San Francisco Bay Area

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USGS Satellite photo of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The San Francisco Bay Area, sometimes referred to as The Bay Area or The Bay, is a metropolitan area that lies along the San Francisco Bay in northern California. The three large cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland dominate the area.

With an estimated population of 7.15 million people, the Bay Area is the fifth largest metropolitan area in the U.S. after the New York Metropolitan Area, Southern California, the Chicago Metropolitan Area, and the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.

1 Definition
2 Geography
3 Subregions
4 Transportation
5 Regional counties, cities and suburbs
6 See also
7 External links

Definition

Map of the ten county San Francisco Bay Area

Unlike most other U.S. metropolitan areas, the US Census Bureau does not define a formal statistical area that corresponds to the Bay Area. However it is normally defined as the area covered by the nine counties that border either San Francisco Bay or San Pablo Bay: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. Santa Cruz County is sometimes considered a member of the Bay Area as well. It does not adjoin the San Francisco Bay, but has strong cultural ties to the Bay Area.

This nine- or ten-county area consists of cities of various size that lie more or less contiguously around the length of the bay. Because, unlike most other metropolitan areas in the United States, no single large city dominates the region, residents generally refer to the region generically as the Bay Area, without associating it with any one city. However, because San Francisco was historically the first major population center in the area, and because of its densely urbanized character in constrast to its neighbors, people in the region often refer to San Francisco as simply the City. Even San Jose natives, who live in the more populous city, will speak of "going to the City" when referring to a trip to San Francisco.

A more restrictive, informal definition includes only the urban portions of the previously defined area and also excludes Napa, Solano, and Sonoma counties, which are largely rural or suburban in character and have inland climates. High real-estate prices in this core of the Bay Area have driven many residents and businesses to move to outlying areas or to the Central Valley metropolitan areas of Sacramento, Stockton or Modesto, California area. As this trend continues, the definition of the Bay Area will likely expand, perhaps even including Yolo County as well.

Geography

The combined area of the nine Bay Area counties is 22,789 km² (8,798 mi²), or 21,216 km² (8,191 mi²), not including Santa Cruz County.

As well as constituting one of the world's greatest metropolitan areas, the Bay Area includes some exceptional natural coastal and rural landscape. It includes significant national parks such as the Point Reyes National Seashore, a large number of state parks including important ones like the Mount Diablo State Park, and numerous parks and preserves maintained by local government agencies – notably by the East Bay Regional Park District which has major land holdings in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Most of these conserved areas are within easy reach of the metropolitan areas, many of them by public transportation.

Because the hills, mountains, and large bodies of water produce such vast geographic diversity within this region, the Bay Area offers a significant variety of microclimates. The areas near the Pacific Ocean are generally characterized by relatively small temperature variations during the year, with cool foggy summers and mild rainy winters. Inland areas, especially those separated from the ocean by hills or mountains, have hotter summers and colder overnight temperatures during the winter.

Skyline Boulevard stretches through the Santa Cruz Mountains, here near Palo Alto, California. During spring time the hills surrounding the Bay Area appear lush and green (image taken April 2004)

In some parts of the Bay Area rain is extremely rare during the summer months. As a result, the surrounding hills quickly become dry (image taken June 2004)

Subregions

The population distribution of the Bay Area is generally subdivided into several smaller subregions.

The region north of the Golden Gate Bridge is known as the North Bay. This area consists of Marin County and extends northward into Napa and Sonoma counties. With some exceptions, this region is extremely affluent, and is generally the least urbanized part of the Bay Area, with many areas of undeveloped park and farm land. It is the only section of the Bay Area that is not served by a commuter rail transit service, though Sonoma-Marin service has entered the planning phase.
The eastern side of the bay, dominated by the city of Oakland but also including Berkeley, Richmond and several small cities, is known as the East Bay. The region, partly thanks to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) rail service, has extended beyond the East Bay hills into suburban communities such as Walnut Creek, Concord and Antioch. The weather on the eastern side of the hills is markedly warmer in the summer as compared to San Francisco (which tends to maintain a rather moderate climate year-round).
The communities along the southern edge of the Bay are known as the South Bay. The South Bay covers roughly the same area as Silicon Valley, although some Peninsula and East Bay towns are sometimes included in the latter. It includes the cities of San Jose, Fremont, and the high-tech hub of Santa Clara, as well as many smaller communities.
The area between the South Bay and the city of San Francisco is known as the San Francisco Peninsula, locally just as The Peninsula. This area consists of a series of small cities and suburban communities along the Bay, as well as various towns along the Pacific coast.
San Francisco is generally placed in a category by itself, separated by water from the north and east, and by county line from its neighbor cities to the South (Locals refer to San Francisco as SF or The City. It is never referred to as San Fran or Frisco.) By extension, South San Francisco is often referred to as "South City," even though there are other towns between SSF and SF.

Transportation

Airports

San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
Oakland International Airport (OAK)
Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)

Public transportation

Numerous and often overlapping bus transit agencies service the area (see Muni, AC Transit, SamTrans, VTA and County Connection). Muni and VTA also operate light rail networks. In addition, the Bay Area is served by a number of mass transit systems:

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) – A rapid transit electric train service that serves parts of the Bay Area, including San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Fremont, and Walnut Creek. It also serves the San Francisco and Oakland airports.
Caltrain – A commuter rail service that connects San Jose and cities along the Peninsula with San Francisco, California, and with the BART system by way of the Millbrae Transit Station.
Amtrak – There are several Amtrak stations throughout the Bay Area. Major stations in Martinez and Emeryville feature Coast Starlight and California Zephyr service. The Starlight also services Oakland and San Jose. The Capitol Corridor connects Bay Area cities to Sacramento, and features a BART transfer station at Richmond.
ACE – Altamont Commuter Express; a rail service that mainly serves commuters to and from the Central Valley to the Silicon Valley. It travels from Stockton through Pleasanton, Fremont, Santa Clara, and ends at San Jose. It operates only during commute hours on weekdays.

