CA · City and County of San Francisco · 873,965 (2020) · 17th-largest US city · Pacific time
San Francisco, California
San Francisco occupies the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, joined to Marin County by the Golden Gate Bridge. It is the fourth-largest city in California and the seventeenth-largest in the United States.
- State
- California
- County
- San Francisco (consolidated city-county)
- Population (2020)
- 873,965
- Rank
- 17th in the US
- Coordinates
- 37.77°N, 122.42°W
- Time zone
- Pacific
- Metro area
- about 4.7 million (with Oakland)
- State capital
- No – Sacramento
Where San Francisco is
San Francisco is at 37.77°N, 122.42°W and is the only consolidated city-county in California: the city and San Francisco County are identical, covering just 47 square miles of land at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula. Water surrounds it on three sides — the Pacific to the west, the Golden Gate strait to the north and the bay to the east. The land is famously hilly, with more than 40 named hills; Mount Davidson is the highest at 928 feet, and the Financial District sits near sea level. Oakland is 10 miles east across the Bay Bridge, San Jose 50 miles south and Sacramento 90 miles northeast.
Population and rank
The 2020 Census counted 873,965 residents, the city's highest ever, ranking San Francisco 17th in the US and fourth in California after Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose. Packed into 47 square miles, it is the second most densely populated large city in the country after New York. The San Francisco–Oakland–Berkeley metropolitan area has about 4.7 million people; with San Jose and the other Bay Area counties the combined region is roughly 9.7 million. The city lost several tens of thousands of residents in 2020–21 before stabilising.
Geography
- Golden Gate — the mile-wide strait connecting the Pacific to the bay, spanned by the bridge since 1937; strong tidal currents and summer fog are characteristic.
- San Francisco Bay — the largest estuary on the Pacific coast of the Americas, receiving the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers through the Carquinez Strait.
- Hills — Twin Peaks (922 ft), Mount Davidson, Nob, Russian and Telegraph hills; the Presidio and Lands End on the ocean side are part of a national recreation area.
- Coast — Ocean Beach runs the full western edge of the city; the San Andreas Fault passes just offshore. See US coastlines.
Nearest large cities
Oakland and Berkeley are across the bay; San Jose and Sacramento are each about 90 minutes away. Distances are approximate road miles from the Civic Center.
| City | State | Road distance (mi) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose | CA | 50 | SE |
| Sacramento | CA | 90 | NE |
| Fresno | CA | 190 | SE |
| Los Angeles | CA | 380 | SE |
| Portland | OR | 635 | N |
Is San Francisco the state capital?
No. California's capital is Sacramento, 90 miles northeast, and San Francisco has never held the role — the early capitals were San Jose, Vallejo and Benicia. San Francisco was, however, the largest city in the West until Los Angeles overtook it around 1920. It is now the fourth-largest city in the state and the second-largest in the Bay Area after San Jose.
Related maps
- California map — the state with its 58 counties.
- Sacramento — the state capital.
- US cities map.
- US coastlines and Sierra Nevada maps.
- Nearby cities: San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno.
- Pacific division · Pacific Time Zone.