirable places to live.