San Francisco Bay Area

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The San Francisco Bay Area, colloquially known as the Bay Area or The Bay, is a geographically and ethnically diverse metropolitan region that surrounds the San Francisco Bay in Northern California. It encompasses the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, California, and Oakland, California, and their many suburbs. It also includes the smaller urban and rural areas of the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area). As of July 2006, the Bay Area is home to 7.2 million people, up half a million people since 2000, with the majority of the growth due to international immigration. "After several years of decline, population starts to grow again" San Francisco Chronicle article] Bay Area 2005 Population Census The Bay Area comprises many cities, towns, military bases, airports, and associated regional, state, and national parks sprawled over nine List of counties in California (sometimes defined as ten or eleven counties) and connected by a massive network of roads, highways, rail transport, bridges, tunnels and commuter rail.

While San Jose, California is now the largest city in the Bay Area (having surpassed San Francisco, California in the United States Census, 1990 United States Census), for most of its history San Francisco was the most populous city. San Francisco remains the focal point and major cultural center in the region. The Bay Area has the highest Household income in the United States and per capita income of any metropolitan area in the United States and is also one of the most politically Modern liberalism in the United States areas in the nation. The cost of living is also one of the highest in the nation (San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, 2007).

Subregions San Francisco is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate strait, the opening into the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. It connects San Francisco with Marin County, California

The City and County of San Francisco, California is generally placed in a category by itself in terms of geography and culture even within the Bay Area, and is known locally as "The City". It is separated by water from the north, west and east, and by a county line from its neighbor cities to the South. San Francisco has long served as the cultural, financial and urban center of the region. For most of the Bay Area's history, it has also served as the key population center. However, the limitations of the size of the county (47 square miles, making it the second most densely populated major city in the United States after New York City) constrained the growth of the city and, since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, other cities and counties have received the larger share of population growth.

North Bay .The region north of the Golden Gate Bridge is known locally as the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area). This area consists of Marin County, California and extends northward into Sonoma County, California and Napa County, California and eastward into Solano County, California. The city of Vallejo, California, being part of Solano County, is often considered the eastern most city of the North Bay, though due to a stronger cultural/socioeconomic similarity to many East Bay cities, it is also often considered the northern most city of the East Bay.With few exceptions, this region is quite affluent: Marin County is ranked as the wealthiest in the nation. The North Bay is generally the least urbanized part of the Bay Area, with many areas of undeveloped open space, farmland and vineyards. Santa Rosa, California in Sonoma County is the North Bay's largest city, with a population of 156,200 and a Metropolitan Statistical Area population of 466,477, making it the fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area. The North Bay is the only section of the Bay Area that is not served by a commuter rail transit service, and Sonoma-Marin service was recently voted down. The lack of transportation services is mainly because of the lack of population mass in the North Bay, and the fact that it is separated completely from the rest of the Bay Area by water, the only access points being the Golden Gate Bridge leading to San Francisco, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and Carquinez Bridge Bridges leading to Richmond, California, and the Benicia-Martinez Bridge leading to Martinez, California.

The Peninsula , looking down from San Bruno Mountain The area between the City and County of San Francisco and the South Bay is the San Francisco Peninsula, known locally as The Peninsula. This area consists of a series of small cities and suburban communities in San Mateo County, California and the northwestern part of Santa Clara County, California, as well as various towns along the Pacific Ocean coast, such as Pacifica, California and Half Moon Bay, California. This area is extremely diverse, although it contains significant populations of affluent family households. Many of the cities and towns had originally been centers of rural life until the post-World War II era when large numbers of middle and upper class Bay area residents moved in and developed the small villages. Since the 1980s the area has seen a large growth rate of middle and upper class families who have settled there as part of the technology boom of Silicon Valley. Many of these families are of foreign background and have significantly contributed to the diversity of the area.

