San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, financial, and cultural center within Northern California. With a population of 808,988 residents as of 2023, San Francisco is the fourth-most populous city in the U.S. state of California and the 17th most populous in the U.S. It covers a land area of 46.9 square miles (121 square kilometers) at the upper end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second-most densely populated major U.S. city and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county. Among U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income and sixth by aggregate income as of 2023. San Francisco anchors the 13th most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S., with almost 4.6 million residents in 2023. The larger San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland combined statistical area, the fifth-largest urban region in the U.S., had a 2023 estimated population of over nine million.
San Francisco | |
|---|---|
Consolidated city-county | |
| City and County of San Francisco | |
Financial District San Francisco cable car Alcatraz Island Chinatown Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Bridge | |
 Flag  Seal | |
| Nicknames: See list | |
| Motto(s): | |
| Anthem: Official song: Theme from San Francisco ("Open your Golden Gate") Official ballad: "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" | |
 Interactive map outlining San Francisco | |
  San Francisco Location within California  San Francisco Location within the United States  San Francisco San Francisco (North America) | |
| Coordinates: 37°47′N 122°25′W / 37.783°N 122.417°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | San Francisco |
| Metro | San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward |
| CSA | San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland |
| Mission | June 29, 1776 |
| Incorporated | April 15, 1850 |
| Founded by | Juan Bautista de Anza José Joaquín Moraga Francisco Palóu |
| Named for | St. Francis of Assisi |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor-council |
| • Body | Board of Supervisors |
| • Mayor | Daniel Lurie (D) |
| • Supervisors | List
|
| • Assembly members | Matt Haney (D) Catherine Stefani (D) |
| • State senator | Scott Wiener (D) |
| • United States Representatives | Nancy Pelosi (D) Kevin Mullin (D) |
| Area | |
• City and county | 231.89 sq mi (600.59 km2) |
| • Land | 46.9 sq mi (121.48 km2) |
| • Water | 184.99 sq mi (479.11 km2) 80.00% |
| • Metro | 3,524.4 sq mi (9,128 km2) |
| Elevation | 52 ft (16 m) |
| Highest elevation (Mount Davidson) | 934 ft (285 m) |
| Lowest elevation (Pacific Ocean) | 0 ft (0 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• City and county | 873,965 |
• Estimate (2023) | 808,988 |
| • Rank | 39th in North America 17th in the United States 4th in California |
| • Density | 18,634.65/sq mi (7,194.88/km2) |
| • Urban | 3,515,933 (US: 14th) |
| • Urban density | 6,843.0/sq mi (2,642.1/km2) |
| • Metro | 4,566,961 (US: 13th) |
| • CSA | 9,225,160 (US: 5th) |
| Demonym | San Franciscan |
| Languages | |
| • Official | English, Spanish, Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese |
| • Other non-official spoken languages | Russian, Persian, Portuguese, and others |
| GDP | |
| • City and county | $263.1 billion (2023) |
| • Metro | $778.9 billion (2023) |
| • CSA | $1.397 trillion (2023) |
| Time zone | UTC−08:00 (PST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−07:00 (PDT) |
| ZIP Codes | List
|
| Area codes | 415/628 |
| FIPS code | 06-67000 |
| GNIS feature IDs | 277593, 2411786 |
| Website | sf.gov |
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Prior to European settlement, the modern city proper was inhabited by the Yelamu, who spoke Ramaytush Ohlone. On June 29, 1776, settlers from New Spain established the Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate, and the Mission San Francisco de Asís a few miles away, both named for Francis of Assisi. The California gold rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, transforming an unimportant hamlet into a busy port, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. In 1856, San Francisco became a consolidated city-county. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, it was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama–Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, it was a major port of embarkation for naval service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, significant immigration, liberalizing attitudes, the rise of the beatnik and hippie countercultures, the sexual revolution, opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism.
San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area are a global center of economic activity and the arts and sciences, spurred by leading universities,high-tech, healthcare, finance, insurance, real estate, and professional services sectors. As of 2020[update], the metropolitan area, with 4.5 million residents, ranked 5th by GDP ($874 billion) and 2nd by GDP per capita ($131,082) across the OECD countries. In 2023, San Francisco proper had a GDP of $263.1 billion and a GDP per capita of $325,000. Despite an accelerating exodus of businesses from the downtown area of San Francisco, the city is still home to numerous companies inside and outside of technology, including Salesforce, Uber, Airbnb, X, Levi's, Gap, Dropbox, and Lyft.
In 2022, San Francisco had more than 1.7 million international visitors and approximately 20 million domestic ones. It is known for its steep rolling hills and eclectic mix of architecture across varied neighborhoods; its Chinatown and Mission districts; mild climate; and landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and Alcatraz. The city is home to educational and cultural institutions such as the University of California, San Francisco, the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Legion of Honor (museum), the de Young Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet, the San Francisco Opera, the SFJAZZ Center, and the California Academy of Sciences. Two major league sports teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors, play their home games within San Francisco proper. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) offers flights to over 125 destinations, while a light rail and bus network, in tandem with the BART and Caltrain systems, connects nearly every part of San Francisco with the wider region.
Etymology
San Francisco, which is Spanish for "Saint Francis", takes its name from Mission San Francisco de Asís, which in turn was named after Saint Francis of Assisi. The mission received its name in 1776, when it was founded by the Spanish under the leadership of Padre Francisco Palóu. The city has officially been known as San Francisco since 1847, when Washington Allon Bartlett, then serving as the city's alcalde, renamed it from Yerba Buena (Spanish for "Good Herb"), which had been the name of the first civilian pueblo in San Francisco, as well as the name of Yerba Buena Cove, which the pueblo was on the shore of. Earlier in San Francisco's history, the uninhabited area on the northeastern side of San Francisco was called El Paraje de Yerba Buena, after the herb that was growing abundantly there. The name Yerba Buena continues to be used in locations in the city, such as on Yerba Buena Island and in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Yerba Buena Gardens.
While people residing outside the San Francisco Bay Area use nicknames including "Frisco" and "San Fran", local residents generally refer to San Francisco as "the City" or "SF". The choice of nickname a person uses is a common way for locals to distinguish long-time residents from tourists and recent arrivals. The nicknames "San Fran" and "Frisco" are somewhat controversial among San Francisco residents.
History
Indigenous history
The earliest archeological evidence of human habitation of the territory of San Francisco dates to 3000 BCE. The Yelamu group of the Ramaytush people resided in a few small villages when an overland Spanish exploration party arrived on November 2, 1769, the first documented European visit to San Francisco Bay. The Ohlone name for San Francisco was Ahwaste, meaning, "place at the bay". The arrival of Spanish colonists, and the implementation of their Mission system, marked the beginning of the assimilation of the Ramaytush people, and the decline of their language and culture.
Spanish era
The Spanish Empire claimed San Francisco as part of Las Californias, a province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Spanish first arrived in what is now San Francisco on November 2, 1769, when the Portolá expedition led by Don Gaspar de Portolá and Juan Crespí arrived at San Francisco Bay. Having noted the strategic benefits of the area due to its large natural harbor, the Spanish dispatched Pedro Fages in 1770 to find a more direct route to the San Francisco Peninsula from Monterey, which would become part of the El Camino Real route. By 1774, Juan Bautista de Anza had arrived to the area to select the sites for a mission and presidio. The first European maritime presence in San Francisco Bay occurred on August 5, 1775, when the Spanish ship San Carlos, commanded by Juan Manuel de Ayala, became the first ship to anchor in the bay.
Soon after, on March 28, 1776, Anza established the Presidio of San Francisco. On October 9, Mission San Francisco de Asís, also known as Mission Dolores, was founded by Padre Francisco Palóu. In 1794, the Presidio established the Castillo de San Joaquín, a fortification on the southern side of the Golden Gate, which later came to be known as Fort Point.
In 1804, the province of Alta California was created, which included San Francisco. At its peak in 1810–1820, the average population at the Mission Dolores settlement was about 1,100 people.
Mexican era
In 1821, the Californias were ceded to Mexico by Spain. The extensive California mission system gradually lost its influence during the period of Mexican rule, although it was not until 1833 that the missions would be secularized. Agricultural land became largely privatized as ranchos, as was occurring in other parts of California. Coastal trade increased, including a half-dozen barques from various Atlantic ports which regularly sailed in California waters.
With the enactment of the Mexican Secularization Act of 1833, the missions were made to divest themselves of their extensive landholdings and emancipate the indigenous people under their control. As part of the process of secularization, Governor José Figueroa opened up San Francisco to civilian settlement. Prior to secularization, the only settlements in San Francisco had been the military settlement at the Presidio and the religious settlement at Mission Dolores. In 1835, the Presidio garrison, commanded by Mariano Vallejo, relocated to the Presidio of Sonoma, which was regarded as needing a greater military presence due the proximity of the Russian settlement at Fort Ross. Only a small detachment remained at the Presidio of San Francisco. Mission Dolores sold most of its property in 1836, retaining only the church and related structures.
In 1833, Juana Briones de Miranda was granted a small rancho at El Polín Spring, near the Presidio, founding the first non-indigenous civilian household in San Francisco. In 1834, the pueblo of Yerba Buena was founded. Yerba Buena Cove (named after a native herb) was already a favored anchorage spot and the new settlement and trading post was founded by its shores. Yerba Buena was located in what is now the city's Chinatown and Financial District and was centered on a plaza that is now Portsmouth Square. A land survey of Yerba Buena was made by the Swiss immigrant Jean Jacques Vioget as prelude to the city plan.
Francisco de Haro, a non-Californio Mexican native,[relevant?] became the first alcalde of Yerba Buena. The second alcalde José Joaquín Estudillo was a Californio from a prominent Monterey family.[relevant?] In 1835, while in office, he approved the first land grant in Yerba Buena: to William Richardson, a naturalized Mexican citizen of English birth. Richardson had arrived in San Francisco aboard a whaling ship in 1822. In 1825, he married Maria Antonia Martinez, eldest daughter of the Californio Ygnacio Martínez.[relevant?]
Yerba Buena began to attract American and European settlers; an 1842 census listed 21 residents (11%) born in the United States or Europe, as well as one Filipino merchant. Following the Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma and the beginning of the U.S. Conquest of California, American forces from the USS Portsmouth under the command of John B. Montgomery captured Yerba Buena on July 9, 1846, with little resistance from the local Californio population, raising the American flag over Yerba Buena plaza (later renamed Portsmouth Square in commemoration of this event).
Following the capture, U.S. forces appointed both José de Jesús Noé and Washington Allon Bartlett to serve as co-alcaldes (mayors), while the conquest continued on in the rest of California. On January 30, 1847, Mayor Bartlett ordained that the city should officially change its name from "Yerba Buena" to "San Francisco", as the former name was only locally recognized and the latter name was in use on international maps. There was also concern that a new town being planned by General Vallejo on the Carquinez Strait was to be called "Francisca", after the first name of his wife. After the name change to "San Francisco", the name of Vallejo's town was changed to Benicia, after his wife's middle name. Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Alta California was ceded from Mexico to the United States.
Post-Conquest era
Despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, post-Conquest San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. Situated at the tip of a windswept peninsula without water or firewood, San Francisco lacked most of the basic facilities for a 19th-century settlement. These natural disadvantages forced the town's residents to bring water, fuel and food to the site.[citation needed] Its 1847 population was said to be 459.
The California gold rush brought a flood of treasure seekers (known as "forty-niners", as in "1849"). Prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of wealth was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons, and hotels; many were left to rot, and some were sunk to establish title to the underwater lot. By 1851, the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870, Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land. Buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings.
California was quickly granted statehood in 1850, and the U.S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate and a fort on Alcatraz Island to secure San Francisco Bay. San Francisco County was one of the state's 18 original counties established at California statehood in 1850. Until 1856, San Francisco's city limits extended west to Divisadero Street and Castro Street, and south to 20th Street. In 1856, the California state government divided the county. A straight line was then drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of San Bruno Mountain. Everything south of the line became the new San Mateo County while everything north of the line became the new consolidated City and County of San Francisco.
The California gold rush triggered a wave of entrepreneurial activity as individuals sought to capitalize on the newfound wealth. The discovery of silver deposits, notably the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further fueled rapid population growth and economic expansion.
San Francisco, as the gateway to the goldfields, experienced a surge in population and commercial activity. However, the influx of fortune seekers also brought challenges. Lawlessness was rampant, and the Barbary Coast district became synonymous with vice, attracting criminals, prostitutes, and illicit activities, including but not limited to prostitution, bootlegging, and gambling. The rapidly growing population, with its lawlessness, gambling and other vices, and the fact that there were no churches to be found, prompted missionaries like William Taylor to come to San Francisco where he began preaching in the streets, using an upright barrel as his pulpit. Taylor was able to garner enough generous donations from successful gold miners with which he used to build a church.
One of the most influential figures of this era was William Chapman Ralston. A shrewd banker and investor, Ralston amassed considerable wealth and influence in San Francisco. He gained control over a significant portion of the Comstock Lode's gold and silver mines, establishing a virtual monopoly. Using his incredible clout, Ralston was able to generate millions of dollars for San Francisco during its heady boom years. He founded the Bank of California, the first bank in the Western United States, and built the opulent Palace Hotel, a symbol of San Francisco's newfound prosperity and the largest hotel in the country at the time. His financial empire, however, collapsed in 1875 as a result of the Panic of 1873, triggering a major economic crisis in San Francisco.
Development of the Port of San Francisco and the establishment in 1869 of overland access to the eastern U.S. rail system via the newly completed Pacific Railroad (the construction of which the city only reluctantly helped support) helped make the Bay Area a center for trade. Catering to the needs and tastes of the growing population, Levi Strauss opened a dry goods business and Domingo Ghirardelli began manufacturing chocolate. Chinese immigrants made the city a polyglot culture, drawn to "Old Gold Mountain", creating the city's Chinatown quarter. By 1880, Chinese made up 9.3% of the population.
The first cable cars carried San Franciscans up Clay Street in 1873. The city's sea of Victorian houses began to take shape, and civic leaders campaigned for a spacious public park, resulting in plans for Golden Gate Park. San Franciscans built schools, churches, theaters, and all the hallmarks of civic life. The Presidio developed into the most important American military installation on the Pacific coast. By 1890, San Francisco's population approached 300,000, making it the eighth-largest city in the United States at the time. Around 1901, San Francisco was a major city known for its flamboyant style, stately hotels, ostentatious mansions on Nob Hill, and a thriving arts scene. The first North American plague epidemic was the San Francisco plague of 1900–1904.
1906 earthquake and interwar era
At 5:12 am on April 18, 1906, a major earthquake struck San Francisco and northern California. As buildings collapsed from the shaking, ruptured gas lines ignited fires that spread across the city and burned out of control for several days. With water mains out of service, the Presidio Artillery Corps attempted to contain the inferno by dynamiting blocks of buildings to create firebreaks. More than three-quarters of the city lay in ruins, including almost all of the downtown core. Contemporary accounts reported that 498 people died, though modern estimates put the number in the several thousands. More than half of the city's population of 400,000 was left homeless.Refugees settled temporarily in makeshift tent villages in Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, on the beaches, and elsewhere. Many fled permanently to the East Bay. Jack London is remembered for having famously eulogized the earthquake: "Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone."
Rebuilding was rapid and performed on a grand scale. Rejecting calls to completely remake the street grid, San Franciscans opted for speed.Amadeo Giannini's Bank of Italy, later to become Bank of America, provided loans for many of those whose livelihoods had been devastated. The influential San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association or SPUR was founded in 1910 to address the quality of housing after the earthquake. The earthquake hastened development of western neighborhoods that survived the fire, including Pacific Heights, where many of the city's wealthy rebuilt their homes. In turn, the destroyed mansions of Nob Hill became grand hotels. City Hall rose again in the Beaux Arts style, and the city celebrated its rebirth at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915.
During this period, San Francisco built some of its most important infrastructure. Civil Engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy was hired by San Francisco Mayor James Rolph as chief engineer for the city in September 1912 to supervise the construction of the Twin Peaks Reservoir, the Stockton Street Tunnel, the Twin Peaks Tunnel, the San Francisco Municipal Railway, the Auxiliary Water Supply System, and new sewers. San Francisco's streetcar system, of which the J, K, L, M, and N lines survive today, was pushed to completion by O'Shaughnessy between 1915 and 1927. It was the O'Shaughnessy Dam, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, and Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct that would have the largest effect on San Francisco. An abundant water supply enabled San Francisco to develop into the city it has become today.
In ensuing years, the city solidified its standing as a financial capital; in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, not a single San Francisco-based bank failed. Indeed, it was at the height of the Great Depression that San Francisco undertook two great civil engineering projects, simultaneously constructing the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, completing them in 1936 and 1937, respectively. It was in this period that the island of Alcatraz, a former military stockade, began its service as a federal maximum security prison, housing notorious inmates such as Al Capone, and Robert Franklin Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz. San Francisco later celebrated its regained grandeur with a World's fair, the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939–40, creating Treasure Island in the middle of the bay to house it.
Contemporary era
During World War II, the city-owned Sharp Park in Pacifica was used as an internment camp to detain Japanese Americans.Hunters Point Naval Shipyard became a hub of activity, and Fort Mason became the primary port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater of Operations. The explosion of jobs drew many people, especially African Americans from the South, to the area. After the end of the war, many military personnel returning from service abroad and civilians who had originally come to work decided to stay. The United Nations Charter creating the United Nations was drafted and signed in San Francisco in 1945 and, in 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers.
Urban planning projects in the 1950s and 1960s involved widespread destruction and redevelopment of west-side neighborhoods and the construction of new freeways, of which only a series of short segments were built before being halted by citizen-led opposition. The onset of containerization made San Francisco's small piers obsolete, and cargo activity moved to the larger Port of Oakland. The city began to lose industrial jobs and turned to tourism as the most important segment of its economy. The suburbs experienced rapid growth, and San Francisco underwent significant demographic change, as large segments of the white population left the city, supplanted by an increasing wave of immigration from Asia and Latin America. From 1950 to 1980, the city lost over 10 percent of its population.
Over this period, San Francisco became a magnet for America's counterculture movement. Beat Generation writers fueled the San Francisco Renaissance and centered on the North Beach neighborhood in the 1950s.Hippies flocked to Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s, reaching a peak with the 1967 Summer of Love. In 1974, the Zebra murders left at least 16 people dead. In the 1970s, the city became a center of the gay rights movement, with the emergence of The Castro as an urban gay village, the election of Harvey Milk to the Board of Supervisors, and his assassination, along with that of Mayor George Moscone, in 1978.
Bank of America, now based in Charlotte, North Carolina, was founded in San Francisco; the bank completed 555 California Street in 1969. The Transamerica Pyramid was completed in 1972, igniting a wave of "Manhattanization" that lasted until the late 1980s, a period of extensive high-rise development downtown. The 1980s also saw a dramatic increase in the number of homeless people in the city, an issue that remains today, despite many attempts to address it.
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake caused destruction and loss of life throughout the Bay Area. In San Francisco, the quake severely damaged structures in the Marina and South of Market districts and precipitated the demolition of the damaged Embarcadero Freeway and much of the damaged Central Freeway, allowing the city to reclaim The Embarcadero as its historic downtown waterfront and revitalizing the Hayes Valley neighborhood.
The three recent decades have seen booms driven by the internet industry. During the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, startup companies invigorated the San Francisco economy. Large numbers of entrepreneurs and computer application developers moved into the city, followed by marketing, design, and sales professionals, changing the social landscape as once poorer neighborhoods became increasingly gentrified. Demand for new housing and office space ignited a second wave of high-rise development, this time in the South of Market district. By 2000, the city's population reached new highs, surpassing the previous record set in 1950. When the bubble burst in 2001, many of these companies folded and their employees were laid off. Yet high technology and entrepreneurship remain mainstays of the San Francisco economy. By the mid-2000s (decade), the social media boom had begun, with San Francisco becoming a popular location for tech offices and a common place to live for people employed in Silicon Valley companies such as Apple and Google.
The early 2020s saw a reduction of tech companies' presence in Downtown San Francisco in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, increased popularity of working at home, and struggles with homelessness. Although some observers have raised the possibility that office vacancies and declining tax revenues could cause San Francisco to enter an economic doom loop, other sources have refuted this broad-based characterization of the city as a whole, asserting that the issues of concern are restricted primarily to the urban core of San Francisco. As of March 2024, Union Square was in "sorry shape" and had lost its traditional position as the Bay Area's regional shopping hub to Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose.
The Ferry Station Post Office Building, Armour & Co. Building, Atherton House, and YMCA Hotel are historic buildings among dozens of historical landmarks in the city, according to the National Register of Historic Places listings in San Francisco.
Geography
San Francisco is located on the West Coast of the United States, at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula and includes significant stretches of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay within its boundaries. Several picturesque islands—Alcatraz, Treasure Island and the adjacent Yerba Buena Island, and small portions of Alameda Island, Red Rock Island, and Angel Island—are part of the city. Also included are the uninhabited Farallon Islands, 27 miles (43 km) offshore in the Pacific Ocean. The mainland within the city limits roughly forms a "seven-by-seven-mile square", a common local colloquialism referring to the city's shape, though its total area, including water, is nearly 232 square miles (600 km2).
There are more than 50 hills within the city limits. Some neighborhoods are named after the hill on which they are situated, including Nob Hill, Potrero Hill, and Russian Hill. Near the geographic center of the city, southwest of the downtown area, are a series of less densely populated hills. Twin Peaks, a pair of hills forming one of the city's highest points, forms an overlook spot. San Francisco's tallest hill, Mount Davidson, is 928 feet (283 m) high and is capped with a 103-foot (31 m) tall cross built in 1934. Dominating this area is Sutro Tower, a large red and white radio and television transmission tower reaching 1,811 ft (552 m) above sea level.
