This panoramic image above shows Walnut Creek to the left, Pleasant Hill in left-center, with Concord and the Carquinez Strait to the right. 
The photograph was taken from Mt. Diablo, looking to the North-West. 
A much larger image may be viewed by clicking on the photograph.

Significant employers include: the County of Contra Costa, Mt. Diablo Unified School District, Diablo Valley College Foundation, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, AT&T Services, Cellco Partnership, John Muir Health, AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah , Frances Mary Accessories Inc., Contra Costa Newspapers Inc., Shell Martinez  Refining Co., and PMI Group Inc. Other important sectors in this area include trade, transportation and utilities (26,021 jobs) and professional and business services (20,088 jobs).

Many businesses in this area are located in well-designed business parks. The strongest sector in this region is educational and health services, sustaining over 30,000 jobs at distinguished educational institutes such as Diablo Valley College, John F. Kennedy University, and Chapman University.   Also located in East Central are notable medical services providing state of the art health care such as the John Muir/Mt. Diablo Regional Medical Centers in Walnut Creek and Concord; Kaiser Hospital and clinics in Walnut Creek and Martinez along with the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez.  

In 2010, the East Central Region was the most populated of the Contra Costa County regions with 18.4% of the East Bay’s population; 14.7% of the labor force; an unemployment rate of 12.2%; 19.2% of the jobs; 20.1% of the businesses; and 17.6% of the taxable sales.

The East Central Region’s average temperature (61.3 degrees) and its highest and lowest temperatures were warmer than the Northern region but cooler than the North Eastern region. That pattern was followed in its total precipitation of 20.89 inches that fell on 17% of its days. There was fog on 14% of the days in 2010.