San Francisco Bay Area#Statistical areas

{{For timeline}}

File:Charles Christian Nahl - Indian Family on San Francisco Bay.jpg, an indigenous Californian people, have lived in the Bay Area for thousands of years.]]

The Coyote Hills Shell Mound, the earliest known archaeological evidence of human habitation of the Bay Area estuaries, dates to around 10,000 BCE, with evidence pointing to even earlier settlement in Point Reyes in Marin County.{{cite web |url=http://www.sonoma.edu/asc/projects/pointreyes/overview2.pdf |title=Archaeological Research Issues For The Point Reyes National Seashore – Golden Gate National Recreation Area |access-date=September 22, 2017 |last=Stewart |first=Suzanne B. |date=November 2003 |publisher=Sonoma State University – Anthropological Studies Center |page=11 |archive-date=June 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624193135/http://www.sonoma.edu/asc/projects/pointreyes/overview2.pdf |url-status=live}} It has been conjectured that the people living in the Bay Area at the time of first European contact were descended from Siberian tribes who arrived at around 1,000 BCE by sailing over the Arctic Ocean and following the salmon migration.{{cite news |last=Billiter |first=Bill |date=January 1, 1985 |title=3,000-Year-Old Connection Claimed : Siberia Tie to California Tribes Cited |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-01-01-me-10267-story.html |url-status=live |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |location=Los Angeles |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141128090656/http://articles.latimes.com/1985-01-01/local/me-10267_1_tribes |archive-date=November 28, 2014 |access-date=September 22, 2017}} However the current academic consensus is compatible with the oral tradition of the Ohlone and Miwok peoples, which suggests they have been living in the Bay Area for several hundreds if not thousands of years.{{Cite web |title=The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone |url=https://www.ramaytush.org/ |access-date=2023-12-14 |website=The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=ThemeZaa |title=Muwekma Ohlone Tribe {{!}} American Indian {{!}} Native American Tribes |url=http://www.muwekma.org/ |access-date=2023-12-14 |website=Muwekma Ohlone Tribe |language=en}}

At the time of colonization, the Ohlone peoples in the Bay Area primarily lived on the San Francisco Peninsula, in the South Bay and in the East Bay, and the Miwok primarily lived in the North Bay, northern East Bay, and Central Valley. Ohlone villages were spread across the Peninsula, East Bay, South Bay, as well as further south into the Monterey Bay area.{{cite web |title=Visitors: San Francisco Historical Information |url=http://sfgov.org/site/visitor_index.asp?id=8091 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060301022510/http://sfgov.org/site/visitor_index.asp?id=8091 |archive-date=March 1, 2006 |access-date=June 10, 2008 |publisher=City and County of San Francisco}} There were eight major divisions of Ohlone people, four of which were based in the Bay Area: the Karkin of the Carquinez Strait, the Chochenyo of the East Bay, the Ramaytush of the San Francisco Peninsula, and the Tamien of the South Bay. The Miwok had two major groups in the Bay Area: the Bay Miwok of Contra Costa and the Coast Miwok of Marin and Sonoma.

In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the Pacific coast near the Bay Area though the expedition did not see the Golden Gate or the estuaries, likely due to fog. Sir Francis Drake became the first European to land in the area and claim it in June 1579, when he landed at Drakes Bay near Point Reyes. Even though he claimed the region for Queen Elizabeth I as Nova Albion or New Albion, the English made no immediate follow up to the claim.{{Cite book |last=Sugden |first=John |title=Sir Francis Drake |publisher=Pimlico |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-844-13762-6 |location=London |pages=130, 136, 137}}{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Michael |title=In Drake's Wake Volume 2 The World Voyage |publisher=Paul Mould Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-904959-28-1 |location=United Kingdom |pages=173}}{{Citation |last=Davis |first=Loren |title=Inventory and Analysis of Coastal and Submerged Archaeological Site Occurrence on the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf |date=November 2013 |journal=U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. |display-authors=etal}}

In 1595, Philip II of Spain tasked Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho with mapping the west coast of the Americas. Soromenho set sail on Manila Galleon San Agustin on July 5, 1595 and in early November they reached land between Point St. George and Trinidad Head, north of the Bay Area, in the Lost Coast. The expedition followed the coast southward and on November 7 the San Agustin anchored in Drakes Bay, and claimed the region as Puerto y Bahía de San Francisco.{{cite journal |last=Wagner |first=Henry R. |author-link=Henry Raup Wagner |date=April 1924 |title=The Voyage to California of Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeño in 1595 |journal=California Historical Society Quarterly |volume=3 |issue=1}}{{Cite book |last=Spate |first=O. H. K. |title=The Pacific Since Magellan: The Spanish Lake |publisher=Croom Helm |year=1979 |isbn=9780816608829 |location=London |pages=110}}{{Cite book |last=Kuwayama |first=George |title=Chinese Ceramics in Colonial Mexico |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-87587-179-8 |location=Honolulu |pages=20 |author1-link=George Kuwayama}} In late November, a storm sank the San Agustin and killed between 7 and 12 people. On December 8, 80 remaining crew members set sail on the San Buenaventura, a launch which was partially constructed en route from the Philippines. Seeking the fastest route south, the expedition sailed past the Golden Gate, arriving at Puerto de Chacala, Mexico on January 17, 1596.Aker (1965) File:Mission San Francisco de Asís (Oriana Day) (cropped).jpg founded Mission San Francisco de Asís, the first Spanish settlement in the Bay Area.]]

File:"General Vallejo Reviewing His Troops in Sonoma, 1846".jpg reviewing Californio troops in Sonoma, during the U.S. Conquest of California in 1846]]

The Bay Area estuaries remained unknown to Europeans until members of the Portolá expedition, while trekking along the California coast, encountered them in 1769 when the Golden Gate blocked their continued journey north.{{Cite book |title=California: An Interpretive History |last1=Rawls |first1=James |last2=Bean |first2=Walton |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=2003 |isbn=9780070042414 |location=New York |pages=36–7}} Several missions were founded in the Bay Area during this period. In 1806, a Spanish expedition led by Gabriel Moraga began at the Presidio, traveled south of the bay, and then east to explore the San Joaquin Valley.Muñoz, Fray Pedro, et al. "The Gabriel Moraga Expedition of 1806: The Diary of Fray Pedro Muñoz." Huntington Library Quarterly, vol. 9, no. 3, 1946, pp. 223–248. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3816007. Accessed November 12, 2020.

In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain and the Bay Area became part of the Mexican province of Alta California, a period characterized by ranch life and visiting American trappers.{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/ca/intro.htm |title=Introduction |work=Early History of the California Coast |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=September 22, 2017 |archive-date=July 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703012253/https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/ca/intro.htm |url-status=live}} Mexico's control of the territory would be short-lived, however, and in 1846 a party of settlers occupied Sonoma Plaza and proclaimed the independence of the new Republic of California. That same year, the Mexican–American War began, and American captain John Berrien Montgomery sailed the {{USS|Portsmouth|1843|6}} into the bay and seized San Francisco, which was then known as Yerba Buena, and raised the American flag for the first time over Portsmouth Square.{{cite book |author=Lee Foster |title=Northern California History Weekends |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VA0GAmdjK4C |access-date=December 26, 2011 |date=October 1, 2001 |publisher=Globe Pequot |isbn=978-0-7627-1076-8 |page=13 |archive-date=May 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527171012/https://books.google.com/books?id=8VA0GAmdjK4C |url-status=live}}

File:SanFranciscoharbor1851c sharp.jpg during the California gold rush]]

In 1848, James W. Marshall's discovery of gold in the American River sparked the California gold rush, and within half a year 4,000 men were panning for gold along the river and finding $50,000 per day.{{cite web |last=The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco |title=From the 1820s to the Gold Rush |date=July 16, 2004 |url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/early.html |access-date=September 22, 2017 |publisher=The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022224825/http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/early.html |archive-date=October 22, 2009}} The promise of fabulous riches quickly led to a stampede of wealth-seekers descending on Sutter's Mill. The Bay Area's population quickly emptied out as laborers, clerks, waiters, and servants joined the rush to find gold, and California's first newspaper, The Californian, was forced to announce a temporary freeze in new issues due to labor shortages. By the end of 1849, news had spread across the world and newcomers flooded into the Bay Area at a rate of one thousand per week on their way to California's interior, including the first large influx of Chinese immigrants to the U.S.{{Cite book |title=Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration |last=Barkan |first=Elliott |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-59884-219-7 |location=Santa Barbara}} The rush was so great that vessels were abandoned by the hundreds in San Francisco's ports as crews rushed to the goldfields.{{cite news |last=Harris |first=Ron |title=Crews Unearth Shipwreck on San Francisco Condo Project |agency=Associated Press |date=November 14, 2005 |url=http://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/story.asp?story=6287&headline=Crews |access-date=September 22, 2017 |archive-date=December 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223183422/http://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/story.asp?story=6287&headline=Crews |url-status=live}} The unprecedented influx of new arrivals spread the nascent government authorities thin, and the military was unable to prevent desertions. As a result, numerous vigilante groups formed to provide order, but many tasked themselves with forcibly moving or killing local Native Americans, and by the end of the gold rush, two thirds of the indigenous population had been killed.{{cite web |url=http://nahc.ca.gov/califindian.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304114034/http://nahc.ca.gov/califindian.html |title=Short Overview of California Indian History |author=Castillo, Edward D. |publisher=California Native American Heritage Commission |access-date=October 9, 2017 |archive-date=March 4, 2010}}

File:California's first state capitol in San José (c. 1850).jpg served as the first state capitol following the California's Admission to the Union in 1850.]]

During this same time, a constitutional convention was called to determine California's application for statehood into the United States. After statehood was granted, the capital city moved between three cities in the Bay Area: San Jose (1849–1851), Vallejo (1851–1852), and Benicia (1852–1853) before permanently settling in Sacramento in 1854.{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Dotson |last2=Ebbert |first2=Brian S. |year=2006 |title=California's Legislature |edition=2006 |url=http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pdf/caleg11.pdf |location=Sacramento |publisher=California State Assembly |oclc=70700867 |pages=149–154 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=July 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706001041/http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pdf/caleg11.pdf |url-status=live}} As the gold rush subsided, wealth generated from the endeavor led to the establishment of Wells Fargo Bank and the Bank of California, and immigrant laborers attracted by the promise of wealth transformed the demographic makeup of the region. Construction of the First transcontinental railroad from the Oakland Long Wharf attracted so many laborers from China that by 1870, eight percent of San Francisco's population was of Asian origin.{{cite web |title=Historical Census Statistics On Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For Large Cities And Other Urban Places In The United States |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html |access-date=December 18, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812191959/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html |archive-date=August 12, 2012}} The completion of the railroad connected the Bay Area with the rest of the United States, established a truly national marketplace for the trade of goods, and accelerated the urbanization of the region.{{cite web |url=http://railroad.historyproject.ucdavis.edu/about/content-scope-and-approach/ |title=The Transcontinental Railroad: Transforing California and the Nation |publisher=UC Davis |access-date=September 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702150752/http://railroad.historyproject.ucdavis.edu/about/content-scope-and-approach/ |archive-date=July 2, 2018 |url-status=dead}}

File:Post-and-Grant-Avenue-Look.jpg|alt=A historical image of damaged and destroyed buildings after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco]]

In the early morning of April 18, 1906, a large earthquake with an epicenter near the city of San Francisco hit the region.{{cite web |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/18april/ |title=The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920005432/https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/18april/ |url-status=live}} Immediate casualty estimates by the U.S. Army's relief operations were 498 deaths in San Francisco, 64 deaths in Santa Rosa, and 102 in or near San Jose, for a total of about 700. More recent studies estimate the total death count to be over 3,000, with over 28,000 buildings destroyed.{{cite web |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/18april/casualties.php |title=Casualties and damage after the 1906 Earthquake |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=October 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018110925/https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/18april/casualties.php |url-status=live}} Rebuilding efforts began immediately. Amadeo Peter Giannini, owner of the Bank of Italy (now known as the Bank of America), had managed to retrieve the money from his bank's vaults before fires broke out through the city and was the only bank with liquid funds readily available and was instrumental in loaning out funds for rebuilding efforts. Congress immediately approved plans for a reservoir in Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, a plan they had denied a few years earlier, which now provides drinking water for 2.4 million people in the Bay Area. By 1915, the city had been sufficiently rebuilt and advertised itself to the world during the Panama Pacific Exposition that year, although the effects of the quake hastened the loss of the region's dominant status in California to the Los Angeles metropolitan area.{{cite web |url=http://old.seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2002931392_calquake15.html |title=Ripples from 1906 San Francisco quake felt even today |author=Rodgers, Paul |work=The Seattle Times |date=April 15, 2006 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819071601/http://old.seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2002931392_calquake15.html |archive-date=August 19, 2018 |url-status=dead}}

File:Alexander Loudon, de Nederlandse ambassadeur in de Verenigde Staten, ondertekent in aanwezigheid van Charles Olke (II) van der Plas en andere leden van de Nederlandse delegatie het handvast van de Uni, KITLV 403000.tiff was created in San Francisco in 1945, when the United Nations Charter was signed at the San Francisco Conference.]]

During the 1929 stock market crash and subsequent economic depression, not a single San Francisco-based bank failed,{{cite web |title=San Francisco Gold Rush Banking – 1849 |publisher=The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco |date=June 24, 2004 |url=http://www.sfmuseum.net/hist9/banking.html |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=May 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509133016/http://www.sfmuseum.net/hist9/banking.html |url-status=live}} while the region attempted to spur job growth by simultaneously undertaking two large infrastructure projects: construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, which would connect San Francisco with Marin County,{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/05/27/153778083/75-years-later-building-the-golden-gate-bridge |title=75 Years Ago, A Deadly Day On The Golden Gate |publisher=National Public Radio |date=May 27, 2012 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |author=Standen, Amy |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924230253/http://www.npr.org/2012/05/27/153778083/75-years-later-building-the-golden-gate-bridge |url-status=live}} and the Bay Bridge, which would connect San Francisco with Oakland and the East Bay.{{cite web |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2013/08/09/building-the-bay-bridge-1930s-vs-today/ |title=Building the Bay Bridge: 1930s vs. today |work=San Jose Mercury News |author=Vorderbrueggen, Lisa |date=August 9, 2013 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=July 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724125500/http://www.mercurynews.com/2013/08/09/building-the-bay-bridge-1930s-vs-today/ |url-status=live}} After the United States joined World War II in 1941, the Bay Area became a major domestic military and naval hub, with large shipyards constructed in Sausalito and across the East Bay to build ships for the war effort.{{cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/World-War-II-reshaped-the-Bay-Area-and-its-people-3589894.php |title=World War II reshaped the Bay Area and its people |author=Nolte, Carl |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=May 28, 2012 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=September 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925035456/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/World-War-II-reshaped-the-Bay-Area-and-its-people-3589894.php |url-status=live}} The Army's San Francisco Port of Embarkation was the primary origin for Army forces shipping out to the Pacific Theater of Operations.{{cite book |last1=Wardlow |first1=Chester |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-19/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111031213225/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-19/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 31, 2011 |title=The Technical Services—The Transportation Corps: Responsibilities, Organization, And Operations |publisher=Center Of Military History, United States Army |year=1999 |series=United States Army In World War II |location=Washington, DC |pages=96–97, 100 |lccn=99490905 |access-date=24 August 2021}}{{cite book |last1=Bykofsky |first1=Joseph |last2=Larson |first2=Harold |year=1990 |title=The Technical Services—The Transportation Corps: Operations Overseas |series=United States Army In World War II |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Center Of Military History, United States Army |isbn= |lccn=56060000 |page=39 |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-21/CMH_Pub_10-21.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927120810/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-21/CMH_Pub_10-21.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 27, 2012 |access-date=24 August 2021}} That command consisted of fourteen installations including Fort Mason, the Oakland Army Base, Camp Stoneman and Fort McDowell in San Francisco Bay and the sub port of Los Angeles.{{cite report |last=Thompson |first=Erwin N. |date=July 8, 1984 |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form, San Francisco Port of Embarkation, U.S. Army |location=Denver, Colorado |publisher=National Park Service, Denver Service Center |page=Part 8, Significance, p.4 |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/85002433_NHL.pdf |access-date=9 September 2021}}

After World War II, the United Nations was chartered in San Francisco, and in September 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco to re-establish peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers was signed in San Francisco, entering into force a year later.{{cite web |url=https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20136/volume-136-I-1832-English.pdf |title=Treaty of Peace with Japan (with two declarations). Signed at San Francisco, on 8 September 1951 |publisher=United Nations |date=September 8, 1951 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=September 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929012644/https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20136/volume-136-I-1832-English.pdf |url-status=live}} In the years immediately following the war, the Bay Area saw a huge wave of immigration as populations increased across the region. Between 1950 and 1960, San Francisco welcomed over 100,000 new residents, inland suburbs in the East Bay saw their populations double, Daly City's population quadrupled, and Santa Clara's population quintupled.

File:Police, Stop the Draft Week (cropped).jpg march in Oakland, led by David Harris in 1967.]]

By the early 1960s, the Bay Area and the rest of Northern California became the center of the counterculture movement. Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco were seen as centers of activity,{{cite book |title=A Cultural History of the Radical Sixties in the San Francisco Bay Area |author=Ashbolt, Anthony |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |page=4}} with the hit American pop song San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) further enticing like-minded individuals to join the movement in the Bay Area and leading to the Summer of Love.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9487213/Scott-McKenzie-1960s-counter-culture-singer-dies-at-73.html |title=Scott McKenzie, 1960s counter-culture singer, dies at 73 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=August 20, 2012 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924230705/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9487213/Scott-McKenzie-1960s-counter-culture-singer-dies-at-73.html |url-status=live}} In the proceeding decades, the Bay Area would cement itself as a hotbed of New Left activism, student activism, opposition to the Vietnam War and other anti-war movements, the black power movement, and the gay rights movement. At the same time, parts of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties began to rapidly develop from an agrarian economy into a hotbed of the high-tech industry.{{cite web |url=https://www.sjpl.org/blog/looking-back-canning-valley-hearts-delight |title=Looking Back: Canning in the Valley of Heart's Delight |publisher=San Jose Public Library |author=Robertson, Mark |access-date=September 24, 2017 |date=May 23, 2013 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924232955/https://www.sjpl.org/blog/looking-back-canning-valley-hearts-delight |url-status=live}} Fred Terman, the director of a top-secret research project at Harvard University during World War II, joined the faculty at Stanford University in order to reshape the university's engineering department. His students, including David Packard and William Hewlett, would later help usher in the region's high-tech revolution. In 1955, Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory opened for business in Mountain View near Stanford, and although the business venture was a financial failure, it was the first semiconductor company in the Bay Area, and the talent that it attracted to the region eventually led to a high-tech cluster of companies later known as Silicon Valley.{{cite web |url=http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/corgs/shocksemi.html |title=Shockley Semiconductor |publisher=Public Broadcasting Station |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=October 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026102245/http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/corgs/shocksemi.html |url-status=live}}

File:Cover of San Francisco Chronicle November 28 1978.jpg in 1978 led to the White Night riots and the abolition of diminished responsibility as a criminal defense in California.]]

