A map of California's Central Valley.
The Central Valley (also called the Great Central Valley) is a very large valley in the middle of California, in the United States. About 42,000 square miles (108,779 square kilometers) in size, it is about the size of the state of Tennessee. It consists of two connected, differently named valleys, the Sacramento Valley and the San Joaquin Valley.
The Sierra Nevada Mountains border the valley on the east side, while the Coast Range borders it on the west side. The Sacramento River flows through the north part of the Central Valley. This part of the valley is also called the Sacramento Valley. The San Joaquin River flows through the larger south part of the Central Valley. also called the San Joaquin Valley. Both rivers merge eventually and empty into the Pacific Ocean via San Francisco Bay. The capital of California, Sacramento, is located in the north part of the Central Valley. In total, the Central Valley is around 450 miles (720 km) long.
The Central Valley has 18 California counties. 15 of these counties are among the 25 most productive farmland in California. Overall, the Central Valley economy depends on farming. However, this has led to serious environmental damages, such as pesticides and selenium and other bad materials being washed into the rivers and polluting the San Francisco Bay.
