Senate District 15 is comprised of 950,000 residents and encompasses a large portion of Santa Clara County, stretching from Cupertino east to Mount Hamilton and from Los Gatos north to San Jose’s Alum Rock District. The cities of Cupertino, Los Gatos, Campbell, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, and the San Jose communities of Willow Glen, Almaden, Evergreen, East San Jose, and Downtown are included within the district.
The district also contains vast rural expanses of unincorporated areas that extend to the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Stanislaus County border.
The region’s commerce once revolved around agriculture but today District 15’s economy is dominated by Silicon Valley tech companies that employ the thousands of highly skilled workers who have been educated at Bay Area colleges, such as San Jose State University.
District 15 is a culturally diverse region. East San Jose’s vibrant Latino community was the long-time home of civil rights and labor activist Cesar Chavez, where he honed this community organizing skills and was mentored in the precepts of non-violence as a means for change. Little Saigon, the heart of America’s biggest Vietnamese community, is based in District 15.
Map of Senate District 15 (PDF)
2020 Census Population
| Name | Count | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Total Population (POP) | 1,032,570 | 100.00% |
| POP Hispanic or Latino | 362,953 | 35.15% |
| POP Not Hispanic or Latino (NH) | 669,617 | 64.85% |
| POP NH Population of one race | 630,194 | 61.03% |
| POP NH White alone | 276,167 | 26.75% |
| POP NH Black or African American alone | 27,467 | 2.66% |
| POP NH Asian alone | 315,732 | 30.58% |
| POP NH American Indian and Alaska Native alone | 2,167 | 0.21% |
| POP NH Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone | 3,315 | 0.32% |
| POP NH Some Other Race alone | 5,346 | 0.52% |
| POP NH Population of two or more races | 39,423 | 3.82% |
| POP DOJ NH Black or African American | 31,249 | 3.03% |
| POP DOJ NH Asian | 334,280 | 32.37% |
| POP DOJ NH American Indian and Alaska Native | 6,490 | 0.63% |
| POP DOJ NH Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 4,291 | 0.42% |
| POP DOJ NH Some Other Race | 10,154 | 0.98% |
| POP DOJ NH Balance of Population of two or more races | 6,986 | 0.68% |
Counties In District
| Name | Count | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara | 1,032,569 | 53.22% |
Places In District
| Name | Count | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| SANTA CLARA: Alum Rock(U) | 11,266 | 93.25% |
| SANTA CLARA: Burbank(U) | 4,954 | 100.00% |
| SANTA CLARA: Cambrian Park(U) | 3,724 | 100.00% |
| SANTA CLARA: East Foothills(U) | 4,151 | 60.87% |
| SANTA CLARA: Fruitdale(U) | 990 | 100.00% |
| SANTA CLARA: Gilroy(C) | 59,692 | 100.00% |
| SANTA CLARA: Lexington Hills(U) | 2,495 | 100.00% |
| SANTA CLARA: Morgan Hill(C) | 45,566 | 100.00% |
| SANTA CLARA: San Jose(C) | 870,672 | 85.72% |
| SANTA CLARA: San Martin(U) | 7,017 | 100.00% |
| SANTA CLARA: Remainder of Santa Clara(R) | 22,042 | 78.04% |