209 Area Code 🌍☎️

Stockton is the county seat of San Joaquin County and the 11th-most populous city in California with 320,804 residents at the 2020 census, located on the San Joaquin River in the northern San Joaquin Valley within California's Central Valley. Founded by German immigrant Charles Maria Weber in 1849 during the California Gold Rush after acquiring Rancho Campo de los Franceses, the city became the first California community named after a person of non-Spanish or Native American origin, honoring Mexican-American War Commodore Robert F. Stockton. The city developed into a major logistics and commercial hub following the introduction of irrigation, railroad connections, and the opening of the Port of Stockton in 1933. Stockton is home to the University of the Pacific, chartered in 1851 as the oldest university in California and relocated to the city in 1923, as well as the Haggin Museum and the Gurdwara Sahib of Stockton, the first Sikh house of worship established in the United States. The strategic location on the navigable San Joaquin River made Stockton a natural inland seaport during the Gold Rush and transformed it into the region's transportation hub for agricultural products from the mid-19th century onward. Modesto, the county seat and largest city in Stanislaus County, California, is located in the Central Valley 68 miles south of Sacramento and has a population of 218,069 as of 2022, making it the 19th-most populous city in California. Founded in 1870 as a Central Pacific Railroad stop, the city was named "Modesto" (Spanish for "modest") by co-founder Charles Crocker in honor of banker William C. Ralston's humility. Surrounded by rich farmland in the San Joaquin Valley where Stanislaus County ranks sixth in California farm production, Modesto is home to Gallo Family Winery, the largest family-owned winery in the United States, and grew from 1,000 residents in 1884 to over 200,000 by 2001, bolstered by irrigation, agriculture, and World War II-era canned goods production. The city's official motto, "Water Wealth Contentment Health," is displayed on the downtown Modesto Arch, and Modesto enacted the nation's first zoning ordinance in 1885. Modesto has been repeatedly honored as a Tree City USA and is known for its agricultural heritage and commitment to environmental planning. Merced is the county seat of Merced County in California's San Joaquin Valley, with a 2020 population of 86,333, incorporated as a charter city in 1889 and named after the nearby Merced River. Known as the "Gateway to Yosemite," the city is located within two hours of Yosemite National Park to the east and Monterey Bay to the west, approximately 110 miles from Sacramento and 130 miles from San Francisco, and is served by Amtrak and Merced Regional Airport. In 2005, Merced became home to UC Merced, the 10th University of California campus and the first research university built in the United States in the 21st century. The city's economy has historically centered on agribusiness and Castle Air Force Base (which closed in 1995), but has diversified into printing, fiberglass boat building, warehousing, and packaging industries. During the Great Recession, Merced experienced one of the country's steepest property value declines, with median home prices falling 62% from their 2006 peak of $336,743, though the market has since recovered to approximately $400,000 by 2022.