East Bay . Visible clockwise around the bay from the distant Golden Gate (upper center) are Marin County, California (Upper Right). Albany, California (Lower Right), Berkeley, California (Center and foreground), Emeryville, California (Lower Left), Oakland, California (Far Lower Left), Burlingame, California (Far Upper Left) and San Francisco (Upper Left)The eastern side of the bay, consisting of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is known locally as the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area). 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 includes the cities of Oakland, California, Hayward, California, San Pablo, California, Fremont, California, Berkeley, California, and Richmond, California, as well as many smaller suburbs such as Alameda, California, Castro Valley, California, Newark, California, Union City, California, Emeryville, California, Albany, California, San Leandro, California, El Sobrante, California,Pinole, Piedmont, California, and El Cerrito, Contra Costa County, California. The inner East Bay is more urban, more densely populated, has a much older building stock (built before World War II) and a more ethnically diverse population. Oakland hosts the region's largest seaport and professional sports franchises in Golden State Warriors, Oakland Raiders, and Oakland Athletics. As with many inner urban areas the Inner East Bay also features a high accumulation of crime as well as other socio-economic problems. According to the FBI Uniformed Crime Reports, more than 50% of all homicides in the Bay Area in 2002 occurred within the city limits of Oakland and Richmond. The homicide rates have steadily increased, as 2005 had the highest homicide rates for both Richmond and Oakland.

The outer East Bay consists the eastern portions of Alameda County, California and Contra Costa County, California counties and includes the cities of Orinda, California, Walnut Creek, California, Concord, California, Benicia, California, Martinez, California, Pittsburg, California, Antioch, California, and Pleasant Hill, California, and Lafayette to the north (also referred as Central Contra Costa County) and the cities of Dublin, California, Pleasanton, California, Livermore, California, Danville, California, San Ramon, California to the south (sometimes referred to as the Livermore-Amador Valley or the Tri-Valley), as well as other smaller towns, such as Alamo and Brentwood. They are connected to the inner East Bay by Bay Area Rapid Transit, interstates Interstate 80 and Interstate 580 (California), and California State Route 24 via the Caldecott Tunnel. The outer East Bay is part suburban, part rural and its infrastructure was mostly built up after World War II. The upper middle-class white population is still the majority in this area.

South Bay (downtown is at far left) and other parts of Silicon ValleyThe communities along the southern edge of the Bay are known as the South Bay (San Jose, California), Santa Clara Valley, and Silicon Valley. Some Peninsula and East Bay towns are sometimes included in the latter. It includes the major city of San Jose, California, and its outlying neighbors, including the cities Morgan Hill, California, Gilroy, California, and the high-tech hubs of Santa Clara, California, Milpitas, California, Cupertino, California, Sunnyvale, California, Palo Alto, California and Mountain View, California as well as many other suburbs like Los Altos, California, Saratoga, California, Campbell, California and Los Gatos, California. Generally, the South Bay is Santa Clara County, but the northwest portion of the county (Palo Alto and Mountain View) is oftentimes considered part of the Peninsula instead. Home of Silicon Valley, the South Bay was also an early development of working and middle class families who left the coastal cities of the Eastern Bay south of Oakland and Alameda. Large numbers of families during the post-World War era also moved there for the aerospace industry. This area has long been developed and expanded and is often featured as a stereotype of the typical California suburban city. Today, the growth continues, primarily fueled by technology and cheap immigrant workers. The result has been a huge increase in the value of property forcing many middle class families out of the area or into nascent ghettos in older sections of the region.

Befitting of the title Silicon Valley, this region is home to a vast number of technology sector giants. Some notable tech companies headquartered in the South Bay are Intel Corporation, Advanced Micro Devices, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Apple Inc., Google, eBay,and Yahoo!. As a consequence of the rapid growth of these and other companies, the South Bay has gained increasing political and economic influence both within California and throughout the world.

Santa Cruz and San Benito The regional governments in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (San Francisco Bay Area), the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board include only the nine counties above in their boundaries or membership. (The BAAQMD includes all of the nine counties except the northern portions of Sonoma and Solano; the RWQCB includes all of San Francisco and the portions of the other eight counties that drain to San Francisco Bay or to the Pacific Ocean.) Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Bay Region (2) Boundaries Accessed 2007-02-20 However, the United States Census Bureau defines the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Consolidated Statistical Area as an eleven-county region, including the nine counties above plus Santa Cruz County, California and San Benito County Counties. Meanwhile, the California State Parks Department defines the Bay Area as including ten counties, including Santa Cruz but excluding San Benito. On The Other hand, Santa Cruz and San Benito along with Monterey County are part of a different regional government organization called the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments.

Some residents of the Santa Cruz Mountains (Boulder Creek, Brookdale, Ben Lomond, Felton, Scotts Valley) do not usually consider themselves to be residents of the Bay Area, rather just of the Santa Cruz Mountains themselves. The Santa Cruz Mountains run along the spine of the San Francisco Peninsula, beginning in San Francisco and continuing down to their terminus near the City of Gilroy, effectively creating the Santa Clara Valley.

