São Bernardo do Campo

São Bernardo do Campo is a Brazilian municipality in the state of São Paulo and part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. It had a population of 840,499 at the 2024 census, in an area of 409.51 square kilometres, and by 2021 data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics it had the 16th largest gross domestic product among Brazilian cities. It lies at the top of the Serra do Mar, on the Atlantic plateau, at altitudes from 60 metres at the foot of the range to 986.5 metres at the peak of the Bonilha. The city was founded by João Ramalho in 1553 and is historically perceived as the first Brazilian settlement built away from the sea; it became a parish in 1812 and a municipality in 1890, and was separated from the Santo André district in 1945. Industry, particularly metal works, thrived there in the 1960s, when it became known as Brazil's Automobile Capital, and the automobile industry remains vital to its history. The Köppen classification gives it a humid subtropical climate.