Named for a local creek, which Spanish explorerJuan Bautista de Anza's cartographer had named after SaintJoseph of Cupertino, Cupertino was officially incorporated in 1955, though it saw economic activity in the early 19th century. The area was originally an agricultural community producingprunes,apricots andcherries, with a winery joining the ranks by the 19th century. Cupertino grew immensely during the 1950s due to the suburban housing boom experienced after theSecond World War, concurring with the earliest roots ofSilicon Valley developing near Cupertino. By the 1960s, office parks were being built and technology companies were setting up shop in the city, most notably Apple andHewlett-Packard.
Cupertino remains a cornerstone of Silicon Valley. The economy is dominated by technology companies, including large ones like Apple, Inc as well as medium-sized companies and startups.[8][9][10]
Cupertino was named afterArroyoSan José de Cupertino (nowStevens Creek). The creek had been named by Spanish explorerJuan Bautista de Anza's cartographer, who named it after SaintJoseph of Cupertino. The nameCupertino first became widely used when John T. Doyle, a San Francisco lawyer, and historian, named his winery on McClellan RoadCupertino. After the turn of the 20th century, Cupertino displaced the former name for the region, which wasWest Side.
In the 19th century, Cupertino was a small rural village at the crossroads of Stevens Creek Road and Saratoga-Mountain View Road (also known locally as Highway 9; later Saratoga–Sunnyvale Road, and then renamed to De Anza Boulevard within Cupertino city limits). For decades, the intersection was dominated on the southeast corner by the R. Cali Brothers Feed Mill,[11] which is replaced today with the Cali Mill Plaza and City Hall. Back then, it was known as the West Side and was part of Fremont Township. The primary economic activity was fruit agriculture. Almost all of the land within Cupertino's present-day boundaries was covered byprune,plum,apricot, andcherry orchards. A winery on Montebello Ridge overlooking the Cupertino valley region was also in operation by the late 19th century.
Soon railroads, electric railways, and dirt roads traversed the West Side farmlands.Monta Vista, Cupertino's first housing tract, was developed in the mid-20th century as a result of the electric railway's construction.
AfterWorld War II, a population and suburban housing boom dramatically shifted the demographics and economy of theSanta Clara Valley, as the "Valley of Heart's Delight" (sometimes "Garden of Earthly Delights") was beginning to transform into "Silicon Valley". In 1954, a rancher, Norman Nathanson, the Cupertino-Monta Vista Improvement Association, and the Fact Finding Committee, began a drive for incorporation. On September 27, 1955, voters approved the incorporation of the city of Cupertino (225 voted "yes" and 183 voted "no"). Cupertino officially became Santa Clara County's 13th city on October 10, 1955.
A major milestone in Cupertino's development was the creation by some of the city's largest landowners of VALLCO Business and Industrial Park in the early 1960s. Of the 25 property owners, 17 decided to pool their land to form VALLCO Park, 6 sold toVarian Associates (property later sold toHewlett-Packard), and two opted for transplanting to farms elsewhere. The name VALLCO was derived from the names of the principal developers: Varian Associates and the Leonard, Lester, Craft, and Orlando families. A neighborhood outdoor shopping center and, much later, the enclosedVallco Fashion Park, briefly renamed Cupertino Square, were also developed. The fashion park was eventually bulldozed in the early 21st Century and is expected to become a mixed-use neighborhood.
De Anza College opened in 1967. The college, named forJuan Bautista De Anza, occupies a 112-acre (0.45 km2) site that was the location of a winery built at the turn of the 20th century, called Beaulieu by its owners, Charles and Ella Baldwin. Their mansion has now become the California History Center. De Anza College had 16,335 students as of 2022.[12]
By the 1980s,Apple Inc. and Hewlett-Packard were the primary technology companies with major presences in Cupertino.
Housing developments were rapidly constructed in the following years as developers created neighborhoods, including Fairgrove, Garden Gate,Monta Vista, Seven Springs, and other developments. The city is known for its high real estate prices.[citation needed]
2010 saw HP consolidate its Bay Area workforce in its hometown ofPalo Alto, and the company proceeded to close its campus within Cupertino. The city estimated that the closure of the campus would lead to 3,000 to 3,500 employees being relocated.[13] Apple eventually bought the campus site from HP for an undisclosed price and prepared to use the land to buildApple Park.[14]
Cupertino is made up of numerous subdivisions, most of them developed since the 1960s. Most of Cupertino's contemporary properties were developed around 1960. The area betweenStevens Creek Boulevard, Miller Avenue, Bollinger Road, and Lawrence Expressway contains 224Eichler homes, built during the 1950s.[16] Two of the newest parts of Cupertino are among its oldest housing tracts.Monta Vista andRancho Rinconada were developed outside of the city's boundaries in the 1950s and before. Rancho Rinconada was annexed in 1999[17] and the last part of Monta Vista was annexed in 2004.[18] The neighborhood of Seven Springs is at the southwestern tip of Cupertino and was developed in the late 1980s. The newest and most northwestern neighborhood, Oak Valley, borders Rancho San Antonio Park and was developed around the turn of the millennium.