The city of Santa Cruz is geographically isolated from the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area, and is usually considered a part of the Monterey Bay area since the city lies on the north end of the Monterey Bay. The city is also sometimes regarded as the northernmost point of the Central Coast, California, which extends along the state's coastline to Santa Barbara, California.

Demographics {{USCensusPop|1900 = 658111|1910 = 925708|1920 = 1182911|1930 = 1578009|1940 = 1734308|1950 = 2681322|1960 = 3638939|1970 = 4628199|1980 = 5179784|1990 = 6023577|2000 = 6783760-->

As of the 2006 census, there were 6,927,555 people residing in the Bay Area. The racial makeup of the 9 County Bay Area was 47.29% White (U.S. Census), 19.83% Asian (U.S. Census), 0.67% Pacific Islander (U.S. Census), 7.32% African American (U.S. Census), 0.87% Native American (U.S. Census), 9.46% from Race (U.S. Census), and 5.28% from two or more races. 19.89% of the population were Hispanic (U.S. Census) of any race. 29.6% of the population was foreign born.

As of the 2006 census, there were 7,236,391 people residing in the Greater Bay Area. The racial makeup of the 9 County Bay Area plus Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties was 50.41 White (U.S. Census), 19.96% Asian (U.S. Census), 0.72% Pacific Islander (U.S. Census), 7.35% African American (U.S. Census), 0.90% Native American (U.S. Census), 10.17% from Race (U.S. Census), 5.46% from two or more races. 21.19% of the population were Hispanic (U.S. Census) of any race. 31.8% of the population was foreign born.

Affluence The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the wealthiest regions in the United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, of the 280 defined metropolitan areas, the San Francisco Bay Area has the Metropolitan statistical areas of the United States by income with $62,024 in the year 2000. The Census Bureau also released data in August 2006 citing San José as having the second highest median household income among large cities. Among medium-sized cities, Pleasanton, California has the highest household income in the country, and Livermore, California the third highest.

While only 26% of households nationwide boast Household income in the United States of over $75,000 a year, 48% of households in the San Francisco Bay Area enjoy such incomes. The percentage of households with Household income in the United States exceeding the $100,000 mark in the Bay Area was double the nationwide percentage. Roughly one third (31%) of households in the San Francisco Bay Area had a six figure income, versus less than 16% at the nationwide level. In June 2003, a study by Stanford University reviewing US Census Bureau statistics determined the Household income in the United States in the San Francisco Bay Area to be roughly 60% above national average. Overall the largest Household income in the United States in the Bay Area were households making between $100,000 and $150,000 annually, who constituted roughly 18% of households. On a national level the largest Household income in the United States were households with incomes between $30,000 and $40,000 who constituted 13% of all households nationwide.

Six of the top ten California places with the highest per capita income are in the San Francisco Bay Area (Belvedere, California, Atherton, California, Woodside, California, Portola Valley, California, Diablo, California). Of the 100 Highest income counties in the United States, six are in the San Francisco Bay Area (Marin County, California, San Mateo County, California, San Francisco County, California, Santa Clara County, California, Contra Costa County, California, Alameda County, California). According to Forbes Magazine, published in 2005, 12 of the top 50 most expensive Zip Codes are in the Bay Area (Atherton, California, Ross, California, Diablo, California, Belvedere, California-Tiburon, California, Nicasio, California, Portola Valley, California, Los Altos, California-Los Altos Hills, California, Los Gatos, California-Monte Sereno, California, the Cow Hollow-Marina District, San Francisco, California of San Francisco, California, Alamo, California, and Burlingame, California-Hillsborough, California).

Forty-two San Francisco Bay Area residents made the Forbes magazine's 400 richest Americans list, published in 2006http://www.nbc11.com/news/9910976/detail.html. Thirteen live within San Francisco proper, placing it seventh among cities in the world. Among the forty-two were several well-known names such as Steve Jobs, George Lucas, and Charles Schwab. The highest-ranking resident is Larry Ellison of Oracle Corporation at No. 4. He is worth $19.5 billion.

A study by Claritas indicates that in 2004, 5% of all households within the San Francisco and San José metropolitan areas held millionaire in investable assets , and Wells Fargo estimates that there are 180,000 millionaire households in the Bay Area, 10% of which have $5 million or more in assets .