Freeways and highways

Interstate 80 is a major urban freeway in the Bay Area (seen here near Berkeley, California as the Eastshore Freeway). This section of freeway is among the busiest in the region carrying a peak average of roughly 300,000 cars per day.

The Bay Area possesses an extensive freeway and highway system.

Trans-bay crossings

Interstate 80 – The western terminus of I-80 is located in San Francisco, just west of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The interstate continues to the east, connecting to Oakland and the north coast of the East Bay, and then on to Sacramento and Reno.
Interstate 580 – This spur route's western terminus is in Marin County. The Interstate crosses the San Pablo Bay over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, passes through Oakland, then continues to Livermore, through the Altamont Pass to Tracy, where it intersects with Interstate 5.
California State Route 92 – CA-92's western terminus is in Half Moon Bay. The two lane highway crosses the Santa Cruz Mountains, connecting to Interstate 280, beoming a freeway as it passes through San Mateo before crossing the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge to Hayward.
California State Route 84 – CA-84 begins at the Pacific Coast near San Gregorio State Beach, and crosses the Santa Cruz Mountains on a scenic route between La Honda and Woodside. It then crosses the Bay over the Dumbarton Bridge from Redwood City to Newark. The route then passes through Fremont, continuing as Niles Canyon Road to Sunol and Livermore

The Peninsula to the South Bay

Interstate 280 and U.S. Highway 101 – 8 lane, and in some parts, 10 lane freeways connecting San Francisco to San Jose, passing through the Peninsula. Highway 101 continues south to Gilroy and Salinas, California, before continuing to Los Angeles. For most of its route I-280 runs along the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and is very scenic, while 101 is highly urban and is locally known as "the world's longest parking lot."
California State Routes 1 and 35 – two lane highways also traveling down the Peninsula, CA-1 along the Pacific coast, and CA-35 near the ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains. CA-1 connects to Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz and Monterey, before continuing to Los Angeles.
California State Routes 17 and 9 – highways through the Santa Cruz Mountains, connecting the South Bay to Santa Cruz. Part of CA-17 in San Jose is an 8 lane freeway.
California Routes 237 and 85 – freeways connecting the west Santa Clara Valley to the east Santa Clara Valley, bypassing Downtown San Jose.
California State Route 87 – north-south freeway entirely in San Jose, connects Downtown to the Almaden Valley.
California State Route 152 – two lane highway from Watsonville, crosses the Santa Cruz Mountains to Gilroy, then crosses the Diablo Range through Pacheco Pass to I-5 near Los Banos.
The freeway system in Santa Clara county is augmented by its expressway system.

North Bay

US-101 and CA-1 – continue north of San Francisco, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and connecting San Francisco to Marin and Sonoma counties, and eventually to Oregon.
California State Route 29 – Four-lane expressway connecting Interstate 80 in Vallejo in Solano County to the towns of American Canyon and Napa. North of Napa, SR-29 is a 2 lane rural highway through the towns of the Napa Valley, California's Wine Country to Clear Lake.
California State Route 37 – Four and two-lane expressway connecting US-101 in Novato with Interstate 80 in Vallejo, along the northern shore of San Pablo Bay.
California State Route 12 – A highway connecting Santa Rosa with suburbs to the east and west.

East Bay

Interstates 880 and 680 travel up the East Bay from San Jose, 880 close to the bay to Oakland, and 680 inland from San Jose north through Fremont, Pleasanton and Concord; then crosses the Benicia-Martinez bridge and ends at Interstate 80 in Fairfield.
Interstate 980 is entirely in Downtown Oakland and begins at Interstate 880 and travels north to become California State Route 24 at Interstate 580
California State Route 13, or the Warren Freeway, is entirely in the Oakland Hills and travels north from Interstate 580 to California State Route 24, where the freeway portion ends. Beyond SR 24, SR 13 is Berkeley's Ashby Avenue.
California State Route 24 begins at Interstate 580 in Oakland and travels east through the Caldecott Tunnel to Interstate 680 in Walnut Creek.
California State Route 238/Interstate 238 (Mission Boulevard) is an arterial from Fremont to Hayward, along the base of the hills, then becomes a freeway near Oakland.
California State Route 4 – western terminus at Interstate 80 in Hercules, travels east through Martinez, Pittsburg, and Antioch, where the freeway portion ends. The highway continues to Brentwood and east to Stockton.

Regional counties, cities and suburbs

The following lists are based on the ten county definition of the Bay Area. Those places listed in italics would be excluded by the nine county definition which excludes Santa Cruz County.

San Francisco Bay Area

Table of contents

Definition

Geography

Subregions

Transportation

Airports

Public transportation

Freeways and highways

Regional counties, cities and suburbs

Counties

Anchor cities

Suburbs with more than 100,000 inhabitants

Suburbs with 10,000 to 100,000 inhabitants

Suburbs with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants

See also

External links