The nearby San Andreas and Hayward Faults are responsible for much earthquake activity, although neither physically passes through the city itself. The San Andreas Fault caused the earthquakes in 1906 and 1989. Minor earthquakes occur on a regular basis. The threat of major earthquakes plays a large role in the city's infrastructure development. The city constructed an auxiliary water supply system and has repeatedly upgraded its building codes, requiring retrofits for older buildings and higher engineering standards for new construction. However, there are still thousands of smaller buildings that remain vulnerable to quake damage. USGS has released the California earthquake forecast which models earthquake occurrence in California.
San Francisco's shoreline has grown beyond its natural limits. Entire neighborhoods such as the Marina, Mission Bay, and Hunters Point, as well as large sections of the Embarcadero, sit on areas of landfill. Treasure Island was constructed from material dredged from the bay as well as material resulting from the excavation of the Yerba Buena Tunnel through Yerba Buena Island during the construction of the Bay Bridge. Such land tends to be unstable during earthquakes. The resulting soil liquefaction causes extensive damage to property built upon it, as was evidenced in the Marina district during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. A few natural lakes and creeks (Lake Merced, Mountain Lake, Pine Lake, Lobos Creek, El Polin Spring) are within parks and remain protected in what is essentially their original form, but most of the city's natural watercourses, such as Islais Creek and Mission Creek, have been partially or completely culverted and built over. Since the 1990s, however, the Public Utilities Commission has been studying proposals to daylight or restore some creeks.
Neighborhoods
An Historical Center of San Francisco monument, where the 1899–1906 City Hall was once located, is in United Nations Plaza, at 37°46′48″N 122°24′49″W / 37.7800397°N 122.4135943°W
The earliest center of San Francisco is Portsmouth Square, in the northeast quadrant of the city anchored by Market Street and the waterfront. Here in the northeast quadrant, the Financial District is centered, with Union Square, the principal shopping and hotel district, and the Tenderloin nearby. Cable cars carry riders up steep inclines to the summit of Nob Hill, once the home of the city's business tycoons, and down to the waterfront tourist attractions of Fisherman's Wharf, and Pier 39, where many restaurants feature Dungeness crab from a still-active fishing industry. Also in this quadrant are Russian Hill, a residential neighborhood with the famously crooked Lombard Street; North Beach, the city's Little Italy and the former center of the Beat Generation; and Telegraph Hill, which features Coit Tower. Abutting Russian Hill and North Beach is San Francisco's Chinatown, the oldest Chinatown in North America. The South of Market, which was once San Francisco's industrial core, has seen significant redevelopment following the construction of Oracle Park and an infusion of startup companies. New skyscrapers, live-work lofts, and condominiums dot the area. Further development is taking place just to the south in Mission Bay area, a former railroad yard, which now has a second campus of the University of California, San Francisco and Chase Center, which opened in 2019 as the new home of the Golden State Warriors.
West of downtown, across Van Ness Avenue, lies the large Western Addition neighborhood, which became established with a large African American population after World War II. The Western Addition is usually divided into smaller neighborhoods including Hayes Valley, the Fillmore, and Japantown, which was once the largest Japantown in North America but suffered when its Japanese American residents were forcibly removed and interned during World War II. The Western Addition survived the 1906 earthquake with its Victorians largely intact, including the famous "Painted Ladies", standing alongside Alamo Square. To the south, near the geographic center of the city is Haight-Ashbury, famously associated with 1960s hippie culture. The Haight is now[timeframe?] home to some expensive boutiques[better source needed] and a few controversial chain stores, although it still retains[timeframe?][citation needed] some bohemian character.
North of the Western Addition is Pacific Heights, an affluent neighborhood that features the homes built by wealthy San Franciscans in the wake of the 1906 earthquake. Directly north of Pacific Heights facing the waterfront is the Marina, a neighborhood popular with young professionals that was largely built on reclaimed land from the Bay.
In the southeast quadrant of the city is the Mission District—populated in the 19th century by Californios and working-class immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Scandinavia. In the 1910s, a wave of Central American immigrants settled in the Mission and, in the 1950s, immigrants from Mexico began to predominate. In recent years, gentrification has changed the demographics of parts of the Mission from Latino, to twenty-something professionals. Noe Valley to the southwest and Bernal Heights to the south are both increasingly popular among young families with children. East of the Mission is the Potrero Hill neighborhood, a mostly residential neighborhood that features sweeping views of downtown San Francisco. West of the Mission, the area historically known as Eureka Valley, now popularly called the Castro, was once a working-class Scandinavian and Irish area. It has become North America's first gay village, and is now the center of gay life in the city. Located near the city's southern border, the Excelsior District is one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco. The Bayview-Hunters Point in the far southeast corner of the city is one of the poorest neighborhoods, though the area has been the focus of several revitalizing and urban renewal projects.
The construction of the Twin Peaks Tunnel in 1918 connected southwest neighborhoods to downtown via streetcar, hastening the development of West Portal, and nearby affluent Forest Hill and St. Francis Wood. Further west, stretching all the way to the Pacific Ocean and north to Golden Gate Park lies the vast Sunset District, a large middle-class area with a predominantly Asian population.
The northwestern quadrant of the city contains the Richmond, a mostly middle-class neighborhood north of Golden Gate Park, home to immigrants from other parts of Asia as well as many Russian and Ukrainian immigrants. Together, these areas are known as The Avenues. These two districts are each sometimes further divided into two regions: the Outer Richmond and Outer Sunset can refer to the more western portions of their respective district and the Inner Richmond and Inner Sunset can refer to the more eastern portions.
Many piers remained derelict for years until the demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway reopened the downtown waterfront, allowing for redevelopment. The centerpiece of the port, the Ferry Building, while still receiving commuter ferry traffic, has been restored and redeveloped as a gourmet marketplace.
Climate
San Francisco has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb, Trewartha: Csll), characteristic of California's coast, with moist winters and dry summers. San Francisco's weather is strongly influenced by the cool currents of the Pacific Ocean on the west side of the city, and the water of San Francisco Bay to the north and east. This moderates temperature swings and produces a remarkably mild year-round climate with little seasonal temperature variation.
Among major U.S. cities, San Francisco has the coolest daily mean, maximum, and minimum temperatures for June, July, and August. During the summer, rising hot air in California's interior valleys creates a low-pressure area that draws winds from the North Pacific High through the Golden Gate, which creates the city's characteristic cool winds and fog. The fog is less pronounced in eastern neighborhoods and during the late summer and early fall. As a result, the year's warmest month, on average, is September, and on average, October is warmer than July, especially in daytime.
Temperatures reach or exceed 80 °F (27 °C) on an average of only 21 and 23 days a year at downtown and San Francisco International Airport (SFO), respectively. The dry period of May to October is mild to warm, with the normal monthly mean temperature peaking in September at 62.7 °F (17.1 °C). The rainy period of November to April is slightly cooler, with the normal monthly mean temperature reaching its lowest in January at 51.3 °F (10.7 °C). On average, there are 73 rainy days a year, and annual precipitation averages 23.65 inches (601 mm). Variation in precipitation from year to year is high. Above-average rain years are often associated with warm El Niño conditions in the Pacific while dry years often occur in cold water La Niña periods. In 2013 (a "La Niña" year), a record low 5.59 in (142 mm) of rainfall was recorded at downtown San Francisco, where records have been kept since 1849. Snowfall in the city is very rare, with only 10 measurable accumulations recorded since 1852, most recently in 1976 when up to 5 inches (13 cm) fell on Twin Peaks.
The highest recorded temperature at the official National Weather Service downtown observation station was 106 °F (41 °C) on September 1, 2017. During that hot spell, the warmest ever night of 71 °F (22 °C) was also recorded. The lowest recorded temperature was 27 °F (−3 °C) on December 11, 1932.
During an average year between 1991 and 2020, San Francisco recorded a warmest night at 64 °F (18 °C) and a coldest day at 49 °F (9 °C). The coldest daytime high since the station's opening in 1945 was recorded in December 1972 at 37 °F (3 °C).
As a coastal city, San Francisco will be heavily affected by climate change. As of 2021[update], sea levels are projected to rise by as much as 5 feet (1.5 m), resulting in periodic flooding, rising groundwater levels, and lowland floods from more severe storms.
San Francisco falls under the USDA 10b Plant hardiness zone, though some areas, particularly downtown, border zone 11a.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record high °F (°C) | 79 (26) | 81 (27) | 87 (31) | 94 (34) | 97 (36) | 103 (39) | 99 (37) | 98 (37) | 106 (41) | 102 (39) | 86 (30) | 76 (24) | 106 (41) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 67.1 (19.5) | 71.8 (22.1) | 76.4 (24.7) | 80.7 (27.1) | 81.4 (27.4) | 84.6 (29.2) | 80.5 (26.9) | 83.4 (28.6) | 90.8 (32.7) | 87.9 (31.1) | 75.8 (24.3) | 66.4 (19.1) | 94.0 (34.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 57.8 (14.3) | 60.4 (15.8) | 62.1 (16.7) | 63.0 (17.2) | 64.1 (17.8) | 66.5 (19.2) | 66.3 (19.1) | 67.9 (19.9) | 70.2 (21.2) | 69.8 (21.0) | 63.7 (17.6) | 57.9 (14.4) | 64.1 (17.8) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 52.2 (11.2) | 54.2 (12.3) | 55.5 (13.1) | 56.4 (13.6) | 57.8 (14.3) | 59.7 (15.4) | 60.3 (15.7) | 61.7 (16.5) | 62.9 (17.2) | 62.1 (16.7) | 57.2 (14.0) | 52.5 (11.4) | 57.7 (14.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 46.6 (8.1) | 47.9 (8.8) | 48.9 (9.4) | 49.7 (9.8) | 51.4 (10.8) | 53.0 (11.7) | 54.4 (12.4) | 55.5 (13.1) | 55.6 (13.1) | 54.4 (12.4) | 50.7 (10.4) | 47.0 (8.3) | 51.3 (10.7) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 40.5 (4.7) | 42.0 (5.6) | 43.7 (6.5) | 45.0 (7.2) | 48.0 (8.9) | 50.1 (10.1) | 51.6 (10.9) | 52.9 (11.6) | 52.0 (11.1) | 49.9 (9.9) | 44.9 (7.2) | 40.7 (4.8) | 38.8 (3.8) |
| Record low °F (°C) | 29 (−2) | 31 (−1) | 33 (1) | 40 (4) | 42 (6) | 46 (8) | 47 (8) | 46 (8) | 47 (8) | 43 (6) | 38 (3) | 27 (−3) | 27 (−3) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 4.40 (112) | 4.37 (111) | 3.15 (80) | 1.60 (41) | 0.70 (18) | 0.20 (5.1) | 0.01 (0.25) | 0.06 (1.5) | 0.10 (2.5) | 0.94 (24) | 2.60 (66) | 4.76 (121) | 22.89 (581) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 11.2 | 10.8 | 10.8 | 6.8 | 4.0 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 3.5 | 7.9 | 11.6 | 71.2 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 80 | 77 | 75 | 72 | 72 | 71 | 75 | 75 | 73 | 71 | 75 | 78 | 75 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 185.9 | 207.7 | 269.1 | 309.3 | 325.1 | 311.4 | 313.3 | 287.4 | 271.4 | 247.1 | 173.4 | 160.6 | 3,061.7 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 61 | 69 | 73 | 78 | 74 | 70 | 70 | 68 | 73 | 71 | 57 | 54 | 69 |
| Average ultraviolet index | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Source 1: NOAA (sun 1961–1974) | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Met Office (humidity), Weather Atlas (UV) | |||||||||||||
Ecology
Historically, tule elk were present in San Francisco County, based on archeological evidence of elk remains in at least five different Native American shellmounds: at Hunter's Point, Fort Mason, Stevenson Street, Market Street, and Yerba Buena. Perhaps the first historical observer record was from the De Anza Expedition on March 23, 1776. Herbert Eugene Bolton wrote about the expedition camp at Mountain Lake, near the southern end of today's Presidio: "Round about were grazing deer, and scattered here and there were the antlers of large elk." Also, when Richard Henry Dana Jr. visited San Francisco Bay in 1835, he wrote about vast elk herds near the Golden Gate: on December 27 "...we came to anchor near the mouth of the bay, under a high and beautifully sloping hill, upon which herds of hundreds and hundreds of red deer [note: "red deer" is the European term for "elk"], and the stag, with his high branching antlers, were bounding about...", although it is not clear whether this was the Marin side or the San Francisco side.
Demographics
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1848 | 1,000 | — |
| 1849 | 25,000 | +2400.0% |
| 1852 | 34,776 | +39.1% |
| 1860 | 56,802 | +63.3% |
| 1870 | 149,473 | +163.1% |
| 1880 | 233,959 | +56.5% |
| 1890 | 298,997 | +27.8% |
| 1900 | 342,782 | +14.6% |
| 1910 | 416,912 | +21.6% |
| 1920 | 506,676 | +21.5% |
| 1930 | 634,394 | +25.2% |
| 1940 | 634,536 | +0.0% |
| 1950 | 775,357 | +22.2% |
| 1960 | 740,316 | −4.5% |
| 1970 | 715,674 | −3.3% |
| 1980 | 678,974 | −5.1% |
| 1990 | 723,959 | +6.6% |
| 2000 | 776,733 | +7.3% |
| 2010 | 805,235 | +3.7% |
| 2020 | 873,965 | +8.5% |
| 2023 | 808,988 | −7.4% |
| https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/s-f-exodus-population-recovery-data-18564064.php | ||
The 2020 United States census showed San Francisco's population to be 873,965, an increase of 8.5% from the 2010 census. With roughly one-quarter the population density of Manhattan, San Francisco is the second-most densely populated large American city, behind only New York City among cities greater than 200,000 population, and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, following only four of the five New York City boroughs.
San Francisco is part of the five-county San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 4.7 million people (13th most populous in the U.S.), and has served as its traditional demographic focal point. It is also part of the greater 14-county San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area, whose population is over 9.6 million, making it the fifth-largest in the United States as of 2018[update].[failed verification]
Race, ethnicity, religion, and languages
As of the 2020[update] census, the racial makeup and population of San Francisco included: 361,382 Whites (41.3%), 296,505 Asians (33.9%), 46,725 African Americans (5.3%), 86,233 Multiracial Americans (9.9%), 6,475 Native Americans and Alaska Natives (0.7%), 3,476 Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (0.4%) and 73,169 persons of other races (8.4%). There were 136,761 Hispanic or Latino residents of any race (15.6%).
San Francisco is a majority minority city, as non-Hispanic White residents comprise less than half of the population; in 1940 they formed 92.5% of the population.
In 2010, residents of Chinese ethnicity constituted the largest single ethnic minority group in San Francisco at 21% of the population; other large Asian groups include Filipinos (5%) and Vietnamese (2%), with Japanese, Koreans and many other Asian and Pacific Islander groups represented in the city. The population of Chinese ancestry is most heavily concentrated in Chinatown and the Sunset and Richmond Districts. Filipinos are most concentrated in SoMa and the Crocker-Amazon; the latter neighborhood shares a border with Daly City, which has one of the highest concentrations of Filipinos in North America. The Tenderloin District is home to a large portion of the city's Vietnamese population as well as businesses and restaurants, which is known as the city's Little Saigon.
The principal Hispanic groups in the city were those of Mexican (7%) and Salvadoran (2%) ancestry. The Hispanic population is most heavily concentrated in the Mission District, Tenderloin District, and Excelsior District. The city's percentage of Hispanic residents is less than half of that of the state.
African Americans constituted about 5% of San Francisco's population in 2020; their share of the city's population has been decreasing since the 1970s. The majority of the city's Black residents live in the neighborhoods of Bayview-Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, and the Fillmore District. There are smaller Black communities in Diamond Heights, Glen Park, and Mission District.
The city has long been home to a significant Jewish community; in 2018 Jewish Americans made up an estimated 10% (80,000) of the city's population. It the third-largest Jewish community in proportional terms in the United States, behind only those of New York City, and Los Angeles, respectively, and it is also relatively young compared to other major U.S. cities. The Jewish community resides throughout the city, but the Richmond District is home to an ethnic enclave of mostly Russian Jews. The Fillmore District was formerly a mostly Jewish neighborhood from the 1920s until the 1970s, when many of its Jewish residents moved to other neighborhoods of the city as well as the suburbs of nearby Marin County.
Source: U.S. Census and IPUMS USA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
According to a 2018 study by the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, Jews make up 10% (80,000) of the city's population, making Judaism the second-largest religion in San Francisco after Christianity. A prior 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, the largest religious groupings in San Francisco's metropolitan area are Christians (48%), followed by those of no religion (35%), Hindus (5%), Jews (3%), Buddhists (2%), Muslims (1%) and a variety of other religions have smaller followings. According to the same study by the Pew Research Center, about 20% of residents in the area are Protestant, and 25% professing Roman Catholic beliefs. Meanwhile, 10% of the residents in metropolitan San Francisco identify as agnostics, while 5% identify as atheists.
As of 2010[update], 55% (411,728) of San Francisco residents spoke only English at home, while 19% (140,302) spoke a variety of Chinese (mostly Taishanese and Cantonese), 12% (88,147) Spanish, 3% (25,767) Tagalog, and 2% (14,017) Russian. In total, 45% (342,693) of San Francisco's population spoke a language at home other than English.
Ethnic clustering
San Francisco has several prominent Chinese, Mexican, and Filipino neighborhoods including Chinatown and the Mission District. Research collected on the immigrant clusters in the city show that more than half of the Asian population in San Francisco is either Chinese-born (40.3%) or Philippine-born (13.1%), and of the Mexican population 21% were Mexican-born, meaning these are people who recently immigrated to the United States. Between the years of 1990 and 2000, the number of foreign-born residents increased from 33% to nearly 40%. During this same time period, the San Francisco metropolitan area received 850,000 immigrants, ranking third in the United States after Los Angeles and New York.
Education, households, and income
Of all major cities in the United States, San Francisco has the second-highest percentage of residents with a college degree, second only to Seattle. Over 44% of adults have a bachelor's or higher degree. San Francisco had the highest rate at 7,031 per square mile, or over 344,000 total graduates in the city's 46.7 square miles (121 km2).
San Francisco has the highest estimated percentage of gay and lesbian individuals of any of the 50 largest U.S. cities, at 15%. San Francisco also has the highest percentage of same-sex households of any American county, with the Bay Area having a higher concentration than any other metropolitan area.
San Francisco ranks third of American cities in median household income with a 2007 value of $65,519. Median family income is $81,136. An emigration of middle-class families has left the city with a lower proportion of children than any other large American city, with the dog population cited as exceeding the child population of 115,000, in 2018. The city's poverty rate is 12%, lower than the national average.Homelessness has been a chronic problem for San Francisco since the early 1970s. The city is believed to have the highest number of homeless inhabitants per capita of any major U.S. city.
There are 345,811 households in the city, out of which: 133,366 households (39%) were individuals, 109,437 (32%) were opposite-sex married couples, 63,577 (18%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 21,677 (6%) were unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 10,384 (3%) were same-sex married couples or partnerships. The average household size was 2.26; the average family size was 3.11. 452,986 people (56%) lived in rental housing units, and 327,985 people (41%) lived in owner-occupied housing units. The median age of the city population is 38 years.
San Francisco declared itself a sanctuary city in 1989, and city officials strengthened the stance in 2013 with its 'Due Process for All' ordinance. The law declared local authorities could not hold immigrants for immigration offenses if they had no violent felonies on their records and did not currently face charges. The city issues a Resident ID Card regardless of the applicant's immigration status.
Homelessness
Homelessness in San Francisco emerged as a major issue in the late 20th century and remains a growing problem in modern times.
8,035 homeless people were counted in San Francisco's 2019 point-in-time street and shelter count. This was an increase of more than 17% over the 2017 count of 6,858 people. 5,180 of the people were living unsheltered on the streets and in parks. 26% of respondents in the 2019 count identified job loss as the primary cause of their homelessness, 18% cited alcohol or drug use, and 13% cited being evicted from their residence. The city of San Francisco has been dramatically increasing its spending to service the growing population homelessness crisis: spending jumped by $241 million in 2016–17 to total $275 million, compared to a budget of just $34 million the previous year. In 2017–18 the budget for combatting homelessness stood at $305 million. In the 2019–2020 budget year, the city budgeted $368 million for homelessness services. In the proposed 2020–2021 budget the city budgeted $850 million for homelessness services.
In January 2018 a United Nations special rapporteur on homelessness, Leilani Farha, stated that she was "completely shocked" by San Francisco's homelessness crisis during a visit to the city. She compared the "deplorable conditions" of the homeless camps she witnessed on San Francisco's streets to those she had seen in Mumbai. In May 2020, San Francisco officially sanctioned homeless encampments.
According to San Francisco's Point-in-Time (PIT) count, the homeless population in 2024 was approximately 8,323 individuals. Additionally, over 20,000 people in the city were seeking homeless services.
Crime
This article needs to be updated. (March 2024) |
San Francisco's violent crime rate is low compared to other major cities, though many residents are still concerned about it.
In 2011, 50 murders were reported, which is 6.1 per 100,000 people. There were about 134 rapes, 3,142 robberies, and about 2,139 assaults. There were about 4,469 burglaries, 25,100 thefts, and 4,210 motor vehicle thefts. The Tenderloin area has the highest crime rate in San Francisco: 70% of the city's violent crimes, and around one-fourth of the city's murders, occur in this neighborhood. The Tenderloin also sees high rates of drug abuse, gang violence, and prostitution. Another area with high crime rates is the Bayview-Hunters Point area. In the first six months of 2015 there were 25 murders compared to 14 in the first six months of 2014. However, the murder rate is still much lower than in past decades. That rate, though, did rise again by the close of 2016. According to the San Francisco Police Department, there were 59 murders in the city in 2016, an annual total that marked a 13.5% increase in the number of homicides (52) from 2015. The city has also gained a reputation for car break-ins, with over 19,000 car break-ins occurring in 2021.
