Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, United States, and the fourth largest city in the state's Central Valley region. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as the state's 13th largest city. It's the State's 17th largest city in terms of land mass at 64.75 sq. mi. The city is located in Northern California, south of the state capital Sacramento and north of Modesto.
Stockton is along Interstate 5, State Route 99 and State Route 4 amid the farmland of the California Central Valley. It is connected westward with San Francisco Bay by the San Joaquin River's 78-mile (126 km) channel, and is, with Sacramento, one of the state's two inland sea ports. In and around Stockton are thousands of miles of waterways and rivers that make up the California Delta.
The city hosts the annual Asparagus Festival and is the location of Haggin Museum, an art and history museum built in Victory Park in 1931. The museum displays 19th and 20th century works of art and houses local historical exhibits. For much of the later 19th century, starting with the Gold Rush, Stockton was one of the largest cities in the state, for a while the third largest city.
The city has recently been hindered by notoriously bad rankings and news headlines. In July 2012, Stockton became the largest city ever to file for protection under Chapter 9 of the US Bankruptcy code. Also in 2012, the city was ranked one of the most dangerous cities in America, coming in 10th place, and is the 2nd most dangerous in California (just behind Oakland). In 2013, Stockton was ranked as the 3rd most illiterate city in the U.S. with less than 17% of adults holding a college degree.