San Jose del Monte

San Jose del Monte, officially the City of San Jose del Monte (abbreviated as SJDM or CSJDM; ), is a 1st class component city in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 651,813 people, making it the largest local government unit within the province of Bulacan and Central Luzon, and the 18th most populated city in the Philippines. The City of San Jose del Monte had been proclaimed as a highly urbanized city on 4 December 2020, by the virtue of Proclamation No. 1057, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte, however, majority of the votes cast on the plebiscite on October 30, 2023 has rejected the conversion. Located in the southeast of the province, it is bordered by the city of Caloocan in Metro Manila to the south, by the town of Rodriguez in Rizal to the east, the towns of Santa Maria and Marilao to the west and Norzagaray to the north. San Jose del Monte is from Malolos and from Manila. The city is home to some of the biggest resettlement areas in the Philippines like the Sapang Palay resettlement area spread over 36 barangays, Pabahay 2000 in Barangay Muzon and Towerville in Barangay Minuyan Proper. Most of the city's population come from former informal settlers along the creeks, esteros, riverbanks and railway tracks of Metro Manila. Etymology San Jose Del Monte derived its name from Saint Joseph, whose statue was found in a veritable forest. The hunters called it as such, which literally means “Saint Joseph of the Mountain” in Spanish.