Central California

Central California
Region of California
San Joaquin Valley, California
Map of counties that overlap Central California
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Central California
Highest elevation	14,505 ft (4,421 m)
Lowest elevation	−13 ft (−4 m)
Time zone	Pacific Standard Time
• Summer (DST)	Pacific Daylight Time
Area code(s)	209, 559, 661, 805, 831

Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the U.S. state of California, north of Southern California (which includes Los Angeles and San Diego) and south of Northern California (which includes San Francisco and San Jose). It includes the northern portion of the San Joaquin Valley (which itself is the southern portion of the Central Valley, beginning at the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta), part of the Central Coast, the central hills of the California Coast Ranges and the foothills and mountain areas of the central Sierra Nevada.

Central California is considered to be west of the crest of the Sierra Nevada. East of the Sierra is Eastern California. The largest cities in the region (over 50,000 population), from most to least populous, are Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, Modesto, Salinas, Visalia, Clovis, Santa Maria, Merced, Turlock, Madera, Lodi, Tulare, Porterville, Hanford and Delano. Over time, droughts and wildfires have increased in frequency and become less seasonal and more year-round, further straining the region's water security.^[1][2][3]