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. It is a collection of a series of cities, towns, villages, military bases, airports, regional, state, and national parks sprawled over 9 counties and are connected by a massive network of roads, highways, rail, and commuter rail. The city of San Francisco serves as the traditional focal point and the cultural, economic, transportation nerve center of the region. Unlike other major metropolitan areas, the urban areas here are completely independent entities with their own completely independent governments and public services and city borders instead of one huge city. Because San Francisco was the largest city in the region (until recently surpassed by San Jose) and remains the traditional and cultural center, the region was referred to and is generally confused as the city of San Francisco proper.

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.

The eastern side of the bay, dominated by the city of Oakland but also includes Berkeley, Richmond and several small cities, is known as the East Bay.

The East Bay is split into two regions, the inner East Bay that sits on the bay coastline proper as the outer East Bay is in the inner inland valleys and are landlocked by mountains and valleys.

The inner East Bay consists of the major cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, the University of California, Berkeley and smaller suburbs in between the three major cities and south of Oakland such as Emeryville, San Leandro, and Fremont. The inner East Bay is more urban, more densly populated, has a much older building stock (built before World War II), more ethnically diverse, and much poorer and have higher crime rates (especially in Oakland and Richmond). Oakland is the region’s chief seaport. Regional basketball, football and Baseball teams play from Oakland.

The outer East Bay consists of the major cities of Walnut Creek, Concord, Antioch, to the north (also referred as Central Contra Costa County) and the cities of Dublin, Livermore 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, was mostly built after World War II, and is more affluent.

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 cities of San Jose, Fremont, and the high-tech hub of Santa Clara, as well as many smaller communities.

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 amounts of immigrants and driven housing, rents, gasoline prices up 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, Foster City as well as various towns along the Pacific coast such as Pacifica and Half Moon Bay. Because of Stanford University, lack of space, and high cost of living, the Silicon Valley has been slowly creeping up the peninsula.

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 county line from its neighbor cities to the South. Locals refer to San Francisco as The City or SF in writing. It is generally not referred to as San Fran or Frisco by locals. By extension, South San Francisco is often referred to as South City even though there are other towns between San Jose and SF. San Francisco serves as the cultural and financial center of the region, and once was the population and economic center.

San Francisco is quite small, yet its hilly terrain and patchwork demographic profile give it more distinctly defined neighborhoods than a city five times its size. As a result, the sights, sounds and flavors of a community-and even its climate-can change within a single block.

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