Milpitas

Sister cities

• Tsukuba

History

Milpitas was first inhabited by Tamien people, a subgroup of the Ohlone people who had resided in the San Francisco Bay Area for thousands of years. The Ohlone Indians lived a traditional life based on everyday hunting and gathering. Some of the Ohlone lived in various villages within what is now Milpitas, including sites underneath what are now the Calvary Assembly of God Church and Higuera Adobe Park. Archaeological evidence gathered from Ohlone graves at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in 1993 revealed a rich trade with other tribes from Sacramento to Monterey. During the Spanish expeditions of the late 18th century, several missions were founded in the San Francisco Bay Area. During the mission period, Milpitas served as a crossroads between Mission San José de Guadalupe in present-day Fremont and Mission Santa Clara de Asis in present-day Santa Clara. The land of modern-day Milpitas was divided between the Rancho Rincon de Los Esteros (Spanish for "corner of the wetlands") granted to Ignacio Alviso; the Rancho Milpitas (Spanish for "little milpaa" (corn fields)) granted to José María Alviso; and the Rancho Los Tularcitos (Spanish for "little tule marshes") granted to José Higuera. Jose Maria Alviso was the son of Francisco Xavier Alviso and Maria Bojorquez, both of whom arrived in San Francisco as children with the de Anza Expedition. José María Alviso is considered to be the founder of Milpitas. Due to Jose Maria Alviso's descendants' difficulty securing his claims to the Rancho Milpitas property, portions of his land were either swindled from the Alviso family or were sold to American settlers to pay for legal fees. Both landowners had built prominent adobe homes on their properties. Today, both adobes still exist and are the oldest structures in…

Geography

Milpitas lies in the northeastern corner of the Santa Clara Valley, which is south of San Francisco. Milpitas is generally considered to be a San Jose suburb in the South Bay, a term used to denote the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.28%) is water. Local creeks and the nearby San Francisco Bay suffer somewhat from water pollution originating from street water runoff and industrial wastes. The creeks in Milpitas, especially Calera, Scott, and Berryessa Creeks, used to be prime fishing spots for native steelhead until pollutants from urban development and industry killed the fish starting in the 1950s. While small populations of steelhead and even salmon still may be seen in area streams these cannot legally be fished and consumption of legal catches is limited by mercury contamination. The I-880 corridor has experienced relatively elevated levels of air pollution from freeway traffic. For example, eight-hour standards for carbon monoxide have been near to maximum levels for the last two decades. Set within a warm Mediterranean climate zone in Santa Clara County, Milpitas enjoys warm, sunny weather with few extreme temperatures. Rainfall is confined mostly to the winter months. During winter, temperatures are relatively cold, at an average of . Showers and cloudy days come and go during this season, dropping most of the city's annual of precipitation, and as spring approaches, the gentle rains gradually dwindle. In summer, the grasslands on the hillsides dehydrate rapidly and form bright, golden sheets on the mountains set off by stands of oak. Summer is dry and warm but not hot like in other parts the Bay Area. Temperatures infrequently reach over ,…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  63,876
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  62,689
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  60,732
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  60,555
• California Towhee

  Melozone crissalis (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  52,488
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  48,228
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  42,318
• Bewick's Wren

  Thryomanes bewickii (Audubon, 1827) · Aves
  42,073

Most recent

• M 2.54 — 2026-10-15
  10 km ESE of Gilroy, CA
• M 2.6 — 2026-09-27
  26 km WSW of Westley, CA
• M 3.32 — 2026-09-27
  27 km WSW of Westley, CA
• M 2.56 — 2026-09-23
  2 km NW of Hollister, CA
• M 2.51 — 2026-09-19
  10 km ENE of Milpitas, CA
• M 2.53 — 2026-09-17
  2 km ENE of Aromas, CA