North America
USA
California

Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, ringing the San Francisco Bay in northern , is a geographically diverse and extensive metropolitan region that is home to nearly 8 million inhabitants in cities such as , , and .
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Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo.
Photo: Bgag, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include San Francisco and San Jose.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The centerpiece of the Bay Area, is one of the most visited cities in the world, and with good reason. The cultural center of northern , is renowned for its mixture of scenic beauty and unique culture that makes it one of the most vibrant and desirable cities in the nation, if not the world.

Photo: Ed Schipul, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Often called "the capital of ", is the largest city in the Bay Area, 3rd largest in , and the 12th largest city in the United States, with a population of over 997,000 residents as of 2024.

Photo: Simon Carrasco, CC BY 2.0.
is a port city in the Bay Area of in the . Once an industrial area overshadowed by , its larger neighbor to the west, this city of 440,000 people has begun to step out from under San Francisco's shadow with its notable natural and architectural features and its rise as the multicultural "hipster" city of the Bay Area.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as North Bay and East Bay.

Photo: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 3.0.
North of the Golden Gate Bridge, in the hilly country across the chilly waters from , lies the region of the Bay Area. Perhaps best known as the home of , America's largest wine producing region, here you'll find lovely natural scenery and some very pleasant small towns in the hills and valleys of the area.

Photo: Mactographer, CC BY 2.5.
Lying across the Bay Bridge from , the consists primarily of Contra Costa County and Alameda County. It has a unique culture that's more laid back and uncomplicated than its western neighbors. , the area's largest city, is famous…

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.
The is the part of the Bay Area to the south of San Francisco Bay and to the southeast of the in California. The is the core of , where many famous technology companies are located.

Photo: King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The region of the San Francisco Bay Area lies immediately south of the City and County of —reaching from its famous neighbor to the north into the high-tech region of .

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.
lies in the South Bay and the southern of the San Francisco Bay Area. Once best known for its prune orchards, the area underwent explosive growth with the creation of the high-tech industry in the 1960s.

