San Francisco Bay Area
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The counties of the San Francisco Bay Area. This image includes Santa Cruz County, over which there is considerable disagreement over whether it should be considered part of the area. |
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USGS Satellite photo of the San Francisco Bay Area. |
The
San Francisco Bay Area, also known as the
Bay Area, is a geographically diverse
metropolitan area that surrounds the
San Francisco Bay in
Northern California. Home to more than seven million people, it is composed of cities, towns, military bases, airports, and associated regional, state, and national parks sprawled over nine
counties (ten, according to some agencies) and connected by a massive network of roads,
highways,
railroads, and
commuter rail.
The Bay Area, unlike the typical metropolitan area, contains several distinct urban and suburban centers. While
San Jose is the largest
city in the Bay Area (having surpassed
San Francisco in the
1990 census), for most of its history San Francisco was the largest city in the region, and remains the traditional and cultural center. The area containing the city of
San Francisco together with
Oakland and San Jose is the
fifth-largest consolidated metropolitan area in the United States, behind New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington-Baltimore.
North Bay
Main article: North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)
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Napa Valley is most famous for its wine. |
The region north of the
Golden Gate Bridge is known locally as the
North Bay. This area consists of
Marin County and extends northward into
Sonoma and
Napa Counties and eastward to
Solano County. With some exceptions, this region is quite affluent: Marin County is ranked as the wealthiest in the nation. The North Bay is generally the least urbanized part of the Bay Area, with many areas of undeveloped parks and farmland. It is the only section of the Bay Area that is not served by a commuter rail transit service, though Sonoma-Marin service has entered the planning phase. The lack of transportation services is mainly because the lack of population mass in the North Bay, and the fact that it is separated completely from the rest of the Bay Area by water, the only access points being the
Golden Gate Bridge leading to
San Francisco, the
Richmond-San Rafael and
Carquinez Bridges leading to
Richmond, and the
Benicia Bridge leading to
Concord.
San Francisco
Main article: San Francisco, California
The City and County of
San Francisco is generally placed in a category by itself geographically, mentally and culturally. It is separated by water from the north, west and east, and by a county line from its neighbor cities to the South. San Francisco serves as the cultural, financial and urban center of the region.
East Bay
Main article: East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)
The eastern side of the bay, dominated by the city of
Oakland but also including
Alameda,
Berkeley,
Fremont,
Livermore,
Hayward and several small cities, is known locally as the
East Bay. The East Bay is split into two regions, the inner East Bay, which sits on the Bay coastline, and the outer East Bay, consisting of inland valleys separated from the inner East Bay by hills and mountains.
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Berkeley as seen from the Claremont Canyon reserve |
* The
inner East Bay consists of
Oakland,
Hayward,
Fremont,
Berkeley, and smaller suburbs surrounding or surrounded by these four major cities, such as
Emeryville,
San Leandro,
Piedmont and
Richmond. The inner East Bay is more urban, more densely populated, has a much older building stock (built before
World War II) and a more ethnically diverse population. Oakland hosts the region's largest
seaport and professional sports franchises in
basketball,
football, and
baseball. As with many inner urban areas the Inner East Bay also features a high accumulation of crime as well as socio-economic problems. According to the FBI Uniformed Crime Reports, more than 50% of all homicides in the Bay Area in 2002 occurred within the city limits of Oakland and Richmond.
* The
outer East Bay consists of the cities of
Walnut Creek,
Concord, and
Pleasant Hill, to the north (also referred as
Central Contra Costa County) and the cities of
Dublin,
Pleasanton,
Livermore,
Danville,
San Ramon to the south (sometimes referred to as the
Livermore-Amador Valley or the
Tri-Valley), as well as other smaller towns, such as Alamo and Orinda. They are connected to the inner East Bay by
BART and by highways and the
Caldecott Tunnel. The outer East Bay is mostly suburban to rural and was mostly built after World War II.
Peninsula
Main article: San Francisco Peninsula
The area between the South Bay and the City and County of San Francisco is known as the
San Francisco Peninsula, locally just as
The Peninsula. This area consists of a series of small cities and suburban communities along the Bay such as
Palo Alto and
Stanford University,
Mountain View,
Daly City,
San Mateo, and
Foster City, as well as various towns along the
Pacific coast, such as
Pacifica and
Half Moon Bay.
South Bay
Main article: South Bay (San Jose, California)
The communities along the southern edge of the Bay are known as the
South Bay,
Santa Clara Valley, and
Silicon Valley. Some Peninsula and East Bay towns are sometimes included in the latter. It includes the city of
San Jose, and its smaller neighbors including
Gilroy and the high-tech hubs of
Santa Clara,
Cupertino,
Palo Alto,
Sunnyvale as well as many other suburbs.
Santa Cruz
:''Main article:
Santa Cruz, CaliforniaThere is disagreement over whether
Santa Cruz County is part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Many residents do not consider Santa Cruz as being part of the Bay Area; however, there is no formal definition of "San Francisco Bay Area" (such as by the
US Census Bureau), so the term is somewhat flexible. Some tourist guide books (
Lonely Planet) group Santa Cruz in the San Francisco Bay Area section, while others (
Eyewitness Travel Guides) do not. Some California agencies include Santa Cruz as part of the Bay Area region, such as the state's parks department
, while other agencies such as the
Association of Bay Area Governments and the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission do not.
