San Francisco

San Francisco, California
Consolidated city-county
City and County of San Francisco
San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill Cable car on Powell Street Transamerica Pyramid Mission Dolores Oracle Park Palace of Fine Arts San Francisco from the Marin Headlands
Flag Seal
Nicknames:  See List of nicknames for San Francisco[1]
Motto(s):  Oro en Paz, Fierro en Guerra (Spanish) (English: "Gold in Peace, Iron in War")
Anthem: I Left My Heart in San Francisco[2]
Interactive map outlining San Francisco
San Francisco Location within California Show map of California San Francisco Location within the United States Show map of the United States San Francisco Location within North America Show map of North America San Francisco San Francisco (Earth) Show map of Earth
Coordinates: 37°46′39″N 122°24′59″W / 37.77750°N 122.41639°W / 37.77750; -122.41639
Country	United States
State	California
County	San Francisco
CSA	San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland
Metro	San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward
Mission	June 29, 1776[3]
Incorporated	April 15, 1850[4]
Founded by	José Joaquín Moraga Francisco Palóu
Named for	St. Francis of Assisi
Government
• Type	Mayor–council
• Body	Board of Supervisors
• Mayor	London Breed (D)[5]
• Supervisors[7]	List Connie Chan (D) Catherine Stefani (D) Aaron Peskin (D) Gordon Mar (D) Dean Preston (D) Matt Haney (D) Myrna Melgar (D) Rafael Mandelman (D) Hillary Ronen (D) Shamann Walton (D) Ahsha Safaí (D)
• Assembly members[8][9]	Matt Haney (D) Phil Ting (D)
• State senator	Scott Wiener (D)[6]
• United States Representatives[10][11]	Barbara Lee (D) Eric Swalwell (D)
Area [12]
• City and county	231.89 sq mi (600.59 km2)
• Land	46.9 sq mi (121.48 km2)
• Water	184.99 sq mi (479.11 km2)  80.00%
• Metro	3,524.4 sq mi (9,128 km2)
Elevation [13]	52 ft (16 m)
Highest elevation [14]	934 ft (285 m)
Lowest elevation [14]	0 ft (0 m)
Population  (2020)[15]
• City and county	873,965
• Rank	17th in the United States 4th in California
• Density	18,634.65/sq mi (7,194.31/km2)
• Metro [16]	4,749,008 (12th)
Demonym(s)	San Franciscan San Francisqueño/a
Time zone	UTC−8 (Pacific Time Zone)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−7 (Pacific Daylight Time)
ZIP Codes[17]	List 94102–94105 94107–94112 94114–94134 94137 94139–94147 94151 94158–94161 94163–94164 94172 94177 94188
Area codes	415/628[18]
FIPS code	06-67000
GNIS feature IDs	277593, 2411786
GDP (2019)[19]	City—$203.5billion MSA—$591.9 billion (4th) CSA—$1.086 trillion (3rd)
Website	sf.gov

San Francisco is a city in the state of California in the United States. It is in the northern part of California, between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. With 873,965 people in 2020, San Francisco is the 4th largest city in California and the 17th largest city in the United States. It is the economic and cultural center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a metropolitan area with over 7 million people. The city is famous for the Golden Gate Bridge, steep hills, unique architecture, and its large LGBTQ+ population.

Spanish explorers created San Francisco in 1776. They called it "Yerba Buena", which is Spanish for "Good Herb", because a lot of mint grew there.^[20] After the Mexican-American War, the United States took over Yerba Buena. In 1848 its name was changed to "San Francisco". It became a city in 1850. San Francisco was a center of the Beat Generation in the 1950s and the Hippie movement in the 1960s. Today, it is a center of social and political liberalism.

When the California Gold Rush started in 1848, San Francisco's port became very important. Immigrants came by sea from around the world. During World War II, the city was a center of war industries.^[21] In the 1990s, the economy became focused on internet companies and other high tech. Many of the world's largest companies have their main offices in San Francisco, such as Wells Fargo, Salesforce, Uber, Airbnb, Twitter, Levi's, Gap, Dropbox, and Lyft.^[22][23] The city has among the highest average incomes and highest housing costs in the United States.

1. ↑ Cite error: The named reference TBI20130630 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
2. ↑ Museum of San Francisco, retrieved June 17, 2020.
3. ↑ Cite error: The named reference DeAnza-Moraga-Palou was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
4. ↑ "San Francisco: Government". SFGov.org. Archived from the original on March 16, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012. San Francisco was incorporated as a City on April 15th, 1850 by act of the Legislature.
5. ↑ "Office of the Mayor : Home". City & County of San Francisco. Archived from the original on October 24, 2009. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
6. ↑ "Statewide Database". UC Regents. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
7. ↑ "Board of Supervisors". City and County of San Francisco. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
8. ↑ "Communities of Interest – City". California Citizens Redistricting Commission. Archived from the original on October 23, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
9. ↑ "Members Assembly". California State Assembly. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
10. ↑ "Communities of Interest – City". California Citizens Redistricting Commission. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
11. ↑ "Directory of Representatives". U.S. House of Representatives.
12. ↑ "2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
13. ↑ "San Francisco". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} "Elevations and Distances in the United States". US Geological Survey. April 29, 2005. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
15. ↑ "QuickFacts: San Francisco city, California". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
16. ↑ "2020 Population and Housing State Data". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
17. ↑ "ZIP Codes for City of San Francisco, CA". 2010 United States census. 2010. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021 – via Zip-Codes.com.
18. ↑ "NPA City Report". North American Numbering Plan Administration. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
19. ↑ "GDP by County, Metro, and Other Areas; U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)".
20. ↑ "Yerba Buena Renamed San Francisco - 1847". www.sfmuseum.org.
21. ↑ "Port of San Francisco". World Port Source. Archived from the original on April 27, 2023. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
22. ↑ San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Board (August 21, 2022). "Downtown San Francisco is dying. This bill could help save it". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
23. ↑ "Companies ranked by Market Cap - CompaniesMarketCap.com". companiesmarketcap.com. Retrieved 2022-06-18.