I would think SF is considered northern California, and LA southern California, but what about the towns in between?
That’s Central California. If North produces water and South uses, Central both produces and uses. No help, right?
Just south of Santa Clara county, I believe is where Southern California starts.
Hamsters ate my post, darn it.
Why are you interested in the division? If you have no particular reason, Santa Clara works as well as any other location.
The folks in the middle generall consider themselves to be either Coast, Valley, or Sierra.
More if you’re interested.
No-Man’s Land. (Aka “The Central Valley.”)
I was just wondering because the topic of N Cal vs S Cal came up in a thread about rivalries. Wondering if the people “in the middle” choose sides or just don’t care.
I thought it all came from Colorado. I might be opening myself up for a slap here. 
Nah, no slappage from me- AFAIK, you are right.
I went to college in Santa Cruz, which is just south of Santa Clara County. People there say they live in the Central Coast, an area that is supposed to go all the way down to Santa Barbara. However, Santa Cruz is far closer, physically and mentally, to Northern California, and I would hazard a guess that Santa Barbara is closer to Southern California. IMHO, the dividing line is farther south than other peoples’ suggestions - I would put it south of Monterey.
The people in other parts of the state are sort of out of the equation, really. Especially those in the Central Valley, which is very different from either Northern or Southern California.
When I lived in California, I always considered SLO (San Luis Opisbo - sp?) the halfway point simply because you could then go north on the Pacific Coast Highway, or you could take the freeway up to SF. Plus it always just seemed psychologically like the half way point.
Los Angeles gets some of their water from Colorado, although they’ve been cut back a bit lately. They also get some water from nearby mountains and more water from Norther California. Never heard of the CVA? Big slap. What do you think the North and South are fighting over, if not water?
On some topics the Central Valley sides with the North. Mostly we keep a wary eye on both the South and the North (read: Bay Area/Sacramento corridor, not the northern mountains or the northern Central Valley), who are likely to enact inconvenient legislation.
The actual Valley runs from Redding to Bakersfield. It’s mostly agricultural.
I agree with DMark. SLO (San Luis Obispo) is the dividing point. But it only really matters on the coast. Further inland, and it’s just Central California, anyway.
I’ve always thought you were in Southern California as soon as you went past the Grapevine (mountain pass) and into L.A.
A friend of mine who grew up in Red Bluff, CA always considered San Francisco “Central California”.
Generally, when weather forecasts for Southern California are given, the northern edge is defined as Point Concepcion, sometimes Point Arguello.
The problem with California is that it has geographical features that run north-south and some that run east-west.
So, the Central Valley is bounded by the Coast Ranges on the West and the Sierra Nevada on the East. On the south, it’s the Transverse Mountains. The Northern edge starts with the front end of the Cascades around Redding (Shasta, Lassen). But Southern California has different sections because the Mojave Desert takes up a lot of space, but so do the San Bernardino Mountains.
And I’m not sure what you call the NE part of California that includes Modoc County, which is likely the least visited part of the state. Anybody from Alturas on the board?
I vote for further south than Santa Clara County. Santa Cruz and Monterey share NorCals micro climates.
There was an initiative a few years ago that advocated breaking California into three states. Southern California woul go south from the Tehachapis, Northern California would be the northern nine counties (IIRC), and Central California would be the rest.
Technically, San Francisco is in Central California. Just look at a map. But try to convince a San Franciscan that he’s not in Northern California.
I grew up in Santa Maria, and am going to agree, pretty much, with the SLO boundary. Santa Barbara really is much more like S. CA. But the Five Cities (Pismo Beach & co.), a little south of SLO, are more Northern. Santa Maria is just boring.
Never been there, but Santa Maria style barbeque is delicious!
I’ve been to Central California, and I’ve been to San Francisco. I don’t care what the map says, S.F. is definitely not Central California.
The central section provides something for both the northerners and southerners to sneer at simultaneously. It thus serves to keep the state united, in a sense.
In biogeographic terms the best dividing line is that of Pt. Conception/the Tehachapi range. Quite a bit of flora and fauna, both marine and terrestrial, have that line as the edge of their ranges.
Politically, as can be seen by the discussion above, the border is a little amorphous. Like Kyla I draw it just south of Monterey, with Carmel straddling the edge. But that is just my own mental concept, not something writ in stone.
- Tamerlane