The 2010 United States Census reported that Santa Clara had a population of 116,468. The racial makeup of Santa Clara was 52,359 (45.0%) White, 3,154 (2.7%) African American, 579 (0.5%) Native American, 43,889 (37.7%) Asian, 651 (0.6%) Pacific Islander, 9,624 (8.3%) from other races, and 6,212 (5.3%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 22,589 persons (19.4%).
By looking at Santa Clara’s demographics and trends you can trace its history over the recent years. The diverse, multicultural population, number of homes and school and college profiles show that Santa Clara has a majority of technology professionals, its schools produce a high number of engineers and home incomes are high.
Santa Clara has come a long way in a relatively short period of time. After World War II when the Cold War era began, Santa Clara became the new defense industry center. The valley saw the manufacturing of radio, radar, missiles and electric circuits grow rapidly, and soon replace agriculture as the primary industry. Stanford University became a hub for technology inventions. With the adoption of technology into corporate products and services, the demand for more sophisticated technology in all areas drove the transformation of Santa Clara to a technology leader quickly and decisively.