San Francisco Bay Area
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
The San Francisco Bay Area, also known as the Bay Area, is a metropolitan region that surrounds the San Francisco Bay in Northern California. It includes the cities of San Francisco, San José, and Oakland, and their many suburbs.
It also includes the smaller urban and rural areas of the North Bay. There live almost seven million people,[1] and it includes cities, towns, military bases, airports, and associated regional, state, and national parks.
San José is the largest city in the Bay Area since 1990 and the tenth largest city in America. But for most of its history San Francisco was the most populous city, and remains the focal point and the major cultural center in the region.
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[change] Subregions
[change] North Bay
The region north of the Golden Gate Bridge is known locally as the North Bay. This area consists of Marin County and extends northward into Sonoma and Napa counties and eastward to Solano County. With some exceptions, this region is quite rich: Marin County is ranked as the wealthiest in the nation.
[change] San Francisco
The City and County of San Francisco is generally placed in a category by itself in terms of geography and culture. 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. But because the size of the county (47 Sq. Miles, making SF the 2nd most densely populated city in the US after New York) is limited the growth of the city was limited as well other cities and counties have had a larger share of population growth.
[change] Peninsula
The area between the South Bay and the City and County of San Francisco 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 and the northwestern part of Santa Clara County, as well as several towns along the Pacific coast, such as Pacifica and Half Moon Bay.
[change] East Bay
The eastern side of the bay, consisting of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is known locally 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.
[change] South Bay
The communities along the southern edge of the Bay are known as the South Bay, Santa Clara Valley, and Silicon Valley. This region is home to a vast number of technology sector giants. Some notable tech companies in the South Bay are Intel, AMD, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Google, and Yahoo!.
The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the wealthiest regions in the United States.[2]
[change] See also
[change] References
- ↑ Bay Area Census: 2005 population estimate
- ↑ Pleasanton tops county in median household income. Inside Bay Area. Retrieved on 15 October 2006.
[change] Other websites
- Bay Area Experiences.com Community-built site with fun, non-touristy things to do in San Francisco and surrounding areas.
- CalEJ.org user-generated TWiki featuring an environmental justice guide to the San Francisco Bay Area (launched Fall 2006, with an original focus on the East Bay)
- San Francisco Housing and Real Estate Guide Aggregates the collective knowledge of the San Francisco real estate community.
- SFCalendar.org Bringing you inspirational, cultural, educational, entertaining talks, discussions, films and other events in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- San Francisco Bay Area Boat Launch map A collaboratively edited index of public boat launches helping to develop a water trail network.