Bay Area

Latitude of center
37.7885° or 37° 47′ 19″ north
Longitude of center
-122.3558° or 122° 21′ 21″ west
Population
7,470,000
Elevation
75 feet (23 metres)
Abbreviation
“SF Bay Area”
Open­Street­Map ID
node 2157162589
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­region
Geo­Names ID
10630414
Wiki­data ID
Q213205
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Bay Area from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Arabic to Yue Chinese—“Bay Area” goes by many names.
  • Arabic: “منطقة خليج سان فرانسيسكو”
  • Arabic: “منطقه خليج سان فرانسيسكو”
  • Armenian: “Սան Ֆրանցիսկոյի ծովածոցի շրջան”
  • Asturian: “Área de la Badea de San Francisco”
  • Azerbaijani: “San-Fransisko Körfəz Bölgəsi”
  • Azerbaijani: “San-Fransisko körfəz sahəsi”
  • Balinese: “Wawengkon Celuk San Francisco”
  • Basque: “San Frantziskoko Badiaren Eremua”
  • Bosnian: “Zaljevsko područje San Franciska”
  • Bulgarian: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Bulgarian: “Район на залива на Сан Франциско”
  • Bulgarian: “Район на залива Сан Франциско”
  • Bulgarian: “Район на Санфранцискансия залив”
  • Bulgarian: “Район на Санфранцисканския залив”
  • Bulgarian: “Район на Санфранциския залив”
  • Bulgarian: “Района на Санфранциския залив”
  • Bulgarian: “Районът на залива на Сан Франциско”
  • Bulgarian: “Районът на Сан Франциско”
  • Bulgarian: “Районът на Санфранциския залив”
  • Catalan: “àrea de la badia de San Francisco”
  • Catalan: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Chinese: “三藩市灣區”
  • Chinese: “三藩灣區”
  • Chinese: “加利福尼亚州圣何塞-旧金山-奥克兰综合统计区”
  • Chinese: “旧金山-奥克兰-海沃德都会统计区”
  • Chinese: “旧金山湾区”
  • Chinese: “灣區”
  • Chinese: “舊金山-奧克蘭-海沃德都會統計區”
  • Chinese: “舊金山灣區”
  • Croatian: “Zaljevsko područje San Francisca”
  • Czech: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Danish: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Dutch: “Bay Area”
  • Dutch: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Dutch: “San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland”
  • Esperanto: “Areo de la Golfo de San-Francisko”
  • Esperanto: “Golfa Areo”
  • Finnish: “Bay Area”
  • Finnish: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Finnish: “San Franciscon Bay Area”
  • Finnish: “San Franciscon lahden ympäristö”
  • Finnish: “The Bay”
  • French: “région de la baie de San Francisco”
  • French: “Région de la baie de San Francisco”
  • French: “Region urbaine de San Francisco”
  • French: “Région urbaine de san francisco”
  • Gan Chinese: “舊金山灣區”
  • German: “Bay Area”
  • German: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Hebrew: “אזור מפרץ סן פרנסיסקו”
  • Hungarian: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Indonesian: “San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara”
  • Indonesian: “SFBA”
  • Indonesian: “The Bay Area”
  • Indonesian: “Wilayah Teluk San Francisco”
  • Irish: “Limistéar Chuan San Francisco”
  • Italian: “Bay Area”
  • Italian: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Japanese: “Bay Area”
  • Japanese: “サンフランシスコ・ベイエリア”
  • Japanese: “ベイエリア”
  • Korean: “샌프란시스코 만 지역”
  • Korean: “샌프란시스코 베이 에리어”
  • Korean: “샌프란시스코 베이 에어리어”
  • Korean: “샌프란시스코 베이 에이리어”
  • Korean: “샌프란시스코 베이에리어”
  • Korean: “샌프란시스코베이에어리어”
  • Korean: “서가주”
  • Korean: “서부 캘리포니아 주”
  • Korean: “서부 캘리포니아”
  • Korean: “서캘리포니아”
  • Korean: “웨스턴 캘리포니아”
  • Korean: “웨스턴캘리포니아”
  • Korean: “캘리포니아 서부”
  • Korean: “캘리포니아 주 서부”
  • Latin: “Regio Sinuosa Franciscopolis”
  • Latin: “Regio sinus Franciscopolitani”
  • Macedonian: “Заливска област на Сан Франциско”
  • Macedonian: “Заливска област”
  • Malay: “Kawasan Teluk San Francisco”
  • Malay: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Malayalam: “സാൻ ഫ്രാൻസിസ്കോ ബേ ഏരിയ”
  • Marathi: “बे एरिया”
  • Marathi: “सॅन फ्रान्सिस्को बे एरिया”
  • Nepali: “सान फ्रान्सिस्को बे एरिया”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Bay Area”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Norwegian: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Persian: “بی اریا”
  • Persian: “خلیج بی اریا”
  • Persian: “منطقه خلیج سان فرانسیسکو”
  • Persian: “منطقه خلیج سانفرانسیسکو”
  • Persian: “منطقهٔ خلیج سانفرانسیسکو”
  • Polish: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Portuguese: “Área da baía de São Francisco”
  • Portuguese: “Bay Area”
  • Portuguese: “Região da baía de São Francisco”
  • Romanian: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Russian: “Область залива Сан-Франциско”
  • Scots: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Serbian: “Zalivska oblast San Franciska”
  • Serbian: “заливска област Сан Франциска”
  • Serbian: “Заливска област Сан Франциска”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Područje Zaljeva San Francisca”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Zalivska oblast San Franciska”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Zaljevska oblast San Francisca”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Zaljevsko područje San Francisca”
  • Slovak: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Slovenian: “Zalivsko območje San Francisca”
  • South Azerbaijani: “سان فرانسیسکو بای آری”
  • Spanish: “Area de la bahia de San Francisco”
  • Spanish: “Area de la Bahía de San Francisco”
  • Spanish: “Área de la bahia de San Francisco”
  • Spanish: “Área de la Bahía de San Francisco”
  • Spanish: “Area metropolitana de San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont”
  • Spanish: “Área metropolitana de San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont”
  • Spanish: “Area Metropolitana de San Francisco”
  • Spanish: “Área Metropolitana de San Francisco”
  • Spanish: “Bay Area”
  • Spanish: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Swedish: “Bay Area”
  • Swedish: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Swedish: “The Bay Area”
  • Tamil: “சான் பிரான்சிஸ்கோ விரிகுடாப் பகுதி”
  • Turkish: “San Francisco Bay Area”
  • Turkish: “San Francisco Körfez Bölgesi”
  • Ukrainian: “Агломерація затоки Сан-Франциско”
  • Ukrainian: “Бей Ареа”
  • Ukrainian: “Метрополія затоки Сан-Франциско”
  • Ukrainian: “Метрополія Затоки”
  • Ukrainian: “Сан-Франциско (метрополія затоки)”
  • Ukrainian: “Територія затоки Сан-Франциско”
  • Urdu: “خلیج سان فرانسسکو علاقہ”
  • Vietnamese: “Khu vực vịnh Cựu Kim Sơn”
  • Vietnamese: “Khu vực vịnh San Francisco”
  • Vietnamese: “Khu vực Vịnh San Francisco”
  • Vietnamese: “Khu vực vịnh Xăng Phăng”
  • Vietnamese: “Vùng Vịnh Cựu Kim Sơn”
  • Vietnamese: “vùng vịnh San Francisco”
  • Vietnamese: “Vùng Vịnh San Francisco”
  • Vietnamese: “Vùng Vịnh Xăng Phăng”
  • Welsh: “Ardal Bae San Francisco”
  • Western Frisian: “Krite fan de Baai fan San Francisco”
  • Wu Chinese: “旧金山湾区”
  • Yue Chinese: “三藩市灣區”

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About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Bay Area”. Photo: Bgag, CC BY-SA 3.0.