During the first half of 2018, human feces on San Francisco sidewalks were the second-most-frequent complaint of city residents, with about 65 calls per day. The city has formed a "poop patrol" to attempt to combat the problem.
In January 2022, CBS News reported that a single suspect was "responsible for more than half of all reported hate crimes against the API community in San Francisco last year", and that he "was allowed to be out of custody despite the number of charges against him".
Several street gangs have operated in the city over the decades, including MS-13, the Sureños and Norteños in the Mission District.
African-American street gangs familiar in other cities, including the Bloods, Crips and their sets, have struggled to establish footholds in San Francisco, while police and prosecutors have been accused of liberally labeling young African-American males as gang members.
Criminal gangs with shot callers in China, including Triad groups such as the Wo Hop To, were active in San Francisco in the 20th century. According to statistics released by SFPD in April 2024, the crime figures were down in the first 100 days of the year, namely in terms of robberies, burglaries and larceny. In the first half of 2024, San Francisco experienced a 32% decrease in overall crime compared to the previous year. Personal property theft saw a 41% reduction, and violent crimes, including gun-related incidents, decreased by 30%.
Economy
The city has a diversified service economy, with employment spread across a wide range of professional services, including tourism, financial services, and high technology. In 2016, approximately 27% of workers were employed in professional business services; 14% in leisure and hospitality; 13% in government services; 12% in education and health care; 11% in trade, transportation, and utilities; and 8% in financial activities. In 2023, GDP in the five-county San Francisco metropolitan area grew 3.4% in real terms to $779 billion. Additionally, in 2023 the 14-county San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland combined statistical area had a GDP of $1.397 trillion, ranking 3rd among CSAs, and ahead of all but 15 countries. As of 2023[update], San Francisco County ranked 11th by income per capita among U.S. counties, with a per capita personal income of $164,807.Marin County, directly to the north over the Golden Gate Bridge, and San Mateo County, directly to the south on the Peninsula, were the 7th and 9th highest-income counties respectively.
The legacy of the California gold rush turned San Francisco into the principal banking and finance center of the West Coast in the early twentieth century.Montgomery Street in the Financial District became known as the "Wall Street of the West", home to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and the site of the now-defunct Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.Bank of America, a pioneer in making banking services accessible to the middle class, was founded in San Francisco and in the 1960s, built the landmark modern skyscraper at 555 California Street for its corporate headquarters, since relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina. Many large financial institutions, multinational banks, and venture capital firms are based in or have regional headquarters in the city. With over 30 international financial institutions, six Fortune 500 companies, and a large supporting infrastructure of professional services—including law, public relations, architecture and design—San Francisco is designated as an Alpha(-) World City. The 2024 Global Financial Centres Index ranked San Francisco as the fifth-most competitive financial center in the world.
Beginning in the 1990s, San Francisco's economy diversified away from finance and tourism towards the growing fields of high tech, biotechnology, and medical research. Technology jobs accounted for just 1 percent of San Francisco's economy in 1990, growing to 4 percent in 2010 and an estimated 8 percent by the end of 2013. San Francisco became a center of Internet start-up companies during the dot-com bubble of the 1990s and the subsequent social media boom of the late 2000s (decade). Since 2010, San Francisco proper has attracted an increasing share of venture capital investments as compared to nearby Silicon Valley, attracting 423 financings worth US$4.58 billion in 2013. In 2004, the city approved a payroll tax exemption for biotechnology companies to foster growth in the Mission Bay neighborhood, site of a second campus and hospital of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Mission Bay hosts the UCSF Medical Center, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, and Gladstone Institutes, as well as more than 40 private-sector life sciences companies.
According to academic Rob Wilson, San Francisco is a global city, a status that pre-dated the city's popularity during the California gold rush. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to high office vacancy rates and the accelerating evacuation of many retail and tech businesses out of the downtown core of San Francisco. Attributed causes include a shift to remote work in the technology and professional services sectors, as well as high levels of homelessness, drug use, and crime in areas around downtown San Francisco, such as the Tenderloin and Mid-Market neighborhoods.
The top employer in San Francisco is the city government itself, employing 5.6% (35,000+ people) of the city's workforce, followed by UCSF with over 29,000 employees. The largest private-sector employer is Salesforce, with 11,953 employees, as of 2024[update]. Small businesses with fewer than 10 employees and self-employed firms made up 85% of city establishments in 2006, and the number of San Franciscans employed by firms of more than 1,000 employees has fallen by half since 1977. The growth of national big box and formula retail chains into the city has been made intentionally difficult by political and civic consensus. In an effort to buoy small privately owned businesses in San Francisco and preserve the unique retail personality of the city, the Small Business Commission started a publicity campaign in 2004 to keep a larger share of retail dollars in the local economy, and the Board of Supervisors has used the planning code to limit the neighborhoods where formula retail establishments can set up shop, an effort affirmed by San Francisco voters. However, by 2016, San Francisco was rated low by small businesses in a Business Friendliness Survey.
Like many U.S. cities, San Francisco once had a significant manufacturing sector employing nearly 60,000 workers in 1969, but nearly all production left for cheaper locations by the 1980s. As of 2014[update], San Francisco has seen a small resurgence in manufacturing, with more than 4,000 manufacturing jobs across 500 companies, doubling since 2011. The city's largest manufacturing employer is Anchor Brewing Company, and the largest by revenue is Timbuk2.
As of the first quarter of 2022[update], the median value of homes in San Francisco County was $1,297,030. It ranked third in the U.S. for counties with highest median home value, behind Nantucket, Massachusetts and San Mateo County, California.
Technology
San Francisco became a hub for technological driven economic growth during the internet boom of the 1990s, and still holds an important position in the world city network today. Intense redevelopment towards the "new economy" makes business more technologically minded. Between the years of 1999 and 2000, the job growth rate was 4.9%, creating over 50,000 jobs in technology firms and internet content production. However, the technology industry has become geographically dispersed.
In the second technological boom driven by social media in the mid-2000s, San Francisco became a location for companies such as Apple, Google, Ubisoft, Facebook, and Twitter to base their tech offices and for their employees to live.
In recent years several AI companies have either been founded in the city or moved there, due to a giant talent pool, proximity to venture capital, and serendipitous connections.
Tourism and conventions
Tourism is one of San Francisco's most important private-sector industries, accounting for more than one out of seven jobs in the city. The city's frequent portrayal in music, film, and popular culture has made the city and its landmarks recognizable worldwide. In 2016, it attracted the fifth-highest number of foreign tourists of any city in the United States. More than 25 million visitors arrived in San Francisco in 2016, adding US$9.96 billion to the economy. With a large hotel infrastructure and a major convention facility in the Moscone Center, San Francisco is a popular destination for annual conventions and conferences.
Some of the most popular tourist attractions in San Francisco, as noted by the Travel Channel, include the Golden Gate Bridge and Alamo Square Park, home to the famous "Painted Ladies". Both of these locations were often used as landscape shots for the hit American television sitcom Full House. There is also Lombard Street, known for its "crookedness" and extensive views. Tourists also visit Pier 39, which offers dining, shopping, entertainment, and views of the bay, sunbathing California sea lions, the Aquarium of the Bay, and the famous Alcatraz Island.
San Francisco also offers tourists varied nightlife in its neighborhoods.
The new Terminal Project at Pier 27 opened September 25, 2014, as a replacement for the old Pier 35. Itineraries from San Francisco usually include round-trip cruises to Alaska and Mexico.
A heightened interest in conventioneering in San Francisco, marked by the establishment of convention centers such as Yerba Buena, acted as a feeder into the local tourist economy and resulted in an increase in the hotel industry: "In 1959, the city had fewer than thirty-three hundred first-class hotel rooms; by 1970, the number was nine thousand; and by 1999, there were more than thirty thousand." The commodification of the Castro District has contributed to San Francisco's tourist economy.
Arts and culture
Although the Financial District, Union Square, and Fisherman's Wharf are well known around the world, San Francisco is also characterized by its numerous culturally rich streetscapes featuring mixed-use neighborhoods anchored around central commercial corridors to which residents and visitors alike can walk.[citation needed] Because of these characteristics,[original research?] San Francisco is ranked the "most walkable" city in the United States by Walk Score. Many neighborhoods feature a mix of businesses, restaurants and venues that cater to the daily needs of local residents while also serving many visitors and tourists. Some neighborhoods are dotted with boutiques, cafés and nightlife such as Union Street in Cow Hollow, 24th Street in Noe Valley, Valencia Street in the Mission, Grant Avenue in North Beach, and Irving Street in the Inner Sunset. This approach especially has influenced the continuing South of Market neighborhood redevelopment with businesses and neighborhood services rising alongside high-rise residences.[failed verification]
Since the 1990s, the demand for skilled information technology workers from local startups and nearby Silicon Valley has attracted white-collar workers from all over the world and created a high standard of living in San Francisco. Many neighborhoods that were once blue-collar, middle, and lower class have been gentrifying, as many of the city's traditional business and industrial districts have experienced a renaissance driven by the redevelopment of the Embarcadero, including the neighborhoods South Beach and Mission Bay. The city's property values and household income have risen to among the highest in the nation, creating a large and upscale restaurant, retail, and entertainment scene. According to a 2014 quality of life survey of global cities, San Francisco has the highest quality of living of any U.S. city. However, due to the exceptionally high cost of living, many of the city's middle and lower-class families have been leaving the city for the outer suburbs of the Bay Area, or for California's Central Valley. By June 2, 2015, the median rent was reported to be as high as $4,225. The high cost of living is due in part to restrictive planning laws which limit new residential construction.
The international character that San Francisco has enjoyed since its founding is continued today by large numbers of immigrants from Asia and Latin America. With 39% of its residents born overseas, San Francisco has numerous neighborhoods filled with businesses and civic institutions catering to new arrivals. In particular, the arrival of many ethnic Chinese, which began to accelerate in the 1970s, has complemented the long-established community historically based in Chinatown throughout the city and has transformed the annual Chinese New Year Parade into the largest event of its kind on the West Coast.
With the arrival of the "beat" writers and artists of the 1950s and societal changes culminating in the Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury district during the 1960s, San Francisco became a center of liberal activism and of the counterculture that arose at that time. The Democrats and to a lesser extent the Green Party have dominated city politics since the late 1970s, after the last serious Republican challenger for city office lost the 1975 mayoral election by a narrow margin. San Francisco has not voted more than 20% for a Republican presidential or senatorial candidate since 1988. In 2007, the city expanded its Medicaid and other indigent medical programs into the Healthy San Francisco program, which subsidizes certain medical services for eligible residents.
Since 1993, the San Francisco Department of Public Health has distributed 400,000 free syringes every month aimed at reducing HIV and other health risks for drug users, as well as providing disposal sites and services.
San Francisco also has had a very active environmental community. Starting with the founding of the Sierra Club in 1892 to the establishment of the non-profit Friends of the Urban Forest in 1981, San Francisco has been at the forefront of many global discussions regarding the environment. The 1980 San Francisco Recycling Program was one of the earliest curbside recycling programs. The city's GoSolarSF incentive promotes solar installations and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is rolling out the CleanPowerSF program to sell electricity from local renewable sources. SF Greasecycle is a program to recycle used cooking oil for conversion to biodiesel.
The Sunset Reservoir Solar Project, completed in 2010, installed 24,000 solar panels on the roof of the reservoir. The 5-megawatt plant more than tripled the city's 2-megawatt solar generation capacity when it opened in December 2010.
LGBT
San Francisco has long had an LGBT-friendly history. It was home to the first lesbian-rights organization in the United States, Daughters of Bilitis; the first openly gay person to run for public office in the United States, José Sarria; the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, Harvey Milk; the first openly lesbian judge appointed in the U.S., Mary C. Morgan; and the first transgender police commissioner, Theresa Sparks. The city's large gay population has created and sustained a politically and culturally active community over many decades, developing a powerful presence in San Francisco's civic life. Survey data released in 2015 by Gallup places the proportion of LGBT adults in the San Francisco metro area at 6.2%, which is the highest proportion of the 50 most populous metropolitan areas as measured by the polling organization.
One of the most popular destinations for gay tourists internationally, the city hosts San Francisco Pride, one of the largest and oldest pride parades. San Francisco Pride events have been held continuously since 1972. The events are themed and a new theme is created each year. In 2013, over 1.5 million people attended, around 500,000 more than the previous year.Pink Saturday is an annual street party held the Saturday before the pride parade, which coincides with the Dyke march.
The Folsom Street Fair (FSF) is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair that is held in September, endcapping San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week". It started in 1984 and is California's third-largest single-day, outdoor spectator event and the world's largest leather event and showcase for BDSM products and culture.
Performing arts
San Francisco's War Memorial and Performing Arts Center hosts some of the most enduring performing arts companies in the country. The War Memorial Opera House houses the San Francisco Opera, the second-largest opera company in North America as well as the San Francisco Ballet, while the San Francisco Symphony plays in Davies Symphony Hall. Opened in 2013, the SFJAZZ Center hosts jazz performances year round.
The Fillmore is a music venue located in the Western Addition. It is the second incarnation of the historic venue that gained fame in the 1960s, housing the stage where now-famous musicians such as the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, and Jefferson Airplane first performed, fostering the San Francisco Sound. It closed its doors in 1971 with a final performance by Santana and reopened in 1994 with a show by the Smashing Pumpkins.
San Francisco has a large number of theaters and live performance venues. Local theater companies have been noted for risk taking and innovation. The Tony Award-winning non-profit American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a member of the national League of Resident Theatres. Other local winners of the Regional Theatre Tony Award include the San Francisco Mime Troupe. San Francisco theaters frequently host pre-Broadway engagements and tryout runs, and some original San Francisco productions have later moved to Broadway.
Museums
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) houses 20th century and contemporary works of art. It moved to its current building in the South of Market neighborhood in 1995 and attracted more than 600,000 visitors annually. SFMOMA closed for renovation and expansion in 2013. The museum reopened on May 14, 2016, with an addition, designed by Snøhetta, that has doubled the museum's size.
The Palace of the Legion of Honor holds primarily European antiquities and works of art at its Lincoln Park building modeled after its Parisian namesake. The de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park features American decorative pieces and anthropological holdings from Africa, Oceania and the Americas, while Asian art is housed in the Asian Art Museum. Opposite the de Young stands the California Academy of Sciences, a natural history museum that also hosts the Morrison Planetarium and Steinhart Aquarium. Located on Pier 15 on the Embarcadero, the Exploratorium is an interactive science museum. The Contemporary Jewish Museum is a non-collecting institution that hosts a broad array of temporary exhibitions. On Nob Hill, the Cable Car Museum is a working museum featuring the cable car powerhouse, which drives the cables.Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was founded in 1998 and is part of the California College of the Arts.
Sports
Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants have played in San Francisco since moving from New York in 1958. The Giants play at Oracle Park, which opened in 2000. The Giants won World Series titles in 2010, 2012, and in 2014. The Giants have boasted stars such as Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Barry Bonds (MLB's career home run leader). In 2012, San Francisco was ranked No. 1 in a study that examined which U.S. metro areas have produced the most Major Leaguers since 1920.
The San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) began playing in 1946 as an All-America Football Conference (AAFC) league charter member, moved to the NFL in 1950 and into Candlestick Park in 1971. The team left San Francisco in 2014, moving approximately 50 miles south to Santa Clara, and began playing its home games at Levi's Stadium, Despite this, the 49ers are still branded as a San Francisco team, and when the team hosted Super Bowl 50 events were hosted in San Francisco such as the annual NFL Experience which was held at the Moscone Center and "Super Bowl City" which opened on January 30 at Justin Herman Plaza on The Embarcadero. The 49ers have won five Super Bowl titles between 1982 and 1995.
The NBA's Golden State Warriors have played in the San Francisco Bay Area since moving from Philadelphia in 1962. The Warriors played as the San Francisco Warriors, from 1962 to 1971, before being renamed the Golden State Warriors prior to the 1971–1972 season in an attempt to present the team as a representation of the whole state of California, which had already adopted "The Golden State" nickname. The Warriors' arena, Chase Center, is located in San Francisco. After winning two championships in Philadelphia, they have won five championships since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, and made five consecutive NBA Finals from 2015 to 2019, winning three of them. They won again in 2022, the franchise's first championship while residing in San Francisco proper.
At the collegiate level, the San Francisco Dons compete in NCAA Division I. Bill Russell led the Dons basketball team to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956. There is also the San Francisco State Gators, who compete in NCAA Division II. Oracle Park hosted the annual Fight Hunger Bowl college football game from 2002 through 2013 before it moved to Santa Clara.
There are a handful of lower-league soccer clubs in San Francisco playing mostly from April – June.
| Club | Founded | Venue | League | Tier level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Farolito | 1985 | Boxer Stadium | NPSL | 4 |
| San Francisco City FC | 2001 | Kezar Stadium | USL League Two | 4 |
| San Francisco Glens SC | 1961 | Skyline College | USL League Two | 4 |
The Bay to Breakers footrace, held annually since 1912, is best known for colorful costumes and a celebratory community spirit. The San Francisco Marathon attracts more than 21,000 participants. The Escape from Alcatraz triathlon has, since 1980, attracted 2,000 top professional and amateur triathletes for its annual race. The Olympic Club, founded in 1860, is the oldest athletic club in the United States. Its private golf course has hosted the U.S. Open on five occasions. San Francisco hosted the 2013 America's Cup yacht racing competition.
With an ideal climate for outdoor activities, San Francisco has ample resources and opportunities for amateur and participatory sports and recreation. There are more than 200 miles (320 km) of bicycle paths, lanes and bike routes in the city. San Francisco residents have often ranked among the fittest in the country.Golden Gate Park has miles of paved and unpaved running trails as well as a golf course and disc golf course. Boating, sailing, windsurfing and kitesurfing are among the popular activities on San Francisco Bay, and the city maintains a yacht harbor in the Marina District.
San Francisco also has had Esports teams, such as the Overwatch League's San Francisco Shock. Established in 2017, they won two back-to-back championship titles in 2019 and 2020.
Parks and recreation
Several of San Francisco's parks and nearly all of its beaches form part of the regional Golden Gate National Recreation Area, one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States with over 13 million visitors a year. Among the GGNRA's attractions within the city are Ocean Beach, which runs along the Pacific Ocean shoreline and is frequented by a vibrant surfing community, and Baker Beach, which is located in a cove west of the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as the California Academy of Sciences, a research institute and natural history museum.
The Presidio of San Francisco is the former 18th century Spanish military base, which today is one of the city's largest parks and home to numerous museums and institutions. Also within the Presidio is Crissy Field, a former airfield that was restored to its natural salt marsh ecosystem. The GGNRA also administers Fort Funston, Lands End, Fort Mason, and Alcatraz. The National Park Service separately administers the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park – a fleet of historic ships and waterfront property around Aquatic Park.
There are more than 220 parks maintained by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department. The largest and best-known city park is Golden Gate Park, which stretches from the center of the city west to the Pacific Ocean. Once covered in native grasses and sand dunes, the park was conceived in the 1860s and was created by the extensive planting of thousands of non-native trees and plants. The large park is rich with cultural and natural attractions such as the Conservatory of Flowers, Japanese Tea Garden and San Francisco Botanical Garden.
Lake Merced is a fresh-water lake surrounded by parkland[citation needed] and near the San Francisco Zoo, a city-owned park that houses more than 250 animal species, many of which are endangered. The only park managed by the California State Park system located principally in San Francisco, Candlestick Point was the state's first urban recreation area.
Most of San Francisco's islands are protected as parkland or nature reserves. Alcatraz Island, operated by the National Park Service, is open to the public. The Farallon Islands are protected wildlife refuges. The Seal Rocks are protected as part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Red Rock Island is the only privately owned island in San Francisco Bay, but is uninhabited. Yerba Buena Island is largely utilized by the military.
San Francisco is the first city in the U.S. to have a park within a 10-Minute Walk of every resident. It also ranks fifth in the U.S. for park access and quality in the 2018 ParkScore ranking of the top 100 park systems across the United States, according to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.
Government
The mayor is also the county executive, and the county Board of Supervisors acts as the city council. The government of San Francisco is a charter city and is constituted of two co-equal branches: the executive branch is headed by the mayor and includes other citywide elected and appointed officials as well as the civil service; the 11-member Board of Supervisors, the legislative branch, is headed by a president and is responsible for passing laws and budgets, though San Franciscans also make use of direct ballot initiatives to pass legislation.
Because of its unique city-county status, the local government is able to exercise jurisdiction over certain property outside city limits. San Francisco International Airport, though located in San Mateo County, is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco. San Francisco's largest jail complex (County Jail No. 5) is located in San Mateo County, in an unincorporated area adjacent to San Bruno. San Francisco was also granted a perpetual leasehold over the Hetch Hetchy Valley and watershed in Yosemite National Park by the Raker Act in 1913.
The members of the Board of Supervisors are elected as representatives of specific districts within the city. Upon the death or resignation of the mayor, the President of the Board of Supervisors becomes acting mayor until the full Board elects an interim replacement for the remainder of the term. In 1978, Dianne Feinstein assumed the office following the assassination of George Moscone and was later selected by the board to finish the term.[citation needed] In 2011, Ed Lee was selected by the board to finish the term of Gavin Newsom, who resigned to take office as Lieutenant Governor of California. Lee (who won two elections to remain mayor) was temporarily replaced by San Francisco Board of Supervisors President London Breed after he died on December 12, 2017. Supervisor Mark Farrell was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to finish Lee's term on January 23, 2018.
