San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, referred to locally as The Bay Area, is the conurbation that surrounds San Francisco Bay in northern California. Home to more than 7 million people, the metropolitan area is composed of cities, towns, villages, military bases, airports, and regional, state, and national parks sprawled over nine counties, connected by a massive network of roads, highways, rail, and commuter rail.

The region

• The City and County of San Francisco is generally placed in a category by itself geographically, mentally, and culturally. It is separated by water from the north and east, and by a county line from its neighbor cities to the South. San Francisco serves as the cultural and financial center of the region, and once was the population and economic center.
• The eastern side of the bay, dominated by the city of Oakland but also including Fremont, Livermore, Hayward and several small cities, is known as the East Bay. The East Bay is split into two regions, the inner East Bay, which sits on the Bay coastline, and the outer East Bay, consisting of inland valleys separated from the inner East Bay by hills and mountains.
• The inner East Bay consists of Oakland, Hayward, Fremont, Berkeley, and smaller suburbs surrounding or surrounded by these four major cities, such as Emeryville, San Leandro, and Richmond. The inner East Bay is more urban, more densly populated, has a much older building stock (built before World War II) and a more ethnically diverse population. Oakland is the region's chief seaport. The East Bay regional basketball, football, and baseball teams play from Oakland.
• The outer East Bay consists of the cities of Walnut Creek, Concord, and Antioch, to the north (also referred as Central Contra Costa County) and the cities of Dublin, Livermore, Danville, and San Ramon to the south (sometimes referred to as the Livermore-Amador Valley or the Tri-Valley). They are connected to the inner East Bay by BART and by highways and the Caldecott Tunnel. The outer East Bay is mostly suburban to rural and was mostly built after World War II.
• The communities along the southern edge of the Bay are known as the South Bay and Silicon Valley, although some Peninsula and East Bay towns are sometimes included in the latter. It includes the city of San Jose, and its smaller neighbors including Gilroy and the high-tech hubs of Santa Clara, Cupertino and Sunnyvale, as well as many other suburbs. A booming Silicon Valley has shifted the regional population and economic center away from San Francisco and Oakland and towards the South Bay; San Jose is now the largest city in the region. The technology boom has also brought large numbers of immigrants and driven housing and rent prices to the highest in the nation.
• The area between the South Bay and the City and County of San Francisco is known as the San Francisco Peninsula, locally just as The Peninsula. This area consists of a series of small cities and suburban communities along the Bay such as Palo Alto and Stanford University, San Mateo, and Foster City, as well as various towns along the Pacific coast, such as Pacifica and Half Moon Bay. Because of the influence of Stanford University, lack of space, and high cost of living, Silicon Valley has been slowly creeping up the peninsula.
• 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 and eastward to Solano County. 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.