Cupertino is known for its high housing prices as the majority of residential properties are multimillion-dollar homes as of the priciest housing market peak of 2022, with the entry-point into a single-family home at around 2 million dollars in the Cupertino HS area, and the entry point at around 2.6 million dollars in the Monta Vista HS area.[citation needed] Many smaller homes start from the high $2 millions, mid-size homes start from the mid $3 millions, and larger executive homes start from mid $4 millions and can go up to as much as $7 million, as of the 2022 peak. However, townhouses and condos with similar square footage are relatively less expensive, owing mainly to negligible lot sizes and the many common walls and areas.[citation needed]
63 percent of Cupertino's population was ofAsian ancestry in 2010,[20] compared to 32 percent in Santa Clara County overall.[21]Money's Best Places to Live, "America's best small towns", ranked Cupertino as #27 in 2012,[22] the second highest in California. In 2014, Movoto Real Estate ranked Cupertino the seventh "happiest" suburb in the United States, ranking highly in the categories of income, safety, marriage, and education.[23]
In 2015,Forbes ranked Cupertino as one of the most educated places in the U.S. in respect to the percentage of high school and college graduates.[24]
Cupertino, California – racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
The census reported that 99.4% of the population lived in households, 0.2% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0.4% were institutionalized.[28]
There were 20,615 households, out of which 43.9% included children under the age of 18, 69.4% were married-couple households, 2.3% werecohabiting couple households, 16.3% had a female householder with no partner present, and 12.0% had a male householder with no partner present. 15.9% of households were one person, and 8.4% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.91.[28] There were 16,406families (79.6% of all households).[29]
The age distribution was 23.9% under the age of 18, 7.7% aged 18 to 24, 24.4% aged 25 to 44, 28.7% aged 45 to 64, and 15.3% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 41.4years. For every 100 females, there were 99.1 males.[28]
There were 21,701 housing units at an average density of 1,915.7 units per square mile (739.7 units/km2), of which 20,615 (95.0%) were occupied. Of these, 59.2% were owner-occupied, and 40.8% were occupied by renters.[28]
In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that 55.1% of the population were foreign-born. Of all people aged 5 or older, 36.8% spoke only English at home, 1.8% spokeSpanish, 16.7% spoke otherIndo-European languages, 43.0% spoke Asian or Pacific Islander languages, and 1.6% spoke other languages. Of those aged 25 or older, 97.2% were high school graduates and 83.1% had a bachelor's degree.[30]
The median household income in 2023 was $231,139, and theper capita income was $106,821. About 3.2% of families and 4.3% of the population were below the poverty line.[31]
The2010 United States census[32] reported that Cupertino had a population of 58,302. The population density was 5,179.1 inhabitants per square mile (1,999.7/km2). Theracial makeup of Cupertino was 18,270 (31.3%) White, 344 (0.6%) Black American, 117 (0.2%) Native American, 36,895 (63.3%) Asian (28.1% Chinese, 22.6% Indian, 4.6% Korean, 3.3% Japanese, 1.3% Vietnamese), 54 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 670 (1.1%) from other races, and 1,952 (3.3%) from two or more races. Hispanic of any race were 2,113 persons (3.6%); 2.4% of Cupertino's population is of Mexican ancestry.
The census reported that 57,965 people (99.4% of the population) lived in households, 61 (0.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 276 (0.5%) were institutionalized.
There were 20,181 households, out of which 9,539 (47.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 13,802 (68.4%) wereopposite-sex married couples living together, 1,393 (6.9%) had a female householder with no husband present, 581 (2.9%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 378 (1.9%)unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 89 (0.4%)same-sex married couples or partnerships. 3,544 households (17.6%) were made up of individuals, and 1,612 (8.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.87. There were 15,776families (78.2% of all households); the average family size was 3.28.
The population was spread out, with 16,075 people (27.6%) under the age of 18, 3,281 people (5.6%) aged 18 to 24, 15,621 people (26.8%) aged 25 to 44, 16,044 people (27.5%) aged 45 to 64, and 7,281 people (12.5%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.6 males.
