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is a Central California city situated in the heart of California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley, approximately southeast of San Francisco and north of Los Angeles. As of 2007, the city is estimated to have a population of 121,792 people and a metropolitan area of 429,006. Settled in 1852, it is the oldest permanent inland settlement between Stockton, CA and Los Angeles.
As the county seat and largest city of Tulare County, Visalia serves as the economic center to the region known as the most productive single agricultural area in the United States. Sometimes referred to as the "Gateway to the Sequoias", it lies within miles of the tallest mountain range in the contiguous United States, the Sierra Nevada (U.S.) (see Mount Whitney, which is located in Tulare and Inyo counties), and is the closest major city to Sequoia National Park, home to the some of the largest living things on Earth, the Giant Sequoia trees. Even still, the park, its surrounding forest, and the mountain range are nearly invisible to the metro area, due to the poor air-quality in the region during the summer time. The geography of the Visalia area remains a mix of heavily irrigated green farmland and scrubby Sierra Nevada foothills just to the east of the city.
Visalia is located at 36°19'27" North, 119°18'26" West (36.324100, -119.307347).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 28.6 square miles (74.0 km²), of which, 28.6 square miles (74.0 km²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.