The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. Seven Northern California counties comprise the San Joaquin Valley: all of Kings County; a majority of Fresno, Merced, Stanislaus counties; segments of Madera, Tulare counties and the Southern California county of  Kern Although a majority of the valley is rural, it does contain urban cities such as Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, Modesto, Turlock, Porterville, Visalia, Merced, and Hanford.