There were 21,027 housing units at an average density of 1,867.9 per square mile (721.2/km2), of which 12,627 (62.6%) were owner-occupied, and 7,554 (37.4%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.8%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.7%. 36,464 people (62.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied dwelling units and 21,501 people (36.9%) lived in rental dwelling units.
The headquarters ofApple Inc. on Apple Park Way in Cupertino
Cupertino is one of many cities that claim to be the "heart" ofSilicon Valley, as many semiconductor and computer companies were founded there and in the surrounding areas. The new worldwide headquarters forApple Inc. is located there in a modern circular complex. It is a 150-acre (610,000 m2)campus between Interstate 280, N Wolfe Rd, E Homestead Rd and along Tantau Ave one mile east of the old campus. The nine properties (50-acre (0.2 km2)) south of Pruneridge Avenue were bought in 2006, the property (100-acre (0.4 km2) north of it in 2010 (fromHewlett-Packard).
On June 7, 2011,Steve Jobs gave a presentation to Cupertino City Council, detailing the architectural design of the new building and its environs.[33] The campus houses 13,000 employees in one central four-story circular building surrounded by extensive landscaping, with parking mainly underground and the rest centralized in a parking structure.
Cali Mill Plaza, containing the Cypress Hotel and various restaurants
In 2002, Cupertino had a labor force of 25,780 with an unemployment rate of 4.5%. The unemployment rate for Santa Clara County as a whole was 8.4%.
One of the major employers in the area is the aggregate rock quarry andcement plant in the foothills to the west of Cupertino, thePermanente Quarry. Owned and operated by Lehigh Southwest Cement, it was founded byHenry J. Kaiser as the Kaiser Permanente Cement Plant in 1939. It provided the majority of the cement used in the construction of theShasta Dam.[citation needed] It supplied the 6 million barrels (950,000 m3) of cement over a nine-mile (14 km)-long conveyor system.[34] The cement plant is the sole reason for the railroad line that runs through the city.
Cupertino was incorporated in 1955. The highest body in the city government – the City Council – is made up of five members who serve overlapping, four-year terms. The council elects the mayor and vice-mayor for a term of one year. The city does not have its own charter. Instead, it is a General Law city, which follows provisions and requirements for cities established by the state of California.
Cupertino contracts with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and the Santa Clara County Fire Department for public safety services. The Cupertino Library is part of the Santa Clara County Library System.
Santa Clara County Library operates the Cupertino Library, which is located adjacent to city hall.[38] The library, which was redesigned and rebuilt in 2004,[39] is the busiest branch in the Santa Clara County Library system, with about 3 million items circulated annually.[40]
The city is served by an interconnected road system. Twofreeways,State Route 85 andInterstate 280, intersect in Cupertino, with multi-lane boulevards with landscaped medians and traffic lights at all major intersections. Almost all streets have sidewalks; the few exceptions are inunincorporated pockets at the city's edges, which are maintained directly by Santa Clara County.
Cupertino hasbike lanes on many of its boulevards, and has an extension of theStevens Creek Trail throughMcClellan Ranch Park andBlackberry Farm.[44] Bicycle traffic is heavy usually around morning and noon times around DeAnza College. The VTA has buses running through Cupertino at major arteries. Cupertino's main streets are well lit, while a few older roads towards the Monta Vista High School area are a little dim.
Cupertino is served byVTAbus routes 23, 25, 51, 53, 55, 56, and Rapid 523.[45]
Dedicated on April 30, 2009, Cupertino opened theMary Avenue Bicycle Footbridge, the first cable-stayed bicycle-pedestrian bridge over a California freeway. This bridge connects the north and the south sections of the Stevens Creek Trail. The cost of the bridge project was $14,800,000.[46]
Public transit in Cupertino is powered by Via Transportation and utilizes on-demand shuttles.
There is no commuter rail or light rail service in the city.Caltrain commuter rail runs through the cities to the north and east, and theSanta Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)'sMountain View – Winchesterlight rail line runs toCampbell,California to the south. Bus service is also provided by VTA, and the prospect of a twenty-four-hour bus service onStevens Creek Boulevard is being studied. Cupertino is also served by VTA's 523 Rapid bus, which runs from northern Sunnyvale and the Caltrain station to Downtown San Jose with limited stops and signal priority.
Cupertino is landlocked and relies on thePort of Oakland for most oceangoing freight.
The City of Cupertino partnered withVia Transportation in October 2019 to launch a new on-demand public transportation network.[47][48] Unlike traditional bus networks that rely on routes and schedules, the newmicrotransit service calledVia allows riders to hail a shared ride on demand through a smartphone app.[49][50] The transit network serves the entire City of Cupertino with a satellite zone surrounding the Sunnyvale Caltrain station for commuters.[51][52]
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