San Jose (IPA: /ˌsænhoʊˈzeɪ/) (meaning St. Joseph in Spanish) or San José is the thir-largest city in California, and the tenth-largest in the United States. It is the county seat of Santa Clara County. San Jose is located in the Santa Clara Valley, which has been dubbed the "Silicon Valley," at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area. Once a small farming city, San Jose became a magnet for suburban newcomers in new housing developments between the 1960s and the 1990s, and is now the largest city in Northern California. The official United States Census Bureau population estimate for July 1, 2006 is 929,936. The California Department of Finance estimates, San Jose's population on January 1, 2008 was 989,496.