Most local offices in San Francisco are elected using ranked choice voting.
San Francisco serves as the regional hub for many arms of the federal bureaucracy, including the U.S. Court of Appeals, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the U.S. Mint. Until decommissioning in the early 1990s, the city had major military installations at the Presidio, Treasure Island, and Hunters Point—a legacy still reflected in the annual celebration of Fleet Week. The State of California uses San Francisco as the home of the state supreme court and other state agencies. Foreign governments maintain more than seventy consulates in San Francisco.
The municipal budget for fiscal year 2015–16 was $8.99 billion, and is one of the largest city budgets in the United States. The City of San Francisco spends more per resident than any city other than Washington, D.C., over $10,000 in FY 2015–2016. The city employs around 27,000 workers.
In the California State Senate, San Francisco is in the 11th Senate District, represented by Democrat Scott Wiener. In the California State Assembly, it is split between the 17th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Matt Haney, and the 19th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Catherine Stefani.
In the United States House of Representatives, San Francisco is split between two congressional districts. Most of the city is in the 11th District, represented by Nancy Pelosi (D–San Francisco). A sliver in the southwest is part of the 15th District represented by Kevin Mullin (D–South San Francisco). Pelosi served as the House Speaker from January 3, 2019, to January 3, 2023, a post she also held from 2007 through 2011. She has also held the post of House Minority Leader, from 2003 to 2007 and 2011 to 2019.
One of San Francisco's most notable achievements is its ambitious zero-waste goal, which aims to divert 100% of waste from landfills by 2025. The city has already made significant strides, with widespread recycling and composting programs that encourage residents to minimize waste. San Francisco was one of the first U.S. cities to ban plastic bags and continues to lead in banning single-use plastics, setting a standard for cities across the country.
Education
Colleges and universities
The University of California, San Francisco is the sole campus of the University of California system entirely dedicated to graduate education in health and biomedical sciences. It is ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States and operates the UCSF Medical Center, which ranks as the number one hospital in California and the number 5 in the country. UCSF is a major local employer, second in size only to the city and county government. A 43-acre (17 ha) Mission Bay campus was opened in 2003, complementing its original facility in Parnassus Heights. It contains research space and facilities to foster biotechnology and life sciences entrepreneurship and will double the size of UCSF's research enterprise. All in all, UCSF operates more than 20 facilities across San Francisco.
The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, founded in Civic Center in 1878, is the oldest law school in California and claims more judges on the state bench than any other institution. San Francisco's two University of California institutions have recently formed an official affiliation in the UCSF/UC Law SF Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy.
San Francisco State University is part of the California State University system and is located near Lake Merced. The school has approximately 30,000 students and awards undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees in more than 100 disciplines. The City College of San Francisco, with its main facility in the Ingleside district, is one of the largest two-year community colleges in the country. It has an enrollment of about 100,000 students and offers an extensive continuing education program.
Founded in 1855, the University of San Francisco, a private Jesuit university located on Lone Mountain, is the oldest institution of higher education in San Francisco and one of the oldest universities established west of the Mississippi River.Golden Gate University is a private, nonsectarian university formed in 1901 and located in the Financial District.
With an enrollment of 13,000 students, the Academy of Art University is the largest institute of art and design in the nation. The California College of the Arts, located north of Potrero Hill, has programs in architecture, fine arts, design, and writing. The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the only independent music school on the West Coast, grants degrees in orchestral instruments, chamber music, composition, and conducting. The San Francisco Art Institute, founded in 1871 and the oldest art school west of the Mississippi, closed in 2022.
The California Culinary Academy, associated with the Le Cordon Bleu program, offers programs in the culinary arts, baking and pastry arts, and hospitality and restaurant management. California Institute of Integral Studies, founded in 1968, offers a variety of graduate programs in its Schools of Professional Psychology & Health, and Consciousness and Transformation.
Primary and secondary schools
Public schools are run by the San Francisco Unified School District, which covers the entire city and county, as well as the California State Board of Education for some charter schools. Lowell High School, the oldest public high school in the U.S. west of the Mississippi, and the smaller School of the Arts High School are two of San Francisco's magnet schools at the secondary level. Public school students attend schools based on an assignment system rather than neighborhood proximity.
Just under 30% of the city's school-age population attends one of San Francisco's more than 100 private or parochial schools, compared to a 10% rate nationwide. Nearly 40 of those schools are Catholic schools managed by the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
San Francisco has nearly 300 preschool programs primarily operated by Head Start, San Francisco Unified School District, private for-profit, private non-profit and family child care providers. All four-year-old children living in San Francisco are offered universal access to preschool through the Preschool for All program.
Media
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The major daily newspaper in San Francisco is the San Francisco Chronicle, which is currently Northern California's most widely circulated newspaper. The Chronicle is most famous for a former columnist, the late Herb Caen, whose daily musings attracted critical acclaim and represented the "voice of San Francisco". The San Francisco Examiner, once the cornerstone of William Randolph Hearst's media empire and the home of Ambrose Bierce, declined in circulation over the years and now takes the form of a free daily tabloid, under new ownership.
Sing Tao Daily claims to be the largest of several Chinese language dailies that serve the Bay Area.SF Weekly is the city's alternative weekly newspaper. San Francisco and 7x7 are major glossy magazines about San Francisco. The national newsmagazine Mother Jones is also based in San Francisco. San Francisco is home to online-only media publications such as SFist, and AsianWeek.
The San Francisco Bay Area is the sixth-largest television market in the U.S. It is the fourth-largest radio market after that of New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
All major U.S. television networks have affiliates serving the region, with most of them based in the city. CNN, MSNBC, BBC, Russia Today, and CCTV America also have regional news bureaus in San Francisco. Bloomberg West was launched in 2011 from a studio on the Embarcadero and CNBC broadcasts from One Market Plaza since 2015. ESPN uses the local ABC studio for their broadcasting. The regional sports network, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and its sister station Comcast SportsNet California, are both located in San Francisco. The Pac-12 Network is also based in San Francisco.
Public broadcasting outlets include both a television station and a radio station, both broadcasting under the call letters KQED from a facility near the Potrero Hill neighborhood. KQED-FM is the most-listened-to National Public Radio affiliate in the country.
KUSF is a student-run radio station by college students from the University of San Francisco. Another local broadcaster, KPOO, is an independent, African-American owned and operated noncommercial radio station established in 1971.CNET, founded 1994, and Salon.com, 1995, are based in San Francisco. Sutro Tower is an important broadcast tower located between Mount Sutro and the Twin Peaks, built in 1973 for KTVU, KRON, and KPIX.
Infrastructure
Transportation
Public transportation
Transit is the most used form of transportation every day in San Francisco. Every weekday, more than 560,000 people travel on Muni's 69 bus routes and more than 140,000 customers ride the Muni Metro light rail system. 32% of San Francisco residents use public transportation for their daily commute to work, ranking it fourth in the United States and first on the West Coast. The San Francisco Municipal Railway, primarily known as Muni, is the primary public transit system of San Francisco. As of 2023, Muni is the eighth-largest transit system in the United States. The system operates a combined light rail and subway system, the Muni Metro, as well as large bus and trolley coach networks. Additionally, it runs a historic streetcar line, which runs on Market Street from Castro Street to Fisherman's Wharf. It also operates the famous cable cars, which have been designated as a National Historic Landmark and are a major tourist attraction.
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), a regional Rapid Transit system, connects San Francisco with the East Bay and San Jose through the underwater Transbay Tube. The line, which contains all except the Orange Line, runs under Market Street to Civic Center where it turns south to the Mission District, the southern part of the city, and through northern San Mateo County, to the San Francisco International Airport, and Millbrae. BART also shares stations with SFMTA Muni Metro under Market Street.
Another commuter rail system, Caltrain, runs from San Francisco along the San Francisco Peninsula to San Jose. Historically, trains operated by Southern Pacific Lines ran from San Francisco to Los Angeles, via Palo Alto and San Jose.
Amtrak Thruway runs a shuttle bus from three locations in San Francisco to its station across the bay in Emeryville. Additionally, BART offers connections to San Francisco from Amtrak's stations in Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond, and Caltrain offers connections in San Jose and Santa Clara. Thruway service also runs south to San Luis Obispo with connection to the Pacific Surfliner.
San Francisco was an early adopter of carsharing in America. The non-profit City CarShare opened in 2001 and Zipcar closely followed.
San Francisco Bay Ferry operates from the Ferry Building and Pier 39 to points in Oakland, Alameda, Bay Farm Island, South San Francisco, Richmond, and north to Vallejo in Solano County. The Golden Gate Ferry is the other ferry operator with service between San Francisco and Marin County.SolTrans runs supplemental bus service between the Ferry Building and Vallejo.
To accommodate the large amount of San Francisco citizens who commute to the Silicon Valley daily, employers like Genentech, Google, and Apple have begun to provide private bus transportation for their employees, from San Francisco locations. These buses have quickly become a heated topic of debate within the city, as protesters claim they block bus lanes and delay public buses.
Freeways and roads
In 2014, only 41.3% of residents commuted by driving alone or carpooling in private vehicles in San Francisco, a decline from 48.6% in 2000. There are 1,088 miles of streets in San Francisco with 946 miles of these streets being surface streets, and 59 miles of freeways. Due to its unique geography, and the freeway revolts of the late 1950s,Interstate 80 begins at the approach to the Bay Bridge and is the only direct automobile link to the East Bay. U.S. Route 101 connects to the western terminus of Interstate 80 and provides access to the south of the city along San Francisco Bay toward Silicon Valley. Northward, the routing for U.S. 101 uses arterial streets to connect to the Golden Gate Bridge, the only direct automobile link to Marin County and the North Bay.
As part of the retrofitting of the Golden Gate Bridge and installation of a suicide barrier, starting in 2019 the railings on the west side of the pedestrian walkway were replaced with thinner, more flexible slats in order to improve the bridge's aerodynamic tolerance of high wind to 100 mph (161 km/h). Starting in June 2020, reports were received of a loud hum produced by the new railing slats, heard across the city when a strong west wind was blowing.
State Route 1 also enters San Francisco from the north via the Golden Gate Bridge and bisects the city as the 19th Avenue arterial thoroughfare, joining with Interstate 280 at the city's southern border. Interstate 280 continues south from San Francisco, and also turns to the east along the southern edge of the city, terminating just south of the Bay Bridge in the South of Market neighborhood. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, city leaders demolished the Embarcadero Freeway and a portion of the Central Freeway, converting them into street-level boulevards.
State Route 35 enters the city from the south as Skyline Boulevard and terminates at its intersection with Highway 1. State Route 82 enters San Francisco from the south as Mission Street, and terminates shortly thereafter at its junction with 280. The western terminus of the historic transcontinental Lincoln Highway, the first road across America, is in San Francisco's Lincoln Park.
Vision Zero
In 2014, San Francisco committed to Vision Zero, with the goal of ending all traffic fatalities caused by motor vehicles within the city by 2024. San Francisco's Vision Zero plan calls for investing in engineering, enforcement, and education, and focusing on dangerous intersections. In 2013, 25 people were killed by car and truck drivers while walking and biking in the city and 9 car drivers and passengers were killed in collisions. In 2019, 42 people were killed in traffic collisions in San Francisco.
Airports
Though located 13 miles (21 km) south of downtown in unincorporated San Mateo County, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is under the jurisdiction of the City and County of San Francisco. SFO is a hub for United Airlines and Alaska Airlines. SFO is a major international gateway to Asia and Europe, with the largest international terminal in North America. In 2011, SFO was the eighth-busiest airport in the U.S. and the 22nd-busiest in the world, handling over 40.9 million passengers.
Located in the South Bay, the San Jose International Airport (SJC) is the second-busiest airport in the Bay Area, followed by Oakland International Airport, which is a popular, low-cost alternative to SFO.
Cycling and walking
Cycling is a popular mode of transportation in San Francisco, with 75,000 residents commuting by bicycle each day. In recent years,[when?] the city has installed better cycling infrastructure such as protected bike lanes and parking racks.Bay Wheels, previously named Bay Area Bike Share at inception, launched in August 2013 with 700 bikes in downtown San Francisco, selected cities in the East Bay, and San Jose. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and Bay Area Air Quality Management District are responsible for the operation with management provided by Motivate. A major expansion started in 2017, along with a rebranding as Ford GoBike; the company received its current name in 2019. Pedestrian traffic is also widespread. In 2015, Walk Score ranked San Francisco the second-most walkable city in the United States.
San Francisco has significantly higher rates of pedestrian and bicyclist traffic deaths than the United States on average. In 2013, 21 pedestrians were killed in vehicle collisions, the highest since 2001, which is 2.5 deaths per 100,000 population – 70% higher than the national average of 1.5.
Cycling is becoming increasingly popular in the city. The 2010 Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) annual bicycle count showed the number of cyclists at 33 locations had increased 58% from the 2006 baseline counts. In 2008, the MTA estimated that about 128,000 trips were made by bicycle each day in the city, or 6% of total trips. As of 2019[update], 2.6% of the city's streets have protected bike lanes, with 28 miles of protected bike lanes in the city. Since 2006, San Francisco has received a Bicycle Friendly Community status of "Gold" from the League of American Bicyclists. In 2022 a measure on the ballot passed to protect JFK drive in Golden Gate Park as a pedestrian and biking space with 59% of voters in favor.
Public safety
The San Francisco Police Department was founded in 1849. The portions of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area located within the city, including the Presidio and Ocean Beach, are patrolled by the United States Park Police.
The San Francisco Fire Department provides both fire suppression and emergency medical services to the city.
Sister cities
San Francisco participates in the Sister Cities program. A total of 41 consulates general and 23 honorary consulates have offices in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In January 1980, Mayor Dianne Feinstein signed a sister cities agreement with Shanghai during a visit to China.
Notable people
See also
- San Francisco Bay Area
- List of cities and towns in California
- List of counties in California
- List of people from San Francisco
- Northern California megaregion
- Ships lost in San Francisco
- USS San Francisco, 3 ships
Notes
- Station currently at the United States Mint building[self-published source?]
- The coordinates of the station are 37°46′14″N 122°25′37″W / 37.7706°N 122.4269°W. Precipitation, high temperature, low temperature, snow, and snow depth records date from October 1, 1849; June 1, 1874; January 1, 1875; January 1, 1876; and January 1, 1922; respectively.
- Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the expected highest and lowest temperature readings at any point during the year or given month) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.
- Those not born in the 50 states or D.C., excluding California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas before 1850.
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- English: /ˌsæn frənˈsɪskoʊ/ SAN frən-SISS-koh
- Spanish: [saɱ fɾanˈsisko], lit. 'Saint Francis'
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- "GDP by County, Metro, and Other Areas". U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
- Jay Barmann (January 21, 2025). "Bloomingdale's to Close at SF Centre, Ushering In Further Bleak Days for Beleaguered Mall". SFiST. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
- Morris, J.D. (October 30, 2023). "London Breed vs. the 'doom loop': How will S.F.'s mayor solve her biggest political problem?". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
- Wiley, Hannah (May 22, 2024). "All is lost in San Francisco? City loyalists take issue with naysayers. Data may back them up". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
- "America's 10 most visited cities", World Atlas, November 14, 2023
- "San Francisco Travel Association Announces 2022 Results and 2023 Forecast" (Press release). San Francisco Travel. March 21, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
- "Top U.S. Destinations for International Visitors". The Hotel Price Index. Archived from the original on March 27, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
- Leins, Casey (April 3, 2019). "The 10 Best Cities for Public Transportation". USNews. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- "Direct flights from San Francisco (SFO) – FlightConnections". www.flightconnections.com. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- Brinklow, Adam (January 26, 2018). "Is it ever okay to use "San Fran?"". Curbed SF. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
- "Don't Call It 'Frisco': The History of San Francisco's Nicknames". The Bold Italic. December 20, 2019. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
- Gilson, Dave. "Why San Francisco's "Frisco" debate will never, ever die". Mother Jones. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
- Stewart, Suzanne B. (November 2003). "Archaeological Research Issues for the Point Reyes National Seashore – Golden Gate National Recreation Area" (PDF). Sonoma State University – Anthropological Studies Center. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
- "Visitors: San Francisco Historical Information". City and County of San Francisco. n.d. Archived from the original on March 1, 2006. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
- Billiter, Bill (January 1, 1985). "3,000-Year-Old Connection Claimed : Siberia Tie to California Tribes Cited". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
- "Indigenous Peoples of San Mateo County". San Mateo County Office of Education. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
- "The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone". Retrieved January 18, 2024.
- "The Ramaytush Ohlone – Lessons on stewardship from the ancestral stewards of the Peninsula". Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. December 4, 2018. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
- Raup, H. F. (1948). "The Delayed Discovery of San Francisco Bay". California Historical Society Quarterly. 27 (4): 293. doi:10.2307/25156125. JSTOR 3816007. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
- Cleary, Brother Guire (January 31, 2003). "Mission Dolores Links San Francisco with its 18th Century Roots – Founded as La Mission San Francisco De Asis by Franciscans, it survived earthquake and fire". Catholic San Francisco. Archived from the original on February 5, 2007. Retrieved March 23, 2007.
- Kamiya, Gary (August 23, 2013). "Juana Briones – San Francisco's founding mother". SFGATE.
- San Francisco News Letter (September 1925). "From the 1820s to the Gold Rush". The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
- Cf., Richard Henry Dana Jr., Two Years before the Mast (1840).
- Chandler, Robert J (2010). "Bear Flag Revolt (1846): Sonoma". In Danver, Steven L (ed.). Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations, and Rebellions in American History: An Encyclopedia. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. pp. 343–345. ISBN 9781598842227.
- Yenne, Bill (2004). The Missions of California. San Diego, California: Thunder Bay Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 1-59223-319-8.
- Eldredge, Zoeth Skinner (March 16, 1916). "El Paraje de Yerba Buena". Municipal Record. 9 (11). San Francisco, CA: 110–111. hdl:2027/uc1.32106019794160.
- Browning, Peter (1998). San Francisco/Yerba Buena: From the Beginning to the Gold Rush 1769-1849. Great West Books. ISBN 9780944220085.
- "san_francisco_history:san_francisco_census_1842 [SFgenealogy]". www.sfgenealogy.org. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
- "Yerba Buena Renamed San Francisco". The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
- Wiley, Peter Booth (2000). National trust guide- San Francisco: America's guide for architecture and history travelers. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-0-471-19120-9. OCLC 44313415.
- "San Francisco's First Brick Building". The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. July 16, 2004. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
- Richards, Rand (1992). Historic San Francisco: A Concise History and Guide. Heritage House. ISBN 978-1-879367-00-5. OCLC 214330849.
- Harris, Ron (November 14, 2005). "Crews Unearth Shipwreck on San Francisco Condo Project". Associated Press. Retrieved September 4, 2006.
- Filion, Ron S. "Buried Ships". SFgenealogy. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
- Report of Committee on Counties, January 4, 1850, revised to 27 counties on February 18, 1850 – Coy, Owen C. (1923). California County Boundaries. Berkeley: California Historical Survey Commission. pp. 1–2.
- Statutes of California and Digests of Measures. J. Winchester. 1856. p. 145.
- Mathews, Joe (April 16, 2023). "Don't bank on California, especially when banks are involved". San Francisco Chronicle.
- Wiley, Peter Booth (2000). National trust guide- San Francisco: America's guide for architecture and history travelers. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 31–33. ISBN 978-0-471-19120-9. OCLC 44313415.
- Wiley, Peter Booth (2000). National trust guide- San Francisco: America's guide for architecture and history travelers. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 237–238. ISBN 978-0-471-19120-9. OCLC 44313415.
- Taylor 1895, p. 195.
