Southern California

Southern California
Southern California Images top from bottom, left to right: San Diego Skyline, Downtown Los Angeles, Village of La Jolla, Santa Monica Pier, Surfer at Black's Beach, Hollywood Sign, Disneyland, Hermosa Beach Pier
Red: The eight traditionally included counties. Light red: San Luis Obispo and Kern counties in the expanded ten county definition.
Country	United States
State	California
Counties	Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura
Largest city	Los Angeles
Population (2010)	22,680,010

Southern California, often abbreviated as SoCal, is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises California's 10 southernmost counties. The region is traditionally described as eight counties, based on demographics and economic ties: Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. The more extensive 10-county definition, which includes Kern and San Luis Obispo counties, is also used and is based on historical political divisions. Southern California is a major economic center for the state of California and the United States.

The 8-county and 10-county definitions are not used for the greater Southern California Megaregion, one of the 11 megaregions of the United States. The megaregion's area is more expansive, extending east into Las Vegas, Nevada and south across the Mexican border into Tijuana.

Southern California includes the heavily built-up urban area which stretches along the Pacific coast from Ventura, through the Greater Los Angeles Area and the Inland Empire, and down to Greater San Diego. Southern California's population encompasses seven metropolitan areas: the Los Angeles metropolitan area, consisting of Los Angeles and Orange counties; the Inland Empire, consisting of Riverside and San Bernardino counties; the San Diego metropolitan area; the Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura metropolitan area; the Santa Barbara metropolitan area; the San Luis Obispo metropolitan area; and the El Centro area. Out of these, three are heavily populated areas: the Los Angeles area with over 12 million inhabitants, the Riverside-San Bernardino area with over 4 million inhabitants, and the San Diego area with over 3 million inhabitants. For Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) metropolitan purposes, the five counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura are all combined to make up the Greater Los Angeles Area with over 17.5 million people. With over 22 million people, Southern California contains roughly 60 percent of California's population.