In 1989, in the middle of a World Series game between two Bay Area baseball teams, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck and caused widespread infrastructural damage, including the failure of the Bay Bridge, a major link between San Francisco and Oakland.{{cite news |title=The California Quake: The Bay Bridge; Damage to Link Across Bay Is More Serious Than Thought |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/20/us/california-quake-bay-bridge-damage-link-across-bay-more-serious-than-thought.html |author=The New York Times |date=October 20, 1989 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=October 9, 2017 |archive-date=December 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220025932/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/20/us/california-quake-bay-bridge-damage-link-across-bay-more-serious-than-thought.html |url-status=live}} Even so, the Bay Area's technology industry continued to expand and growth in Silicon Valley accelerated: the United States census confirmed that year that San Jose had overtaken San Francisco in terms of population.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/c1008090pc.txt |title=1990 and 1980 Census Counts for Cities with 1990 Population Greater Than 100,000 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=August 8, 2014 |quote=1980: San Francisco = 678974, San Jose = 629400. 1990: San Jose = 782248, San Francisco = 723959 |archive-date=June 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629135637/http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/c1008090pc.txt |url-status=live}} The commercialization of the Internet in the middle of the decade rapidly created a speculative bubble in the high-tech economy known as the dot-com bubble. This bubble began collapsing in the early 2000s and the industry continued contracting for the next few years, nearly wiping out the market. Companies like Amazon.com and Google managed to weather the crash however, and following the industry's return to normalcy, their market value increased significantly.{{cite web |url=https://etfdailynews.com/2015/05/13/when-did-the-stock-market-crash-a-list-of-u-s-markets-worst-declines-dow-jones/ |title=When Did The Stock Market Crash? A List Of U.S. Markets' Worst Declines |author=Clark, Tara |publisher=ETF Daily News |date=May 13, 2015 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=January 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118003157/https://etfdailynews.com/2015/05/13/when-did-the-stock-market-crash-a-list-of-u-s-markets-worst-declines-dow-jones/ |url-status=live}}

Even as the growth of the technology sector transformed the region's economy, progressive politics continued to guide the region's political environment. By the turn of the millennium, non-Hispanic whites, the largest ethnic group in the United States, were only half of the population in the Bay Area as immigration among minority groups accelerated. During this time, the Bay Area was the center of the LGBT rights movement: in 2004, San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a first in the United States,{{cite news |title=Gays rush to San Francisco to wed |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3488005.stm |access-date=October 1, 2014 |work=BBC News |date=February 15, 2004 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006140434/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3488005.stm |url-status=live}} and four years later a majority of voters in the Bay Area rejected California Proposition 8, which sought to constitutionally restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples but ultimately passed statewide.{{cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Voters-backing-same-sex-marriage-ban-3186400.php |title=Voters backing same-sex marriage ban |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=November 5, 2008 |access-date=October 9, 2017 |author=Wildermuth, John |archive-date=October 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009193922/http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Voters-backing-same-sex-marriage-ban-3186400.php |url-status=live}}

File:Black Lives Matter protest in San Jose, CA on June 7, 2020 - 0407 (cropped).jpg/George Floyd protests in San Jose in 2020]]

The Bay Area was also the center of contentious protests concerning racial and economic inequality. In 2009, an African-American man named Oscar Grant was fatally shot by Bay Area Rapid Transit police officers, precipitating widespread protests across the region and even riots in Oakland.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/09/MNC3155VI6.DTL |title=Oakland storekeepers tell of night of terror |author=Jones, Carolyn |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=January 9, 2009 |access-date=January 10, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116095506/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2009%2F01%2F09%2FMNC3155VI6.DTL |archive-date=January 16, 2009 |url-status=dead}} His name was symbolically tied to the Occupy Oakland protests two years later that sought to fight against social and economic inequality.{{cite web |url=http://blog.sfgate.com/abraham/2011/10/30/occupy-oakland-the-oscar-grant-frank-ogawa-plaza-issue/ |author= ((Zennie62)) |title=Occupy Oakland: The Oscar Grant / Frank Ogawa Plaza Issue |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=October 30, 2011 |access-date=October 9, 2017 |archive-date=November 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105015417/http://blog.sfgate.com/abraham/2011/10/30/occupy-oakland-the-oscar-grant-frank-ogawa-plaza-issue/ |url-status=dead }} By August 2023, San Francisco was in such severe decline that Mayor Matt Mahan of San Jose joked that one day the region might be renamed the "San Jose Bay Area", after its largest and most prosperous city.{{cite news |last1=Kamisher |first1=Eliyahu |title=Move Over, San Francisco: The Suburbs of Silicon Valley Are Calling |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-29/silicon-valley-is-thriving-as-tech-epicenter-while-san-francisco-struggles |access-date=March 3, 2024 |work=Bloomberg |date=August 29, 2023 |url-access=subscription}}

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File:California Bay Area county map (zoom&color).svg:

{{legend|#4997D0|North Bay}}{{legend|#F8DE7E|San Francisco}}{{legend|#C08081 |San Francisco Peninsula}}{{legend|#ACE1AF |South Bay / Santa Clara Valley}}{{legend|#DDD06A|East Bay}}]]

The borders of the San Francisco Bay Area are not officially delineated, and the unique development patterns influenced by the region's topography, as well as unusual commute patterns caused by the presence of three central cities and employment centers located in various suburban locales, has led to considerable disagreement between local and federal definitions of the area. Because of this, professor of geography at the University of California, Berkeley Richard Walker claimed that "no other U.S. city-region is as definitionally challenged [as the Bay Area]."{{cite journal |url=http://geography.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Walker_107.pdf |title=The strange case of the Bay Area |pages=11–13 |author=Walker, Richard and Alex Schafran |journal=Environment and Planning |volume=47 |year=2015 |issue=1 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924185034/http://geography.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Walker_107.pdf |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |url-status=dead |doi=10.1068/a46277 |bibcode=2015EnPlA..47...10W |s2cid=143111595 |s2cid-access=free}}

When the region began to rapidly develop during and immediately after World War II, local planners settled on a nine-county definition for the Bay Area, consisting of the counties that directly border the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun estuaries: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties.{{cite web |url=https://www.kqed.org/news/11689315/how-do-you-define-the-bay-area-2 |title=How Do You Define the 'Bay Area'? |publisher=KQED |author=Placzek, Jessica |date=September 6, 2018 |access-date=September 10, 2018 |archive-date=September 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911015224/https://www.kqed.org/news/11689315/how-do-you-define-the-bay-area-2 |url-status=live}} Today, this definition is accepted by most local governmental agencies including San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board,{{cite web |url=http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/publications_forms/publications/factsheets/docs/region_brds.pdf |title=The Nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards in California |publisher=California Water Boards |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207151544/http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/publications_forms/publications/factsheets//docs/region_brds.pdf |url-status=live}} Bay Area Air Quality Management District,{{cite web |url=http://www.baaqmd.gov/about-the-air-district |title=About the Air District |publisher=Bay Area Air Quality Management District |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918030716/http://www.baaqmd.gov/about-the-air-district |url-status=live}} the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority,{{cite web |url=http://sfbayrestore.org/ |title=Welcome page |publisher=San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912163532/http://sfbayrestore.org/ |url-status=live}} the Metropolitan Transportation Commission,{{cite web |url=http://mtc.ca.gov/about-mtc/what-mtc/nine-bay-area-counties |title=Nine Bay Area counties |work=Metropolitan Transportation Commission |date=June 9, 2015 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925035850/https://mtc.ca.gov/about-mtc/what-mtc/nine-bay-area-counties |url-status=live}} and the Association of Bay Area Governments,{{cite web |url=http://abag.ca.gov/overview/members.html |title=ABAG Members |publisher=Association of Bay Area Governments |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929223523/http://abag.ca.gov/overview/members.html |url-status=live}} the latter two of which partner to deliver a Bay Area Census using the nine-county definition.{{cite web |url=http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/counties/counties.htm |title=Bay Area Census – Counties |publisher=Bay Area Census |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913050050/http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/counties/counties.htm |url-status=live}}

Various U.S. Federal government agencies use definitions that differ from their local counterparts' nine-county definition. For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which regulates broadcast, cable, and satellite transmissions, includes nearby Colusa, Lake and Mendocino counties in their "San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose" media market, but excludes eastern Solano County.{{cite web |url=http://www.truckads.com/Designated-Market/San-Francisco-Oakland-San-Jose.htm |title=San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland Designated Media Market Data |publisher=Truck Ads |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920143113/http://www.truckads.com/Designated-Market/San-Francisco-Oakland-San-Jose.htm |url-status=live}} On the other hand, the United States Office of Management and Budget, which designates metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and combined statistical areas (CSA) for populated regions across the country, has five MSAs which include, wholly or partially, areas within the nine-county definition, and one CSA which includes eight Bay Area counties (excluding Sonoma), but including neighboring San Benito, Santa Cruz, San Joaquin, Merced, and Stanislaus counties.{{cite web |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/OMB-Bulletin-23-01.pdf |title=OMB Bulletin 23-01 |author=Office of Management and Budget |access-date=October 11, 2023 |date=July 21, 2023}}

The Association of Bay Area Health Officers (ABAHO), an organization that has fought local outbreaks of HIV/AIDS in 1980s and with COVID-19 pandemic and Deltacron hybrid variant (2020–22), consists of the public health officers of 9 Bay Area counties, in addition to the Central Coast counties of Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey and the city of Berkeley.

Among locals, the nine-county Bay Area is divided into five sub-regions: the East Bay, North Bay, Peninsula, city of San Francisco, and South Bay.

The "East Bay" is the densest region of the Bay Area outside of San Francisco and includes cities and towns in Alameda and Contra Costa counties centered around Oakland. As one of the larger subregions, the East Bay includes a variety of enclaves, including the suburban Tri-Valley area and the highly urban western part of the subregion that runs alongside the bay, including Oakland.{{cite book |last=Crawford |first=Sabrina |title=Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to And Living in the San Francisco Bay Area: Including San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, And Palo Alto |url=https://archive.org/details/newcomershandboo00sabr |url-access=registration |access-date=February 9, 2013 |date=January 31, 2006 |publisher=First Books |isbn=978-0-912301-63-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newcomershandboo00sabr/page/99 99]–129}}

The "North Bay" includes Marin, Sonoma, Napa, and Solano counties, and is the geographically largest and least populated subregion. The western counties of Marin and Sonoma are encased by the Pacific Ocean on the west and the bay on the east and are characterized by their mountainous and woody terrain. Sonoma and Napa counties are known internationally for their grape vineyards and wineries, and Solano County to the east, centered around Vallejo, is the fastest growing region in the Bay Area.{{cite book |last=Crawford |first=Sabrina |title=Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to And Living in the San Francisco Bay Area: Including San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, And Palo Alto |url=https://archive.org/details/newcomershandboo00sabr |url-access=registration |access-date=February 9, 2013 |date=January 31, 2006 |publisher=First Books |isbn=978-0-912301-63-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newcomershandboo00sabr/page/78 78]–98}}

File:East-bay-2015 (cropped).jpg|East Bay

File:Silicon Valley, facing southward towards Downtown San Jose, 2014 (cropped).jpg|South Bay

File:Napa River in Vallejo.jpg|North Bay

File:San Francisco and SFO Aerial 2018.jpg|San Francisco and the Peninsula

The "Peninsula" subregion includes the cities and towns on the San Francisco Peninsula, excluding the titular city of San Francisco. Its eastern half, which runs alongside the Bay, is highly populated, while its less populated western coast traces the coastline of the Pacific Ocean and is known for its open space and hiking trails. Roughly coinciding with the borders of San Mateo County, it also includes the northwestern Santa Clara County cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Los Altos.{{cite book |last=Crawford |first=Sabrina |title=Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to And Living in the San Francisco Bay Area: Including San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, And Palo Alto |url=https://archive.org/details/newcomershandboo00sabr |url-access=registration |access-date=February 9, 2013 |date=January 31, 2006 |publisher=First Books |isbn=978-0-912301-63-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newcomershandboo00sabr/page/130 130]–156}}

Although geographically located on the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, the city of San Francisco is not considered part of the "Peninsula" subregion, but as a separate entity.{{cite book |last=Crawford |first=Sabrina |title=Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to And Living in the San Francisco Bay Area: Including San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, And Palo Alto |url=https://archive.org/details/newcomershandboo00sabr |url-access=registration |access-date=February 9, 2013 |date=January 31, 2006 |publisher=First Books |isbn=978-0-912301-63-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newcomershandboo00sabr/page/9 9]–182}}{{cite news |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/nativeson/article/Peninsula-a-surprise-find-south-of-S-F-6617485.php |title=Peninsula a surprise find south of S.F. |author=Nolte, Carl |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=November 7, 2015 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924183543/http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/nativeson/article/Peninsula-a-surprise-find-south-of-S-F-6617485.php |url-status=live}}

The term "South Bay" has different meanings to different groups: Writing in 1959 for the Army Corps of Engineers, the United States Department of Commerce defined the South Bay as comprising five counties, corresponding to their two-way division of the bay into north and south regions.{{cite book |title=Future Development of the San Francisco Bay Area, 1960–2020 |author=United States Department of Commerce, Office of Area Development |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDFFAQAAIAAJ |date=December 1959 |page=69 }} In 1989, the federal Environmental Protection Agency defined the South Bay as the northern part of Santa Clara County and the southeastern part of San Mateo County.{{cite book |url=https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/9100976C.TXT |title=Groundwater Contamination Cleanups at South Bay Superfund Sites: Progress Report |date=April 1989 |publisher=United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX |page=3 }}

{{See also|Climate of California}}

File:Northern California Coast as seen from Muir Beach Overlook.jpg near Muir Beach]]

The Bay Area is located in the warm-summer Mediterranean climate zone (Köppen Csb) that is a characteristic of California's coast, featuring mild to cool winters with occasional rainfall, and warm to hot, dry summers.{{cite web |url=http://ggweather.com/sf/narrative.html |title=Climate of San Francisco |publisher=Golden Gate Weather Services |date=2009 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=January 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150116053815/http://ggweather.com/sf/narrative.html |url-status=live}} It is largely influenced by the cold California Current, which penetrates the natural mountainous barrier along the coast by traveling through various gaps.{{cite web |url=http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/sfd_sjc_climate/sjc/SJC_CLIMATE3.php |title=Climate of San Jose |author=Miller, Miguel |publisher=National Weather Service |date=April 1999 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=December 15, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041215213648/http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/sfd_sjc_climate/sjc/SJC_CLIMATE3.php |url-status=live}} In terms of precipitation, this means that the Bay Area has pronounced seasons. The winter season, which roughly runs between November and March, is the source of about 82% of annual precipitation in the area. In the South Bay and further inland, while the winter season is cool and mild, the summer season is characterized by warm sunny days, while in San Francisco and areas closer to the Golden Gate strait, the summer season is periodically affected by fog.

File:Lafayette Reservoir aerial.jpg beyond Lafayette Reservoir]]

Due to the Bay Area's diverse topographic relief (itself the result of the clashing tectonic plates), the region is home to numerous microclimates that lead to pronounced differences in climate and temperature over short distances.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Weather-as-varied-as-the-people-Land-and-fog-2900468.php |title=Weather as varied as the people / Land and fog build summer microclimates |author=Gillam, Harold |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=July 9, 2001 |access-date=September 19, 2001 |archive-date=January 8, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130108231926/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Weather-as-varied-as-the-people-Land-and-fog-2900468.php |url-status=live}} Within the city of San Francisco, natural and artificial topographical features direct the movement of wind and fog, resulting in startlingly varied climates between city blocks. Along the Golden Gate Strait, oceanic wind and fog from the Pacific Ocean are able to penetrate the mountain barriers inland into the Bay Area.

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.{{Cite journal |last=Gilliam |first=Harold |author-link=Harold Gilliam |title=Cutting Through the Fog: Demystifying the Summer Spectacle |journal=Bay Nature |date=July–September 2002 |url=http://baynature.org/articles/jul-sep-2002/cutting-through-the-fog |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=June 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622075243/http://baynature.org/articles/jul-sep-2002/cutting-through-the-fog |url-status=live}} The microclimate phenomenon is most pronounced during this time, when fog penetration is at its maximum in areas near the Golden Gate strait, while the South Bay and areas further inland are sunny and dry.

File:San Bruno Mountain aerial wide (cropped).jpg divides San Francisco from San Mateo County.]]

Along the San Francisco peninsula, gaps in the Santa Cruz Mountains, one south of San Bruno Mountain and another in Crystal Springs, allow oceanic weather into the interior, causing a cooling effect for cities along the Peninsula and even as far south as San Jose. This weather pattern is also the source for delays at San Francisco International Airport. In Marin county north of the Golden Gate strait, two gaps north of Muir Woods bring cold air across the Marin Headlands, with the cooling effect reaching as far north as Santa Rosa. Further inland, the East Bay receives oceanic weather that travels through the Golden Gate strait, and further diffuses that air through the Berkeley Hills, Niles Canyon and the Hayward Pass into the Livermore Valley and Altamont Pass. Here, the resulting breeze is so strong that it is home to one of the world's largest array of wind turbines. Further north, the Carquinez Strait funnels the ocean weather into the San Joaquin River Delta, causing a cooling effect in Stockton and Sacramento, so that these cities are also cooler than their Central Valley counterparts in the south.

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{{Main|Ecology of the San Francisco Estuary}}

{{See also|List of species endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area}}

File:Arastradero Coyote (2079329003).jpg in the Arastradero Preserve]]

The Bay Area is home to a diverse array of wildlife and, along with the connected San Joaquin River Delta represents one of California's most important ecological habitats.{{cite web |url=http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/san_francisco_bay_area_and_delta_protection/ |title=San Francisco Bay Area and Delta Protection |publisher=Center for Biological Diversity |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915154512/http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/san_francisco_bay_area_and_delta_protection/ |url-status=live}} California's Dungeness crab, Pacific halibut, and the California scorpionfish are all significant components of the bay's fisheries.{{cite web |url=https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Regulations/Fishing-Map/San-Francisco |title=Current California Ocean Recreational Fishing Regulations |publisher=California Department of Fish and Wildlife |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924185638/https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Regulations/Fishing-Map/San-Francisco |url-status=live}} The bay's salt marshes now represent most of California's remaining salt marsh and support a number of endangered species and provide key ecosystem services such as filtering pollutants and sediments from the rivers.{{cite web |url=https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=87379 |title=From Salt Production to Salt Marsh |publisher=NASA Earth Observatory |date=February 11, 2016 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=May 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519201705/http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=87379 |url-status=live}} Most famously, the bay is a key link in the Pacific Flyway and with millions of shorebirds annually visiting the bay shallows as a refuge, is the most important component of the flyway south of Alaska.{{cite web |url=http://data.prbo.org/apps/pfss/uploads/Reports/SanFranciscoBayShorebirdMonitoringPlan_v1.0_FULL_PRBO_2010CALCC.pdf |title=A Monitoring Plan for Wintering Shorebids in the San Francisco Bay |author=Reiter, Matthew E.|display-authors=etal |publisher=California Landscape Conservation Cooperative |date=April 2011 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=August 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819071630/http://data.prbo.org/apps/pfss/uploads/Reports/SanFranciscoBayShorebirdMonitoringPlan_v1.0_FULL_PRBO_2010CALCC.pdf |url-status=live}} Many endangered species of birds are also found here: the California least tern, the California clapper rail, the snowy egret, and the black crowned night heron.{{cite web |url=http://www.southbayrestoration.org/Fact%20Sheets/FS5.html |title=Threatened and Endangered species |publisher=South Bay Restoration Project |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=August 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819071630/http://www.southbayrestoration.org/Fact%20Sheets/FS5.html |url-status=live}}

File:River otter Richmond Marina Scott Campbell July 29, 2010.jpgs sunning on rocks in the Inner Harbor of Richmond|alt=An image of river otter sunning on rocks.]]