- "William Ralston - FoundSF". www.foundsf.org. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
- Calic, Dan (January 5, 2024). "Blog: How The Mighty Fall. The Story of William C. Ralston". Redwood City Pulse. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
- Construction of the Pacific Railroad was partially (albeit reluctantly) funded by the City and County of San Francisco Pacific Railroad Bond issue under the provisions of "An Act to Authorize the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco to take and subscribe One Million Dollars to the Capital Stock of the Western Pacific Rail Road Company and the Central Pacific Rail Road Company of California and to provide for the payment of the same and other matters relating thereto." approved on April 22, 1863, as amended by §5 of the "Compromise Act of 1864" approved on April 4, 1864. The bond issue was objected to by the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors, however, and they were not delivered to the WPRR and CPRR until 1865 after Writs of Mandamus ordering such were issued by the Supreme Court of the State of California in 1864 ("The People of the State of California on the relation of the Central Pacific Railroad Company vs. Henry P. Coon, Mayor; Henry M. Hale, Auditor; and Joseph S. Paxson, Treasurer, of the City and County of San Francisco" 25 Cal 635) and 1865 ("The People ex rel The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California vs. The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, and Wilhelm Lowey, Clerk" 27 Cal 655)
- "IPUMS USA". usa.ipums.org. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
- "Under Three Flags" (PDF). Golden Gate National Recreation Area Brochures. US Department of the Interior. November 2004. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
San Francisco officially the City and County of San Francisco is a commercial financial and cultural center within Northern California With a population of 808 988 residents as of 2023 San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in the U S state of California and the 17th most populous in the U S It covers a land area of 46 9 square miles 121 square kilometers at the upper end of the San Francisco Peninsula making it the second most densely populated major U S city and the fifth most densely populated U S county Among U S cities proper with over 250 000 residents San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income and sixth by aggregate income as of 2023 San Francisco anchors the 13th most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U S with almost 4 6 million residents in 2023 The larger San Jose San Francisco Oakland combined statistical area the fifth largest urban region in the U S had a 2023 estimated population of over nine million San FranciscoConsolidated city countyCity and County of San FranciscoFinancial DistrictSan Francisco cable carAlcatraz IslandChinatownGolden Gate ParkGolden Gate BridgeFlagSealNicknames See listMotto s Oro en Paz Fierro en Guerra Spanish for Gold in Peace Iron in War Anthem Official song Theme from San Francisco Open your Golden Gate Official ballad I Left My Heart in San Francisco Interactive map outlining San FranciscoSan FranciscoLocation within CaliforniaShow map of CaliforniaSan FranciscoLocation within the United StatesShow map of the United StatesSan FranciscoSan Francisco North America Show map of North AmericaCoordinates 37 47 N 122 25 W 37 783 N 122 417 W 37 783 122 417CountryUnited StatesStateCaliforniaCountySan FranciscoMetroSan Francisco Oakland HaywardCSASan Jose San Francisco OaklandMissionJune 29 1776 248 years ago June 29 1776 IncorporatedApril 15 1850 174 years ago April 15 1850 Founded byJuan Bautista de Anza Jose Joaquin Moraga Francisco PalouNamed forSt Francis of AssisiGovernment TypeMayor council BodyBoard of Supervisors MayorDaniel Lurie D SupervisorsList Connie Chan D Stephen Sherrill D Danny Sauter D Joel Engardio D Bilal Mahmood D Matt Dorsey D Myrna Melgar D Rafael Mandelman D Jackie Fielder D Shamann Walton D Chyanne Chen D Assembly membersMatt Haney D Catherine Stefani D State senatorScott Wiener D United States RepresentativesNancy Pelosi D Kevin Mullin D Area City and county231 89 sq mi 600 59 km2 Land46 9 sq mi 121 48 km2 Water184 99 sq mi 479 11 km2 80 00 Metro3 524 4 sq mi 9 128 km2 Elevation52 ft 16 m Highest elevation Mount Davidson 934 ft 285 m Lowest elevation Pacific Ocean 0 ft 0 m Population 2020 City and county873 965 Estimate 2023 808 988 Rank39th in North America 17th in the United States 4th in California Density18 634 65 sq mi 7 194 88 km2 Urban3 515 933 US 14th Urban density6 843 0 sq mi 2 642 1 km2 Metro4 566 961 US 13th CSA9 225 160 US 5th DemonymSan FranciscanLanguages OfficialEnglish Spanish Chinese Filipino Vietnamese Other non official spoken languagesRussian Persian Portuguese and othersGDP City and county 263 1 billion 2023 Metro 778 9 billion 2023 CSA 1 397 trillion 2023 Time zoneUTC 08 00 PST Summer DST UTC 07 00 PDT ZIP CodesList 94102 9410594107 9411294114 941349413794139 941479415194158 9416194163 94164941729417794188Area codes415 628FIPS code06 67000GNIS feature IDs277593 2411786Websitesf govUrban area population density are for the San Francisco Oakland CA urban area as of the 2020 Census Prior to European settlement the modern city proper was inhabited by the Yelamu who spoke Ramaytush Ohlone On June 29 1776 settlers from New Spain established the Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate and the Mission San Francisco de Asis a few miles away both named for Francis of Assisi The California gold rush of 1849 brought rapid growth transforming an unimportant hamlet into a busy port making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time In 1856 San Francisco became a consolidated city county After three quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire it was quickly rebuilt hosting the Panama Pacific International Exposition nine years later In World War II it was a major port of embarkation for naval service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater After the war the confluence of returning servicemen significant immigration liberalizing attitudes the rise of the beatnik and hippie countercultures the sexual revolution opposition to U S involvement in the Vietnam War and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area are a global center of economic activity and the arts and sciences spurred by leading universities high tech healthcare finance insurance real estate and professional services sectors As of 2020 update the metropolitan area with 4 5 million residents ranked 5th by GDP 874 billion and 2nd by GDP per capita 131 082 across the OECD countries In 2023 San Francisco proper had a GDP of 263 1 billion and a GDP per capita of 325 000 Despite an accelerating exodus of businesses from the downtown area of San Francisco the city is still home to numerous companies inside and outside of technology including Salesforce Uber Airbnb X Levi s Gap Dropbox and Lyft In 2022 San Francisco had more than 1 7 million international visitors and approximately 20 million domestic ones It is known for its steep rolling hills and eclectic mix of architecture across varied neighborhoods its Chinatown and Mission districts mild climate and landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge cable cars and Alcatraz The city is home to educational and cultural institutions such as the University of California San Francisco the University of San Francisco San Francisco State University the San Francisco Conservatory of Music the Legion of Honor museum the de Young Museum the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art the San Francisco Symphony the San Francisco Ballet the San Francisco Opera the SFJAZZ Center and the California Academy of Sciences Two major league sports teams the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors play their home games within San Francisco proper San Francisco International Airport SFO offers flights to over 125 destinations while a light rail and bus network in tandem with the BART and Caltrain systems connects nearly every part of San Francisco with the wider region EtymologySan Francisco which is Spanish for Saint Francis takes its name from Mission San Francisco de Asis which in turn was named after Saint Francis of Assisi The mission received its name in 1776 when it was founded by the Spanish under the leadership of Padre Francisco Palou The city has officially been known as San Francisco since 1847 when Washington Allon Bartlett then serving as the city s alcalde renamed it from Yerba Buena Spanish for Good Herb which had been the name of the first civilian pueblo in San Francisco as well as the name of Yerba Buena Cove which the pueblo was on the shore of Earlier in San Francisco s history the uninhabited area on the northeastern side of San Francisco was called El Paraje de Yerba Buena after the herb that was growing abundantly there The name Yerba Buena continues to be used in locations in the city such as on Yerba Buena Island and in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Yerba Buena Gardens While people residing outside the San Francisco Bay Area use nicknames including Frisco and San Fran local residents generally refer to San Francisco as the City or SF The choice of nickname a person uses is a common way for locals to distinguish long time residents from tourists and recent arrivals The nicknames San Fran and Frisco are somewhat controversial among San Francisco residents HistoryIndigenous history The earliest archeological evidence of human habitation of the territory of San Francisco dates to 3000 BCE The Yelamu group of the Ramaytush people resided in a few small villages when an overland Spanish exploration party arrived on November 2 1769 the first documented European visit to San Francisco Bay The Ohlone name for San Francisco was Ahwaste meaning place at the bay The arrival of Spanish colonists and the implementation of their Mission system marked the beginning of the assimilation of the Ramaytush people and the decline of their language and culture Spanish era Juan Bautista de Anza established the Presidio of San Francisco for the Spanish Empire in 1776 Mission San Francisco de Asis was founded by Padre Francisco Palou on October 9 1776 The Spanish Empire claimed San Francisco as part of Las Californias a province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain The Spanish first arrived in what is now San Francisco on November 2 1769 when the Portola expedition led by Don Gaspar de Portola and Juan Crespi arrived at San Francisco Bay Having noted the strategic benefits of the area due to its large natural harbor the Spanish dispatched Pedro Fages in 1770 to find a more direct route to the San Francisco Peninsula from Monterey which would become part of the El Camino Real route By 1774 Juan Bautista de Anza had arrived to the area to select the sites for a mission and presidio The first European maritime presence in San Francisco Bay occurred on August 5 1775 when the Spanish ship San Carlos commanded by Juan Manuel de Ayala became the first ship to anchor in the bay Soon after on March 28 1776 Anza established the Presidio of San Francisco On October 9 Mission San Francisco de Asis also known as Mission Dolores was founded by Padre Francisco Palou In 1794 the Presidio established the Castillo de San Joaquin a fortification on the southern side of the Golden Gate which later came to be known as Fort Point In 1804 the province of Alta California was created which included San Francisco At its peak in 1810 1820 the average population at the Mission Dolores settlement was about 1 100 people Mexican era Juana Briones de Miranda known as the Founding Mother of San Francisco In 1821 the Californias were ceded to Mexico by Spain The extensive California mission system gradually lost its influence during the period of Mexican rule although it was not until 1833 that the missions would be secularized Agricultural land became largely privatized as ranchos as was occurring in other parts of California Coastal trade increased including a half dozen barques from various Atlantic ports which regularly sailed in California waters With the enactment of the Mexican Secularization Act of 1833 the missions were made to divest themselves of their extensive landholdings and emancipate the indigenous people under their control As part of the process of secularization Governor Jose Figueroa opened up San Francisco to civilian settlement Prior to secularization the only settlements in San Francisco had been the military settlement at the Presidio and the religious settlement at Mission Dolores In 1835 the Presidio garrison commanded by Mariano Vallejo relocated to the Presidio of Sonoma which was regarded as needing a greater military presence due the proximity of the Russian settlement at Fort Ross Only a small detachment remained at the Presidio of San Francisco Mission Dolores sold most of its property in 1836 retaining only the church and related structures In 1833 Juana Briones de Miranda was granted a small rancho at El Polin Spring near the Presidio founding the first non indigenous civilian household in San Francisco In 1834 the pueblo of Yerba Buena was founded Yerba Buena Cove named after a native herb was already a favored anchorage spot and the new settlement and trading post was founded by its shores Yerba Buena was located in what is now the city s Chinatown and Financial District and was centered on a plaza that is now Portsmouth Square A land survey of Yerba Buena was made by the Swiss immigrant Jean Jacques Vioget as prelude to the city plan Francisco de Haro a non Californio Mexican native relevant became the first alcalde of Yerba Buena The second alcalde Jose Joaquin Estudillo was a Californio from a prominent Monterey family relevant In 1835 while in office he approved the first land grant in Yerba Buena to William Richardson a naturalized Mexican citizen of English birth Richardson had arrived in San Francisco aboard a whaling ship in 1822 In 1825 he married Maria Antonia Martinez eldest daughter of the Californio Ygnacio Martinez relevant The 1846 Battle of Yerba Buena was an early U S victory in the American conquest of California Yerba Buena began to attract American and European settlers an 1842 census listed 21 residents 11 born in the United States or Europe as well as one Filipino merchant Following the Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma and the beginning of the U S Conquest of California American forces from the USS Portsmouth under the command of John B Montgomery captured Yerba Buena on July 9 1846 with little resistance from the local Californio population raising the American flag over Yerba Buena plaza later renamed Portsmouth Square in commemoration of this event Following the capture U S forces appointed both Jose de Jesus Noe and Washington Allon Bartlett to serve as co alcaldes mayors while the conquest continued on in the rest of California On January 30 1847 Mayor Bartlett ordained that the city should officially change its name from Yerba Buena to San Francisco as the former name was only locally recognized and the latter name was in use on international maps There was also concern that a new town being planned by General Vallejo on the Carquinez Strait was to be called Francisca after the first name of his wife After the name change to San Francisco the name of Vallejo s town was changed to Benicia after his wife s middle name Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 Alta California was ceded from Mexico to the United States Post Conquest era San Francisco in 1849 during the beginning of the California gold rushPort of San Francisco in 1851 Despite its attractive location as a port and naval base post Conquest San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography Situated at the tip of a windswept peninsula without water or firewood San Francisco lacked most of the basic facilities for a 19th century settlement These natural disadvantages forced the town s residents to bring water fuel and food to the site citation needed Its 1847 population was said to be 459 The California gold rush brought a flood of treasure seekers known as forty niners as in 1849 Prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia raising the population from 1 000 in 1848 to 25 000 by December 1849 The promise of wealth was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships saloons and hotels many were left to rot and some were sunk to establish title to the underwater lot By 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land Buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U S military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate and a fort on Alcatraz Island to secure San Francisco Bay San Francisco County was one of the state s 18 original counties established at California statehood in 1850 Until 1856 San Francisco s city limits extended west to Divisadero Street and Castro Street and south to 20th Street In 1856 the California state government divided the county A straight line was then drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of San Bruno Mountain Everything south of the line became the new San Mateo County while everything north of the line became the new consolidated City and County of San Francisco The Bank of California established in 1863 was the first commercial bank in Western United States The California gold rush triggered a wave of entrepreneurial activity as individuals sought to capitalize on the newfound wealth The discovery of silver deposits notably the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859 further fueled rapid population growth and economic expansion San Francisco as the gateway to the goldfields experienced a surge in population and commercial activity However the influx of fortune seekers also brought challenges Lawlessness was rampant and the Barbary Coast district became synonymous with vice attracting criminals prostitutes and illicit activities including but not limited to prostitution bootlegging and gambling The rapidly growing population with its lawlessness gambling and other vices and the fact that there were no churches to be found prompted missionaries like William Taylor to come to San Francisco where he began preaching in the streets using an upright barrel as his pulpit Taylor was able to garner enough generous donations from successful gold miners with which he used to build a church One of the most influential figures of this era was William Chapman Ralston A shrewd banker and investor Ralston amassed considerable wealth and influence in San Francisco He gained control over a significant portion of the Comstock Lode s gold and silver mines establishing a virtual monopoly Using his incredible clout Ralston was able to generate millions of dollars for San Francisco during its heady boom years He founded the Bank of California the first bank in the Western United States and built the opulent Palace Hotel a symbol of San Francisco s newfound prosperity and the largest hotel in the country at the time His financial empire however collapsed in 1875 as a result of the Panic of 1873 triggering a major economic crisis in San Francisco Development of the Port of San Francisco and the establishment in 1869 of overland access to the eastern U S rail system via the newly completed Pacific Railroad the construction of which the city only reluctantly helped support helped make the Bay Area a center for trade Catering to the needs and tastes of the growing population Levi Strauss opened a dry goods business and Domingo Ghirardelli began manufacturing chocolate Chinese immigrants made the city a polyglot culture drawn to Old Gold Mountain creating the city s Chinatown quarter By 1880 Chinese made up 9 3 of the population View of the city in 1878 The first cable cars carried San Franciscans up Clay Street in 1873 The city s sea of Victorian houses began to take shape and civic leaders campaigned for a spacious public park resulting in plans for Golden Gate Park San Franciscans built schools churches theaters and all the hallmarks of civic life The Presidio developed into the most important American military installation on the Pacific coast By 1890 San Francisco s population approached 300 000 making it the eighth largest city in the United States at the time Around 1901 San Francisco was a major city known for its flamboyant style stately hotels ostentatious mansions on Nob Hill and a thriving arts scene The first North American plague epidemic was the San Francisco plague of 1900 1904 1906 earthquake and interwar era The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was the deadliest earthquake in U S history At 5 12 am on April 18 1906 a major earthquake struck San Francisco and northern California As buildings collapsed from the shaking ruptured gas lines ignited fires that spread across the city and burned out of control for several days With water mains out of service the Presidio Artillery Corps attempted to contain the inferno by dynamiting blocks of buildings to create firebreaks More than three quarters of the city lay in ruins including almost all of the downtown core Contemporary accounts reported that 498 people died though modern estimates put the number in the several thousands More than half of the city s population of 400 000 was left homeless Refugees settled temporarily in makeshift tent villages in Golden Gate Park the Presidio on the beaches and elsewhere Many fled permanently to the East Bay Jack London is remembered for having famously eulogized the earthquake Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed San Francisco is gone The reconstruction of San Francisco City Hall on Civic Center Plaza c 1913 16 Rebuilding was rapid and performed on a grand scale Rejecting calls to completely remake the street grid San Franciscans opted for speed Amadeo Giannini s Bank of Italy later to become Bank of America provided loans for many of those whose livelihoods had been devastated The influential San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association or SPUR was founded in 1910 to address the quality of housing after the earthquake The earthquake hastened development of western neighborhoods that survived the fire including Pacific Heights where many of the city s wealthy rebuilt their homes In turn the destroyed mansions of Nob Hill became grand hotels City Hall rose again in the Beaux Arts style and the city celebrated its rebirth at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915 The Panama Pacific Exposition a major world s fair held in 1915 was seen as a chance to showcase the city s recovery from the earthquake During this period San Francisco built some of its most important infrastructure Civil Engineer Michael O Shaughnessy was hired by San Francisco Mayor James Rolph as chief engineer for the city in September 1912 to supervise the construction of the Twin Peaks Reservoir the Stockton Street Tunnel the Twin Peaks Tunnel the San Francisco Municipal Railway the Auxiliary Water Supply System and new sewers San Francisco s streetcar system of which the J K L M and N lines survive today was pushed to completion by O Shaughnessy between 1915 and 1927 It was the O Shaughnessy Dam Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct that would have the largest effect on San Francisco An abundant water supply enabled San Francisco to develop into the city it has become today The Bay Bridge under construction on Yerba Buena Island in 1935 In ensuing years the city solidified its standing as a financial capital in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash not a single San Francisco based bank failed Indeed it was at the height of the Great Depression that San Francisco undertook two great civil engineering projects simultaneously constructing the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge completing them in 1936 and 1937 respectively It was in this period that the island of Alcatraz a former military stockade began its service as a federal maximum security prison housing notorious inmates such as Al Capone and Robert Franklin Stroud the Birdman of Alcatraz San Francisco later celebrated its regained grandeur with a World s fair the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939 40 creating Treasure Island in the middle of the bay to house it Contemporary era The United Nations was created in San Francisco in 1945 when the United Nations Charter was signed at the San Francisco Conference During World War II the city owned Sharp Park in Pacifica was used as an internment camp to detain Japanese Americans Hunters Point Naval Shipyard became a hub of activity and Fort Mason became the primary port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater of Operations The explosion of jobs drew many people especially African Americans from the South to the area After the end of the war many military personnel returning from service abroad and civilians who had originally come to work decided to stay The United Nations Charter creating the United Nations was drafted and signed in San Francisco in 1945 and in 1951 the Treaty of San Francisco re established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers Urban planning projects in the 1950s and 1960s involved widespread destruction and redevelopment of west side neighborhoods and the construction of new freeways of which only a series of short segments were built before being halted by citizen led opposition The onset of containerization made San Francisco s small piers obsolete and cargo activity moved to the larger Port of Oakland The city began to lose industrial jobs and turned to tourism as the most important segment of its economy The suburbs experienced rapid growth and San Francisco underwent significant demographic change as large segments of the white population left the city supplanted by an increasing wave of immigration from Asia and Latin America From 1950 to 1980 the city lost over 10 percent of its population The Summer of Love in 1967 was an influential counterculture phenomenon with as many as 100 000 people converging in San Francisco s Haight Ashbury neighborhood Over this period San Francisco became a magnet for America s counterculture movement Beat Generation writers fueled the San Francisco Renaissance and centered on the North Beach neighborhood in the 1950s Hippies flocked to Haight Ashbury in the 1960s reaching a peak with the 1967 Summer of Love In 1974 the Zebra murders left at least 16 people dead In the 1970s the city became a center of the gay rights movement with the emergence of The Castro as an urban gay village the election of Harvey Milk to the Board of Supervisors and his assassination along with that of Mayor George Moscone in 1978 Bank of America now based in Charlotte North Carolina was founded in San Francisco the bank completed 555 California Street in 1969 The Transamerica Pyramid was completed in 1972 igniting a wave of Manhattanization that lasted until the late 1980s a period of extensive high rise development downtown The 1980s also saw a dramatic increase in the number of homeless people in the city an issue that remains today despite many attempts to address it Transamerica Pyramid built in 1972 characterized the Manhattanization of the city s skyline in the 1970 80s The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake caused destruction and loss of life throughout the Bay Area In San Francisco the quake severely damaged structures in the Marina and South of Market districts and precipitated the demolition of the damaged Embarcadero Freeway and much of the damaged Central Freeway allowing the city to reclaim The Embarcadero as its historic downtown waterfront and revitalizing the Hayes Valley neighborhood The three recent decades have seen booms driven by the internet industry During the dot com boom of the late 1990s startup companies invigorated the San Francisco