San Diego, California

San Diego is California's second largest city and the eighth largest city in the United States.  San Diego has a citywide population of nearly 1.3 million residents and more than 2.8 million residents countywide.  San Diego is located in the southwestern corner of the United States, approx. 50 miles south of LA.  San Diego has a semi-arid warm climate.  Subtropical, sunny weather is seen throughout the year. Average monthly temperatures range from about 57 °Fahrenheit (14 °C) in January to 72 °Fahrenheit (22°C) in July, although late summer and early fall are typically the hottest times of the year. The average annual daily temperature is 70.5 °Fahrenheit.   Snow and ice are virtually nonexistent in the winter.

The major economic areas in San Diego are Defense, Manufacturing and tourism.   Because San Diego is a port city, there are many military bases located there.  Due to this, many national defense contractors, such as General Atomics and Science Applications International Corporation are headquartered in San Diego.  

Major tourist destinations include Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo, Seaworld, nearby Wild Animal Park and Legoland, the city's beaches, museums and golf courses.  San Diego is approx. 82 miles from Disneyland.

Several areas of San Diego are home to offices and research facilities for numerous biotechnology companies. Major biotechnology companies are based in San Diego, such as Neurocrine Biosciences and Nventa Biopharmaceuticals. Many biotech and pharmaceutical companies, such as BD Biosciences, Biogen Idec, Integrated DNA Technologies, Merck, Pfizer, Genzyme, Cytovance, Celgene and Vertex, also have offices or research facilities in San Diego.   San Diego is home to many companies that develop wireless cellular technology.   Qualcomm Incorporated was founded and is headquartered in San Diego; Qualcomm is the largest private-sector technology employer (excluding hospitals) in San Diego County. The largest software company in San Diego (according to the San Diego Business Journal) is security software company Websense Inc.  Websense was founded and is headquartered in San Diego.