The city of San Bernardino is known for its ethnic diversity and exceptional scenery. The city combines the various influences from emigrants, ranging from the Native Americans to the Spanish Missionaries, has helped this interesting and culturally diverse city develop. The city was named by Father Dumetz, a Franciscan missionary, during the year 1810. The city itself is situated south of the San Bernardino Mountains and west of the lower desert. It is currently the county seat of San Bernardino County and hosts a population of over 205,000.
The financial system of San Bernardino is concentrated in government, retail, and services industries. Within the city, there are all together 97,000 plus jobs offered, 20,000 of these are government jobs, 16,000 within retail, and 13,200 in education.
Situated at the intersection of the I-10, I-215, and SR-210 freeways, the city of San Bernardino has a strategic location. The region is even close to the Cajon and San Gorgonio passes. Inside the city lies the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway's Intermodal fright transport yard, and the Yellow Freight System and Pacific Motor Trucking's cross-docking trucking center. There are some warehouses located near the San Bernardino International Airport for large companies, like Mattel and Kohl's.
Located near the Santa Ana River and along Hospitality Lane is the Riverfront District. In the city, is has been the economic development hub for the past couple of years. There are lots of large restaurants, retailers, hotels and office buildings which are built here rather than downtown.
The Nortan Airforce Base was closed during the year 1994, nearly causing the whole San Bernadino's economy to collapse. The rate of joblessness was over 12% with nearly ten thousand people lost their jobs and a lot of the neighborhoods were emptied. The area still hasn't entirely recovered and individuals within one mile of the centre of the city have a meager median income of $20,480.