There is also a significant diversity of salmonids present in the bay. Steelhead populations in California have dramatically declined due to human and natural causes; in the Bay Area, all naturally spawned anadromous steelhead populations below natural and manmade impassable barriers in California streams from the Russian River to Aptos Creek, and the drainages of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bays are listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act.{{cite report |title=Central California Coast Steelhead DPS |publisher=NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Northwest Regional Office |url=http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/ESA-Salmon-Listings/Salmon-Populations/Steelhead/STCCC.cfm |access-date=February 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608223859/http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/ESA-Salmon-Listings/Salmon-Populations/Steelhead/STCCC.cfm |archive-date=June 8, 2010 |url-status=dead}} The Central California Coast coho salmon population is the most endangered of the many troubled salmon populations on the west coast of the United States, including populations residing in tributaries to San Francisco Bay.{{cite journal |title=In Central California, Coho Salmon Are on the Brink |author=Greg Miller |journal=Science |date=January 2010 |doi=10.1126/science.327.5965.512 |volume=327 |issue=5965 |pages=512–3 |pmid=20110475 |bibcode=2010Sci...327..512M}} California Coast Chinook salmon were historically native to the Guadalupe River in San Francisco Bay, and Chinook salmon runs persist today in the Guadalupe River, Coyote Creek, Napa River, and Walnut Creek.{{cite journal |title=Ancient DNA analysis of archaeological specimens extends Chinook salmon's known historic range to San Francisco Bay's tributaries and southernmost watershed |vauthors=Lanman RB, Hylkema L, Boone CM, Allee B, Castillo RO, MorenoI SA, Flores MF, DeSilva U, Bingham B, Kemp BM |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=16 |issue=4 |date=April 15, 2021 |pages=e0244470 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0244470 |pmid=33857143 |pmc=8049268 |bibcode=2021PLoSO..1644470L |doi-access=free}} Industrial, mining, and other uses of mercury have resulted in a widespread distribution of that poisonous metal in the bay, with uptake in the bay's phytoplankton and contamination of its sportfish.{{cite book |journal=Rev Environ Contam Toxicol |year=2008 |volume=194 |pages=29–54 |author1=Conaway CH |author2=Black FJ |author3=Grieb TM |author4=Roy S |author5=Flegal AR |title=Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology |chapter=Mercury in the San Francisco Estuary |pmid=18069645 |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-74816-0_2 |isbn=978-0-387-74815-3}}

File:Beaver Yearling Grooming Alhambra Creek 2008.jpg in Alhambra Creek]]

Aquatic mammals are also present in the bay. Before 1825, Spanish, French, English, Russians and Americans were drawn to the Bay Area to harvest prodigious quantities of beaver, river otter, marten, fisher, mink, fox, weasel, harbor and fur seals and sea otter. This early fur trade, known as the California Fur Rush, was more than any other single factor, responsible for opening up the West and the San Francisco Bay Area, in particular, to world trade.{{cite book |author=Skinner, John E. |year=1962 |title=An Historical Review of the Fish and Wildlife Resources of the San Francisco Bay Area (The Mammalian Resources) |url=http://www.estuaryarchive.org/archive/skinner_1962 |publisher=California Department of Fish and Game, Water Projects Branch Report no. 1. Sacramento, California: California Department of Fish and Game |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726035239/http://www.estuaryarchive.org/archive/skinner_1962/ |archive-date=July 26, 2011}} By 1817 sea otter in the area were practically eliminated.{{cite report |title=Archeological Research Issues for the Point Reyes National Seashore – Golden Gate National Recreation Area |author=Suzanne Stewart and Adrian Praetzellis |page=335 |url=http://www.sonoma.edu/asc/projects/pointreyes/overview4.pdf |date=November 2003 |publisher=Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University |access-date=January 10, 2010 |archive-date=June 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602004851/http://www.sonoma.edu/asc/projects/pointreyes/overview4.pdf |url-status=live}} Since then, the California golden beaver re-established a presence in Alhambra Creek, followed by the Napa River and Sonoma Creek in the north, and the Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek in the south.{{cite news |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2014/12/21/leave-it-to-beavers-california-joins-other-states-in-embracing-the-rodent/ |title=Leave it to beavers: California joins other states in embracing the rodent |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |author=Clark, Samantha |date=August 12, 2016 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924185150/http://www.mercurynews.com/2014/12/21/leave-it-to-beavers-california-joins-other-states-in-embracing-the-rodent/ |url-status=live}} The North American river otter which was first reported in Redwood Creek at Muir Beach in 1996,{{cite news |title=Get Outside! |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=April 1966 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/getoutside/1996/apr/rwanimals.html |access-date=March 6, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090630084732/http://www.sfgate.com/getoutside/1996/apr/rwanimals.html |archive-date=June 30, 2009}} has since been spotted in the North Bay's Corte Madera Creek, the South Bay's Coyote Creek,{{cite web |title=Blue Oak Ranch Reserve |publisher=University of California |url=http://nrs.ucop.edu/reserves/blue_oak_ranch/blue_oak.htm |access-date=March 6, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512020828/http://nrs.ucop.edu/reserves/blue_oak_ranch/blue_oak.htm |archive-date=May 12, 2011}} as well as in 2010 in San Francisco Bay itself at the Richmond Marina. Other mammals include the internationally famous sea lions who began inhabiting San Francisco's Pier 39 after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake{{cite web |url=https://www.pier39.com/the-sea-lion-story/ |title=Sea Lions and the Sea Lion Story |publisher=Pier 39 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026144506/https://www.pier39.com/the-sea-lion-story/ |archive-date=October 26, 2019 |url-status=dead}} and the locally famous Humphrey the Whale, a humpback whale who entered San Francisco Bay twice on errant migrations in the late 1980s and early 1990s.{{cite book |author1=Tokuda, Wendy |author1-link=Wendy Tokuda |author2=Hall, Richard |author3=Wakiyama, Hanako (ill.) |title=Humphrey the lost whale: a true story |publisher=Heian Intl Publishing Company |location=Union City, California |date=1986 |isbn=978-0-89346-270-3 |oclc=779021889}} Bottlenose dolphins and harbor porpoises have recently returned to the bay, having been absent for many decades. Historically, this was the northern extent of their warm-water species range.{{cite web |url=http://www.oursausalito.com/fun-sausalito-activities/marine-mammal-center/dolphins-harbor-porpoise-project.html |title=Dolphins and Porpoises in San Francisco Bay |publisher=Our Sausalito |author=Roger, AnnaMarie |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924184549/http://www.oursausalito.com/fun-sausalito-activities/marine-mammal-center/dolphins-harbor-porpoise-project.html |url-status=live}}

File:Himantopus mexicanus -San Francisco Bay, California, USA -flying-8.jpgs in flight at the Baylands Nature Preserve]]

In addition to the many species of marine birds that can be seen in the Bay Area, many other species of birds make the Bay Area their home, making the region a popular destination for birdwatching.{{cite web |url=http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/top-lists/best-places-for-bird-watching-near-bay-area/ |title=Best Places For Bird Watching Near Bay Area |date=September 5, 2015 |publisher=KPIX-5 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |author=Yagi, Randy |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924184412/http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/top-lists/best-places-for-bird-watching-near-bay-area/ |url-status=live}} Many birds are listed as endangered species despite once being common in the region.

Western burrowing owls were originally listed as a species of special concern by the California Department of Fish and Game in 1979. California's population declined 60% from the 1980s to the early 1990s, and continues to decline at roughly 8% per year.{{cite news |title=Owl Be Damned:Developers plow into the homes of the burrowing owl |author=Rendon, JIm |newspaper=Metro, Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper |date=Nov–Dec 1999 |url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/11.24.99/cover/species5-9947.html |access-date=June 28, 2010 |archive-date=June 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607070312/http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/11.24.99/cover/species5-9947.html |url-status=live}} A 1992–93 survey reported little to no breeding burrowing owls in most of the western counties in the Bay Area, leaving only Alameda, Contra Costa, and Solano counties as remnants of a once large breeding range.{{cite news |title=Wild Neighbors: Antioch Owls Face {{as written|Evici|tion [sic]}} |author=Joe Eaton |newspaper=Berkeley Daily Planet |date=January 14, 2010 |url=http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2010-01-14/article/34485?headline=Wild-Neighbors-Antioch-Owls-Face-Evicition |access-date=January 14, 2010 |archive-date=September 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100907001754/http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2010-01-14/article/34485?headline=Wild-Neighbors-Antioch-Owls-Face-Evicition |url-status=live}}

File:Burrowing Owl in Antioch 2009.jpg in Antioch|alt=An image of a family of burrowing owls inside their holes.]]

Bald eagles were once common in the Bay Area, but habitat destruction and thinning of eggs from DDT poisoning reduced the California state population to 35 nesting pairs. Bald eagles disappeared from the Bay Area in 1915, and only began returning in recent years.{{cite news |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/03/in-bay-area-bald-eagles-breed-and-soar-once-more/ |title=In Bay Area, bald eagles breed and soar once more |author=Krieger, Lisa M. |date=April 3, 2017 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924185110/http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/03/in-bay-area-bald-eagles-breed-and-soar-once-more/ |url-status=live}} In the 1980s an effort to re-introduce the species to the area began with the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group and the San Francisco Zoo importing birds and eggs from Vancouver Island and northeastern California,{{cite news |title=Eagles reappear in San Mateo County after nearly century absence |author=Lisa M. Krieger |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |date=March 23, 2012 |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_20243906/eagles-reappear-san-mateo-after-nearly-century-absence#.T28ziNcgZcM.email |access-date=March 25, 2012 |archive-date=January 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116112629/http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_20243906/eagles-reappear-san-mateo-after-nearly-century-absence#.T28ziNcgZcM.email |url-status=live}} and there are now nineteen nesting couples in eight of the Bay Area's nine counties. Other once absent species that have returned to the Bay Area include Swainson's hawk, white tailed kite, and the osprey.

File:Bay Area (22533598484).jpgs with a double crested cormorant and a Western gull at Point Reyes National Seashore]]

In 1927, zoologist Joseph Grinnell wrote that osprey were only rare visitors to the San Francisco Bay Area, although he noted records of one or two used nests in the broken tops of redwood trees along the Russian River.{{cite journal |title=Directory to the bird-life of the San Francisco Bay region |author1=J. Grinnell |author2=M. W. Wythe |year=1927 |journal=Pacific Coast Avifauna |volume=18 |url=https://sora.unm.edu/node/113 |access-date=May 22, 2016 |archive-date=May 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170524221030/https://sora.unm.edu/node/113 |url-status=live}} In 1989, the southern breeding range of the osprey in the Bay Area was Kent Lake, although osprey were noted to be extending their range further south in the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada.{{cite journal |title=Bald Eagle and Osprey, in Proceedings of the Western Raptor Management Symposium and Workshop |author1=C. J. Henny |author2=R. G. Anthony |year=1989 |editor=B. G. Pendleton |pages=66–82 |journal=National Wildlife Federation Scientific and Technical Series |volume=12}} In 2014, a Bay Area-wide survey found osprey had extended their breeding range southward with nesting sites as far south as Hunters Point in San Francisco on the west side and Hayward on the east side, while further studies have found nesting sites as far south as the Los Gatos Creek watershed, indicating that the nesting range now includes the entire length of San Francisco Bay.{{cite book |author=William G. Bousman |title=Breeding Bird Atlas of Santa Clara County, California |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qYNFAQAAIAAJ |date=January 1, 2007 |publisher=Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society |isbn=978-0-9796038-0-8 |access-date=November 3, 2016 |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525044646/https://books.google.com/books?id=qYNFAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live}} Most nests were built on man-made structures close to areas of human disturbance, likely due to lack of mature trees near the Bay.{{cite journal |title=Status of Ospreys Nesting on San Francisco Bay |author1=Anthony J. Brake |author2=Harvey A. Wilson |author3=Robin Leong |author4=Allen M. Fish|name-list-style=amp |journal=Western Birds |date=September 2014 |volume=45 |number=3 |pages=190–198 |url=http://www.westernfieldornithologists.org/archive/V45/WB-45(3)-Brake-190-198.pdf |access-date=May 22, 2016 |archive-date=June 10, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610033943/http://www.westernfieldornithologists.org/archive/V45/WB-45(3)-Brake-190-198.pdf |url-status=live}} The wild turkey population was introduced in the 1960s by state game officials, and by 2015 have become a common sight in East Bay communities.{{cite web |last1=Rubio |first1=Tena |date=November 27, 2015 |title=Like It or Not, Wild Turkeys Proliferate in East Bay |url=http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/11/27/like-it-or-not-wild-turkeys-proliferate-in-east-bay |publisher=KQED |access-date=November 27, 2015 |archive-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208113108/http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/11/27/like-it-or-not-wild-turkeys-proliferate-in-east-bay |url-status=live}}

File:Bay Area by Sentinel-2, 2019-03-11 (small version).jpg and represent the most populated areas.]]

The Bay Area is well known for the complexity of its landforms that are the result of the forces of plate tectonics acting over of millions of years, since the region is located in the middle of a meeting point between two plates.{{Cite book |title=Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region |last=Sloan |first=Doris |publisher=University of California Press |year=2006 |page=2}} Nine out of eleven distinct assemblages have been identified in a single county, Alameda.[http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1996/of96-252/algeo.pdf Preliminary geologic map emphasizing bedrock formations in Alameda County, California: A digital database] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116021336/http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1996/of96-252/algeo.pdf |date=January 16, 2013 }} USGS Publication Diverse assemblages adjoin in complex arrangements due to offsets along the many faults (both active and stable) in the area. As a consequence, many types of rock and soil are found in the region. The oldest rocks are metamorphic rocks that are associated with granite in the Salinian Block west of the San Andreas Fault. These were formed from sedimentary rocks of sandstone, limestone, and shale in uplifted seabeds.{{cite web |url=https://baynature.org/article/what-and-where-are-the-oldest-rocks-in-the-bay-area/ |title=What, and where, are the oldest rocks in the Bay Area? |publisher=Bay Nature Magazine |author=Sloan, Doris |date=October 1, 2001 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924224728/https://baynature.org/article/what-and-where-are-the-oldest-rocks-in-the-bay-area/ |url-status=live}} Volcanic deposits also exist in the Bay Area, left behind by the movement of the San Andreas Fault, whose movement sliced a subduction plate and allowed magma to briefly flow to the surface.{{cite web |url=https://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2011/04/28/bay-area-volcanoes/ |title=Bay Area Volcanoes |author=Alden, Andrew |publisher=KQED |date=April 11, 2011 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924185228/https://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2011/04/28/bay-area-volcanoes/ |url-status=live}}

The region has considerable vertical relief in its landscapes that are not in the alluvial plains leading to the bay or in the inland valleys. The topography, and geologic history, of the Bay Area can largely be attributed to the compressive forces between the Pacific Plate and the North American plate.{{cite web |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2188/b2188ch4.pdf |title=San Andreas Fault and Coastal Geology from Half Moon Bay to Fort Funston: Crustal Motion, Climate Change, and Human Activity |publisher=United States Geological Survey |author=Anderson, David W |display-authors=etal |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=May 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170502033855/https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2188//b2188ch4.pdf |url-status=live}}

File:Eq-prob.jpg or higher earthquake occurring between 2003 and 2032|alt=A map tracing all the fault lines in the Bay Area, and listing probabilities of earthquakes occurring on them.]]

The three major ridge structures in the Bay Area, part of the Pacific Coast Range, are all roughly parallel to the major faults. The Santa Cruz Mountains along the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Hills in Marin County follow the San Andreas fault, The Berkeley Hills, San Leandro Hills and their southern ridgeline extension through Mission Peak roughly follow the Hayward fault, and the Diablo Range, which includes Mount Diablo and Mount Hamilton and runs along the Calaveras fault.{{cite map |title=Fault Activity Map of California |date=2010 |url=http://maps.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/fam/ |publisher=California Geological Survey |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922173523/http://maps.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/fam/ |url-status=live}}

In total, the Bay Area is traversed by seven major fault systems with hundreds of related faults, all of which are stressed by the relative motion between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate or by compressive stresses between these plates. The fault systems include the Hayward Fault Zone, Concord-Green Valley Fault, Calaveras Fault, Clayton-Marsh Creek-Greenville Fault, Rodgers Creek Fault, and the San Gregorio Fault.{{cite web |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/virtualtour/bayarea.php |title=The San Andreas and Other Bay Area Faults |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924184330/https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/virtualtour/bayarea.php |url-status=live}} Significant blind thrust faults (faults with near vertical motion and no surface ruptures) are associated with portions of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the northern reaches of the Diablo Range and Mount Diablo. These "hidden" faults, which are not as well known, pose a significant earthquake hazard.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-home-to-thrust-faults-Some-are-hidden-2544890.php |title=Bay Area home to thrust faults / Some are hidden from scientists' view |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=December 25, 2003 |author=Perlman, David |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924183536/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-home-to-thrust-faults-Some-are-hidden-2544890.php |url-status=live}} Among the more well-understood faults, as of 2014, scientists estimate a 72% probability of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurring along either the Hayward, Rogers Creek, or San Andreas fault, with an earthquake more likely to occur in the East Bay's Hayward Fault.{{cite web |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2016/3020/fs20163020.pdf |title=Earthquake Hazards of The Bay Area Today |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=February 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227062030/https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2016/3020/fs20163020.pdf |url-status=live}} Two of the largest earthquakes in recent history were the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

{{Main|Hydrography of the San Francisco Bay Area}}

File:Sf Estuary Historical.gif, ponds, and tributaries|alt=A map of all the water features in the Bay Area.]]

