What's the most populous U.S. city west of Reno, Nevada? If you think Los Angeles, you're wrong. The correct answer is San Jose, California.

There's quite a curve in the Pacific coast of America. So much so, in fact, that Southern California lies further east than most people realize. Reno lies at a longitude of 119° 49' — just a hair west of Fresno, California, at 119° 48'.

Los Angeles (the #2 city in the country with 3.5 million people) is actually east of Reno at 118° 15'. San Diego (1.2 million population) is even further east, at 117° 10'.

Many large cities in Northern California lie west of Reno, including Oakland, Sacramento and San Francisco. But the city with the highest population in that area is San Jose, America's 11th largest city (816,884 inhabitants).