economy Large numbers of entrepreneurs and computer application developers moved into the city followed by marketing design and sales professionals changing the social landscape as once poorer neighborhoods became increasingly gentrified Demand for new housing and office space ignited a second wave of high rise development this time in the South of Market district By 2000 the city s population reached new highs surpassing the previous record set in 1950 When the bubble burst in 2001 many of these companies folded and their employees were laid off Yet high technology and entrepreneurship remain mainstays of the San Francisco economy By the mid 2000s decade the social media boom had begun with San Francisco becoming a popular location for tech offices and a common place to live for people employed in Silicon Valley companies such as Apple and Google The early 2020s saw a reduction of tech companies presence in Downtown San Francisco in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic increased popularity of working at home and struggles with homelessness Although some observers have raised the possibility that office vacancies and declining tax revenues could cause San Francisco to enter an economic doom loop other sources have refuted this broad based characterization of the city as a whole asserting that the issues of concern are restricted primarily to the urban core of San Francisco As of March 2024 Union Square was in sorry shape and had lost its traditional position as the Bay Area s regional shopping hub to Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose The Ferry Station Post Office Building Armour amp Co Building Atherton House and YMCA Hotel are historic buildings among dozens of historical landmarks in the city according to the National Register of Historic Places listings in San Francisco GeographySatellite view of San Francisco San Francisco is located on the West Coast of the United States at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula and includes significant stretches of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay within its boundaries Several picturesque islands Alcatraz Treasure Island and the adjacent Yerba Buena Island and small portions of Alameda Island Red Rock Island and Angel Island are part of the city Also included are the uninhabited Farallon Islands 27 miles 43 km offshore in the Pacific Ocean The mainland within the city limits roughly forms a seven by seven mile square a common local colloquialism referring to the city s shape though its total area including water is nearly 232 square miles 600 km2 There are more than 50 hills within the city limits Some neighborhoods are named after the hill on which they are situated including Nob Hill Potrero Hill and Russian Hill Near the geographic center of the city southwest of the downtown area are a series of less densely populated hills Twin Peaks a pair of hills forming one of the city s highest points forms an overlook spot San Francisco s tallest hill Mount Davidson is 928 feet 283 m high and is capped with a 103 foot 31 m tall cross built in 1934 Dominating this area is Sutro Tower a large red and white radio and television transmission tower reaching 1 811 ft 552 m above sea level Lake Merced located in southwestern San Francisco The nearby San Andreas and Hayward Faults are responsible for much earthquake activity although neither physically passes through the city itself The San Andreas Fault caused the earthquakes in 1906 and 1989 Minor earthquakes occur on a regular basis The threat of major earthquakes plays a large role in the city s infrastructure development The city constructed an auxiliary water supply system and has repeatedly upgraded its building codes requiring retrofits for older buildings and higher engineering standards for new construction However there are still thousands of smaller buildings that remain vulnerable to quake damage USGS has released the California earthquake forecast which models earthquake occurrence in California San Francisco s shoreline has grown beyond its natural limits Entire neighborhoods such as the Marina Mission Bay and Hunters Point as well as large sections of the Embarcadero sit on areas of landfill Treasure Island was constructed from material dredged from the bay as well as material resulting from the excavation of the Yerba Buena Tunnel through Yerba Buena Island during the construction of the Bay Bridge Such land tends to be unstable during earthquakes The resulting soil liquefaction causes extensive damage to property built upon it as was evidenced in the Marina district during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake A few natural lakes and creeks Lake Merced Mountain Lake Pine Lake Lobos Creek El Polin Spring are within parks and remain protected in what is essentially their original form but most of the city s natural watercourses such as Islais Creek and Mission Creek have been partially or completely culverted and built over Since the 1990s however the Public Utilities Commission has been studying proposals to daylight or restore some creeks Neighborhoods View of the city s central districts along its northeastern coastline An Historical Center of San Francisco monument where the 1899 1906 City Hall was once located is in United Nations Plaza at 37 46 48 N 122 24 49 W 37 7800397 N 122 4135943 W 37 7800397 122 4135943 The earliest center of San Francisco is Portsmouth Square in the northeast quadrant of the city anchored by Market Street and the waterfront Here in the northeast quadrant the Financial District is centered with Union Square the principal shopping and hotel district and the Tenderloin nearby Cable cars carry riders up steep inclines to the summit of Nob Hill once the home of the city s business tycoons and down to the waterfront tourist attractions of Fisherman s Wharf and Pier 39 where many restaurants feature Dungeness crab from a still active fishing industry Also in this quadrant are Russian Hill a residential neighborhood with the famously crooked Lombard Street North Beach the city s Little Italy and the former center of the Beat Generation and Telegraph Hill which features Coit Tower Abutting Russian Hill and North Beach is San Francisco s Chinatown the oldest Chinatown in North America The South of Market which was once San Francisco s industrial core has seen significant redevelopment following the construction of Oracle Park and an infusion of startup companies New skyscrapers live work lofts and condominiums dot the area Further development is taking place just to the south in Mission Bay area a former railroad yard which now has a second campus of the University of California San Francisco and Chase Center which opened in 2019 as the new home of the Golden State Warriors West of downtown across Van Ness Avenue lies the large Western Addition neighborhood which became established with a large African American population after World War II The Western Addition is usually divided into smaller neighborhoods including Hayes Valley the Fillmore and Japantown which was once the largest Japantown in North America but suffered when its Japanese American residents were forcibly removed and interned during World War II The Western Addition survived the 1906 earthquake with its Victorians largely intact including the famous Painted Ladies standing alongside Alamo Square To the south near the geographic center of the city is Haight Ashbury famously associated with 1960s hippie culture The Haight is now timeframe home to some expensive boutiques better source needed and a few controversial chain stores although it still retains timeframe citation needed some bohemian character San Francisco Chinatown the oldest in North America and one of the world s largest North of the Western Addition is Pacific Heights an affluent neighborhood that features the homes built by wealthy San Franciscans in the wake of the 1906 earthquake Directly north of Pacific Heights facing the waterfront is the Marina a neighborhood popular with young professionals that was largely built on reclaimed land from the Bay In the southeast quadrant of the city is the Mission District populated in the 19th century by Californios and working class immigrants from Germany Ireland Italy and Scandinavia In the 1910s a wave of Central American immigrants settled in the Mission and in the 1950s immigrants from Mexico began to predominate In recent years gentrification has changed the demographics of parts of the Mission from Latino to twenty something professionals Noe Valley to the southwest and Bernal Heights to the south are both increasingly popular among young families with children East of the Mission is the Potrero Hill neighborhood a mostly residential neighborhood that features sweeping views of downtown San Francisco West of the Mission the area historically known as Eureka Valley now popularly called the Castro was once a working class Scandinavian and Irish area It has become North America s first gay village and is now the center of gay life in the city Located near the city s southern border the Excelsior District is one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco The Bayview Hunters Point in the far southeast corner of the city is one of the poorest neighborhoods though the area has been the focus of several revitalizing and urban renewal projects The Ferry Building located in the Embarcadero the city s eastern waterfront along San Francisco Bay The construction of the Twin Peaks Tunnel in 1918 connected southwest neighborhoods to downtown via streetcar hastening the development of West Portal and nearby affluent Forest Hill and St Francis Wood Further west stretching all the way to the Pacific Ocean and north to Golden Gate Park lies the vast Sunset District a large middle class area with a predominantly Asian population The northwestern quadrant of the city contains the Richmond a mostly middle class neighborhood north of Golden Gate Park home to immigrants from other parts of Asia as well as many Russian and Ukrainian immigrants Together these areas are known as The Avenues These two districts are each sometimes further divided into two regions the Outer Richmond and Outer Sunset can refer to the more western portions of their respective district and the Inner Richmond and Inner Sunset can refer to the more eastern portions Many piers remained derelict for years until the demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway reopened the downtown waterfront allowing for redevelopment The centerpiece of the port the Ferry Building while still receiving commuter ferry traffic has been restored and redeveloped as a gourmet marketplace Climate San Francisco fog is a regular phenomenon in the summer San Francisco has a warm summer Mediterranean climate Koppen Csb Trewartha Csll characteristic of California s coast with moist winters and dry summers San Francisco s weather is strongly influenced by the cool currents of the Pacific Ocean on the west side of the city and the water of San Francisco Bay to the north and east This moderates temperature swings and produces a remarkably mild year round climate with little seasonal temperature variation Among major U S cities San Francisco has the coolest daily mean maximum and minimum temperatures for June July and August During the summer rising hot air in California s interior valleys creates a low pressure area that draws winds from the North Pacific High through the Golden Gate which creates the city s characteristic cool winds and fog The fog is less pronounced in eastern neighborhoods and during the late summer and early fall As a result the year s warmest month on average is September and on average October is warmer than July especially in daytime Temperatures reach or exceed 80 F 27 C on an average of only 21 and 23 days a year at downtown and San Francisco International Airport SFO respectively The dry period of May to October is mild to warm with the normal monthly mean temperature peaking in September at 62 7 F 17 1 C The rainy period of November to April is slightly cooler with the normal monthly mean temperature reaching its lowest in January at 51 3 F 10 7 C On average there are 73 rainy days a year and annual precipitation averages 23 65 inches 601 mm Variation in precipitation from year to year is high Above average rain years are often associated with warm El Nino conditions in the Pacific while dry years often occur in cold water La Nina periods In 2013 a La Nina year a record low 5 59 in 142 mm of rainfall was recorded at downtown San Francisco where records have been kept since 1849 Snowfall in the city is very rare with only 10 measurable accumulations recorded since 1852 most recently in 1976 when up to 5 inches 13 cm fell on Twin Peaks The Farallon Islands are located in the Gulf of the Farallones off the Pacific coast of San Francisco The highest recorded temperature at the official National Weather Service downtown observation station was 106 F 41 C on September 1 2017 During that hot spell the warmest ever night of 71 F 22 C was also recorded The lowest recorded temperature was 27 F 3 C on December 11 1932 During an average year between 1991 and 2020 San Francisco recorded a warmest night at 64 F 18 C and a coldest day at 49 F 9 C The coldest daytime high since the station s opening in 1945 was recorded in December 1972 at 37 F 3 C As a coastal city San Francisco will be heavily affected by climate change As of 2021 update sea levels are projected to rise by as much as 5 feet 1 5 m resulting in periodic flooding rising groundwater levels and lowland floods from more severe storms San Francisco falls under the USDA 10b Plant hardiness zone though some areas particularly downtown border zone 11a vteClimate data for San Francisco downtown 1991 2020 normals extremes 1849 presentMonth Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high F C 79 26 81 27 87 31 94 34 97 36 103 39 99 37 98 37 106 41 102 39 86 30 76 24 106 41 Mean maximum F C 67 1 19 5 71 8 22 1 76 4 24 7 80 7 27 1 81 4 27 4 84 6 29 2 80 5 26 9 83 4 28 6 90 8 32 7 87 9 31 1 75 8 24 3 66 4 19 1 94 0 34 4 Mean daily maximum F C 57 8 14 3 60 4 15 8 62 1 16 7 63 0 17 2 64 1 17 8 66 5 19 2 66 3 19 1 67 9 19 9 70 2 21 2 69 8 21 0 63 7 17 6 57 9 14 4 64 1 17 8 Daily mean F C 52 2 11 2 54 2 12 3 55 5 13 1 56 4 13 6 57 8 14 3 59 7 15 4 60 3 15 7 61 7 16 5 62 9 17 2 62 1 16 7 57 2 14 0 52 5 11 4 57 7 14 3 Mean daily minimum F C 46 6 8 1 47 9 8 8 48 9 9 4 49 7 9 8 51 4 10 8 53 0 11 7 54 4 12 4 55 5 13 1 55 6 13 1 54 4 12 4 50 7 10 4 47 0 8 3 51 3 10 7 Mean minimum F C 40 5 4 7 42 0 5 6 43 7 6 5 45 0 7 2 48 0 8 9 50 1 10 1 51 6 10 9 52 9 11 6 52 0 11 1 49 9 9 9 44 9 7 2 40 7 4 8 38 8 3 8 Record low F C 29 2 31 1 33 1 40 4 42 6 46 8 47 8 46 8 47 8 43 6 38 3 27 3 27 3 Average precipitation inches mm 4 40 112 4 37 111 3 15 80 1 60 41 0 70 18 0 20 5 1 0 01 0 25 0 06 1 5 0 10 2 5 0 94 24 2 60 66 4 76 121 22 89 581 Average precipitation days 0 01 in 11 2 10 8 10 8 6 8 4 0 1 6 0 7 1 1 1 2 3 5 7 9 11 6 71 2Average relative humidity 80 77 75 72 72 71 75 75 73 71 75 78 75Mean monthly sunshine hours 185 9 207 7 269 1 309 3 325 1 311 4 313 3 287 4 271 4 247 1 173 4 160 6 3 061 7Percent possible sunshine 61 69 73 78 74 70 70 68 73 71 57 54 69Average ultraviolet index 2 3 5 7 9 10 10 9 7 5 3 2 6Source 1 NOAA sun 1961 1974 Source 2 Met Office humidity Weather Atlas UV Ecology Aerial view of the Presidio of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Historically tule elk were present in San Francisco County based on archeological evidence of elk remains in at least five different Native American shellmounds at Hunter s Point Fort Mason Stevenson Street Market Street and Yerba Buena Perhaps the first historical observer record was from the De Anza Expedition on March 23 1776 Herbert Eugene Bolton wrote about the expedition camp at Mountain Lake near the southern end of today s Presidio Round about were grazing deer and scattered here and there were the antlers of large elk Also when Richard Henry Dana Jr visited San Francisco Bay in 1835 he wrote about vast elk herds near the Golden Gate on December 27 we came to anchor near the mouth of the bay under a high and beautifully sloping hill upon which herds of hundreds and hundreds of red deer note red deer is the European term for elk and the stag with his high branching antlers were bounding about although it is not clear whether this was the Marin side or the San Francisco side DemographicsHistorical populationYearPop 18481 000 184925 000 2400 0 185234 776 39 1 186056 802 63 3 1870149 473 163 1 1880233 959 56 5 1890298 997 27 8 1900342 782 14 6 1910416 912 21 6 1920506 676 21 5 1930634 394 25 2 1940634 536 0 0 1950775 357 22 2 1960740 316 4 5 1970715 674 3 3 1980678 974 5 1 1990723 959 6 6 2000776 733 7 3 2010805 235 3 7 2020873 965 8 5 2023808 988 7 4 https www sfchronicle com sf article s f exodus population recovery data 18564064 php The 2020 United States census showed San Francisco s population to be 873 965 an increase of 8 5 from the 2010 census With roughly one quarter the population density of Manhattan San Francisco is the second most densely populated large American city behind only New York City among cities greater than 200 000 population and the fifth most densely populated U S county following only four of the five New York City boroughs San Francisco is part of the five county San Francisco Oakland Hayward CA Metropolitan Statistical Area a region of 4 7 million people 13th most populous in the U S and has served as its traditional demographic focal point It is also part of the greater 14 county San Jose San Francisco Oakland CA Combined Statistical Area whose population is over 9 6 million making it the fifth largest in the United States as of 2018 update failed verification Race ethnicity religion and languages Ethnic origins in San Francisco As of the 2020 update census the racial makeup and population of San Francisco included 361 382 Whites 41 3 296 505 Asians 33 9 46 725 African Americans 5 3 86 233 Multiracial Americans 9 9 6 475 Native Americans and Alaska Natives 0 7 3 476 Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders 0 4 and 73 169 persons of other races 8 4 There were 136 761 Hispanic or Latino residents of any race 15 6 San Francisco is a majority minority city as non Hispanic White residents comprise less than half of the population in 1940 they formed 92 5 of the population In 2010 residents of Chinese ethnicity constituted the largest single ethnic minority group in San Francisco at 21 of the population other large Asian groups include Filipinos 5 and Vietnamese 2 with Japanese Koreans and many other Asian and Pacific Islander groups represented in the city The population of Chinese ancestry is most heavily concentrated in Chinatown and the Sunset and Richmond Districts Filipinos are most concentrated in SoMa and the Crocker Amazon the latter neighborhood shares a border with Daly City which has one of the highest concentrations of Filipinos in North America The Tenderloin District is home to a large portion of the city s Vietnamese population as well as businesses and restaurants which is known as the city s Little Saigon The principal Hispanic groups in the city were those of Mexican 7 and Salvadoran 2 ancestry The Hispanic population is most heavily concentrated in the Mission District Tenderloin District and Excelsior District The city s percentage of Hispanic residents is less than half of that of the state African Americans constituted about 5 of San Francisco s population in 2020 their share of the city s population has been decreasing since the 1970s The majority of the city s Black residents live in the neighborhoods of Bayview Hunters Point Visitacion Valley and the Fillmore District There are smaller Black communities in Diamond Heights Glen Park and Mission District The city has long been home to a significant Jewish community in 2018 Jewish Americans made up an estimated 10 80 000 of the city s population It the third largest Jewish community in proportional terms in the United States behind only those of New York City and Los Angeles respectively and it is also relatively young compared to other major U S cities The Jewish community resides throughout the city but the Richmond District is home to an ethnic enclave of mostly Russian Jews The Fillmore District was formerly a mostly Jewish neighborhood from the 1920s until the 1970s when many of its Jewish residents moved to other neighborhoods of the city as well as the suburbs of nearby Marin County Demographic profile 1860 1880 1920 1960 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020Non Hispanic White alone 90 2 87 7 93 5 72 7 52 8 46 9 43 5 41 7 39 1 Non Hispanic Asian alone 4 6 9 3 2 7 7 9 21 3 28 0 30 7 33 1 33 7 Chinese American 4 6 9 3 1 5 5 1 12 1 17 6 20 0 19 8 21 0 Filipino American 0 2 1 5 5 2 5 4 5 0 4 9 4 4 Hispanic or Latino any race s 3 0 2 4 3 4 9 4 12 6 13 3 14 2 15 2 15 6 Mexican American 1 8 1 4 1 5 5 1 5 0 5 2 6 0 7 5 7 9 Non Hispanic Black alone 2 1 0 6 0 4 9 7 12 3 10 7 7 6 6 0 5 1 Non Hispanic Pacific Islander alone lt 0 1 0 2 0 4 0 4 0 5 0 3 Non Hispanic Native American alone lt 0 1 lt 0 1 lt 0 1 0 1 0 4 0 4 0 3 0 3 0 2 Non Hispanic other 0 2 0 4 0 2 0 3 0 3 0 8 Non Hispanic two or more races 3 0 2 9 5 2 Foreign born 50 2 44 5 30 1 20 2 29 5 35 4 38 4 38 2 34 2 Source U S Census and IPUMS USAMap of racial distribution in San Francisco 2010 U S Census Each dot is 25 people White Black Asian Hispanic Other According to a 2018 study by the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco Jews make up 10 80 000 of the city s population making Judaism the second largest religion in San Francisco after Christianity A prior 2014 study by the Pew Research Center the largest religious groupings in San Francisco s metropolitan area are Christians 48 followed by those of no religion 35 Hindus 5 Jews 3 Buddhists 2 Muslims 1 and a variety of other religions have smaller followings According to the same study by the Pew Research Center about 20 of residents in the area are Protestant and 25 professing Roman Catholic beliefs Meanwhile 10 of the residents in metropolitan San Francisco identify as agnostics while 5 identify as atheists As of 2010 update 55 411 728 of San Francisco residents spoke only English at home while 19 140 302 spoke a variety of Chinese mostly Taishanese and Cantonese 12 88 147 Spanish 3 25 767 Tagalog and 2 14 017 Russian In total 45 342 693 of San Francisco s population spoke a language at home other than English Ethnic clustering San Francisco has several prominent Chinese Mexican and Filipino neighborhoods including Chinatown and the Mission District Research collected on the immigrant clusters in the city show that more than half of the Asian population in San Francisco is either Chinese born 40 3 or Philippine born 13 1 and of the Mexican population 21 were Mexican born meaning these are people who recently immigrated to the United States Between the years of 1990 and 2000 the number of foreign born residents increased from 33 to nearly 40 During this same time period the San Francisco metropolitan area received 850 000 immigrants ranking third in the United States after Los Angeles and New York Education households and income Sea Cliff is one of the city s most expensive neighborhoods Of all major cities in the United States San Francisco has the second highest percentage of residents with a college degree second only to Seattle Over 44 of adults have a bachelor s or higher degree San Francisco had the highest rate at 7 031 per square mile or over 344 000 total graduates in the city s 46 7 square miles 121 km2 San Francisco has the highest estimated percentage of gay and lesbian individuals of any of the 50 largest U S cities at 15 San Francisco also has the highest percentage of same sex households of any American county with the Bay Area having a higher concentration than any other metropolitan area San Francisco ranks third of American cities in median household income with a 2007 value of 65 519 Median family income is 81 136 An emigration of middle class families has left the city with a lower proportion of children than any other large American city with the dog population cited as exceeding the child population of 115 000 in 2018 The city s poverty rate is 12 lower than the national average Homelessness has been a chronic problem for San Francisco since the early 1970s The city is believed to have the highest number of homeless inhabitants per capita of any major U S city There are 345 811 households in the city out of which 133 366 households 39 were individuals 109 437 32 were opposite sex married couples 63 577 18 had children under the age of 18 living in them 21 677 6 were unmarried opposite sex partnerships and 10 384 3 were same sex married couples or partnerships The average household size was 2 26 the average family size was 3 11 452 986 people 56 lived in rental housing units and 327 985 people 41 lived in owner occupied housing units The median age of the city population is 38 years San Francisco declared itself a sanctuary city in 1989 and city officials strengthened the stance in 2013 with its Due Process for All ordinance The law declared local authorities could not hold immigrants for immigration offenses if they had no violent felonies on their records and did not currently face charges The city issues a Resident ID Card regardless of the applicant s immigration status Homelessness Homeless encampment under a freeway in San Francisco Homelessness in San Francisco emerged as a major issue in the late 20th century and remains a growing problem in modern times 8 035 homeless people were counted in San Francisco s 2019 point in time street and shelter count This was an increase of more than 17 over the 2017 count of 6 858 people 5 180 of the people were living unsheltered on the streets and in parks 26 of respondents in the 2019 count identified job loss as the primary cause of their homelessness 18 cited alcohol or drug use and 13 cited being evicted from their residence The city of San Francisco has been dramatically increasing its spending to service the growing population homelessness crisis spending jumped by 241 million in 2016 17 to total 275 million compared to a budget of just 34 million the previous year In 2017 18 the budget for combatting homelessness stood at 305 million In the 2019 2020 budget year the city budgeted 368 million for homelessness services In the proposed 2020 2021 budget the city budgeted 850 million for homelessness services In January 2018 a United Nations special rapporteur on homelessness Leilani Farha stated that she was completely shocked by San Francisco s homelessness crisis during a visit to the city She compared the deplorable conditions of the homeless camps she witnessed on San Francisco s streets to those she had seen in Mumbai In May 2020 San Francisco officially sanctioned homeless encampments According to San Francisco s Point in Time PIT count the homeless population in 2024 was approximately 8 323 individuals Additionally over 20 000 people in the city were seeking homeless services Crime This article needs to be updated Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information March 2024 SFPD mounted police officers San Francisco s violent crime rate is low compared to other major cities though many residents are still concerned about it In 2011 50 murders were reported which is 6 1 per 100 000 people There were about 134 rapes 3 142 robberies and about 2 139 assaults There were about 4 469 burglaries 25 100 thefts and 4 210 motor vehicle thefts The Tenderloin area has the highest crime rate in San Francisco 70 of the city s violent crimes and around one fourth of the city s murders occur in this neighborhood The Tenderloin also sees high rates of drug abuse gang violence and prostitution Another area with high crime rates is the Bayview Hunters Point area In the first six months of 2015 there were 25 murders compared to 14 in the first six