More importantly, some residents of the
Santa Cruz Mountains (Boulder Creek, Brookdale, Ben Lomond, Felton, Scotts Valley) do not usually consider themselves to be residents of the Bay Area, rather just of the Santa Cruz Mountains themselves. The Santa Cruz Mountains run along the spine of the
San Francisco Peninsula, beginning in San Francisco and continuing down to their terminus near the City of Gilroy, effectively creating the
Santa Clara Valley.
Santa Cruz is usually considered a part of the
Monterey Bay area since the city lies on the north end of the Monterey Bay. The city is also sometimes regarded as the northernmost point of the
California Central Coast, which extends along the state's coastline to
Santa Barbara.
The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the wealthiest regions in the United States. According to the
United States Census Bureau, of the 280 defined
metropolitan areas, the San Francisco Bay Area has the
highest median household income in the nation with $62,024. Six of the top ten California places with the highest per capita income are in the San Francisco Bay Area (
Belvedere,
Atherton,
Woodside,
Portola Valley,
Diablo). Of the 100
highest income counties by per capita income in the United States, six are in the San Francisco Bay Area (
Marin,
San Mateo,
San Francisco,
Santa Clara,
Contra Costa,
Alameda). According to Forbes Magazine, published in 2005, 12 of the top 50
most expensive Zip Codes are in the Bay Area (
Atherton,
Ross,
Diablo,
Tiburon,
Los Altos,
Nicasio,
Portola Valley,
Los Gatos,
San Francisco).
Because the hills, mountains, and large bodies of water produce such vast geographic diversity within this region, the Bay Area offers a significant variety of
microclimates. The areas near the
Pacific Ocean are generally characterized by relatively small temperature variations during the year, with cool foggy summers and mild rainy winters. Inland areas, especially those separated from the ocean by hills or mountains, have hotter summers and colder overnight temperatures during the winter. Few residential areas ever experience snow, but peaks over 2000 feet are often dusted with snow several times each winter (including Mount St. Helena, Mount Hamilton, Mount Diablo, Mount Tamalpais). Sometimes, if a strong cold front moves through, snow will accumulate on the lower elevations such as in 2006, when snow-laden roads caught motorists off-guard and was blamed for several accidents. The coast north of San Francisco, where year-round cool, moist conditions enable
redwoods to grow, has almost nothing in common with Livermore, just 40 miles inland across the bay, which has desert-like precipitation and heat. At the south end of the Bay, San Jose averages fewer than 15 inches of rain annually, while Napa at the north end of the Bay averages over 30 and parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west get over 55.
 | Skyline Boulevard stretches through the Santa Cruz Mountains, here near Palo Alto, California. During winter and spring, the hills surrounding the Bay Area are lush and green |
|  | Rain is extremely rare in the Bay Area during the summer months. As a result, the surrounding hills quickly become dry. |
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Main article: Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area
The Bay Area is served by many
public transportation systems, including three international
airports (
SFO,
OAK,
SJC), six overlapping
bus transit agencies, four
rapid transit and
regional rail systems including
BART, and multiple public ferry services.
The
freeway and
highway system is very extensive; however, many freeways are heavily
congested during
rush hour, especially the trans-bay bridges.
The region is home to several
universities and
seminaries, most notably the
University of California, Berkeley and
Stanford University.
The San Francisco Bay Area has a very diverse religious life with thousands of
churches,
mosques,
temples, and other religious centers. The Bay Area is home to
Buddhist,
Catholic,
Christian,
Hindu,
Jewish,
Shiite-Muslim,
Sikh,
Sunni-Muslim, and numerous other religious communities.
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NCAA Division I College Sports
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California Golden Bears
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St. Mary's College Gaels
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San Francisco Dons
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San José State Spartans
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Santa Clara Broncos
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Stanford Cardinal
The following lists are based on the ten-county definition of the Bay Area. Cities in
bold serve as county seat. Those places listed in
italics would be excluded by the nine-county definition that excludes Santa Cruz County.
Counties
Cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants
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San Jose, 953,679
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San Francisco, 799,263
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Oakland, 412,318
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Fremont, 243,413
Cities with 100,000 to 200,000 inhabitants
Municipalities and suburbs with 10,000 to 100,000 inhabitants
Municipalities and suburbs with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants
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Islands of San Francisco Bay*
List of San Francisco Bay Area writers*
List of San Francisco Bay Area wildflowers*
United States metropolitan area*
Bay Area Experiences.com Community-built site with fun, non-touristy things to do in San Francisco and surrounding areas.
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Bay Area Shiite-Muslims Association Meet the Bay Area Shiites
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San Francisco Bay Area Shia Islamic Council (sfbasic.org) Information about the Bay Area Shia
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SFCalendar.org Bringing you inspirational, cultural, educational, entertaining talks, discussions, films and other events in the San Francisco Bay Area.