Living expenses The popularity of the region, owing both to its mild weather and its cultural and economic diversity, combined with strong anti-growth sentiment (both local and statewide), has led to high housing costs, especially for ownership and for commercial property leases. Owing to the relatively lower costs of outlying housing and limited public transportation, long, expensive, and often unpleasant automobile commutes are common in the region, and these costs tend to trickle down throughout various activities, making many other activities such as dining out, theater tickets, etc. more expensive than in other areas of the country. For only a limited portion of the population have wages kept pace with the increased expenses and many minimum wage earners, even those holding multiple jobs, (and many families with multiple members employed) are classified as "working poor", while the higher incomes necessary for a satisfactory lifestyle in the region lead to higher taxes, especially at the federal level for persons not qualifying for high mortgage or self employment related deductions.

Political views The Bay Area is relatively renowned as being among the most liberal areas in the country. According to the Cook Partisan Voting Index (CPVI), congressional districts the Bay Area tend to favor Democratic candidates by roughly 23 percentage points, considerably above the mean for Coastal California or California overall. All congressional districts in the region voted for Kerry in the 2004 election with only 25% of votes being cast in support of George W. Bush. CPVI ratings ranged from D +14 in San Jose, California to D +21 in Marin County and D +38 in Barbara Lee district encompassing Berkley and Oakland. Nancy Pelosi district, California's 8th which includes most of the city of San Francisco, had a CPVI rating of D +36 with Bush having received only 14% of votes in the city.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; margin-right:60px"!District!Location!Cook Partisan Index!% for Bush, 2004!Median Household Income!Per Capita Income|-|California's 6th congressional district||Marin County and Sonoma County||City and County of [San Francisco||[Oakland, California, Berkley, California and the Oakland hills|||D +38|||13%||$52,322||$34,552|-|California's 12th congressional district||San Francisco Peninsula including most of San Mateo County||Silicon Valley and [East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), including Fremont, California, Union City, California and Hayward, California|||D +22|||28%||$62,415||$26,076|-|California's 14th congressional district|| Silicon Valley, including Redwood City, Mountain View, California, Sunnyvale, California, Palo Alto, California and Santa Cruz, CA|||D +18|||30%||$77,985||$43,063|-|California's 15th congressional district||City of San Jose, California (western areas)|||D +14|||36%||$74,947||$32,617|-|California's 16th congressional district||San Jose, Morgan Hill, California|||D +16|||36%||$67,689||$25,064|-!Median||Districts: 6th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th|||D +21.5|||28%||$65,052||$32,826|}

Weather 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. Few residential areas ever experience snow, but peaks over 2000 feet are often dusted with snow several times each winter (including Mount St. Helena, Mount Hamilton (California), Mount Diablo, and Mount Tamalpais). The coast north of San Francisco, where year-round cool, moist conditions enable Cupressaceaes to grow, has almost nothing in common with Livermore, just 40 miles inland across the bay, which has desert-like precipitation and heat. San José at the south end of the Bay averages fewer than 15 inches of rain annually, while Napa at the north end of the Bay averages over 30 and parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains just a few miles west of San José get over 55. In the summer, inland regions can be over 40 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius) warmer than the coast. This large temperature contrast induces a strong pressure gradient, which results in brisk coastal winds which help keep the coastal climate cool and typically, foggy during the summer. Additionally, strong winds are produced through gaps in the coastal ranges such as the Golden Gate, the Carquinez Strait, and the Altamont Pass.{| |}

Geology and landforms Multiple terranes The area is well known worldwide for the complexity of its landforms, the region being composed of at least six terranes (continental, seabed, or island arc fragments with distinct characteristics) pushed together over millions of years by the forces of plate tectonics. As a consequence, many types of rock and soil are found in the region. Formations include the Sedimentary of sandstone, limestone, and shale in uplifted seabeds, metamorphic serpentine rock, coal deposits, and igneous forms as the basalt flows and ash deposits of extinct volcanos. Pleistocene fossils of mammals are abundantly present in some locations.

Vertical relief The region has considerable vertical relief in its landscapes that are not in the alluvial plains leading to the bay or in inland valleys. In combination with the extensive water regions this has forced the fragmented development of urban and suburban regions and has led to extensive building on poor soils in the limited flatland areas and considerable expense in connecting the various subregions with roads, tunnels, and bridges.

Several mountains are associated with some of the many ridge and hill structures created by compressive forces between the Pacific Plate and the North American plate. These provide spectacular views (in appropriate weather) of large portions of the Bay Area and include Marin County's Mount Tamalpais at 2,571 feet (784 metres). Contra Costa County's Mount Diablo at 3,849 feet (1,173 metres), Alameda County's Mission Peak at 2,517 feet (767 m), and Santa Clara County's Mount Hamilton (California) at 4,213 ft (1,284 m), the latter with significant astronomical studies performed at its crowning Lick Observatory.