The Bay Area is home to a complex network of watersheds, marshes, rivers, creeks, reservoirs, and bays that predominantly drain into the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean. The largest bodies of water in the Bay Area are the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun estuaries. Major rivers of the North Bay include the Napa River, the Petaluma River, the Gualala River, and the Russian River; the former two drain into San Pablo Bay, the latter two into the Pacific Ocean. In the South Bay, the Guadalupe River drains into San Francisco Bay near Alviso.{{cite web |url=https://www.arcgis.com/apps/OnePane/basicviewer/index.html?appid=387531ac0c094da5b6139b890958fca6 |title=San Francisco Bay Delta Watershed Map |publisher=ArcGIS |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=February 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203080049/http://www.arcgis.com/apps/OnePane/basicviewer/index.html?appid=387531ac0c094da5b6139b890958fca6 |url-status=live}} There are also several lakes present in the Bay Area, including man-made lakes like Lake Berryessa{{cite web |url=https://www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/berryessa/index.html |title=Lake Berryessa |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925035331/https://www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/berryessa/index.html |url-status=live}} and natural albeit heavily modified lakes like Lake Merritt.{{cite web |url=http://www.lakemerrittinstitute.org/about_lake.htm |title=About Lake Merritt |publisher=The Lake Merritt Institute |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224063330/http://www.lakemerrittinstitute.org/about_lake.htm |archive-date=February 24, 2015 |url-status=dead}}

Prior to the introduction of European agricultural methods, the shores of San Francisco Bay consisted mostly of tidal marshes.{{cite web |url=https://web.stanford.edu/~sophiarc/WetlandsHistory.html |title=A Brief History of the San Francisco Bay Tidal Marshes |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=August 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803215008/http://web.stanford.edu/~sophiarc/WetlandsHistory.html |url-status=live}} Today, the bay has been significantly altered heavily re-engineered to accommodate the needs of water delivery, shipping, agriculture, and urban development, with side effects including the loss of wetlands and the introduction of contaminants and invasive species.Kimmerer, W. (2004). "Open water process of the San Francisco Estuary: from physical forcing to biological responses. " San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science 2(1). pp. 1–13. Approximately 85% of those marshes have been lost or destroyed, but about 50 marshes and marsh fragments remain. Huge tracts of the marshes were originally destroyed by farmers for agricultural purposes, then repurposed to serve as salt evaporation ponds to produce salt for food and other purposes.{{cite news |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2013/08/29/massive-new-wetlands-restoration-reshapes-san-francisco-bay/ |title=Massive new wetlands restoration reshapes San Francisco Bay |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |date=August 12, 2016 |author=Paul, Roger |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924230730/http://www.mercurynews.com/2013/08/29/massive-new-wetlands-restoration-reshapes-san-francisco-bay/ |url-status=live}} Today, regulations limit the destruction of tidal marshes, and large portions are currently being rehabilitated to their natural state.

Over time, droughts and wildfires have increased in frequency and become less seasonal and more year-round, further straining the region's water security.{{cite web |url=https://www.drought.gov |title=North American Monsoon and Drought Relief |website=drought.gov |access-date=November 20, 2021}}{{title missing|date=May 2022}}{{Cite news |last1=Boxall |first1=Bettina |last2=St. John |first2=Paige |date=November 10, 2018 |title=California's most destructive wildfire should not have come as a surprise |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-camp-fire-science-20181110-story.html |access-date=November 11, 2018}}{{Cite web |title=Advancing Drought Science and Preparedness across the Nation |url=https://www.drought.gov/drought/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111042024/https://www.drought.gov/drought/ |archive-date=November 11, 2018 |access-date=November 11, 2018 |publisher=National Integrated Drought Information System}}

{{US Census population

| 1860=114074

| 1870=265808

| 1880=422128

| 1890=547618

| 1900=658111

| 1910=925708

| 1920=1182911

| 1930=1578009

| 1940=1734308

| 1950=2681322

| 1960=3638939

| 1970=4628199

| 1980=5179784

| 1990=6023577

| 2000=6783760

| 2010=7150739

| 2020=7765640

| footnote=Note: Nine-County Population Totals

| align-fn = right

}}

File:Ethnic Origins in the San Francisco Bay Area.png

According to the 2010 United States Census, the population of the nine-county Bay Area was 7.15 million, with 49.6% male and 50.4% female.{{cite web |url=http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/bayarea.htm |title=Bay Area Census – Bay Area Data |publisher=Bayareacensus.ca.gov |access-date=November 4, 2011 |archive-date=October 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026075508/http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/bayarea.htm |url-status=live}} Of these, approximately 2.3 million (32%) are foreign born.{{Cite news |url=http://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/us-immigrant-population-state-and-county |title=U.S. Immigrant Population by State and County |date=February 4, 2014 |work=migrationpolicy.org |access-date=July 6, 2017 |language=en |archive-date=July 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703222630/http://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/us-immigrant-population-state-and-county |url-status=live}} In 2010 the racial makeup of the nine-county Bay Area was 52.5% White (42.4% were non-Hispanic and 10.1% were Hispanic), 23.3% Asian, 6.7% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 0.7% Native American or Alaska Native, 0.6% Pacific Islander, 5.4% from two or more races and 10.8% from other races.{{cite web |url=http://www.dof.ca.gov/research/demographic/state_census_data_center/census_2010/documents/2010Census_Table3A_RedistrictingFile.xls |title=Census 2010: Table 3A – Total Population by Race (Hispanic exclusive) and Hispanic or Latino: 2010 |format=Excel |publisher=California Department of Finance |access-date=June 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124020222/http://www.dof.ca.gov/research/demographic/state_census_data_center/census_2010/documents/2010Census_Table3A_RedistrictingFile.xls |archive-date=November 24, 2011}} Hispanic or Latino residents of any race formed 23.5% of the population.

The Bay Area cities of Vallejo, Suisun City, Oakland, San Leandro, Fairfield, and Richmond are among the most ethnically diverse cities in the United States.{{cite journal |last=Willet |first=Megan |date=July 8, 2013 |journal=Business Insider |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-diverse-cities-in-the-us-2013-7 |title=The Most Diverse Cities in United States |access-date=September 11, 2014 |archive-date=September 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911154628/http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-diverse-cities-in-the-us-2013-7 |url-status=live}}

Non-Hispanic whites form majorities of the population in Marin, Napa, and Sonoma counties. Whites also make up the majority in the eastern regions of the East Bay centered around the Lamorinda and Tri-Valley areas. San Francisco's North Beach district is considered the Little Italy of the city, and was once home to a significant Italian-American community. San Francisco, Marin County{{cite web |url=http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList_195c.asp |title=Judaism (estimated) Metro Areas (2000) |access-date=December 1, 2009 |publisher=The Association of Religion Data Archives |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091123122848/http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList_195c.asp |archive-date=November 23, 2009}} and the Lamorinda area{{Cite news |url=https://www.jweekly.com/2015/09/25/lamorinda-area-of-east-bay-gets-a-new-chabad/ |title=Lamorinda area of East Bay gets a new Chabad |author= |newspaper=J |date=September 25, 2015 |access-date=March 19, 2019 |archive-date=March 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331000345/https://www.jweekly.com/2015/09/25/lamorinda-area-of-east-bay-gets-a-new-chabad/ |url-status=live}} all have substantial Jewish communities. There is a Little Russia community in northwestern San Francisco, and there are Russian communities throughout the Bay Area, especially in San Mateo County and Santa Clara County; there are also Eastern European American groups such as Ukrainians and Poles in dozens of thousands to hundreds of thousands especially in San Francisco and in the Peninsula, including recent immigrants and American-born citizens of Eastern European descent. There are numerous Russian-, Ukrainian-, and Polish-speaking churches in San Francisco, the South Bay, the East Bay, and on the Peninsula.

Like much of the U.S., the Bay Area has a large Irish population and this is reflected in the Richmond District area of San Francisco. San Jose has a Little Portugal.

The Latino population is spread throughout the Bay Area, but among the nine counties, the greatest number live in Santa Clara County, while Contra Costa County has seen the highest growth rate.{{cite news |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/09/08/report-bay-area-latino-population-growth-has-slowed/ |title=Report: Bay Area Latino population growth has slowed |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |author=Sanchez, Tatiana |date=September 6, 2016 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924184316/http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/09/08/report-bay-area-latino-population-growth-has-slowed/ |url-status=live}} The largest Hispanic or Latino groups were those of Mexican (17.9%), Salvadoran (1.3%), Guatemalan (0.6%), Puerto Rican (0.6%) and Nicaraguan (0.5%) ancestry. Mexican Americans make up the largest share of Hispanic residents in Napa county,{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Hispanics-move-from-S-F-San-Jose-into-suburbs-2918330.php |title=Hispanics move from S.F., San Jose into suburbs / Numbers climb fast throughout state |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |author=DelVecchio, Rick |date=May 24, 2001 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924183106/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Hispanics-move-from-S-F-San-Jose-into-suburbs-2918330.php |url-status=live}} while Central Americans make up the largest share in San Francisco, many of whom live in the Mission District which is home to many residents of Salvadoran and Guatemalan descent.{{cite web |url=https://www.kqed.org/w/hood/mission/barrio.html |title=The Mission – A Barrio of Many Colors |publisher=KQED |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=August 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819070729/https://www.kqed.org/w/hood/mission/barrio.html |url-status=live}}

{{multiple image

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| header = Maps of racial distribution according to 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, or Other (yellow)

| image1 = Race and ethnicity 2010- San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley (5560477152).png

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| caption1 = San Francisco and Oakland

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The Asian-American population in the Bay Area is one of the largest in North America. Asian-Americans make up the plurality in two major counties in the Bay Area: Santa Clara County and Alameda County.{{Cite web |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/20/asians-are-now-largest-group-in-two-bay-area-counties-new-data-shows/ |title=Asians are now largest group in these two Bay Area counties, new data shows |date=June 20, 2019 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US |access-date=September 19, 2019 |archive-date=October 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026154020/https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/20/asians-are-now-largest-group-in-two-bay-area-counties-new-data-shows/ |url-status=live}} The largest Asian-American groups were those of Chinese (7.9%), Filipino (5.1%), Indian (3.3%), Vietnamese (2.5%), and Japanese (0.9%) heritage. Asian Americans also constitute a majority in Cupertino, Fremont, Milpitas, Union City and significant populations in Dublin, Foster City, Hercules, Millbrae, San Ramon, Saratoga, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara. The cities of San Jose and San Francisco had the third and fourth most Asian-American residents in the United States.{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-11.pdf |pages=12–13 |title=The Asian Population: 2010 |publisher=U.S. Census |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917175221/https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-11.pdf |url-status=live}} In San Francisco, Chinese Americans constitute 21.4% of the population and constitute the single largest ethnic group in the city.{{cite web |title=QT-P3 – Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin: 2010 |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_SF1_QTP3 |work=2010 United States Census Summary File 1 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=July 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212210601/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_SF1_QTP3 |archive-date=February 12, 2020 |url-status=dead}} The Bay Area is home to over 382,950 Filipino Americans, one of the largest communities of Filipino people outside of the Philippines with the largest proportion of Filipino Americans concentrating themselves within American Canyon, Daly City, Fairfield, Hercules, South San Francisco, Union City and Vallejo.{{cite web |url=http://www.faleo.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=62 |title=Training and Education /PET |access-date=April 28, 2012 |publisher=Filipino-American Law Enforcement Officers Association |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116021343/http://www.faleo.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=62 |archive-date=January 16, 2013}} Santa Clara county, and increasingly the East Bay, house a significant Indian American community.{{cite news |url=http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2011/05/12/indian-american-population-is-fastest-growing-minority-group/ |title=Indian-American population is fastest-growing minority group |date=May 12, 2011 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |newspaper=East Bay Times |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924184854/http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2011/05/12/indian-american-population-is-fastest-growing-minority-group/ |url-status=live}} There are more than 100,000 people of Vietnamese ancestry residing within San Jose city limits, the largest Vietnamese population of any city proper in the world outside of Vietnam.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/02/16/BAG2751OP81.DTL |title=S.F.'s 'Little Saigon' / Stretch of Larkin Street named for Vietnamese Americans |date=February 2004 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=March 6, 2010 |first=Cicero A. |last=Estrella |archive-date=November 19, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119195618/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2004%2F02%2F16%2FBAG2751OP81.DTL |url-status=live}} In addition, there is a sizable community of Korean Americans in Santa Clara county, where San Jose is located.{{cite web |url=http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/asianamericans-maps/ |title=Asian American Maps |publisher=Pew Research |access-date=September 19, 2017 |date=June 19, 2012 |archive-date=October 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001183510/http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/asianamericans-maps/ |url-status=live}} East Bay cities such as Richmond, San Pablo, and Oakland, and the North Bay city of Santa Rosa, have plentiful populations of Laotian and Cambodians in certain neighborhoods.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/thedirt/article/Taste-of-Laos-in-Richmond-school-garden-4298443.php#photo-4220806 |title=Taste of Laos in Richmond school garden |author=Eaton, Joe and Ron Sullivan |date=May 31, 2014 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924184151/http://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/thedirt/article/Taste-of-Laos-in-Richmond-school-garden-4298443.php#photo-4220806 |url-status=live}}

Pacific Islanders such as Samoans and Tongans have the largest presence in East Palo Alto, where they constitute over 7% of the population.{{cite web |url=http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/EastPaloAlto.htm |title=East Palo Alto |publisher=Bay Area Census |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921000508/http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/EastPaloAlto.htm |url-status=live}} San Bruno also has a large Tongan population and so does San Mateo and South San Francisco, which also have smaller communities of Samoans. The Visitacion Valley has a designated Pacific Islander district and Samoan and Tongans have a presence in Southeast San Francisco and Daly City's Bayshore neighborhood.

The African-American population of San Francisco was formerly substantial, had a thriving jazz scene and was known as "Harlem of the West." While black residents formed one-seventh of the city's population in 1970, today they have mostly moved to parts of the East Bay and North Bay, including Antioch,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/black-exodus-from-san-francisco.html?mcubz=1 |title=The Loneliness of Being Black in San Francisco |author=Fuller, Thomas |date=July 20, 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924182812/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/black-exodus-from-san-francisco.html?mcubz=1 |url-status=live}} Fairfield and out of the Bay Area entirely.{{Cite web |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/25-drop-in-African-American-population-in-Oakland-2471925.php |title=25% drop in African American population in Oakland |first=Matthai |last=Kuruvila |date=March 11, 2011 |website=SFGate |access-date=March 19, 2019 |archive-date=March 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331022354/https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/25-drop-in-African-American-population-in-Oakland-2471925.php |url-status=live}} The South Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa was once home to a primarily black community until the 1980s, when many Latino immigrants settled in the area.{{cite web |title=South Park, Santa Rosa's vibrant, ever-changing corner |work=The Press Democrat |url=http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090613/ARTICLES/906139924?p=4&tc=pg |access-date=July 8, 2011 |date=June 14, 2009 |archive-date=September 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925124703/http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090613/ARTICLES/906139924?p=4&tc=pg |url-status=live}} Other cities with large numbers of African Americans include Vallejo (28%),{{cite web |url=http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/Vallejo.htm |title=Vallejo |publisher=Bay Area Census |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924182640/http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/Vallejo.htm |url-status=live}} Richmond (26%),{{cite web |url=http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/Richmond.htm |title=Richmond |publisher=Bay Area Census |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905222109/http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/Richmond.htm |url-status=live}} East Palo Alto (17%) and the CDP of Marin City (38%).{{Cite web |url=http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cdp/MarinCityCDP2010.pdf |title=Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics - GEO: Marin City CDP, California |access-date=March 19, 2019 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412020803/http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cdp/MarinCityCDP2010.pdf |url-status=live}} Suisun City and Vacaville both have African American populations that have accelerated in population since the 2000s. There are also Eritrean, Ethiopian and Nigerian communities.

There is also a significant Middle Eastern and Balkan population. There are 4,000 Armenians in San Francisco, and some in the San Jose area. The San Jose area, especially the Campbell area and some areas off of San Jose's Stevens Creek Blvd contain a Bosnian community. There are several thousand Turks in San Francisco, and a Palestinian population is concentrated in Daly City and San Francisco.

Since the economy of the Bay Area heavily relies on innovation and high-tech skills, a relatively educated population exists in the region. Roughly 87.4% of Bay Area residents have attained a high school degree or higher,{{cite web|title=Community Facts|date=October 5, 2010|publisher=United States Census Bureau|url=https://www.factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml|access-date=May 29, 2023|archive-date=March 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200331054359/https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml|url-status=dead}} while 46% of adults in the Bay Area have earned a post-secondary degree or higher.Scott, W. Richard, and Michael W. Krist. Higher Education and Silicon Valley: Connected but Conflicted. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.

The Bay Area is the wealthiest region per capita in the United States, due, primarily, to the economic power engines of San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland. The Bay Area city of Pleasanton has the second-highest household income in the country after New Canaan, Connecticut. However, discretionary income is very comparable with the rest of the country, primarily because the higher cost of living offsets the increased income.{{cite web |url=http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_4259660 |title=Pleasanton tops county in median household income |publisher=Inside Bay Area |access-date=October 15, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606141112/http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_4259660 |archive-date=June 6, 2011 |url-status=dead |date=August 30, 2006}}

There are 285,000 millionaires living in the region, the third-highest among the world's metropolitan areas after New York City and Tokyo as of 2022.{{Cite web|date=2023|title=World's Wealthiest Cities Report 2023|url=https://www.henleyglobal.com/publications/wealthiest-cities|publisher=Henley & Partners}}

The amount of wealth held by Bay Area residents is about $2.6 trillion, the second-highest in the world after New York City, and just ahead of Tokyo as of 2021.{{cite web|url=https://newworldwealth.com/reports/f/the-wealthiest-cities-in-the-world-2021|title=The Wealthiest Cities in the World 2021|publisher=New World Wealth|access-date=November 29, 2023|archive-date=January 22, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122050955/https://newworldwealth.com/reports/f/the-wealthiest-cities-in-the-world-2021|url-status=dead}}

By 2014, the Bay Area's wealth gap was considerable: the top ten percent of income-earners took home over eleven times as much as the bottom ten percent,{{cite news |url=https://calmatters.org/articles/income-inequality-in-california-may-not-look-like-you-think-it-does-and-why-that-may-be-a-good-thing/ |title=California's rich-poor gap: The reality may surprise you |author=Levin, Matt |date=August 11, 2016 |access-date=October 9, 2017 |newspaper=CalMatters |archive-date=October 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009042244/https://calmatters.org/articles/income-inequality-in-california-may-not-look-like-you-think-it-does-and-why-that-may-be-a-good-thing/ |url-status=live}} and a Brookings Institution study found the San Francisco metro area, which excludes four Bay Area counties, to be the third most unequal urban area in the country.{{cite web |url=https://www.brookings.edu/research/city-and-metropolitan-inequality-on-the-rise-driven-by-declining-incomes/ |title=City and metropolitan inequality on the rise, driven by declining incomes |author=Holmes, Natalie and Alan Berube |date=January 14, 2016 |publisher=Brookings Institution |access-date=October 9, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924055819/https://www.brookings.edu/research/city-and-metropolitan-inequality-on-the-rise-driven-by-declining-incomes/ |url-status=live}} Among the wealthy, forty-seven Bay Area residents made Forbes magazine's 400 richest Americans list, published in 2007.

