San Jose del Monte

San Jose del Monte, often shortened to SJDM, is a component city in the province of Bulacan, Philippines, about 30 kilometers from Manila and 65 kilometers from Malolos. It is the largest local government unit in Bulacan and in Central Luzon and the 18th most populated city in the country, with 685,688 residents in the 2024 census. Its elevation ranges from about 40 to 900 meters above sea level as the foothills of the Sierra Madre rise eastward, with plains and river valleys in the west and southwest. The name is Spanish for Saint Joseph of the Mountain, after a statue of Saint Joseph found in a forest by hunters. The city was proclaimed on 10 September 2000 under Republic Act 8797, and a 2020 proclamation converting it to a highly urbanized city was rejected in a referendum on 30 October 2023.