The three major ridge structures (part of the Pacific Coast Range) which are all roughly parallel to the major faultlines:

The various ranges which form the spine of the San Francisco Peninsula and Marin County (San Andreas Fault)
The Berkeley Hills, San Leandro Hills and their southern ridgeline extension through Mission Peak (Hayward Fault)
The Diablo Range, which includes Mount Diablo and Mount Hamilton (California) (Calaveras Fault)

Major Waterways

San Joaquin River
Sacramento River
Napa River
Sonoma Creek
Guadalupe River
Coyote Creek
Petaluma River
San Pablo Creek
Wildcat Creek
Oakland Estuary
Russian River
San Lorenzo River
Gulf of the Farallones
Corte Madera Creek

Earthquake faults The region is also traversed by at least five major slip-strike fault systems with hundreds of related faults many of which are "sister faults" of the infamous San Andreas Fault, all of which are stressed by the relative motion between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate or by compressive stresses between these plates. Significant blind thrust faults (faults with near vertical motion and no surface ruptures) are associated with portions of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the northern reaches of the Diablo Range and Mount Diablo.

Natural hazards Earthquakes The region is particularly exposed to hazards associated with large earthquakes,http://quake.abag.ca.gov/ - Maps and information about Bay Area threats including earthquakes, landslides, and tsunamis. owing to a combination of factors:

Numerous major active faults in the region.
A combined thirty year probability of a major earthquake in excess of seventy percent.
Poorly responding native soil conditions in many places near the bay and in inland valleys, soils which amplify shaking as shown in the map to the right.
Large areas of filled marshlands and bay muds that are significantly urbanized, with most subject to Earthquake liquefaction, becoming unable to support structures.
A large inventory of older buildings, many of which are expected to perform poorly in a major earthquake.
Extensive building in areas subject to landslide, mudslide, and in some locations directly over active fault surface rubble zones.
Most lowrise construction is not fireproof and water systems are likely to be extensively damaged and so large areas are subject to destruction by fire after a large earthquake.
The coastal location makes the region vulnerable to Pacific Ocean tsunamis. Describes Bay Area damage from 1960 tsunami.

Some of these hazards are being addressed by seismic retrofitting, education in household seismic safety, and even complete replacement of major structures such as the Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

For an article concerning a typical fault in the region and its associated hazards see Hayward Fault Zone.

Flooding Some flooding occurs on local drainages under stustained wet conditions when the ground becomes saturated, more frequently in the North Bay area, which tends to receive substantially more rainfall than the South Bay. In one case, the Napa River drainage, floodplain developments are being purchased and removed and natural wetlands restored in the innovative Napa River Flood Project as the previous channelization of insufficient capacity around such developments was causing flooding problems upstream. Many of the local creeks have been chanelized, although modern practice and some restoration work includes returning the creeks to a natural state with dry stormwater bypasses constructed to handle flooding. While quite expensive, the restoration of a natural environment is of high priority in the intensively urbanized areas of the region.

Windstorms A very strong Pacific storm can bring both substantial rainfall and strong wind gusts that can cause trees to fall on power lines. Owing to the wide area involved (sometimes hundreds of miles of coast), service can be interrupted for up to several days in some more remote localities, but service is usually restored quickly in urban areas.

In the spring and fall, strong offshore winds periodically develop. These winds are an especially dangerous fire hazard in the fall when vegetation is at its driest.

Firestorms Firestorms are rare with large urban fires occurring a few times a century, but owing to wildland/urban interface areas can be a potential problem during some times of the year, particularly with a dry easterly wind in late Summer and early Autumn. This has proved to be a recurring problem in the hills above Berkeley and Oakland.

Mudslides and Landslides Some areas which are geologically unstable have been extensively urbanized, and can become unstable due to changes in drainage patterns and grading created for development. These are usually confined to small areas, but there have been larger problems in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Transportation , (2) Golden Gate Bridge, (3) San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, (4) San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, (5) Dumbarton Bridge (California) The Bay Area is served by many public transportation systems, including three international airports (San Francisco International Airport, Oakland International Airport, Mineta San Jose International Airport), six major overlapping bus transit agencies (AC Transit, San Francisco Muni, SamTrans, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, Golden Gate Transit, County Connection) in addition to dozens of smaller ones, four rapid transit and regional rail systems including Bay Area Rapid Transit and CalTrain, two light rail systems (San Francisco Muni Metro and VTA Light-rail). There are also several regional rail lines provided by Amtrak, notable the Capitol Corridor in addition to those there are multiple public and private ferry services (notably Golden Gate Ferry), which are being expanded by the San Francisco Bay Water Transit Authority, the regional ferry hub is Ferry Building. AC Transit and some other agencies provide an extensive network of express "transbay" commuter buses from the suburbs to San Francisco Transbay Terminal.