Statistics regarding crime rates in the Bay Area generally fall into two categories: violent crime and property crime. Historically, violent crime has been concentrated in a few cities in the East Bay, namely Oakland, Richmond, Martinez, and Antioch, but also in East Palo Alto within the Peninsula, Vallejo in the North Bay, and San Francisco.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/U-S-crime-drops-again-but-gains-uneven-in-Bay-6536129.php |title=U.S. crime drops again, but gains uneven in Bay Area |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |author=Sernoffsky, Evan and Kurtis Alexander |date=September 28, 2015 |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924185447/http://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/U-S-crime-drops-again-but-gains-uneven-in-Bay-6536129.php |url-status=live}} Nationally, Oakland's murder rate ranked 18th among cities with over 100,000 residents, and third for violent crimes per capita.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/FBI-report-reveals-safest-and-most-dangerous-Bay-9399281.php |title=FBI report reveals safest and most dangerous Bay Area cities |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |author=Veklerov, Kimberly |date=September 28, 2016 |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924183228/http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/FBI-report-reveals-safest-and-most-dangerous-Bay-9399281.php |url-status=live}} According to a 2015 Federal Bureau of Investigation report, Oakland was also the source of the most violent crime in the Bay Area, with 16.9 reported incidents per thousand people. Vallejo came in second, at 8.7 incidents per thousand people, while San Pablo, Antioch, and San Francisco rounded out the top five. East Palo Alto, which used to have the Bay Area's highest murder rate, saw violent crime incidents drop 65% between 2013 and 2014, while Oakland saw violent crime incidents drop 15%. Meanwhile, San Jose, which was one of the safest large cities in the United States in the early 2000s, has seen its violent crime rates trend upwards.{{cite news |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/31/san-jose-street-violence-rises-burglary-drops-in-scattered-crime-profile-for-2016/ |title=San Jose: Street violence rises, burglary drops in scattered crime profile for 2016 |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |author=Salonga, Robert |date=December 31, 2016 |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924184756/http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/31/san-jose-street-violence-rises-burglary-drops-in-scattered-crime-profile-for-2016/ |url-status=live}} Cities with the lowest rate of violent crime include the Peninsula cities of Los Altos and Foster City, East Bay cities of San Ramon and Danville, and southern foothill cities of Saratoga and Cupertino. In 2015, 45 Bay Area cities counted zero homicides, the largest of which was Daly City.

In 2015, Oakland also saw the highest rates of property crime in the Bay Area, at 59.4 incidents per thousand residents, with San Francisco following close behind at 53 incidents per thousand residents. The East Bay cities Pleasant Hill, Berkeley, and San Leandro rounded out the top five. Saratoga and Windsor saw the least rates of property crime. Additionally, San Francisco saw the most reports of arson.

Several street gangs operate in the Bay Area, including the Sureños and Norteños in San Francisco's Mission District.{{cite news |author=Bulwa, Demian |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-Sure-o-gang-s-threat-growing-in-2667647.php |title=SAN FRANCISCO / Sureño gang's threat growing in Bay Area / Widow's apartment is at heart of group's Mission District turf |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=May 27, 2005 |access-date=March 29, 2014 |archive-date=June 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625215834/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-Sure-o-gang-s-threat-growing-in-2667647.php |url-status=live}} Oakland, which also sees organized gang violence, implemented Operation Ceasefire in 2012 in an effort to reduce the violence,{{cite web |url=http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/08/08/oakland-boosts-operation-ceasefire-after-baby-father-killed/ |title=Oakland Boosts 'Operation Ceasefire' After Baby, Father Killed |publisher=CBS San Francisco |date=August 8, 2013 |access-date=August 8, 2013 |archive-date=August 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830044413/http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/08/08/oakland-boosts-operation-ceasefire-after-baby-father-killed/ |url-status=live}} with limited success.

File:SJ skyline at night horizontal.jpg is the largest tech hub in the world and home to Big Tech companies like Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Intel, Netflix, Uber, Nvidia, AMD, HP Inc., X Corp., Yahoo!, and others.]]

The three principal cities of the Bay Area represent separate employment clusters and are dominated by different but commingled industries. San Francisco is home to the region's tourism, financial industry, and is host to numerous conventions. The East Bay, centered around Oakland, is home to heavy industry, metalworking, oil, and shipping, while San Jose is the heart of Silicon Valley where a major pole of economic activity around the technology industry resides. Furthermore, the North Bay is a major player in the country's agriculture and wine industry. In all, the Bay Area is home to the second-highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, second only to the New York metropolitan area, with thirty such companies based throughout the region.{{cite journal |url=http://geography.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Walker_107.pdf |title=The strange case of the Bay Area |page=14 |author=Walker, Richard and Alex Schafran |journal=Environment and Planning |volume=47 |year=2015 |issue=1 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924185034/http://geography.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Walker_107.pdf |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |url-status=dead |doi=10.1068/a46277 |bibcode=2015EnPlA..47...10W |s2cid=143111595 |s2cid-access=free}}

File:Montgomery Street from Telegraph Hill, San Francisco.jpg, despite its declining importance,{{cite news|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2022/sfnext-downtown/|title=Downtown S.F. on the brink: It's worse than it looks|first1=Noah |last1=Arroyo|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=June 10, 2022|access-date=September 8, 2023}} has been called the Wall Street of the West.]]

In 2019, the greater fourteen-county statistical area had a GDP of $1.086 trillion, the third-highest among combined statistical areas.{{Cite web |title=GDP by County, Metro, and Other Areas |url=https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-county-metro-and-other-areas |access-date=January 5, 2021 |website=U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis }} The smaller nine-county Bay Area had a GDP of $995 billion in the same year, which nonetheless would rank it fifth among U.S. states and 17th among countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an exodus of businesses from the downtown cores of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland, as remote work became more widespread, especially in the tech and retail industries, and the area's locational relevance declined.{{cite web|url=https://sfist.com/2025/01/21/bloomingdales-to-close-at-sf-centre-ushering-in-further-bleak-days-for-beleaguered-mall/|title=Bloomingdale's to Close at SF Centre, Ushering In Further Bleak Days for Beleaguered Mall|author=Jay Barmann|publisher=SFiST|date=January 21, 2025|access-date=January 23, 2025}}{{cite news|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Downtown-San-Francisco-bill-economy-17383169.php|title=Downtown San Francisco is dying. This bill could help save it |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=August 21, 2022|access-date=August 22, 2022}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/business/economy/california-san-francisco-empty-downtown.html|title=What Comes Next for the Most Empty Downtown in America - Tech workers are still at home. The $17 salad place is expanding into the suburbs. So what is left in San Francisco?|author1=Conor Dougherty |author2=Emma Goldberg|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 17, 2022|access-date=December 17, 2022|quote=On any given week in San Francisco, office buildings are at about 40 percent of their prepandemic occupancy. |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221217101225/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/business/economy/california-san-francisco-empty-downtown.html |archive-date=December 17, 2022 }} Some observers have warned that this could lead to an economic doom loop for Bay Area cities, particularly San Francisco,{{cite news |last1=Kinder |first1=Tabby |last2=Hammond |first2=George |title=What if San Francisco never pulls out of its 'doom loop'? |url=https://www.ft.com/content/71d8013d-9d94-441e-b2d1-3039c04397d6 |access-date=April 4, 2024 |work=Financial Times |date=May 18, 2023}} while others have argued that these concerns are restricted to the downtown cores.{{cite news |last1=Wiley |first1=Hannah |title=All is lost in San Francisco? City loyalists take issue with naysayers. Data may back them up |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-01-16/doom-loop-spirit-of-optimism-returns-to-san-francisco-tech-industry |access-date=April 4, 2024 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 16, 2024}} Many retailers in Downtown San Francisco and Downtown Oakland have closed since 2020,{{cite news|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/oakland-downtown-real-estate-18890891.php|title=Oakland's downtown is struggling—and experts say the outlook could be worse than in SF|author=Laura Waxmann|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=March 27, 2024|access-date=May 22, 2024}} with some citing complex challenges with visible homelessness and crime in the area.{{cite web |title=The Container Store near Union Square plans to close|author=Tessa Mclean|publisher=Hearst Corporation|date=November 30, 2022 |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/sf-container-store-relocating-17622063.php |access-date=December 17, 2022|quote=The Union Square area of downtown has been struggling with an increase in crime in recent years, coupled with losing several big retailers since 2020, including Crate & Barrel, DSW and Gap. |website=SFGATE }} Additionally noted is the Bay Area's steadily decreasing lead in the geographically dispersing high technology field, and its relative geographical isolation from most North American and international commercial markets.{{cite web|url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/technology/new-york-closer-ever-beating-bay-area-tech|title=New York is closer than ever to beating the Bay Area on tech|author=Cara Eisenpress|publisher=Crain Communications|date=April 28, 2023|access-date=May 29, 2023}}{{cite news|url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/technology/manhattan-edges-out-san-francisco-new-early-stage-startups-first-time|title=For the first time, Manhattan edges out San Francisco in new early-stage startups|author=Cara Eisenpress|newspaper=Crain Communications|date=May 22, 2023|access-date=October 13, 2023}}

File:Oakland California aerial view.jpg is the 36th busiest American port by tonnage.]]

Despite this exodus, Bay Area is still the home to four of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization; and several major corporations are still headquartered in the Bay Area, including Google, Facebook, Apple Inc., Clorox, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Adobe Inc., Applied Materials, eBay, Cisco Systems, Symantec, Netflix, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Electronic Arts, and Salesforce; energy company PG&E; financial service company Visa Inc.; apparel retailers Gap Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., and Ross Stores; aerospace and defense contractor Lockheed Martin; local grocer Safeway; and biotechnology companies Genentech and Gilead Sciences.{{cite web |url=http://fortune.com/fortune500/2016/ |title=Fortune 500 |publisher=Fortune |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=October 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020024947/http://fortune.com/fortune500/2016/ |url-status=live}} The largest manufacturers include Tesla Inc., Lam Research, Bayer, and Coca-Cola.{{cite web |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/subscriber-only/2017/08/04/largest-bay-area-manufacturers.html|work=Silicon Valley Business Journal|url-access=subscription |title=Largest Bay Area manufacturers |first=Rosie |last=Downey |date=August 4, 2017 |access-date=October 6, 2017}} The Port of Oakland is the fifth-largest container shipping port in the United States, and Oakland is also a major rail terminus.{{cite web |url=http://aapa.files.cms-plus.com/Statistics/NORTHAMERICANPORTCONTAINERTRAFFIC2009.pdf |title=North American Container Traffic, 2009 Port Ranking |access-date=August 11, 2010 |archive-date=July 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140717002017/http://aapa.files.cms-plus.com/Statistics/NORTHAMERICANPORTCONTAINERTRAFFIC2009.pdf |url-status=live}} In research, NASA's Ames Research Center and the federal research facility Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are based in Mountain View and Livermore, respectively. In the North Bay, Napa and Sonoma counties are well known for their wineries, including Fantesca Estate & Winery, Domaine Chandon California, and D'Agostini Winery.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestravelguide/2017/08/10/your-top-california-wine-tasting-itinerary-napa-and-sonoma/#4b75a142b8f3 |title=Your Top California Wine-Tasting Itinerary: Napa and Sonoma |magazine=Forbes |author=Kester, Jennifer |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924191651/https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestravelguide/2017/08/10/your-top-california-wine-tasting-itinerary-napa-and-sonoma/#4b75a142b8f3 |url-status=live}}

File:Domaine Carneros, Napa Valley, CA USA - panoramio (9).jpg, centered around Napa and Sonoma, is a world renowned wine-growing region.]]

In spite of the San Francisco Bay Area's industries contributing to the aforementioned economic growth, there is a significant level of poverty in the region. Rising housing prices and gentrification in the San Francisco Bay Area are often framed as symptomatic of high-income tech workers moving in to previously low-income, underserved neighborhoods.{{Cite book |title=Pictures of a Gone City: Tech and the Dark Side of Prosperity in the San Francisco Bay Area |last=Walker |first=Richard J. |publisher=PM Press |year=2018}} Two notable policy strategies to prevent eviction due to rising rents include rent control and subsidies such as Section 8 and Shelter Plus Care.{{Cite journal |last=Whittle |first=Henry J. |date=2015 |title=Food insecurity, chronic illness, and gentrification in the San Francisco Bay Area: An example of structural violence in United States public policy |journal=Journal of Social Science and Medicine |volume=143 |pages=154–61 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.08.027 |pmid=26356827 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/52p9f6gt}} Moreover, in 2002, then San Francisco Supervisor Gavin Newsom introduced the "Care Not Cash" initiative, diverting funds away from cash handouts (which he argued encouraged drug use) to housing. This proved controversial, with some suggesting his rhetoric criminalized poverty, while others supporting the prioritizing of housing as a solution.{{Cite book |title=The politics of benevolence : homeless policy in San Francisco |last=Murphy, Stacey Heneage. |date=2008 |oclc=892834981}}

File:Sausalito May 2009.jpg, in the North Bay, is a popular tourist destination.]]

Contrary to historical patterns of low incomes within the inner city, poverty rates in the Bay Area are shifting such that they are increasing more rapidly in suburban areas than in urban areas.{{Cite journal |last=Soursourian |first=Matthew |date=2012 |title=Suburbanization of Poverty in the Bay Area |url=https://www.frbsf.org/community-development/files/Suburbanization-of-Poverty-in-the-Bay-Area1.pdf |journal=Community Development Research Brief, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco |access-date=May 7, 2019 |archive-date=October 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026152559/https://www.frbsf.org/community-development/files/Suburbanization-of-Poverty-in-the-Bay-Area1.pdf |url-status=live}} It is not yet clear whether the suburbanization of poverty is due to the relocation of poor populations or shifting income levels in the respective regions. However, the mid-2000s housing boom encouraged city dwellers to move into the newly cheap houses in suburbs outside of the city, and these suburban housing developments were then most affected by the 2008 housing bubble burst. As such, people in poverty experience decreased access to transportation due to underdeveloped public transport infrastructure in suburban areas. Suburban poverty is most prevalent among Hispanics and Blacks, and affects native-born people more significantly than foreign-born.{{Cite book |title=The new poverty studies : the ethnography of power, politics and impoverished people in the United States |last1=Goode |first1=Judith |last2=Maskovsky |first2=Jeff. |date=2001 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0814731154 |oclc=469375780 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/newpovertystudie0000unse}}

As greater proportions of their incomes are spent on rent, many impoverished populations in the San Francisco Bay Area also face food insecurity and health setbacks.{{Cite journal |last1=Seligman |first1=Hilary K. |last2=Laraia |first2=Barbara A. |last3=Kushel |first3=Margot B. |date=December 23, 2009 |title=Food Insecurity Is Associated with Chronic Disease among Low-Income NHANES Participants |journal=The Journal of Nutrition |volume=140 |issue=2 |pages=304–310 |doi=10.3945/jn.109.112573 |pmid=20032485 |pmc=2806885 |issn=0022-3166}}{{Cite journal |last=Desmond |first=Matthew |date=2018 |title=Poverty in America: New Directions and Debates. |journal=Annual Review of Sociology |volume=44 |pages=305–318 |doi=10.1146/annurev-soc-060116-053411 |s2cid=149689610|doi-access=free }}

File:San Francisco in 2018.jpg urbanism in northeastern San Francisco]]

The Bay Area is the most expensive location to live in the United States outside of Manhattan.{{cite news|url= https://nypost.com/2023/03/01/nyc-remains-priciest-real-estate-market-in-world-report/amp/|title=NYC remains the most expensive real estate market in world: Report|author=Hannah Frishberg|newspaper=New York Post|date=March 1, 2023|access-date=May 15, 2023}} Strong economic growth has created hundreds of thousands of new jobs, but coupled with severe zoning restrictions on building new housing units,{{cite news |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/04/28/san-francisco-seattle-housing-production-pipelines.html |title=Housing's tale of two cities: Seattle builds, S.F. lags |last=Torres |first=Blanca |newspaper=San Francisco Business Times |date=April 28, 2017 |access-date=December 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170502005754/https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/04/28/san-francisco-seattle-housing-production-pipelines.html |archive-date=May 2, 2017 |url-status=live |quote=So how can smaller Seattle make so much more housing happen than San Francisco? Developers active in both cities and officials who have worked in both point to structural differences that outweigh the demographic similarities. In San Francisco, development issues are routinely subject to consideration by neighborhood bodies, approval by the city planning commission and often ratification by its board of supervisors, with opportunities for decisions to be appealed. Seattle's approval process is much more streamlined...The city's planning commission is strictly a policy entity. It does not approve or reject projects. The city council weighs in on projects only in rare cases. [In S.F.]...he thinks that the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA, makes it too easy for residents to sue projects, effectively holding them up for years or blocking them.}} has resulted in an extreme housing shortage. For example, from 2012 to 2017, the San Francisco metropolitan area added 400,000 new jobs, but only 60,000 new housing units.{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-23/why-can-t-they-build-more-homes-where-the-jobs-are |title=Why Can't They Build More Homes Where the Jobs Are? |last=Clark |first=Patrick |publisher=Bloomberg |date=June 23, 2017 |access-date=December 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828201133/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-23/why-can-t-they-build-more-homes-where-the-jobs-are |archive-date=August 28, 2017 |url-status=live |quote=San Francisco's metropolitan area added 373,000 net new jobs in the last five years—but issued permits for only 58,000 units of new housing. The lack of new construction has exacerbated housing costs in the Bay Area, making the San Francisco metro among the cruelest markets in the U.S. Over the same period, Houston added 346,000 jobs and permitted 260,000 new dwellings, five times as many units per new job as San Francisco.}} As of 2016, the entire Bay Area had 3.6 M jobs, and 2.6 M housing units, for a ratio of 1.4 jobs per housing unit,{{cite news |url=https://sf.curbed.com/2016/10/12/12945854/bay-area-cities-jobs-housing-san-jose-palo-alto-sf |title=We found which Bay Area cities aren't pulling their weight on housing |last=Lucas |first=Scott |publisher=Vox Media |date=October 12, 2016 |access-date=December 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161102192555/https://sf.curbed.com/2016/10/12/12945854/bay-area-cities-jobs-housing-san-jose-palo-alto-sf |archive-date=November 2, 2016 |url-status=live}} significantly above the ratio for the US as a whole, which stands at 1.1 jobs per housing unit. (152M jobs, 136M housing units{{cite report |title=Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey |url=https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12000000 |access-date=November 4, 2017 |publisher=United States Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics |date=November 4, 2017 |archive-date=December 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202053321/https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12000000 |url-status=live}}{{cite report |title=Annual Estimates of Housing Units for the United States, Regions, Divisions, States, and Counties: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016 |url=https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2016/PEPANNHU |access-date=November 1, 2017 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |date=July 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213004713/https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2016/PEPANNHU |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |url-status=dead}})

As of 2017, the average income needed in order to purchase a house in the region was $179,390, while the median price for a house was $895,000 and the average cost of a home in the Bay Area being $440,000 - more than twice the national average, while the average monthly rent is $1,240 - 50 percent more than the national average.Alamo, C., Uhler, B., & O'Malley, M. (2015). California's high housing costs : causes and consequences. Sacramento, CA : Legislative Analyst's Office, March 17, 2015.{{cite news |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/11/bay-area-real-estate-to-buy-a-median-priced-home-you-now-need-income-over-179000/ |title=Bay Area real estate: To buy a median priced home, you now need income over $179,000 |author=Scheinin, Richard |date=August 12, 2017 |access-date=September 20, 2017 |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924185112/http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/11/bay-area-real-estate-to-buy-a-median-priced-home-you-now-need-income-over-179000/ |url-status=live}} In 2018, a Bay Area household income of $117,000 was classified as "low income" by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.{{Cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/families-earning-117000-now-qualify-as-low-income-in-californias-bay-area/ |title=Families earning $117,000 now qualify as "low income" in California's Bay Area |website=CBS News |date=June 26, 2018 |access-date=October 10, 2018 |archive-date=October 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011013901/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/families-earning-117000-now-qualify-as-low-income-in-californias-bay-area/ |url-status=live}}

File:Homeless encampment in Oakland near I-980 (cropped).jpg in Oakland]]

With high costs of living, many Bay Area residents allocate large amounts of their income towards housing. 20 percent of Bay Area homeowners spend more than half their income on housing, while roughly 25 percent of renters in the Bay Area spend more than half of their incomes on rent.Bay Area Burden. [Electronic Resource] : Examining the Costs and Impacts of Housing and Transportation on Bay Area Residents, Their Neighborhoods and the Environment. Washington, DC : Urban Land Institute, c2009., 2009. EBSCOhost Expending an average of more than $28,000 per year on housing in addition to roughly $13,400 on transportation, Bay Area residents spend around $41,420 per year to live in the region. This combined total of housing and transportation signifies 59 percent of the Bay Area's median household income, conveying the extreme costs of living.