months of 2014 However the murder rate is still much lower than in past decades That rate though did rise again by the close of 2016 According to the San Francisco Police Department there were 59 murders in the city in 2016 an annual total that marked a 13 5 increase in the number of homicides 52 from 2015 The city has also gained a reputation for car break ins with over 19 000 car break ins occurring in 2021 During the first half of 2018 human feces on San Francisco sidewalks were the second most frequent complaint of city residents with about 65 calls per day The city has formed a poop patrol to attempt to combat the problem SFPD parking enforcement officers In January 2022 CBS News reported that a single suspect was responsible for more than half of all reported hate crimes against the API community in San Francisco last year and that he was allowed to be out of custody despite the number of charges against him Several street gangs have operated in the city over the decades including MS 13 the Surenos and Nortenos in the Mission District African American street gangs familiar in other cities including the Bloods Crips and their sets have struggled to establish footholds in San Francisco while police and prosecutors have been accused of liberally labeling young African American males as gang members Criminal gangs with shot callers in China including Triad groups such as the Wo Hop To were active in San Francisco in the 20th century According to statistics released by SFPD in April 2024 the crime figures were down in the first 100 days of the year namely in terms of robberies burglaries and larceny In the first half of 2024 San Francisco experienced a 32 decrease in overall crime compared to the previous year Personal property theft saw a 41 reduction and violent crimes including gun related incidents decreased by 30 EconomySan Francisco s Financial District despite its declining importance is still considered the Wall Street of the West The city has a diversified service economy with employment spread across a wide range of professional services including tourism financial services and high technology In 2016 approximately 27 of workers were employed in professional business services 14 in leisure and hospitality 13 in government services 12 in education and health care 11 in trade transportation and utilities and 8 in financial activities In 2023 GDP in the five county San Francisco metropolitan area grew 3 4 in real terms to 779 billion Additionally in 2023 the 14 county San Jose San Francisco Oakland combined statistical area had a GDP of 1 397 trillion ranking 3rd among CSAs and ahead of all but 15 countries As of 2023 update San Francisco County ranked 11th by income per capita among U S counties with a per capita personal income of 164 807 Marin County directly to the north over the Golden Gate Bridge and San Mateo County directly to the south on the Peninsula were the 7th and 9th highest income counties respectively Skyline of South of Market SoMa including Salesforce Tower the tallest building in San Francisco The legacy of the California gold rush turned San Francisco into the principal banking and finance center of the West Coast in the early twentieth century Montgomery Street in the Financial District became known as the Wall Street of the West home to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the site of the now defunct Pacific Coast Stock Exchange Bank of America a pioneer in making banking services accessible to the middle class was founded in San Francisco and in the 1960s built the landmark modern skyscraper at 555 California Street for its corporate headquarters since relocated to Charlotte North Carolina Many large financial institutions multinational banks and venture capital firms are based in or have regional headquarters in the city With over 30 international financial institutions six Fortune 500 companies and a large supporting infrastructure of professional services including law public relations architecture and design San Francisco is designated as an Alpha World City The 2024 Global Financial Centres Index ranked San Francisco as the fifth most competitive financial center in the world Beginning in the 1990s San Francisco s economy diversified away from finance and tourism towards the growing fields of high tech biotechnology and medical research Technology jobs accounted for just 1 percent of San Francisco s economy in 1990 growing to 4 percent in 2010 and an estimated 8 percent by the end of 2013 San Francisco became a center of Internet start up companies during the dot com bubble of the 1990s and the subsequent social media boom of the late 2000s decade Since 2010 San Francisco proper has attracted an increasing share of venture capital investments as compared to nearby Silicon Valley attracting 423 financings worth US 4 58 billion in 2013 In 2004 the city approved a payroll tax exemption for biotechnology companies to foster growth in the Mission Bay neighborhood site of a second campus and hospital of the University of California San Francisco UCSF Mission Bay hosts the UCSF Medical Center the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences and Gladstone Institutes as well as more than 40 private sector life sciences companies Union Square despite its declining profile is still a major retail hub for San Francisco and the Bay Area According to academic Rob Wilson San Francisco is a global city a status that pre dated the city s popularity during the California gold rush However the COVID 19 pandemic has led to high office vacancy rates and the accelerating evacuation of many retail and tech businesses out of the downtown core of San Francisco Attributed causes include a shift to remote work in the technology and professional services sectors as well as high levels of homelessness drug use and crime in areas around downtown San Francisco such as the Tenderloin and Mid Market neighborhoods The top employer in San Francisco is the city government itself employing 5 6 35 000 people of the city s workforce followed by UCSF with over 29 000 employees The largest private sector employer is Salesforce with 11 953 employees as of 2024 update Small businesses with fewer than 10 employees and self employed firms made up 85 of city establishments in 2006 and the number of San Franciscans employed by firms of more than 1 000 employees has fallen by half since 1977 The growth of national big box and formula retail chains into the city has been made intentionally difficult by political and civic consensus In an effort to buoy small privately owned businesses in San Francisco and preserve the unique retail personality of the city the Small Business Commission started a publicity campaign in 2004 to keep a larger share of retail dollars in the local economy and the Board of Supervisors has used the planning code to limit the neighborhoods where formula retail establishments can set up shop an effort affirmed by San Francisco voters However by 2016 San Francisco was rated low by small businesses in a Business Friendliness Survey Ferry Building in the Embarcadero Like many U S cities San Francisco once had a significant manufacturing sector employing nearly 60 000 workers in 1969 but nearly all production left for cheaper locations by the 1980s As of 2014 update San Francisco has seen a small resurgence in manufacturing with more than 4 000 manufacturing jobs across 500 companies doubling since 2011 The city s largest manufacturing employer is Anchor Brewing Company and the largest by revenue is Timbuk2 As of the first quarter of 2022 update the median value of homes in San Francisco County was 1 297 030 It ranked third in the U S for counties with highest median home value behind Nantucket Massachusetts and San Mateo County California Technology X headquarters on Market St San Francisco became a hub for technological driven economic growth during the internet boom of the 1990s and still holds an important position in the world city network today Intense redevelopment towards the new economy makes business more technologically minded Between the years of 1999 and 2000 the job growth rate was 4 9 creating over 50 000 jobs in technology firms and internet content production However the technology industry has become geographically dispersed In the second technological boom driven by social media in the mid 2000s San Francisco became a location for companies such as Apple Google Ubisoft Facebook and Twitter to base their tech offices and for their employees to live In recent years several AI companies have either been founded in the city or moved there due to a giant talent pool proximity to venture capital and serendipitous connections Tourism and conventions The Fisherman s Wharf is a popular tourist attraction Tourism is one of San Francisco s most important private sector industries accounting for more than one out of seven jobs in the city The city s frequent portrayal in music film and popular culture has made the city and its landmarks recognizable worldwide In 2016 it attracted the fifth highest number of foreign tourists of any city in the United States More than 25 million visitors arrived in San Francisco in 2016 adding US 9 96 billion to the economy With a large hotel infrastructure and a major convention facility in the Moscone Center San Francisco is a popular destination for annual conventions and conferences Some of the most popular tourist attractions in San Francisco as noted by the Travel Channel include the Golden Gate Bridge and Alamo Square Park home to the famous Painted Ladies Both of these locations were often used as landscape shots for the hit American television sitcom Full House There is also Lombard Street known for its crookedness and extensive views Tourists also visit Pier 39 which offers dining shopping entertainment and views of the bay sunbathing California sea lions the Aquarium of the Bay and the famous Alcatraz Island Coit Tower on Telegraph HillMarshall s beach view of Golden Gate bridge San Francisco also offers tourists varied nightlife in its neighborhoods The new Terminal Project at Pier 27 opened September 25 2014 as a replacement for the old Pier 35 Itineraries from San Francisco usually include round trip cruises to Alaska and Mexico A heightened interest in conventioneering in San Francisco marked by the establishment of convention centers such as Yerba Buena acted as a feeder into the local tourist economy and resulted in an increase in the hotel industry In 1959 the city had fewer than thirty three hundred first class hotel rooms by 1970 the number was nine thousand and by 1999 there were more than thirty thousand The commodification of the Castro District has contributed to San Francisco s tourist economy Arts and cultureThe Palace of Fine Arts originally built for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition Although the Financial District Union Square and Fisherman s Wharf are well known around the world San Francisco is also characterized by its numerous culturally rich streetscapes featuring mixed use neighborhoods anchored around central commercial corridors to which residents and visitors alike can walk citation needed Because of these characteristics original research San Francisco is ranked the most walkable city in the United States by Walk Score Many neighborhoods feature a mix of businesses restaurants and venues that cater to the daily needs of local residents while also serving many visitors and tourists Some neighborhoods are dotted with boutiques cafes and nightlife such as Union Street in Cow Hollow 24th Street in Noe Valley Valencia Street in the Mission Grant Avenue in North Beach and Irving Street in the Inner Sunset This approach especially has influenced the continuing South of Market neighborhood redevelopment with businesses and neighborhood services rising alongside high rise residences failed verification The Castro is famous as one of the first gay villages in the country Since the 1990s the demand for skilled information technology workers from local startups and nearby Silicon Valley has attracted white collar workers from all over the world and created a high standard of living in San Francisco Many neighborhoods that were once blue collar middle and lower class have been gentrifying as many of the city s traditional business and industrial districts have experienced a renaissance driven by the redevelopment of the Embarcadero including the neighborhoods South Beach and Mission Bay The city s property values and household income have risen to among the highest in the nation creating a large and upscale restaurant retail and entertainment scene According to a 2014 quality of life survey of global cities San Francisco has the highest quality of living of any U S city However due to the exceptionally high cost of living many of the city s middle and lower class families have been leaving the city for the outer suburbs of the Bay Area or for California s Central Valley By June 2 2015 the median rent was reported to be as high as 4 225 The high cost of living is due in part to restrictive planning laws which limit new residential construction The Mission District is the historic center of the city s Chicano Mexican American population and greater Hispanic and Latino community The international character that San Francisco has enjoyed since its founding is continued today by large numbers of immigrants from Asia and Latin America With 39 of its residents born overseas San Francisco has numerous neighborhoods filled with businesses and civic institutions catering to new arrivals In particular the arrival of many ethnic Chinese which began to accelerate in the 1970s has complemented the long established community historically based in Chinatown throughout the city and has transformed the annual Chinese New Year Parade into the largest event of its kind on the West Coast With the arrival of the beat writers and artists of the 1950s and societal changes culminating in the Summer of Love in the Haight Ashbury district during the 1960s San Francisco became a center of liberal activism and of the counterculture that arose at that time The Democrats and to a lesser extent the Green Party have dominated city politics since the late 1970s after the last serious Republican challenger for city office lost the 1975 mayoral election by a narrow margin San Francisco has not voted more than 20 for a Republican presidential or senatorial candidate since 1988 In 2007 the city expanded its Medicaid and other indigent medical programs into the Healthy San Francisco program which subsidizes certain medical services for eligible residents The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art also known as SF MOMA Since 1993 the San Francisco Department of Public Health has distributed 400 000 free syringes every month aimed at reducing HIV and other health risks for drug users as well as providing disposal sites and services San Francisco also has had a very active environmental community Starting with the founding of the Sierra Club in 1892 to the establishment of the non profit Friends of the Urban Forest in 1981 San Francisco has been at the forefront of many global discussions regarding the environment The 1980 San Francisco Recycling Program was one of the earliest curbside recycling programs The city s GoSolarSF incentive promotes solar installations and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is rolling out the CleanPowerSF program to sell electricity from local renewable sources SF Greasecycle is a program to recycle used cooking oil for conversion to biodiesel The Sunset Reservoir Solar Project completed in 2010 installed 24 000 solar panels on the roof of the reservoir The 5 megawatt plant more than tripled the city s 2 megawatt solar generation capacity when it opened in December 2010 LGBT San Francisco Pride is one of the oldest and largest LGBT pride events in the world San Francisco has long had an LGBT friendly history It was home to the first lesbian rights organization in the United States Daughters of Bilitis the first openly gay person to run for public office in the United States Jose Sarria the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California Harvey Milk the first openly lesbian judge appointed in the U S Mary C Morgan and the first transgender police commissioner Theresa Sparks The city s large gay population has created and sustained a politically and culturally active community over many decades developing a powerful presence in San Francisco s civic life Survey data released in 2015 by Gallup places the proportion of LGBT adults in the San Francisco metro area at 6 2 which is the highest proportion of the 50 most populous metropolitan areas as measured by the polling organization The gay pride flag was originally developed in San Francisco One of the most popular destinations for gay tourists internationally the city hosts San Francisco Pride one of the largest and oldest pride parades San Francisco Pride events have been held continuously since 1972 The events are themed and a new theme is created each year In 2013 over 1 5 million people attended around 500 000 more than the previous year Pink Saturday is an annual street party held the Saturday before the pride parade which coincides with the Dyke march The Folsom Street Fair FSF is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair that is held in September endcapping San Francisco s Leather Pride Week It started in 1984 and is California s third largest single day outdoor spectator event and the world s largest leather event and showcase for BDSM products and culture Performing arts War Memorial Opera House part of the S F War Memorial amp Performing Arts Center one of the largest performing arts centers in the U S Golden Gate Theatre is located in the historic Theatre District San Francisco s War Memorial and Performing Arts Center hosts some of the most enduring performing arts companies in the country The War Memorial Opera House houses the San Francisco Opera the second largest opera company in North America as well as the San Francisco Ballet while the San Francisco Symphony plays in Davies Symphony Hall Opened in 2013 the SFJAZZ Center hosts jazz performances year round The Fillmore is a music venue located in the Western Addition It is the second incarnation of the historic venue that gained fame in the 1960s housing the stage where now famous musicians such as the Grateful Dead Janis Joplin Led Zeppelin and Jefferson Airplane first performed fostering the San Francisco Sound It closed its doors in 1971 with a final performance by Santana and reopened in 1994 with a show by the Smashing Pumpkins San Francisco has a large number of theaters and live performance venues Local theater companies have been noted for risk taking and innovation The Tony Award winning non profit American Conservatory Theater A C T is a member of the national League of Resident Theatres Other local winners of the Regional Theatre Tony Award include the San Francisco Mime Troupe San Francisco theaters frequently host pre Broadway engagements and tryout runs and some original San Francisco productions have later moved to Broadway Museums The California Palace of the Legion of Honor part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art SFMOMA houses 20th century and contemporary works of art It moved to its current building in the South of Market neighborhood in 1995 and attracted more than 600 000 visitors annually SFMOMA closed for renovation and expansion in 2013 The museum reopened on May 14 2016 with an addition designed by Snohetta that has doubled the museum s size The Palace of the Legion of Honor holds primarily European antiquities and works of art at its Lincoln Park building modeled after its Parisian namesake The de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park features American decorative pieces and anthropological holdings from Africa Oceania and the Americas while Asian art is housed in the Asian Art Museum Opposite the de Young stands the California Academy of Sciences a natural history museum that also hosts the Morrison Planetarium and Steinhart Aquarium Located on Pier 15 on the Embarcadero the Exploratorium is an interactive science museum The Contemporary Jewish Museum is a non collecting institution that hosts a broad array of temporary exhibitions On Nob Hill the Cable Car Museum is a working museum featuring the cable car powerhouse which drives the cables Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was founded in 1998 and is part of the California College of the Arts SportsOracle Park home of the SF Giants Major League Baseball s San Francisco Giants have played in San Francisco since moving from New York in 1958 The Giants play at Oracle Park which opened in 2000 The Giants won World Series titles in 2010 2012 and in 2014 The Giants have boasted stars such as Willie Mays Willie McCovey and Barry Bonds MLB s career home run leader In 2012 San Francisco was ranked No 1 in a study that examined which U S metro areas have produced the most Major Leaguers since 1920 The San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League NFL began playing in 1946 as an All America Football Conference AAFC league charter member moved to the NFL in 1950 and into Candlestick Park in 1971 The team left San Francisco in 2014 moving approximately 50 miles south to Santa Clara and began playing its home games at Levi s Stadium Despite this the 49ers are still branded as a San Francisco team and when the team hosted Super Bowl 50 events were hosted in San Francisco such as the annual NFL Experience which was held at the Moscone Center and Super Bowl City which opened on January 30 at Justin Herman Plaza on The Embarcadero The 49ers have won five Super Bowl titles between 1982 and 1995 Chase Center home of the Golden State Warriors The NBA s Golden State Warriors have played in the San Francisco Bay Area since moving from Philadelphia in 1962 The Warriors played as the San Francisco Warriors from 1962 to 1971 before being renamed the Golden State Warriors prior to the 1971 1972 season in an attempt to present the team as a representation of the whole state of California which had already adopted The Golden State nickname The Warriors arena Chase Center is located in San Francisco After winning two championships in Philadelphia they have won five championships since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area and made five consecutive NBA Finals from 2015 to 2019 winning three of them They won again in 2022 the franchise s first championship while residing in San Francisco proper At the collegiate level the San Francisco Dons compete in NCAA Division I Bill Russell led the Dons basketball team to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956 There is also the San Francisco State Gators who compete in NCAA Division II Oracle Park hosted the annual Fight Hunger Bowl college football game from 2002 through 2013 before it moved to Santa Clara There are a handful of lower league soccer clubs in San Francisco playing mostly from April June Kezar Stadium home of San Francisco City Football ClubClub Founded Venue League Tier levelEl Farolito 1985 Boxer Stadium NPSL 4San Francisco City FC 2001 Kezar Stadium USL League Two 4San Francisco Glens SC 1961 Skyline College USL League Two 4Bay to Breakers is an annual foot race known for colorful costumes The Bay to Breakers footrace held annually since 1912 is best known for colorful costumes and a celebratory community spirit The San Francisco Marathon attracts more than 21 000 participants The Escape from Alcatraz triathlon has since 1980 attracted 2 000 top professional and amateur triathletes for its annual race The Olympic Club founded in 1860 is the oldest athletic club in the United States Its private golf course has hosted the U S Open on five occasions San Francisco hosted the 2013 America s Cup yacht racing competition With an ideal climate for outdoor activities San Francisco has ample resources and opportunities for amateur and participatory sports and recreation There are more than 200 miles 320 km of bicycle paths lanes and bike routes in the city San Francisco residents have often ranked among the fittest in the country Golden Gate Park has miles of paved and unpaved running trails as well as a golf course and disc golf course Boating sailing windsurfing and kitesurfing are among the popular activities on San Francisco Bay and the city maintains a yacht harbor in the Marina District San Francisco also has had Esports teams such as the Overwatch League s San Francisco Shock Established in 2017 they won two back to back championship titles in 2019 and 2020 Parks and recreationGolden Gate Park is the 3rd most visited city park in the U S after Central Park and the National Mall Several of San Francisco s parks and nearly all of its beaches form part of the regional Golden Gate National Recreation Area one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States with over 13 million visitors a year Among the GGNRA s attractions within the city are Ocean Beach which runs along the Pacific Ocean shoreline and is frequented by a vibrant surfing community and Baker Beach which is located in a cove west of the Golden Gate Bridge as well as the California Academy of Sciences a research institute and natural history museum The Presidio of San Francisco is the former 18th century Spanish military base which today is one of the city s largest parks and home to numerous museums and institutions Also within the Presidio is Crissy Field a former airfield that was restored to its natural salt marsh ecosystem The GGNRA also administers Fort Funston Lands End Fort Mason and Alcatraz The National Park Service separately administers the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park a fleet of historic ships and waterfront property around Aquatic Park Painted Ladies on Alamo Square The Cliff House over Ocean Beach There are more than 220 parks maintained by the San Francisco Recreation amp Parks Department The largest and best known city park is Golden Gate Park which stretches from the center of the city west to the Pacific Ocean Once covered in native grasses and sand dunes the park was conceived in the 1860s and was created by the extensive planting of thousands of non native trees and plants The large park is rich with cultural and natural attractions such as the Conservatory of Flowers Japanese Tea Garden and San Francisco Botanical Garden Lake Merced is a fresh water lake surrounded by parkland citation needed and near the San Francisco Zoo a city owned park that houses more than 250 animal species many of which are endangered The only park managed by the California State Park system located principally in San Francisco Candlestick Point was the state s first urban recreation area Most of San Francisco s islands are protected as parkland or nature reserves Alcatraz Island operated by the National Park Service is open to the public The Farallon Islands are protected wildlife refuges The Seal Rocks are protected as part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area Red Rock Island is the only privately owned island in San Francisco Bay but is uninhabited Yerba Buena Island is largely utilized by the military San Francisco is the first city in the U S to have a park within a 10 Minute Walk of every resident It also ranks fifth in the U S for park access and quality in the 2018 ParkScore ranking of the top 100 park systems across the United States according to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land GovernmentSan Francisco City Hall built 1913 16 and designed by Arthur Brown Jr The mayor is also the county executive and the county Board of Supervisors acts as the city council The government of San Francisco is a charter city and is constituted of two co equal branches the executive branch is headed by the mayor and includes other citywide elected and appointed officials as well as the civil service the 11 