The freeway and highway system is very extensive; however, many freeways are heavily traffic congestion during rush hour, especially the trans-bay bridges.

Higher education The region is home to several university and seminaries, most notably Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

{| width="100%"|- valign=top| width=50% | Public

Berkeley City College
Cabrillo College
California Maritime Academy
California State University, East Bay
(Formerly CSU Hayward)
Cañada College
Chabot College
City College of San Francisco
College of Marin
College of San Mateo
Contra Costa College
De Anza College
Diablo Valley College
Evergreen Valley College
Foothill College
Laney College
Las Positas College
Los Medanos College
Mission College
Napa Community College
Ohlone College
San Jose City College
San Francisco State University
San José State University
Santa Rosa Junior College
Sonoma State University
Skyline College
Solano Community College
West Valley College
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Davis
University of California, Hastings College of the Law
University of California, San Francisco
University of California, Santa Cruz

Seminaries

Fuller Theological Seminary (see also Fuller Northern California)
Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary
Graduate Theological Union
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (ELCA, Berkeley)
Saint Patrick Seminary, Menlo Park

| width=50% |

Private

Academy of Art University
American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Art Institute of California, San Francisco
The Arts Institute International
California College of the Arts
California Culinary Academy
California Institute of Integral Studies
Carnegie Mellon West
Cogswell Polytechnical College
Culinary Institute of America at Greystone
DeVry University
Dominican University of California
Ex'pression College for Digital Arts
Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising
Five Branches Institute
Golden Gate University
Holy Names University
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
John F. Kennedy University
Menlo College
Mills College
National Hispanic University
New College of California
Notre Dame de Namur University
Pacific Union College
Patten University
Presidio School of Management
Saint Mary's College of California
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Santa Clara University
Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center
Stanford University
Touro University
University of San Francisco
University of Northern California

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Religious life The San Francisco Bay Area has a very diverse religious life with thousands of churches, mosques, temples, and other religious centers. The Bay Area is home to Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Sikh, and numerous other religious communities. San Francisco has historically been predominantly Roman Catholic, mainly due to the Italian-American and Irish-American immigrant population of the early 20th century and Mexican-American of the late 20th century; and also due to original Spaniards and the mission system.

Sports {| class="wikitable"!Team!!Sport!!League!!Venue|-|San Francisco 49ers|[National Football League|-|[Oakland Raiders|[National Football League|-|[San Francisco Giants|[National League (Major League Baseball)]|-|Oakland Athletics|[American League (Major League Baseball)]|Basketball|[Oracle Arena|[Ice Hockey|[HP Pavilion at San Jose|[Soccer|No fixed venue yet|-|[California Victory|[USL First Division|-|[San Jose SaberCats|[Arena Football League|[Lacrosse|HP Pavilion at San Jose|-|[San Francisco Dragons|[Major League Lacrosse|[Baseball ([Minor League Baseball)]|}

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I College Sports

California Golden Bears
St. Mary's College of California Gaels
San Francisco Dons
San José State Spartans
Santa Clara University Broncos
Stanford Cardinal

Regional counties, cities and suburbs

Counties Note: San Benito County and Santa Cruz County are sometimes considered not part of the Bay Area.

Alameda County, California (737 sq. mi., excluding water)
Contra Costa County, California (720 sq. mi., excluding water)
Marin County, California (520 sq. mi., excluding water)
Napa County, California (754 sq. mi., excluding water)
San Benito County, California (1389 sq. mi., excluding water)
San Francisco, California (47 sq. mi., excluding water)
San Mateo County, California (449 sq. mi., excluding water)
Santa Clara County, California (1,291 sq. mi., excluding water)
Santa Cruz County, California (445 sq. mi., excluding water)
Solano County, California (829 sq. mi., excluding water)
Sonoma County, California (1,576 sq. mi., excluding water)

Cities and municipalities

List of cities and municipalities in the San Francisco Bay Area