On May 5, Joint Venture Silicon Valley’s Institute for Regional Studies announced an important milestone — Silicon Valley has reached 3 million residents. Orchards producing apricots, figs, garlic, and tomatoes have been replaced with the headquarters of companies such as Apple, Facebook, Google and Tesla. In a relatively short period of time, the Valley of Heart’s Delight transformed from an agricultural powerhouse to an international high-tech center of innovation.

In order to celebrate this milestone, Joint Venture released Research Brief: Population Growth in Silicon Valley. The report provides in-depth information about the demographics of the region and examines population growth as it relates to economic trends and immigration.

Some of the key points of the study include:

  • A century ago, the entire population of California was 3 million people; that is double the number of people who were living in Silicon Valley in the mid-1960s.
  • This is roughly equivalent to 1 percent of the current U.S. population.
  • If it were a city, Silicon Valley would be the nation’s third largest behind New York (8.4 million) and Los Angeles (3.9 million).
  • Silicon Valley has been growing at the rate of one person every 16 minutes, or nearly 90 people a day.
  • Silicon Valley’s growth rate accelerated between 2011 and 2013, when it peaked at its highest since 1998, before slowing slightly since then. This growth is occurring despite declining birth rates since 2008, and is driven by foreign immigration as well as natural growth.

The “Silicon Valley Popoulation Clock” shows this growth real-time!

You can view graphics and download the full copy of the report at http://siliconvalleyindicators.org/snapshot/.