File:Carolands Chateau.jpg mansion in Hillsborough]]

The high rate of homelessness in the Bay Area can be attributed to the high cost of living.Quigley, J. M., Raphael, S., & Smolensky, E. (2001). Homelessness in California. San Francisco, Calif. : Public Policy Institute of California, 2001. No approximate number of homeless people living in the Bay Area can be determined due to the difficulty of tracking homeless residents. However, according to San Francisco's Department of Public Health, the number of homeless people in San Francisco alone is 9,975.Suzuki, L. (June 28, 2016). How Many People Live on Our Streets? San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from projects.sfchronicle.com/sf-homeless/numbers/. Additionally, San Francisco was revealed to have the most unsheltered homeless people in the country.

Because of the high cost of housing, many workers in the Bay Area live far from their place of employment, contributing to one of the highest percentages of extreme commuters in the United States, or commutes that take over ninety minutes in one direction. For example, about 50,000 people commute from neighboring San Joaquin County into the nine-county Bay Area daily,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/17/business/economy/san-francisco-commute.html?mcubz=1 |title=A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and aBus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M. |newspaper=The New York Times |author=Dougherty, Connor and Andrew Burton |date=August 17, 2017 |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924185431/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/17/business/economy/san-francisco-commute.html?mcubz=1 |url-status=live}} and more extremely, some workers commute semimonthly by flying.{{cite web |title=Flying to work cheaper than living in the Bay Area for some |url=http://www.ktvu.com/news/flying-to-work-cheaper-than-living-in-the-bay-area-for-some |author=Bender, Kristen |publisher=KTVU |date=December 25, 2017 |access-date=January 17, 2017 |archive-date=December 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226180137/http://www.ktvu.com/news/flying-to-work-cheaper-than-living-in-the-bay-area-for-some |url-status=live}}

{{See also|List of colleges and universities in the San Francisco Bay Area}}

File:San Jose Bike Tour (7878570968) (cropped).jpg is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University.]]

The Bay Area is home to a large number of colleges and universities. The first institution of higher education in the Bay Area, Santa Clara University, was founded by Jesuits in 1851,{{cite web |url=https://www.scu.edu/aboutscu/history/ |title=About SCU – History |publisher=Santa Clara University |access-date=October 19, 2017 |archive-date=October 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019220138/https://www.scu.edu/aboutscu/history/ |url-status=live}} who also founded the University of San Francisco in 1855.{{cite web |url=https://www.usfca.edu/about-usf/who-we-are/our-history |title=USF – Our History |work=University of San Francisco |publisher=University of San Francisco |access-date=October 19, 2017 |date=May 5, 2015 |archive-date=July 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715235951/https://www.usfca.edu/about-usf/who-we-are/our-history |url-status=live |last1=Tom |first1=Marlene }} San Jose State University was founded in 1857 and is the oldest public college on the West Coast of the United States.{{cite web |title=San José State University: About SJSU: 1857–1879 |publisher=San José State University |url=http://www.sjsu.edu/about_sjsu/history/timeline/1857/ |access-date=October 29, 2013 |archive-date=June 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628221722/http://www.sjsu.edu/about_sjsu/history/timeline/1857/ |url-status=live}} According to the Brookings Institution, 45% of residents of the two-county San Jose metro area have a college degree, and 43% of residents in the five-county San Francisco metro area have a college degree, the second and fourth-highest ranked metro areas in the country for higher educational attainment.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/05/31/us/education-in-metro-areas.html?mcubz=1 |title=Cities with the Most College-Educated Residents |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924185249/http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/05/31/us/education-in-metro-areas.html?mcubz=1 |url-status=live}}

{{As of|2024}}, Stanford University is the highest ranked university in the Bay Area by U.S. News & World Report,{{Cite web |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities |title=Best National University Rankings |date=September 18, 2023 |work=U.S. News & World Report |access-date=April 11, 2024}} and its business school is ranked No. 1 in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia by Bloomberg Businessweek.{{Cite news |last=Kessenides |first=Dimitra |date=2023-09-13 |title=These Are the Best Business Schools in the World |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/business-schools/ |access-date=2024-02-07 |work=Bloomberg.com |language=en}} The University of California, Berkeley has been among the two highest-ranked public universities in the country for over two decades.{{Cite web |last=Affairs |first=Public |date=2024-09-24 |title='U.S. News' ranks UC Berkeley No. 2 public school in the country |url=https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/09/23/u-s-news-ranks-uc-berkeley-no-2-public-school-in-the-country/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Berkeley News |language=en}} Additionally, San Jose State University and Sonoma State University were ranked 3rd and 12th, respectively, among public colleges in the West Coast by U.S. News & World Report in 2024.{{Cite web |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-universities |title=Best Regional Universities Rankings |date=September 18, 2023 |work=U.S. News & World Report |access-date=April 11, 2024}}

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The city of San Francisco is host to two additional University of California schools, neither of which confer undergraduate degrees. The University of California, San Francisco, is entirely dedicated to graduate education in health and biomedical sciences. It is ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States{{cite magazine |url=http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/primary-care-rankings |title=America's Best Graduate Schools: Best Medical Schools |access-date=July 25, 2010 |year=2010 |magazine=U.S. News & World Report |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421213522/http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/primary-care-rankings |archive-date=April 21, 2010}} and operates the UCSF Medical Center, which is the highest-ranked hospital in California.{{cite magazine |url=https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/ca/ucsf-medical-center-6930043 |title=UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco |magazine=U.S. News & World Report |access-date=July 25, 2010 |archive-date=July 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120718084248/http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/ca/ucsf-medical-center-6930043 |url-status=live}} The University of California, College of the Law, 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.uchastings.edu/?pid=37 |title=Hastings Quick Facts |access-date=August 30, 2006 |publisher=University of California, Hastings College of the Law |archive-date=September 2, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902040700/http://www.uchastings.edu/?pid=37 |url-status=live}} The city is also host to a California State University school, San Francisco State University.{{cite web |url=http://www.sfsu.edu/future/visit/facts.html |title=SF State Fast Facts |access-date=September 21, 2017 |publisher=SFSU |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903202226/http://www.sfsu.edu/future/visit/facts.html |archive-date=September 3, 2017 |df=mdy-all}} Additional campuses of the California State University system in the Bay Area are Cal State East Bay in Hayward and Cal Maritime in Vallejo.

California Community Colleges System also operates a number of community colleges in the Bay Area. According to CNNMoney, the Bay Area community college with the highest "success" rate is De Anza College in Cupertino, which is also the tenth-highest ranked in the nation. Other relatively well-ranked Bay Area community colleges include Foothill College, City College of San Francisco, West Valley College, Diablo Valley College, and Las Positas College.{{cite web |url=https://money.cnn.com/pf/college/community-colleges/ |title=How does your community college stack up? |publisher=CNNMoney |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911170717/http://money.cnn.com/pf/college/community-colleges/ |url-status=live}}

Many scholars have pointed out the overlap of education and the economy within the Bay Area. According to multiple reports, research universities such as Stanford University, University of California - Santa Cruz and University of California - Berkeley, are essential to the culture and economy in the area. These universities also provide public programs for people to learn and enhance skills relevant to the local economies. These opportunities not only provide educational services to the community, but also generate significant amounts of revenue.

{{See also|List of high schools in California}}

File:Galileo Academy of Science and Technology entrance.jpg, an SFUSD public school]]

Public primary and secondary education in the Bay Area is provided through school districts organized through three structures (elementary school districts, high school districts, or unified school districts) and are governed by an elected board. In addition, many Bay Area counties and the city of San Francisco operate "special service schools" that are geared towards providing education to students with handicaps or special needs.

An alternative public educational setting is offered by charter schools, which may be established with a renewable charter of up to five years by third parties. The mechanism for charter schools in the Bay Area is governed by the California Charter Schools Act of 1992.{{cite web |url=http://www.ccsa.org/understanding/what-are-charter-schools.html |title=What Are Charter Schools? |publisher=California Charter Schools Association |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912060735/http://www.ccsa.org/understanding/what-are-charter-schools.html |url-status=live}}

File:Bellarmine-Sobrato-Center-1-1 (cropped).jpg is one of the oldest schools in California.]]

According to rankings compiled by U.S. News & World Report, the highest-ranked high school in California is the Pacific Collegiate School, located in Santa Cruz and part of the greater Bay Area. Within the traditional nine-county boundaries, the highest ranked high school is KIPP San Jose Collegiate in San Jose. Among the top twenty high schools in California include Lowell High School in San Francisco, Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, Lynbrook High School in San Jose, the University Preparatory Academy in San Jose, Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, Oakland Charter High School in Oakland, Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, Gilroy Early College Academy in Gilroy, and Saratoga High School in Saratoga.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?state-urlname=california |title=California High Schools |magazine=U.S. News & World Report |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924184834/https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?state-urlname=california |url-status=live}}

{{Main|Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area}}

File:Bayarea rail transit 2021.png, Amtrak, BART, Caltrain, Muni Metro, SMART, and VTA.|alt=A transit map with lines depicting routes operated by various public rail agencies in the Bay Area.]]

Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area is reliant on a complex multimodal infrastructure consisting of roads, bridges, highways, rail, tunnels, airports, ferries, and bike and pedestrian paths. The development, maintenance, and operation of these different modes of transportation are overseen by various agencies, including the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.{{cite web |url=http://mtc.ca.gov/about-mtc/what-mtc/partner-agencies/california-department-transportation |title=California Department of Transportation |work=Metropolitan Transportation Commission |date=June 12, 2015 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925040407/https://mtc.ca.gov/about-mtc/what-mtc/partner-agencies/california-department-transportation |url-status=live}} These and other organizations collectively manage several interstate highways and state routes, two subway networks, three commuter rail agencies, eight trans-bay bridges, transbay ferry service, local bus service, three international airports (San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland),{{cite web |url=https://www.thestreet.com/story/14173660/1/all-three-bay-area-airports-grow-as-united-expands-frisco-hub-and-oakland-gets-two-spain-flights.html |title=All Three Bay Area Airports Grow as United Expands Frisco Hub and Oakland Gets Two Spain Flights |publisher=TheStreet |author=Reed, Ted |date=June 12, 2017 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925035345/https://www.thestreet.com/story/14173660/1/all-three-bay-area-airports-grow-as-united-expands-frisco-hub-and-oakland-gets-two-spain-flights.html |url-status=live}} and an extensive network of roads, tunnels, and paths such as the San Francisco Bay Trail.{{cite web |url=http://baytrail.org/about-the-trail/ |title=About the Trail |publisher=San Francisco Bay Trail |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922023314/http://baytrail.org/about-the-trail/ |url-status=live}}

The Bay Area hosts an extensive freeway and highway system that is particularly prone to traffic congestion, with one study by Inrix concluding that the Bay Area's traffic was the fourth worst in the world.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-traffic-ranks-as-4th-worst-in-world-10960858.php |title=SF traffic ranks as 4th worst in world |author=Cabanatuan, Michael |date=February 27, 2017 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |archive-date=September 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912221233/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-traffic-ranks-as-4th-worst-in-world-10960858.php |url-status=live}} There are some city streets in San Francisco where gaps occur in the freeway system, partly the result of the Freeway Revolt, which prevented a freeway-only thoroughfare through San Francisco between the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, the western terminus of Interstate 80, and the southern terminus of the Golden Gate Bridge (U.S. Route 101).{{cite web |url=http://urbanscars.com/san-francisco-freeway-revolt/ |title=San Francisco's Freeway Revolt |author=Atkins, Martin |date=September 9, 2012 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=February 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209021952/http://urbanscars.com/san-francisco-freeway-revolt/ |url-status=live}} Additional damage that occurred in the wake of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake resulted in freeway segments being removed instead of being reinforced or rebuilt, leading to the revitalization of neighborhoods such as San Francisco's Embarcadero and Hayes Valley.{{cite web |url=https://savingplaces.org/places/sf-embarcadero |title=11 Most Endangered: San Francisco Embarcadero {{!}} National Trust for Historic Preservation|website=savingplaces.org |access-date=October 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709010138/https://savingplaces.org/places/sf-embarcadero |archive-date=July 9, 2018 |url-status=dead}} The greater Bay Area contains the three principal north–south highways in California: Interstate 5, U.S. Route 101, and California State Route 1. U.S. 101 and State Route 1 directly serve the traditional nine-county region, while Interstate 5 bypasses to the east in San Joaquin County to provide a more direct Los Angeles–Sacramento route. Additional local highways connect the various subregions of the Bay Area together.{{cite map |year=2009 |title=California Road Atlas |publisher=Thomas Brothers}}

File:BART D car on display at Dublin-Pleasanton, October 2016.jpg (BART) serves 50 stations across the region, excluding the North Bay counties.]]

There are over two dozen public transit agencies in the Bay Area with overlapping service areas that utilize different modes, with designated connection points between the various operators. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), a heavy rail/metro system, operates in five counties and connects San Francisco and Oakland via the Transbay Tube. Other commuter rail systems link San Francisco with the Peninsula and San Jose (Caltrain), San Jose with the Tri-Valley Area and San Joaquin County (ACE), and Sonoma with Marin County (SMART).

In addition, Amtrak provides frequent commuter service between San Jose and the East Bay with Sacramento, and long-distance service to other parts of the United States.{{cite web |url=http://amtrakcalifornia.com/about/ |title=About Amtrak California |publisher=Amtrak |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=July 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709011102/http://amtrakcalifornia.com/about/ |url-status=live}} Muni Metro operates a hybrid streetcar/subway system within the city of San Francisco, and VTA operates a light rail system in Santa Clara County. These rail systems are supplemented by numerous bus agencies and transbay ferries such as Golden Gate Ferry and the San Francisco Bay Ferry. Most of these agencies accept the Clipper Card, a reloadable contactless smart card, as a universal electronic payment system.{{cite web |url=http://www.spur.org/sites/default/files/publications_pdfs/SPUR_Seamless_Transit.pdf |title=Seamless Transit |publisher=SPUR |date=April 2015 |author=Amin, Ratna and Sara Barz |access-date=September 18, 2017 |pages=4–9 |archive-date=May 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516100848/http://www.spur.org/sites/default/files/publications_pdfs/SPUR_Seamless_Transit.pdf |url-status=live}}

{{Main|Politics in the San Francisco Bay Area}}

{{See also|List of cities and towns in the San Francisco Bay Area}}

File:San Francisco City Hall 2.JPG is based at San Francisco City Hall.]]

Government in the San Francisco Bay Area consists of multiple actors, including 101 city and nine county governments, a dozen regional agencies, and a large number of single-purpose special districts such as municipal utility districts and transit districts.{{cite web |url=https://www.spur.org/sites/default/files/publications_pdfs/Strengthening_Regional_Governance.pdf |title=Strengthening the Bay Area's regional governance |publisher=SPUR |author=Terplan, Egon |date=February 20, 2013 |access-date=September 20, 2017 |page=2 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924233040/https://www.spur.org/sites/default/files/publications_pdfs/Strengthening_Regional_Governance.pdf |url-status=live}} Incorporated cities are responsible for providing police service, zoning, issuing building permits, and maintaining public streets among other duties.{{Cite web |url=https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayexpandedbranch.xhtml?tocCode=GOV&division=&title=4.&part=&chapter=&article= |title=Codes: Code Search |website=California Legislative Information |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=July 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709105304/http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayexpandedbranch.xhtml?tocCode=GOV&division=&title=4.&part=&chapter=&article= |url-status=live}} County governments are responsible for elections and voter registration, vital records, property assessment and records, tax collection, public health, agricultural regulations, and building inspections, among other duties.{{cite book |title=When Government Fails: The Orange County Bankruptcy |first=Mark |last=Baldassare |year=1998 |pages=67–68 |publisher=Public Policy Institute of California/University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-21486-6 |lccn=97032806 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDs4WZV0SRsC&pg=PA67 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=May 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170524225500/https://books.google.com/books?id=sDs4WZV0SRsC&pg=PA67 |url-status=live}}{{cite book |title=Democracy in California: Politics and Government in the Golden State |first1=Brian P. |last1=Janiskee |first2=Ken |last2=Masugi |year=2011 |edition=3rd |page=105 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=978-1-4422-0338-9 |lccn=2011007585 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=23Y3Nxs0qWgC&pg=PA105 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=May 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170524225710/https://books.google.com/books?id=23Y3Nxs0qWgC&pg=PA105 |url-status=live}} Public education is provided by independent school districts, which may be organized as elementary districts, high school districts, unified school districts combining elementary and high school grades, or community college districts, and are managed by an elected school board.{{citation |title=Individual State Descriptions: 2007 |pages=25–26 |series=2007 Census of Governments |date=November 2012 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |url=http://www2.census.gov/govs/cog/isd_book.pdf |ref={{harvid|Census|2007}} |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=November 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123173109/http://www2.census.gov/govs/cog/isd_book.pdf |url-status=live}} A variety of special districts also exist and provide a single purpose, such as delivering public transit in the case of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District,{{cite web |url=http://www.bart.gov/about/history |title=A History of BART: The Concept is Born |publisher=Bay Area Rapid Transit |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915043914/http://www.bart.gov/about/history |url-status=live}} or monitoring air quality levels in the case of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

File:Sanjosecityhall (cropped).jpg is based at San Jose City Hall.]]

