// CITY_ASSESSMENT

How smart is San Jose?

San Jose scores 83% against the DC20 smart city framework in 2026 — ranked #22 of 213 cities assessed, with every finding traceable to a public source.

Smart score

83%

Rank

#22 / 213

Criteria present

63 / 82

Evidence coverage

87.8%

San Jose's smart city score by area

Data & Digital Foundation75%

12 present · 6 partial · 2 absent · 1 not assessed

Mobility91%

14 present · 1 partial · 1 absent

Environment & Resources94%

16 present · 0 partial · 1 absent

Governance & People80%

15 present · 2 partial · 3 absent

Economy & Method100%

6 present · 0 partial · 0 absent · 2 not assessed

Where San Jose is strong

  • Open Data by Default
  • Real-time Public Transit Intelligence
  • EV & Active-Travel Infrastructure
  • Smart Energy & Buildings
  • Air-Quality & Climate Monitoring

Where the gaps are

  • Digital Government / e-Services
  • Digital Twin
  • City Data Platform / Urban Data Exchange
  • Smart Traffic & Adaptive Signals
  • Smart Water & Waste

Evidence highlights

Open Data by Default · Official open data portal

San Jose has an official open data portal, data.sanjoseca.gov, as well as a dedicated GIS open data portal.

https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/appointees/city-manager/open-data

Open Data by Default · Open APIs / programmatic access

The San Jose open data portal provides programmatic access to its data through an API, as indicated by the /api/3 endpoint and specific dataset APIs.

https://data.sanjoseca.gov/api/3

Open Data by Default · Open licensing & terms

San Jose has an official Open Data Policy (Council Policy 6-23) which would define clear licensing and reuse terms for its open datasets.

https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/city-council/council-policies/open-data-policy-6-23

Open Data by Default · High-value dataset coverage

The San Jose open data portal includes high-value geospatial datasets, such as water service provider information, and is supported by a GIS portal.

https://data.sanjoseca.gov/datasets/sjgis::water-service-provider/about

About this assessment

San Jose was assessed against the 82 criteria of the DC20 smart city framework on 2026-06-26 by AI agents gathering evidence from official public sources. Each criterion is marked present, partial or absent, and every finding links to where it was found — see how smart cities are measured. Scores refresh continuously as cities publish new evidence.