Population, 2009 estimate: 1,029,703
With major corporate headquarters, such as Chevron, The PMI Group Inc., Bio-Rad and AAA NV., UT. and Northern California. Contra Costa County is the home to a wide range of business enterprises. Other major corporate residents include AT&T, ConocoPhillips, Wells Fargo, Shell Refinery, Safeway, Tesoro, Bank of America, Dow Chemical, and PG&E.
The County benefits from a variety of business activity ranging from heavy industrial/manufacturing to, significant professional expertise, to the financial services sectors and innovation.
As part of the San Francisco Bay Area, Contra Costa County is close to some of the nation's top educational and research institutions. Contra Costa County itself hosts Saint Mary's College, California State University East Bay-Concord Campus, John F. Kennedy University and the Joint Genome Institute. The result is Contra Costa's greatest strength, an abundance of a highly educated, skilled workforce.
One of the appeals of Contra Costa County is the mild weather, and abundant open space. The East Bay Regional Park District is the one of the largest regional park districts in the United States with over 96,000 acres in 65 regional parks. At 3,849 feet, Mt. Diablo State Park looms over Contra Costa County providing trails, picnic areas and other recreational amenities. For those drawn to the water, the Delta provides opportunities for boating, fishing and other activities. Coupled with easy access to international class cultural institutions and six major national sports franchises Contra Costa County provides a quality of life that is hard to beat.