Politics in the Bay Area is widely regarded as one of the most liberal in California and in the United States.{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trump-california-supporters-2017-story.html |title=How Trump supporters survive in blue California: 'You kind of keep your head down' |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |author=Barabak, Mark Z. |date=March 31, 2017 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915091556/http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trump-california-supporters-2017-story.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/02/us/california-far-north-identity-conservative.html?mcubz=1 |title=California's Far North Deplores 'Tyranny' of the Urban Majority |newspaper=The New York Times |author=Fuller, Thomas |date=July 2, 2017 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924231145/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/02/us/california-far-north-identity-conservative.html?mcubz=1 |url-status=live}} Since the late 1960s, the Bay Area has cemented its role as the most liberal region in California politics, giving greater support for the center-left Democratic Party's candidates than any other region of the state, even as California trended towards the Democratic Party over time. According to research by the Public Policy Institute of California, the Bay Area and the North Coast counties of Humboldt and Mendocino were the most consistently and strongly liberal areas in California.{{cite web |url=http://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-political-geography/ |title=California's Political Geography |publisher=Public Policy Institute of California |date=February 2012 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |author=McGhee, Eric and Daniel Krimm |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924005309/http://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-political-geography/ |url-status=live}}

According to the California Secretary of State, the Democratic Party holds a voter registration advantage in every congressional district, State Senate district, State Assembly district, State Board of Equalization district, all nine counties, and all of the 101 incorporated municipalities in the Bay Area. On the other hand, the center-right Republican Party holds a voter registration advantage in only one State Assembly sub-district (the portion of the 4th in Solano County).{{cite web |url=https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ror/ror-odd-year-2019/politicalsub.pdf |title=Report of Registration |publisher=California Secretary of State |date=February 10, 2019 |access-date=March 11, 2019 |archive-date=March 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323230212/https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ror/ror-odd-year-2019/politicalsub.pdf |url-status=live}} According to the Cook Partisan Voting Index (CPVI), the Bay Area's districts tend to favor Democratic candidates by roughly 40 to 50 percentage points, considerably above the mean for California and the nation overall.{{cite web |url=https://cookpolitical.com/pvi-map-and-district-list |title=PVI Map and District List |publisher=The Cook Political Report |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200904082835/https://cookpolitical.com/pvi-map-and-district-list |url-status=live}}

File:Oakland City Hall (Oakland, CA) 2.JPG]]

In U.S. Presidential elections since 1960, the nine-county Bay Area voted for Republican candidates only two times, in both cases voting for a Californian: in 1972 for Richard Nixon and again in 1980 for Ronald Reagan. The last county to vote for a Republican presidential candidate was Napa county in 1988 for George H. W. Bush. Since then, all nine Bay Area counties have voted consistently for the Democratic candidate.{{cite web |url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ |title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Election Results |publisher=Dave Leip's Atlas |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=July 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709214827/https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ |url-status=live}} Currently, both of California's U.S. Senators are Democrats, and all twelve U.S. congressional districts located wholly or partially in the Bay Area are represented by a Democratic representative. Additionally, every Bay Area member of the California State Senate and the California State Assembly is a registered Democrat.

The Bay Area's association with progressive politics has led to the term "San Francisco values" being used by conservative commentators in a pejorative sense to describe the secular progressive culture in the area.{{Cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/03/MNGCEM5H4N1.DTL |title=Three Dirty Words: San Francisco Values |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=November 3, 2006 |access-date=May 21, 2008 |first=Joe |last=Garofoli |archive-date=June 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622125641/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2006%2F11%2F03%2FMNGCEM5H4N1.DTL |url-status=live}}

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is the principal metropolitan planning organization for the Bay Area. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the region's transportation planning agency, which has functionally merged with ABAG through staff consolidation. ABAG and MTC developed Plan Bay Area, which is the area's regional transportation plan, in 2013 and with its goal date for 2040.

Other regional governance agencies include the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Bay Area Toll Authority, Bay Restoration Authority, and the Bay Conservation & Development Commission.

{{See also|Greeks in the San Francisco Bay Area}}

{{Main|Art in the San Francisco Bay Area}}

File:Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford, California - 20060728 (cropped).jpg in Stanford]]

The Bay Area was a hub of the Abstract Expressionism movement of painting. It is associated with the works of Clyfford Still, who began teaching at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) in 1946, leaving a lasting influence on the artistic styles of Bay Area painters up to the present day.{{cite book |title=Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945–1980: An Illustrated History |publisher=University of California Press |date=1985 |author=Albright, Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGN3vXcZl74C |pages=15–17 |isbn=9780520051935 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=March 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331000242/https://books.google.com/books?id=aGN3vXcZl74C |url-status=live}} A few years later, Abstract Expressionist painter David Park painted Kids on Bikes in 1950, which retained many aspects of abstract expressionism but with original distinguishing features that would later lead to the Bay Area Figurative Movement.{{cite book |title=Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945–1980: An Illustrated History |publisher=University of California Press |date=1985 |author=Albright, Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGN3vXcZl74C |page=57 |isbn=9780520051935 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=March 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331000242/https://books.google.com/books?id=aGN3vXcZl74C |url-status=live}}

File:California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 02 (cropped2).JPG of Fine Arts Museums SF]]

While both the Figurative Movement and the Abstract Expressionism movement arose from art schools, Funk art would later rise out of the region's underground and was characterized by informal sharing of technique among groups of friends and art showcases in "cooperative" galleries instead of formal museums. Later, the Bay Area art movement would be heavily influenced by the counterculture movement in the 1960s, and art produced during this time reflected the political environment.{{cite book |title=Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945–1980: An Illustrated History |publisher=University of California Press |date=1985 |author=Albright, Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGN3vXcZl74C |pages=81–82 |isbn=9780520051935 |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=March 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331000242/https://books.google.com/books?id=aGN3vXcZl74C |url-status=live}}

File:oakland museum of california (9114782562).jpg]]

The San Francisco Renaissance was an era of poetic activity centered on San Francisco and poets such as Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. The movement, which often included visual and performing arts, was heavily influenced by cross-cultural interests, particularly Buddhism, Taoism, and a general interest in East Asian cultures.Michael Davidson. The San Francisco Renaissance: Poetics and Community at Mid-Century. Cambridge University Press

The Bay Area is presently home to a thriving computer animation industry{{cite web |url=http://museumca.org/exhibit/pixar-25-years-animation |title=PIXAR: 25 Years of Animation |publisher=Oakland Museum of California |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924043810/http://museumca.org/exhibit/pixar-25-years-animation |url-status=live}} led by Pixar Animation Studios and Industrial Light & Magic. Pixar, based in Emeryville, produced the first fully computer animated feature film, Toy Story, with software it designed in-house and whose computer animation films have since garnered 26 Academy Awards and critical acclaim.{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/4118006/20-years-toy-story-pixar/ |title=How Toy Story Changed Movie History |author=Zorthian, Julia |date=November 19, 2015 |access-date=September 21, 2017 |magazine=TIME Magazine |archive-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918133537/http://time.com/4118006/20-years-toy-story-pixar/ |url-status=live}} Industrial Light & Magic, which is based in the Presidio in San Francisco, was created in 1975 to help create visual effects for the Star Wars series has since been involved with creating visual effects for over three hundred Hollywood films.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/05/inside-ilm/ |title=The Untold Story of ILM, a Titan That Forever Changed Film |magazine=Wired |author=French, Alex and Howie Khan |date=June 2015 |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=July 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729094725/https://www.wired.com/2015/05/inside-ilm/ |url-status=live}}

{{See also|List of bands from the San Francisco Bay Area}}

File:Happy Birthday San Jose (24637280068).jpg at the 240th anniversary of the founding of San Jose at the Gonzales-Peralta Adobe]]

Throughout its recent history, the Bay Area has been home to several musical movements that left lasting influences on the genres they affected. San Francisco, in particular, was the center of the counterculture movement in the 1960s, which directly led to the rise of several notable musical acts: The Grateful Dead, which formed in 1965, and Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin; all three would be closely associated with the 1967 Summer of Love.T. Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage, (New York, 1993), p.215–217 Jimi Hendrix also had strong connections to the movement and the Bay Area, as he lived in Berkeley for a brief time as a child and played in many local venues in that decade.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/The-Chronicle-s-Bay-Area-musical-history-tour-3174389.php |title=The Chronicle's Bay Area musical history tour |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |author=Selvin, Joel |date=January 30, 2009 |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924230411/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/The-Chronicle-s-Bay-Area-musical-history-tour-3174389.php |url-status=live}} By the 1970s, San Francisco had developed a vibrant jazz scene, earning the moniker, "Harlem of the West". The Vietnam War was being fought at the time, and Bay Area bands such as Creedence Clearwater Revival of El Cerrito became known for their political and socially-conscious lyrics against the conflict.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/john-fogerty-addresses-fortunate-son-concert-for-valor-controversy-20141113 |title=John Fogerty Addresses 'Fortunate Son' Concert for Valor Controversy |author=Grow, Korey |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=November 13, 2014 |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921231539/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/john-fogerty-addresses-fortunate-son-concert-for-valor-controversy-20141113 |url-status=live}} Carlos Santana rose to fame in the early 1970s with his Santana band and would later be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[http://rockhall.com/inductees/santana/ "Santana"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713195956/https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/santana |date=July 13, 2018 }}. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 16, 2013. Two former members of Santana, Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie would later lead the formation of the band Journey.{{cite web |url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/carlos-santana-journey-steve-perry/ |title=Carlos Santana Wants Journey to Get Back Together With Steve Perry |date=April 15, 2016 |access-date=September 21, 2017 |publisher=Ultimate Classic Rock |author=Galluci, Michael |archive-date=October 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018040822/http://ultimateclassicrock.com/carlos-santana-journey-steve-perry/ |url-status=live}}

File:Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, CA.jpg at the Davies Symphony Hall]]

During the 1980s and early 1990s, the Bay Area became home to heavy metal and hard rock bands, including Ludicra,{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Chris |title=Rehab of a strung-out musical scene |url=http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/rehab-of-a-strung-out-musical-scene |publisher=San Francisco Magazine |access-date=August 7, 2011 |date=July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002172725/http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/rehab-of-a-strung-out-musical-scene |archive-date=October 2, 2011 |url-status=dead}}; {{cite web |last=Smith |first=Chris |title=Our avant-garde metal scene |url=http://www.ca-smith.net/blog/2011/07/our-avant-garde-metal-scene/ |publisher=ca-smith.net |access-date=August 7, 2011 |date=July 6, 2011 |archive-date=January 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116021353/http://www.ca-smith.net/blog/2011/07/our-avant-garde-metal-scene/ |url-status=live}} and also to one of the largest and most influential thrash metal scenes in the world, with contributions from Exodus, Testament, Death Angel, Forbidden, Vio-lence, Lȧȧz Rockit, Possessed and Blind Illusion, as well as three of the "Big Four" (Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth); although Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth were all technically from Los Angeles, those bands are often credited for popularizing and contributing to the Bay Area thrash metal scene during the 1980s by frequently playing shows there, especially early in their careers and/or before they were signed to a record label.{{Cite web |date=2022-08-05 |title=Ex-MEGADETH Bassist DAVID ELLEFSON Says EXODUS Would Have To Be Included In Expanded 'Big Four' |url=https://blabbermouth.net/news/ex-megadeth-bassist-david-ellefson-says-exodus-would-have-to-be-included-in-expanded-big-four |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=Blabbermouth.net |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=McIntyre |first=Ken |date=2022-09-20 |title=Bonded by blood: the birth of the Bay Area Thrash scene |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/bonded-by-blood-the-birth-of-the-bay-area-thrash-scene |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=Loudersound.com |language=en-US}}

File:Paul Masson Mountain Winery, Pierce Rd., Saratoga, CA 9-23-2012 12-12-19 PM (cropped).JPG is a concert venue and vineyard in Saratoga.]]

The post-grunge era in the 1990s featured prominent Bay Area bands Third Eye Blind of San Francisco, Counting Crows of Berkeley, and Smash Mouth of San Jose, and later pop punk rock bands like Green Day.

The 1990s also saw the emergence of the influential hyphy movement in hip hop, derived from the Oakland slang for "hyperactive", and pioneered by Bay Area rappers Andre "Mac Dre" Hicks, Mistah Fab, and E-40.{{Cite news |last=Collins |first=Hattie |title=Ghostridin' the whip |work=The Guardian |access-date=September 21, 2017 |date=October 20, 2006 |url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1926601,00.html |archive-date=April 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200411221726/http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1926601,00.html |url-status=live}} Other notable rappers from the Bay Area include Lil B,{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/4984913/lil-b-the-based-god-nba-2017-interview/ |title=Lil B the Based God Talks NBA Curses and Hopes, 2017 Season |author=Lang, Cady |date=October 18, 2017 |access-date=October 28, 2017 |magazine=Time |archive-date=October 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023143423/http://time.com/4984913/lil-b-the-based-god-nba-2017-interview/ |url-status=live}} Tupac Shakur, MC Hammer, Too $hort, and G-Eazy.{{cite web |url=https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2011/11/14/interview-oakland-locals-eric-arnold-on-the-oakland-rap-scene/ |title=Interview: Oakland Hip Hop History and the Current Scene |author=Brooks, John |date=November 14, 2011 |access-date=September 21, 2017 |publisher=KQED |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924230745/https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2011/11/14/interview-oakland-locals-eric-arnold-on-the-oakland-rap-scene/ |url-status=live}} Today, much of the rap coming out of Oakland and the East Bay is "conscious rap", which concerns itself with social issues and awareness.

The Bay Area is also home to hundreds of classical music ensembles, from community choirs to professional orchestras, such as the San Francisco Symphony, California Symphony, Fremont Symphony Orchestra, Oakland Symphony and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra.{{cite web |url=https://www.sfcv.org/events-calendar/organization-profiles?field_organization_type_value=orchestras |title=Bay Area Music Groups |work=San Francisco Classical Voice |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=September 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925035129/https://www.sfcv.org/events-calendar/organization-profiles?field_organization_type_value=orchestras |url-status=live}}

File:USA-Redwood City-New Sequoia Theater Building-2.jpg in Redwood City]]

According to the regional theater service organization Theatre Bay Area, the San Francisco Bay Area is the third largest center of activity for theater companies and actors in the United States, after the New York City and Chicago metropolitan areas, with 400 companies spread throughout the region.{{cite web |url=http://stage-directions.com/6405-theatre-bay-area-announces-finalists-for-inaugural-awards.html |title=Theatre Bay Area Announces Finalists for Inaugural Awards |author=Coakley, Jacob |publisher=Stage Directions |date=September 24, 2014 |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924225021/http://stage-directions.com/6405-theatre-bay-area-announces-finalists-for-inaugural-awards.html |url-status=live}} The organization was founded in 1976 by the Magic Theatre and American Conservatory Theater (ACT) in San Francisco and the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley.{{cite web |url=https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/theatrebayarea.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/Press_Room/TBA_Fact_Sheet_UPDATED_FINAL.pdf |title=Fact Sheet: About Theatre Bay Area |publisher=Theatre Bay Area |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=August 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819070721/https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/theatrebayarea.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/Press_Room/TBA_Fact_Sheet_UPDATED_FINAL.pdf |url-status=live}} The latter two, along with the San Francisco Mime Troupe and Palo Alto-based Theatreworks, have since gone on to win one Regional Theatre Tony Award each.{{cite web |url=http://americantheatrecritics.org/tony-award/ |title=The Special Tony® Award for Regional Theatre |publisher=American Theatre Critics Association |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=October 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015124050/http://americantheatrecritics.org/tony-award/ |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://mv-voice.com/news/2019/04/28/theatreworks-to-receive-tony-award |title=Theaterworks to Receive Tony Award |publisher=Mountain View Voice |date=April 28, 2019 |access-date=July 6, 2019 |archive-date=July 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707064633/https://mv-voice.com/news/2019/04/28/theatreworks-to-receive-tony-award |url-status=live}}

File:SFOperaHouse.jpg is the home of the San Francisco Opera and the San Francisco Ballet.]]

Several famous actors have arisen from the Bay Area's theatre community, including Daveed Diggs from Hamilton and Darren Criss from Hedwig, A Very Potter Musical, and Glee.{{cite web |url=https://thebolditalic.com/heres-why-the-bay-area-theater-scene-is-amazing-right-now-34935fc03255 |title=Here's Why the Bay Area Theater Scene Is Amazing |author=Fields, Regina |publisher=The Bold Italic |date=July 28, 2016 |access-date=September 21, 2017}} Locally, well-regarded actors include James Carpenter, a stage actor who has performed at the ACT, Berkeley Repertory, and San Jose Repertory Theatre among others, Rod Gnapp of the Magic Theatre Company, Sean San Jose, one of the founders of the Campo Santo theater, and Campo Santo member Margo Hall.{{cite news |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2013/09/30/ten-bay-area-stage-actors-we-love/ |title=Ten Bay Area stage actors we love |author=D'Souza, Karen |date=June 28, 2017 |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924230209/http://www.mercurynews.com/2013/09/30/ten-bay-area-stage-actors-we-love/ |url-status=live}}

The Bay Area also has an active youth theater scene. ACT and the Berkeley Repertory both run classes and camps for young actors, as do the Peninsula Youth Theater and Willow Glen Children's Theatre in the Peninsula and South Bay, Bay Area Children's Theater and Danville Children's Musical Theater in the East Bay, and Marin Shakespeare in the North Bay, among many others.{{cite web |url=http://www.act-sf.org/home/conservatory/young_conservatory.html |title=ACT's Young Conservatory |publisher=American Conservatory Theater |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=September 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913143042/http://www.act-sf.org/home/conservatory/young_conservatory.html |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://www.bayareakidfun.com/theater-lessons-in-the-bay-area/ |title=Theatre Lessons in the Bay Area |publisher=Bay Area Kid's Fun |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924225052/http://www.bayareakidfun.com/theater-lessons-in-the-bay-area/ |url-status=live}}

{{Main|Media in the San Francisco Bay Area}}

File:Sutro Tower from Grandview.jpg is a broadcast tower and local landmark.]]