member Board of Supervisors the legislative branch is headed by a president and is responsible for passing laws and budgets though San Franciscans also make use of direct ballot initiatives to pass legislation Because of its unique city county status the local government is able to exercise jurisdiction over certain property outside city limits San Francisco International Airport though located in San Mateo County is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco San Francisco s largest jail complex County Jail No 5 is located in San Mateo County in an unincorporated area adjacent to San Bruno San Francisco was also granted a perpetual leasehold over the Hetch Hetchy Valley and watershed in Yosemite National Park by the Raker Act in 1913 The Supreme Court of California is based in the Earl Warren Building The members of the Board of Supervisors are elected as representatives of specific districts within the city Upon the death or resignation of the mayor the President of the Board of Supervisors becomes acting mayor until the full Board elects an interim replacement for the remainder of the term In 1978 Dianne Feinstein assumed the office following the assassination of George Moscone and was later selected by the board to finish the term citation needed In 2011 Ed Lee was selected by the board to finish the term of Gavin Newsom who resigned to take office as Lieutenant Governor of California Lee who won two elections to remain mayor was temporarily replaced by San Francisco Board of Supervisors President London Breed after he died on December 12 2017 Supervisor Mark Farrell was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to finish Lee s term on January 23 2018 Most local offices in San Francisco are elected using ranked choice voting San Francisco Federal Building San Francisco serves as the regional hub for many arms of the federal bureaucracy including the U S Court of Appeals the Federal Reserve Bank and the U S Mint Until decommissioning in the early 1990s the city had major military installations at the Presidio Treasure Island and Hunters Point a legacy still reflected in the annual celebration of Fleet Week The State of California uses San Francisco as the home of the state supreme court and other state agencies Foreign governments maintain more than seventy consulates in San Francisco The municipal budget for fiscal year 2015 16 was 8 99 billion and is one of the largest city budgets in the United States The City of San Francisco spends more per resident than any city other than Washington D C over 10 000 in FY 2015 2016 The city employs around 27 000 workers The historic Browning Courthouse In the California State Senate San Francisco is in the 11th Senate District represented by Democrat Scott Wiener In the California State Assembly it is split between the 17th Assembly District represented by Democrat Matt Haney and the 19th Assembly District represented by Democrat Catherine Stefani In the United States House of Representatives San Francisco is split between two congressional districts Most of the city is in the 11th District represented by Nancy Pelosi D San Francisco A sliver in the southwest is part of the 15th District represented by Kevin Mullin D South San Francisco Pelosi served as the House Speaker from January 3 2019 to January 3 2023 a post she also held from 2007 through 2011 She has also held the post of House Minority Leader from 2003 to 2007 and 2011 to 2019 One of San Francisco s most notable achievements is its ambitious zero waste goal which aims to divert 100 of waste from landfills by 2025 The city has already made significant strides with widespread recycling and composting programs that encourage residents to minimize waste San Francisco was one of the first U S cities to ban plastic bags and continues to lead in banning single use plastics setting a standard for cities across the country EducationColleges and universities University of San Francisco The University of California San Francisco is the sole campus of the University of California system entirely dedicated to graduate education in health and biomedical sciences It is ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States and operates the UCSF Medical Center which ranks as the number one hospital in California and the number 5 in the country UCSF is a major local employer second in size only to the city and county government A 43 acre 17 ha Mission Bay campus was opened in 2003 complementing its original facility in Parnassus Heights It contains research space and facilities to foster biotechnology and life sciences entrepreneurship and will double the size of UCSF s research enterprise All in all UCSF operates more than 20 facilities across San Francisco The University of California College of the Law San Francisco founded in Civic Center in 1878 is the oldest law school in California and claims more judges on the state bench than any other institution San Francisco s two University of California institutions have recently formed an official affiliation in the UCSF UC Law SF Consortium on Law Science amp Health Policy San Francisco State University library building San Francisco State University is part of the California State University system and is located near Lake Merced The school has approximately 30 000 students and awards undergraduate master s and doctoral degrees in more than 100 disciplines The City College of San Francisco with its main facility in the Ingleside district is one of the largest two year community colleges in the country It has an enrollment of about 100 000 students and offers an extensive continuing education program University of California College of the Law Founded in 1855 the University of San Francisco a private Jesuit university located on Lone Mountain is the oldest institution of higher education in San Francisco and one of the oldest universities established west of the Mississippi River Golden Gate University is a private nonsectarian university formed in 1901 and located in the Financial District With an enrollment of 13 000 students the Academy of Art University is the largest institute of art and design in the nation The California College of the Arts located north of Potrero Hill has programs in architecture fine arts design and writing The San Francisco Conservatory of Music the only independent music school on the West Coast grants degrees in orchestral instruments chamber music composition and conducting The San Francisco Art Institute founded in 1871 and the oldest art school west of the Mississippi closed in 2022 The California Culinary Academy associated with the Le Cordon Bleu program offers programs in the culinary arts baking and pastry arts and hospitality and restaurant management California Institute of Integral Studies founded in 1968 offers a variety of graduate programs in its Schools of Professional Psychology amp Health and Consciousness and Transformation Primary and secondary schools The San Francisco Unified School District operates 114 schools and is the oldest school district in California Public schools are run by the San Francisco Unified School District which covers the entire city and county as well as the California State Board of Education for some charter schools Lowell High School the oldest public high school in the U S west of the Mississippi and the smaller School of the Arts High School are two of San Francisco s magnet schools at the secondary level Public school students attend schools based on an assignment system rather than neighborhood proximity Just under 30 of the city s school age population attends one of San Francisco s more than 100 private or parochial schools compared to a 10 rate nationwide Nearly 40 of those schools are Catholic schools managed by the Archdiocese of San Francisco San Francisco has nearly 300 preschool programs primarily operated by Head Start San Francisco Unified School District private for profit private non profit and family child care providers All four year old children living in San Francisco are offered universal access to preschool through the Preschool for All program MediaThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed January 2022 Learn how and when to remove this message San Francisco Chronicle building The major daily newspaper in San Francisco is the San Francisco Chronicle which is currently Northern California s most widely circulated newspaper The Chronicle is most famous for a former columnist the late Herb Caen whose daily musings attracted critical acclaim and represented the voice of San Francisco The San Francisco Examiner once the cornerstone of William Randolph Hearst s media empire and the home of Ambrose Bierce declined in circulation over the years and now takes the form of a free daily tabloid under new ownership Sing Tao Daily claims to be the largest of several Chinese language dailies that serve the Bay Area SF Weekly is the city s alternative weekly newspaper San Francisco and 7x7 are major glossy magazines about San Francisco The national newsmagazine Mother Jones is also based in San Francisco San Francisco is home to online only media publications such as SFist and AsianWeek The Julia Morgan designed Hearst Building the western headquarters of the Hearst Corporation The San Francisco Bay Area is the sixth largest television market in the U S It is the fourth largest radio market after that of New York City Los Angeles and Chicago All major U S television networks have affiliates serving the region with most of them based in the city CNN MSNBC BBC Russia Today and CCTV America also have regional news bureaus in San Francisco Bloomberg West was launched in 2011 from a studio on the Embarcadero and CNBC broadcasts from One Market Plaza since 2015 ESPN uses the local ABC studio for their broadcasting The regional sports network Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and its sister station Comcast SportsNet California are both located in San Francisco The Pac 12 Network is also based in San Francisco Sutro Tower is a broadcast tower and local landmark Public broadcasting outlets include both a television station and a radio station both broadcasting under the call letters KQED from a facility near the Potrero Hill neighborhood KQED FM is the most listened to National Public Radio affiliate in the country KUSF is a student run radio station by college students from the University of San Francisco Another local broadcaster KPOO is an independent African American owned and operated noncommercial radio station established in 1971 CNET founded 1994 and Salon com 1995 are based in San Francisco Sutro Tower is an important broadcast tower located between Mount Sutro and the Twin Peaks built in 1973 for KTVU KRON and KPIX InfrastructureTransportation Public transportation A San Francisco cable car with Alcatraz seen behind Transit is the most used form of transportation every day in San Francisco Every weekday more than 560 000 people travel on Muni s 69 bus routes and more than 140 000 customers ride the Muni Metro light rail system 32 of San Francisco residents use public transportation for their daily commute to work ranking it fourth in the United States and first on the West Coast The San Francisco Municipal Railway primarily known as Muni is the primary public transit system of San Francisco As of 2023 Muni is the eighth largest transit system in the United States The system operates a combined light rail and subway system the Muni Metro as well as large bus and trolley coach networks Additionally it runs a historic streetcar line which runs on Market Street from Castro Street to Fisherman s Wharf It also operates the famous cable cars which have been designated as a National Historic Landmark and are a major tourist attraction Bay Area Rapid Transit BART a regional Rapid Transit system connects San Francisco with the East Bay and San Jose through the underwater Transbay Tube The line which contains all except the Orange Line runs under Market Street to Civic Center where it turns south to the Mission District the southern part of the city and through northern San Mateo County to the San Francisco International Airport and Millbrae BART also shares stations with SFMTA Muni Metro under Market Street Muni Metro run by SF Muni Another commuter rail system Caltrain runs from San Francisco along the San Francisco Peninsula to San Jose Historically trains operated by Southern Pacific Lines ran from San Francisco to Los Angeles via Palo Alto and San Jose Amtrak Thruway runs a shuttle bus from three locations in San Francisco to its station across the bay in Emeryville Additionally BART offers connections to San Francisco from Amtrak s stations in Emeryville Oakland and Richmond and Caltrain offers connections in San Jose and Santa Clara Thruway service also runs south to San Luis Obispo with connection to the Pacific Surfliner San Francisco was an early adopter of carsharing in America The non profit City CarShare opened in 2001 and Zipcar closely followed Golden Gate Ferries connect the city to North Bay communities while San Francisco Bay Ferry connects the city to both the North and East Bay San Francisco Bay Ferry operates from the Ferry Building and Pier 39 to points in Oakland Alameda Bay Farm Island South San Francisco Richmond and north to Vallejo in Solano County The Golden Gate Ferry is the other ferry operator with service between San Francisco and Marin County SolTrans runs supplemental bus service between the Ferry Building and Vallejo To accommodate the large amount of San Francisco citizens who commute to the Silicon Valley daily employers like Genentech Google and Apple have begun to provide private bus transportation for their employees from San Francisco locations These buses have quickly become a heated topic of debate within the city as protesters claim they block bus lanes and delay public buses Freeways and roads The Bay Bridge connects the city to Oakland and the East Bay In 2014 only 41 3 of residents commuted by driving alone or carpooling in private vehicles in San Francisco a decline from 48 6 in 2000 There are 1 088 miles of streets in San Francisco with 946 miles of these streets being surface streets and 59 miles of freeways Due to its unique geography and the freeway revolts of the late 1950s Interstate 80 begins at the approach to the Bay Bridge and is the only direct automobile link to the East Bay U S Route 101 connects to the western terminus of Interstate 80 and provides access to the south of the city along San Francisco Bay toward Silicon Valley Northward the routing for U S 101 uses arterial streets to connect to the Golden Gate Bridge the only direct automobile link to Marin County and the North Bay As part of the retrofitting of the Golden Gate Bridge and installation of a suicide barrier starting in 2019 the railings on the west side of the pedestrian walkway were replaced with thinner more flexible slats in order to improve the bridge s aerodynamic tolerance of high wind to 100 mph 161 km h Starting in June 2020 reports were received of a loud hum produced by the new railing slats heard across the city when a strong west wind was blowing Lombard Street in Russian Hill is famed as the most crooked street in the world State Route 1 also enters San Francisco from the north via the Golden Gate Bridge and bisects the city as the 19th Avenue arterial thoroughfare joining with Interstate 280 at the city s southern border Interstate 280 continues south from San Francisco and also turns to the east along the southern edge of the city terminating just south of the Bay Bridge in the South of Market neighborhood After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake city leaders demolished the Embarcadero Freeway and a portion of the Central Freeway converting them into street level boulevards State Route 35 enters the city from the south as Skyline Boulevard and terminates at its intersection with Highway 1 State Route 82 enters San Francisco from the south as Mission Street and terminates shortly thereafter at its junction with 280 The western terminus of the historic transcontinental Lincoln Highway the first road across America is in San Francisco s Lincoln Park Vision Zero In 2014 San Francisco committed to Vision Zero with the goal of ending all traffic fatalities caused by motor vehicles within the city by 2024 San Francisco s Vision Zero plan calls for investing in engineering enforcement and education and focusing on dangerous intersections In 2013 25 people were killed by car and truck drivers while walking and biking in the city and 9 car drivers and passengers were killed in collisions In 2019 42 people were killed in traffic collisions in San Francisco Airports San Francisco International Airport one of the busiest airports in the world Though located 13 miles 21 km south of downtown in unincorporated San Mateo County San Francisco International Airport SFO is under the jurisdiction of the City and County of San Francisco SFO is a hub for United Airlines and Alaska Airlines SFO is a major international gateway to Asia and Europe with the largest international terminal in North America In 2011 SFO was the eighth busiest airport in the U S and the 22nd busiest in the world handling over 40 9 million passengers Located in the South Bay the San Jose International Airport SJC is the second busiest airport in the Bay Area followed by Oakland International Airport which is a popular low cost alternative to SFO Cycling and walking Bay Wheels station on Market St Cycling is a popular mode of transportation in San Francisco with 75 000 residents commuting by bicycle each day In recent years when the city has installed better cycling infrastructure such as protected bike lanes and parking racks Bay Wheels previously named Bay Area Bike Share at inception launched in August 2013 with 700 bikes in downtown San Francisco selected cities in the East Bay and San Jose The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and Bay Area Air Quality Management District are responsible for the operation with management provided by Motivate A major expansion started in 2017 along with a rebranding as Ford GoBike the company received its current name in 2019 Pedestrian traffic is also widespread In 2015 Walk Score ranked San Francisco the second most walkable city in the United States San Francisco has significantly higher rates of pedestrian and bicyclist traffic deaths than the United States on average In 2013 21 pedestrians were killed in vehicle collisions the highest since 2001 which is 2 5 deaths per 100 000 population 70 higher than the national average of 1 5 San Francisco cycling event Cycling is becoming increasingly popular in the city The 2010 Municipal Transportation Agency MTA annual bicycle count showed the number of cyclists at 33 locations had increased 58 from the 2006 baseline counts In 2008 the MTA estimated that about 128 000 trips were made by bicycle each day in the city or 6 of total trips As of 2019 update 2 6 of the city s streets have protected bike lanes with 28 miles of protected bike lanes in the city Since 2006 San Francisco has received a Bicycle Friendly Community status of Gold from the League of American Bicyclists In 2022 a measure on the ballot passed to protect JFK drive in Golden Gate Park as a pedestrian and biking space with 59 of voters in favor Public safety The San Francisco Police Department was founded in 1849 The portions of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area located within the city including the Presidio and Ocean Beach are patrolled by the United States Park Police The San Francisco Fire Department provides both fire suppression and emergency medical services to the city Sister citiesSan Francisco participates in the Sister Cities program A total of 41 consulates general and 23 honorary consulates have offices in the San Francisco Bay Area In January 1980 Mayor Dianne Feinstein signed a sister cities agreement with Shanghai during a visit to China Notable peopleSee alsoSan Francisco Bay Area List of cities and towns in California List of counties in California List of people from San Francisco Northern California megaregion Ships lost in San Francisco USS San Francisco 3 shipsNotesStation currently at the United States Mint building self published source The coordinates of the station are 37 46 14 N 122 25 37 W 37 7706 N 122 4269 W 37 7706 122 4269 Precipitation high temperature low temperature snow and snow depth records date from October 1 1849 June 1 1874 January 1 1875 January 1 1876 and January 1 1922 respectively Mean monthly maxima and minima i e the expected highest and lowest temperature readings at any point during the year or given month calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020 Those not born in the 50 states or D C excluding California Nevada Utah Arizona New Mexico and Texas before 1850 ReferencesGarling Caleb June 30 2013 Don t Call It Frisco The History of San Francisco s Nicknames The Bold Italic Retrieved June 18 2016 San Francisco s Official Songs Museum of San Francisco Retrieved June 17 2020 Be it resolved The official song of the City and County of San Francisco is and shall remain San Francisco Be it further resolved that henceforth I Left My Heart in San Francisco shall be the official ballad San Francisco Administrative Code Steven Short KALW Public Media May 10 2021 San Francisco s Two Official Songs Or The Day Tony Bennett Hid In His Hotel 1 O Day Edward F October 1926 The Founding of San Francisco San Francisco Water Spring Valley Water Authority Archived from the original on July 27 2010 Retrieved November 24 2024 San Francisco Government SFGov org Archived from the original on March 16 2012 Retrieved March 8 2012 San Francisco was incorporated as a City on April 15th 1850 by act of the Legislature Statewide Database UC Regents Archived from the original on February 1 2015 Retrieved November 21 2014 California s 11th Congressional District GovTrack Retrieved January 8 2023 California s 15th Congressional District GovTrack Retrieved January 8 2023 Communities of Interest City California Citizens Redistricting Commission Archived from the original on October 23 2015 Retrieved September 23 2014 Members Assembly California State Assembly Retrieved September 23 2014 2019 U S Gazetteer Files United States Census Bureau Retrieved July 1 2020 San Francisco Geographic Names Information System United States Geological Survey United States Department of the Interior Elevations and Distances in the United States US Geological Survey April 29 2005 Archived from the original on November 9 2013 Retrieved October 29 2014 QuickFacts San Francisco city California www census gov United States Census Bureau Retrieved September 10 2024 List of 2020 Census Urban Areas census gov United States Census Bureau Retrieved January 8 2023 Personal Income by County Metro and Other Areas United States Bureau of Economic Analysis Retrieved December 8 2022 Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas Population Totals and Components of Change 2020 2021 United States Census Bureau February 24 2022 Retrieved August 13 2022 Massara Graph February 20 2018 If you re from SF you re a San Franciscan But what if you re from Fremont Berkeley Livermore SFGATE San Francisco Retrieved July 29 2023 Yip Isabel June 20 2024 Vietnamese becomes one of San Francisco s official languages NBC News Retrieved September 28 2024 Gross Domestic Product by County and Metropolitan Area fred stlouisfed org ZIP Codes for City of San Francisco CA 2010 United States census 2010 Archived from the original on October 30 2020 Retrieved March 14 2021 via Zip Codes com NPA City Report North American Numbering Plan Administration Archived from the original on November 4 2014 Retrieved November 5 2014 English ˌ s ae n f r e n ˈ s ɪ s k oʊ SAN fren SISS kohSpanish saɱ fɾanˈsisko lit Saint Francis GCT PH1 Population Housing Units Area and Density 2010 County Census Tract 2010 United States Census Summary File 1 United States Census Bureau Archived from the original on February 13 2020 Retrieved February 8 2018 IPUMS NHGIS National Historical Geographic Information System www nhgis org Retrieved December 7 2024 IPUMS NHGIS www nhgis org Retrieved December 8 2023 Coy Owen Cochran 1919 Guide to the County Archives of California Sacramento California California Historical Survey Commission p 409 Montagne Renee April 11 2006 Remembering the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake People amp Places NPR Retrieved June 13 2008 Port of Embarkation Essay World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary US Department of the Interior August 28 2007 Archived from the original on June 24 2011 Retrieved June 22 2011 Top 200 Science cities Nature Index Retrieved August 17 2019 The Global Creative Economy Is Big Business Retrieved August 17 2019 2022 Best Global Universities Rankings U S News amp World Report Regional Data GDP and Personal Income apps bea gov Retrieved June 18 2022 Metropolitan areas stats oecd org Retrieved September 17 2022 U S Bureau of Labor Statistics January 1 1947 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers All Items in U S City Average FRED Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis Retrieved June 18 2022 World Economic Outlook Database April 2022 IMF Retrieved June 18 2022 GDP by County Metro and Other Areas U S Bureau of Economic Analysis Retrieved December 7 2024 Jay Barmann January 21 2025 Bloomingdale s to Close at SF Centre Ushering In Further Bleak Days for Beleaguered Mall SFiST Retrieved January 23 2025 Morris J D October 30 2023 London Breed vs the doom loop How will S F s mayor solve her biggest political problem San Francisco Chronicle Retrieved November 5 2023 Wiley Hannah May 22 2024 All is lost in San Francisco City loyalists take issue with naysayers Data may back them up Los Angeles Times Retrieved April 4 2024 America s 10 most visited cities World Atlas November 14 2023 San Francisco Travel Association Announces 2022 Results and 2023 Forecast Press release San Francisco Travel March 21 2023 Retrieved December 7 2023 Top U S Destinations for International Visitors The Hotel Price Index Archived from the original on March 27 2014 Retrieved April 12 2014 Leins Casey April 3 2019 The 10 Best Cities for Public Transportation USNews Retrieved February 7 2023 Direct flights from San Francisco SFO FlightConnections www flightconnections com Retrieved February 7 2023 Brinklow Adam January 26 2018 Is it ever okay to use San Fran Curbed SF Retrieved February 17 2020 Don t Call It Frisco The History of San Francisco s Nicknames The Bold Italic December 20 2019 Retrieved February 17 2020 Gilson Dave Why San Francisco s Frisco debate will never ever die Mother Jones Retrieved February 17 2020 Stewart Suzanne B November 2003 Archaeological Research Issues for the Point Reyes National Seashore Golden Gate National Recreation Area PDF Sonoma State University Anthropological Studies Center Retrieved June 12 2008 Visitors San Francisco Historical Information City and County of San Francisco n d Archived from the original on March 1 2006 Retrieved June 10 2008 Billiter Bill January 1 1985 3 000 Year Old Connection Claimed Siberia Tie to California Tribes Cited Los Angeles Times Retrieved September 25 2023 Indigenous Peoples of San Mateo County San Mateo County Office of Education Retrieved January 18 2024 The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone Retrieved January 18 2024 The Ramaytush Ohlone Lessons on stewardship from the ancestral stewards of the Peninsula Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy December 4 2018 Retrieved January 18 2024 Raup H F 1948 The Delayed Discovery of San Francisco Bay California Historical Society Quarterly 27 4 293 doi 10 2307 25156125 JSTOR 3816007 Retrieved November 12 2020 Cleary Brother Guire January 31 2003 Mission Dolores Links San Francisco with its 18th Century Roots Founded as La Mission San 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