São José dos Campos is a major city and the seat of the municipality of the same name in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. One of the leading industrial and research centers with emphasis in aerospace sciences in Latin America, the city is located in the Paraíba Valley, between the two most active production and consumption regions in the country; São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It is the main city of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. A native of São José dos Campos is called a joseense. Being the second most populous non-capital city in Brazil – behind Campinas – São José dos Campos lies in the middle of the Expanded Metropolitan Complex, the first megalopolis in the Southern Hemisphere, with over thirty million inhabitants. The city's metro area also includes Greater São Paulo, Campinas, Santos and Sorocaba. The municipality concentrates many major companies and industries, such as Embraer, Panasonic, Johnson & Johnson, Ericsson, Philips, General Motors, Petrobras, Monsanto among others. São José dos Campos also holds relevant education and research institutions, as ITA, INPE, CEMADEN, IEAv, IEA, IFI, UNESP, UNIFESP, DCTA, FATEC, UNIVAP and IP%D, holding a position the puts the city as the main and largest Aerospacial Complex in Latin America. Thus, it is also considered the warlike producer centre. The Technological Park, the largest one in the country, is the only research institute in the world that converges all the three top global plane production companies, Embraer, Boeing and Airbus.

The Paraíba Valley is a landform that encompasses the regions: Paraíba Valley Metropolitan Region and Northern Coast, in the state of São Paulo and Sul-Fluminense Region, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which stands out for concentrating a considerable portion of the Brazilian economy.