San Diego, California

San Diego, named after Saint Didacus, is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California, after Los Angeles, with a population of 1,306,300 (Jul 2009) within its administrative limits on a land area of 372.1 square miles. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. The urban area of San Diego extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 2,880,000, making it the third-largest urban area in California. San Diego is the 33rd richest city in the world.

The city is the economic center of the San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos metropolitan area considered congruent with the county. The city was rated the fifth-best place to live in the United States in 2006 by Money magazine.  According to Forbes magazine, San Diego was the fifth-wealthiest city in the United States in 2005, and the 9th safest city in the top 10 list of safest cities in the U.S. in 2010.  San Diego's top four industries are manufacturing, defense, tourism, and agriculture.  San Diego's economy is largely composed of agriculture, biotechnology/biosciences, computer sciences, electronics manufacturing, defense-related manufacturing, financial and business services, ship repair, ship construction, software development, telecommunications, wireless research, and tourism. The presence of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), with the affiliated UCSD Medical Center, promotes research in biotechnology.