Monterey Bay Area in the context of "U.S. Route 101 in California"

Salinas (/səˈliːnəs/; Spanish for "Salt Flats") is a city in and the county seat of Monterey County, California, United States. With a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, Salinas is the most populous city in Monterey County. Salinas is an urban area located along the eastern limits of the Monterey Bay Area, lying just south of the San Francisco Bay Area and 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the mouth of the Salinas River. The city is located at the mouth of the Salinas Valley, about eight miles (13 km) from the Pacific Ocean, and it has a climate more influenced by the ocean than the interior.

Salinas serves as the main business, governmental, and industrial center of the region. The marine climate is ideal for the floral industry, grape vineyards, and vegetable growers. Salinas is known as the "Salad Bowl of the World" for its large, vibrant agriculture industry.

Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 at the 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic, Watsonville is a self-designated sanctuary city.

The Northern California megaregion (also Northern California Megalopolis) is an urbanized region of California consisting of many large cities in Northern California including San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Oakland. There are varying definitions of the megaregion, but it is generally seen as encompassing the San Francisco Bay Area, the Sacramento area, northern San Joaquin Valley, and the Monterey Bay Area.

The most common definition of the megaregion consists of the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland Combined Statistical Area, the Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade Metropolitan Statistical Area, the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area, the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area, the Merced Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the Salinas Metropolitan Area. Under this definition, the megaregion was home to 12.6 million residents in 2018, and had a GDP of $1.21 trillion, resulting in a GDP per capita of $96,029. The megaregion thus accounted for 3.9% of the U.S. population, and 5.9% of the U.S. economy in 2018.