The San Francisco Bay Area is the tenth-largest television market{{cite web |title=Top 200 Nielsen DMA Rankings (2024) – Full List |date=January 3, 2024 |url=https://methodshop.com/nielsen-dma-rankings-full-list/}} and the fourth-largest radio market{{cite web |title=Arbitron Radio Market Rankings: Spring 2008 |publisher=Arbitron |date=April 16, 2008 |url=http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/mm001050.asp |access-date=June 14, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070710153242/http://www.arbitron.com/Radio_Stations/mm001050.asp |archive-date=July 10, 2007 |url-status=live}} in the U.S. The Bay Area's oldest radio station, KCBS (AM), began as an experimental station in San Jose in 1909, before the beginning of commercial broadcasting.{{cite book |title=Charles Herrold, Inventor of Radio Broadcasting |publisher=McFarland & Company |author=Greb, Gordon and Mike Adams |page=129 |date=August 15, 2003}} KALW was the Bay Area's first FM radio station, and first radio station to begin commercial broadcasting west of the Mississippi River when it signed on the air in 1941.{{cite web |title=About KALW |url=http://kalw.org/about-kalw#stream/0 |publisher=KALW |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925035208/http://kalw.org/about-kalw#stream/0 |url-status=live}} KPIX, which began broadcasting in 1948, was the first television station to air in the Bay Area and Northern California.{{cite web |url=https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/187344 |title=KPIX Retrospective: 1948-5 |publisher=San Francisco State University |date=1968 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924230548/https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/187344 |url-status=live}}

All major U.S. television networks have affiliates serving the region, including KTVU 2 (FOX), KRON-TV 4 (The CW), KPIX 5 (CBS), KGO-TV 7 (ABC), KQED-TV 9 (PBS), KNTV 11 (NBC), KICU-TV 36 (MyNetworkTV), KPYX 44 (Independent), KQEH 54 (PBS), and KKPX 65 (Ion). Bloomberg West, a show that focuses on topics pertaining to technology and business, was launched in 2011 from a studio in and continues to broadcast from San Francisco.{{cite news |last=Phillips |first=Robin J |title=Bloomberg launches West Coast show from San Francisco |url=http://businessjournalism.org/2011/02/28/bloomberg-launches-west-coast-show-from-san-francisco/ |access-date=July 25, 2011 |newspaper=Reynolds Center |date=February 28, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414120012/http://businessjournalism.org/2011/02/28/bloomberg-launches-west-coast-show-from-san-francisco/ |archive-date=April 14, 2013}}

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.{{cite web |title=Top 30 Public Radio Subscribers – Winter 2004 Arbitron |work=Radio Research Consortium |publisher=Arbitron Media Research |date=June 17, 2004 |url=http://www.pacifica.org/documents/pdf/ArbitronRatingsWinter2004.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050423215537/http://www.pacifica.org/documents/pdf/ArbitronRatingsWinter2004.pdf |archive-date=April 23, 2005 |access-date=June 14, 2008}} Another local broadcaster, KPOO, is an independent, African-American owned and operated noncommercial radio station established in 1971.{{cite web |url=http://www.kpoo.com/about |title=About Us |publisher=KPOO |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170910113046/http://www.kpoo.com/about |url-status=live}}

File:Pixar - front gates.jpg headquarters in Emeryville]]

The largest newspapers in the Bay Area are the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News, the highest and second-highest most widely circulated newspaper in Northern California.{{cite web |title=Top 200 Newspapers by Largest Reported Circulation |publisher=Audit Bureau of Circulations |url=http://www.accessabc.com/products/top200.htm |date=March 31, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813073544/http://www.accessabc.com/products/top200.htm |archive-date=August 13, 2007 |access-date=June 14, 2008}} 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.{{cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Scott |title=The San Francisco Examiner, 1887–2000 |work=Salon |date=March 21, 2000 |url=http://archive.salon.com/media/feature/2000/03/21/examiner/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627064603/http://archive.salon.com/media/feature/2000/03/21/examiner/index.html |archive-date=June 27, 2009 |access-date=June 15, 2008}}{{cite news |last=Nolte |first=Carl |title=Examiner Staff Ends an Era With Tears, Newsroom Tales |work=San Francisco Chronicle |page=A-1 |date=November 22, 2000 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/11/22/MN121380.DTL&hw=san+francisco+examiner&sn=005&sc=498 |access-date=June 15, 2008 |archive-date=June 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624155741/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2000%2F11%2F22%2FMN121380.DTL&hw=san+francisco+examiner&sn=005&sc=498 |url-status=live}} Most of the Bay Area's local regions and municipalities also have their own newspapers, such as the East Bay Times and San Mateo Daily Journal. The national newsmagazine Mother Jones is also based in San Francisco.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2001/05/first-25-years/ |title=The First 25 Years |magazine=Mother Jones |date=May–June 2001 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |author=Hochschild, Adam |archive-date=September 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915092712/http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2001/05/first-25-years/ |url-status=live}} Non-English-language newspapers include several Chinese-language papers such as Sing Tao Daily, the largest in the Bay Area by circulation,{{cite news |last=Hua |first=Vanessa |title=Newspaper war in the Bay Area: Ming Pao becomes 6th Chinese-language daily |work=San Francisco Chronicle |page=B-1 |date=August 3, 2004 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/08/03/BAGI781MM91.DTL |access-date=June 14, 2008 |archive-date=June 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624155806/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2004%2F08%2F03%2FBAGI781MM91.DTL |url-status=live}} and El Mundo, a free Spanish-language weekly distributed by the Mercury News.{{cite news |url=http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/local_news/the-peninsula-s-only-homegrown-spanish-language-newspaper-is-finding/article_a2dae28c-fcb5-50ec-bfab-8d006a687fb0.htm |title=The Peninsula's only homegrown Spanish-language newspaper is finding its place in the world. |newspaper=Monterey County Weekly |date=January 11, 2001 |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-date=November 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122025243/http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/local_news/the-peninsula-s-only-homegrown-spanish-language-newspaper-is-finding/article_a2dae28c-fcb5-50ec-bfab-8d006a687fb0.htm |url-status=live |author1=None}}

{{Main|Sports in the San Francisco Bay Area}}

File:AT&T Park July 24, 2016.jpg, the home of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball|alt=An image of Oracle Park, a baseball field]]

The Bay Area is home to five professional major league franchises in men's sports: The San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) in American football, the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB), the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer (MLS).{{cite news |last=Hickey |first=John |date=August 19, 2020 |title=Athletics, Giants Part of Upswelling of Pro Sports Teams Backing Prop 16 |url=https://www.si.com/mlb/athletics/news/athletics-giants-part-of-upswelling-of-pro-sports-teams-backing-prop-209 |accessdate=November 14, 2024}} A professional women's soccer team, Bay FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), debuted in 2024,{{cite news |last=Ingemi |first=Marisa |date=October 30, 2024 |title=How Bay FC went from expansion growing pains to NWSL postseason contender |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/article/bay-fc-went-expansion-growing-pains-nwsl-19865286.php |work=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=November 14, 2024}} and the Golden State Valkyries will play their first season in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in 2025.{{cite press release |url=https://www.wnba.com/news/gs-valkyries-2025-identity |title=Golden State Valkyries Unveil Brand Identity |publisher=WNBA |date=May 14, 2024 |access-date=November 14, 2024}}

In football, the 49ers play in Levi's Stadium and have won five Super Bowls (XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV, XXIX) and lost three (XLVII, LIV, and LVIII).{{cite web |title=NFL History – Super Bowl Winners |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/superbowl/history/winners |publisher=ESPN |accessdate=November 14, 2024}} A second NFL team in the Bay Area, the Oakland Raiders, played from 1970 to 1981 and 1995 to 2019 at the Oakland Coliseum; they won the Super Bowl twice during their tenure in the East Bay.{{cite news |last=Kirshner |first=Alex |date=November 24, 2023 |title=Oakland's unprecedented triple exodus is a unique sporting tragedy |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/nov/24/oakland-sports-teams-east-bay-athletics-raiders-warriors |work=The Guardian |accessdate=November 14, 2024}} The team relocated to Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 and to Las Vegas in 2020 after plans to play in a new stadium fell through.

In baseball, the Giants, who play at Oracle Park,{{cite web |url=http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/ballpark/index.jsp |title=AT&T Park |publisher=Sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com |date=June 19, 2012 |access-date=August 21, 2012 |archive-date=October 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027041928/http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/ballpark/index.jsp |url-status=dead}} have won eight World Series titles, three since relocating to San Francisco (2010, 2012, and 2014) from New York in 1958.{{cite web |url=https://www.cheatsheet.com/sports/5-mlb-teams-world-series-titles.html/?a=viewall |title=5 MLB Teams With the Most World Series Titles |publisher=Sports Cheat Sheet |author=Schaal, Eric |date=November 4, 2016 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924233021/https://www.cheatsheet.com/sports/5-mlb-teams-world-series-titles.html/?a=viewall |url-status=live}} The Athletics, who played at the Oakland Coliseum,{{cite web |url=http://www.coliseum.com/about-us/history |title=Oracle Arena and Oakland Coliseum About Us |publisher=Coliseum.com |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-date=September 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914224911/http://www.coliseum.com/about-us/history |url-status=live}} have won nine World Series titles, four since relocating to Oakland (1972, 1973, 1974, and 1989) from Kansas City in 1968. The team left Oakland in 2024 and will become the Las Vegas Athletics in 2028 after temporarily playing in the Sacramento area.{{cite news |last=Akers |first=Mick |date=September 26, 2024 |title=Las Vegas A's: What we know about Sin City plans as Oakland tenure ends |url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/athletics/las-vegas-as-what-we-know-about-sin-city-plans-as-oakland-tenure-ends-3177672/ |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |accessdate=November 14, 2024}}

File:Avaya Stadium 2016 screenshot 03.jpg, home of the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer]]

In basketball, the Warriors play at Chase Center and have won seven NBA Finals, five since relocating to the Bay Area (1975, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022) from Philadelphia in 1962.{{cite web |url=http://www.nba.com/warriors/team_history_index.html/ |title=Warriors History Index |publisher=NBA |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=November 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109222853/http://www.nba.com/warriors/team_history_index.html/ |url-status=live}} The Warriors own the Valkyries, which will also play at Chase Center.{{cite press release |url=https://www.wnba.com/news/bay-area-expansion-team-2025 |title=WNBA Expansion Team Awarded in Bay Area To Golden State Warriors To Begin Play in 2025 |publisher=WNBA |date=October 5, 2023 |access-date=November 14, 2024}}

In ice hockey, the Sharks play at the SAP Center. They made their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2016 but have not won the Stanley Cup.{{cite news |last=Purdy |first=Mark |date=June 12, 2020 |title=On this date, 2016: Sharks' Stanley Cup dream ruined by Penguins |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/12/on-this-date-2016-sharks-stanley-cup-dream-ruined-by-penguins/ |work=The Mercury News |accessdate=November 14, 2024}}

In soccer, the Earthquakes play at PayPal Park and have won the MLS Cup twice in 2001 and 2003.{{cite web |title=Club History |url=https://www.sjearthquakes.com/club/history |publisher=San Jose Earthquakes |accessdate=November 14, 2024}} Bay FC joined the Earthquakes at PayPal Park and have competed in NWSL since 2024. The Bay Area hosted matches during the 1994 FIFA World Cup at Stanford Stadium and will host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup at Levi's Stadium.{{cite news |last1=Ingemi |first1=Marisa |last2=Hernández |first2=Lauren |date=June 16, 2022 |title=Bay Area selected as one of the host sites for 2026 World Cup |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/article/Bay-Area-selected-as-one-of-the-host-sites-for-17247181.php |work=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=November 14, 2024}} The Bay Area hosted some of the soccer competition during the 1984 Summer Olympics and will do so again during the 2028 Summer Olympics.{{cite web |url=https://la28.org/en/games-plan.html |title=Welcome to the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games |website=la28.org |access-date=August 20, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-date=November 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107215303/https://la28.org/en/games-plan.html }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/07/31/top-10-most-historic-bay-area-olympic-spots-stanford-stadium/|title=Top 10 most historic Bay Area Olympic spots: Stanford Stadium|date=July 31, 2016}}

File:Broncos_vs_49ers_preseason_game_at_Levi's_Stadium.jpg in Santa Clara, home of the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League]]

Outside of major league sports, the Bay Area is home to numerous minor league franchises. In hockey, the San Jose Barracuda play in the American Hockey League (AHL) and are the top affiliate of the San Jose Sharks, sharing the same rink at the SAP Center in San Jose.{{cite web |url=http://www.sjbarracuda.com/team/development-history |title=Development History |publisher=San Jose Barracudas |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924231022/http://www.sjbarracuda.com/team/development-history |url-status=live}} In baseball, the San Jose Giants in the California League of Minor League Baseball (MiLB) are the Low-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, playing out of the San Jose Municipal Stadium.{{cite web |url=https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-8098792 |title=San Jose Giants Team Info |publisher=San Jose Giants |access-date=September 2, 2015 |archive-date=September 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150913020649/http://www.milb.com/content/page.jsp?sid=t476&ymd=20100219&content_id=8098792&vkey=team4 |url-status=live}} In soccer, the Oakland Roots SC in the USL Championship, the second division of American soccer, moved to the Oakland Coliseum for the 2025 season.{{cite news |last=Ravani |first=Sarah |date=August 12, 2024 |title=Oakland Roots will play at the Coliseum in 2025 |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/oakland-coliseum-roots-soul-soccer-19631085.php |work=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=November 14, 2024}} In the Indoor Football League, the Bay Area Panthers play at the SAP Center.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

In terms of collegiate sports, six Bay Area universities are members of NCAA Division I, the highest level of college sports in the country.{{cite web |url=http://web1.ncaa.org/onlineDir/exec2/divisionListing?sortOrder=0&division=1 |title=NCAA Members by Division |publisher=NCAA |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415102306/http://web1.ncaa.org/onlineDir/exec2/divisionListing?sortOrder=0&division=1 |archive-date=April 15, 2013 |url-status=dead}} All three football-playing schools in the Bay Area are in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of NCAA college football. The California Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinal compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference,{{cite press release |url=https://theacc.com/news/2023/9/1/general-the-atlantic-coast-conference-welcomes-the-university-of-california-berkeley-southern-methodist-university-and-stanford-university-as-new-members.aspx |title=The Atlantic Coast Conference Welcomes the University of California, Berkeley, Southern Methodist University and Stanford University as New Members |publisher=Atlantic Coast Conference |date=September 1, 2023 |access-date=September 1, 2023 |archive-date=September 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901142728/https://theacc.com/news/2023/9/1/general-the-atlantic-coast-conference-welcomes-the-university-of-california-berkeley-southern-methodist-university-and-stanford-university-as-new-members.aspx |url-status=live }} and the San Jose State Spartans compete in the Mountain West Conference.{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7883895/utah-state-san-jose-state-joining-mountain-west-conference-2013-2014-according-sources |title=Sources: Utah St., SJSU joining MWC |publisher=ESPN |date=May 3, 2013 |access-date=September 21, 2017 |author=Katz, Andy |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924231229/http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7883895/utah-state-san-jose-state-joining-mountain-west-conference-2013-2014-according-sources |url-status=live}} The Cardinal and Golden Bears are intense rivals, with their football teams competing annually in the Big Game for the Stanford Axe.{{cite web |url=https://abc7news.com/archive/8433343/ |title=Cal, Stanford get pumped up for The Big Game | abc7news.com |publisher=Abclocal.go.com |date=November 15, 2011 |access-date=August 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730102856/http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news%2Fsports%2Fcollege%2Ffootball&id=8433343 |archive-date=July 30, 2012 |url-status=live}} One of the most famous games in the rivalry occurred in 1982, when the Golden Bears defeated the Cardinal on a last-second kickoff return known as "The Play".{{cite web |url=http://california.scout.com/2/814436.html |title=Scout.com: The Big Game: Cal vs. Stanford |publisher=California.scout.com |date=November 22, 2008 |access-date=August 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525002822/http://www.scout.com/college/california/story/814436-the-big-game-cal-vs-stanford?s=166 |archive-date=May 25, 2017}}

File:Tour of California Morgan Hill (cropped).jpg in Morgan Hill]]

The Bay Area has an ideal climate for outdoor recreation, such that activities like hiking, cycling and jogging are popular among locals.{{cite book |title=Afoot and Afield: San Francisco Bay Area: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide |url=https://archive.org/details/sanfranciscobaya00davi_0 |url-access=registration |author=Weintraub, David |publisher=Wilderness Press |date=September 29, 2004 |page=[https://archive.org/details/sanfranciscobaya00davi_0/page/1 1]}}{{cite web |url=http://www.hillsidegraphics.com/hamilton-challenge/ |title=Mt. Hamilton Challenge & Ascent Bicycle Tours |publisher=Pedalera Bicycle Club |access-date=April 4, 2008 |archive-date=April 13, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413150433/http://www.hillsidegraphics.com/hamilton-challenge |url-status=live}} San Francisco alone boasts over 200 parks,{{Cite web |title=Parks in San Francisco |url=https://bayareaparks.com/regions/san-francisco/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=BayAreaParks.com |language=en-US}} offering a wide range of green spaces for relaxation and exercise. The city also features more than {{cvt|200|mi|km}} of bicycle paths, lanes and bike routes just within San Francisco,{{cite web |title=Bicycle Network Facilities |work=Commuting and Resources |publisher=SF Municipal Transportation Authority |date=May 12, 2008 |url=http://www.sfmta.com/cms/bcomm/3180.html |access-date=June 15, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022043109/http://www.sfmta.com/cms/bcomm/3180.html |archive-date=October 22, 2007}} and the Embarcadero and Marina Green are favored sites for skateboarding. Extensive public tennis facilities are available in Golden Gate Park and Dolores Park, as well as at smaller neighborhood courts throughout the city. 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. The St. Francis Yacht Club and Golden Gate Yacht Club are located in the Marina Harbor,{{cite web |title=St Francis Yacht Club |url=http://www.stfyc.com/ |access-date=March 26, 2013 |archive-date=March 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130325112917/http://www.stfyc.com/ |url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Golden Gate Yacht Club |url=http://www.ggyc.com/ |access-date=March 26, 2013 |archive-date=May 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510044559/http://www.ggyc.com/ |url-status=live}} while the South Beach Yacht Club is located next to Oracle Park.{{cite web |title=About South Beach Yacht Club |url=http://www.southbeachyachtclub.org/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=28&ssid=100049&vnf=1 |access-date=March 26, 2013 |archive-date=February 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226205618/http://www.southbeachyachtclub.org/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=28&ssid=100049&vnf=1 |url-status=live}} The Bay Area was host to the 2013 America's Cup. Other Bay Area yacht clubs include the Alameda Yacht Club,{{cite web |title=Alameda Yacht Club |url=http://alameda-yacht-club.org/ |access-date=November 16, 2022 |language=en}} Berkeley Yacht Club,{{cite web |title=Berkley Yacht Club |url=https://berkeleyyc.org/ |access-date=November 16, 2022 |language=en}} Corinthian Yacht Club{{cite web |title=Corinthium Yacht Club |url=https://www.cyc.org/ |access-date=November 16, 2022 |language=en}} in Tiburon, Oakland Yacht Club,{{cite web |title=Oakland Yacht Club |url=https://www.oaklandyachtclub.net/ |access-date=November 16, 2022 |language=en}} Presidio Yacht Club,{{cite web |title=Presidio Yacht Club |url=https://www.presidioyachtclub.org/ |access-date=November 16, 2022 |language=en}} Sausalito Yacht Club and Sequoia Yacht Club{{cite web |title=Sequoia Yacht Club |url=https://www.sequoiayc.org/ |access-date=November 16, 2022 |language=en}} in Redwood City.

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• [http://www.visitcalifornia.com/region/discover-san-francisco-bay-area Discover the Bay Area website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222044743/https://www.visitcalifornia.com/region/discover-san-francisco-bay-area |date=December 22, 2018 }} run by Discover California
• [https://archive.today/20140208024513/http://www.visitsfbayarea.com/ Bay Area Tourism Guide] by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce

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Category:Regions of California

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