San Francisco is a consolidated city and county in California, United States, on a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, about 8 miles west of Oakland across the Bay Bridge. It had a population of 873,965 at the 2020 census, an estimated 830,235 by 2024, and covers 46.9 square miles (121 km2) of land centred near 37°46′N 122°25′W.
San Francisco is the county seat. There is no separate seat because the city and county government merged into one body in 1856. Its main postal code is 94102. The county holds 41 recognised neighborhoods and no incorporated towns, no unincorporated communities and no civil townships (California counties do not use the township system), and it runs on Pacific Time. Its FIPS code is 06075.
Neighborhoods of San Francisco
San Francisco is a consolidated city-county with a single municipal government, so it has no separate towns, villages or CDPs to list. Instead the table below covers its 41 Analysis Neighborhoods, the boundary set the Planning Department, the Department of Public Health and the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development use to group census tracts for planning and reporting. Population figures are given only where the Census Bureau’s 2020 neighborhood-level breakdown is independently confirmed; other cells read — rather than guess a share.
| Neighborhood | Type | Pop. (2020) | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bayview Hunters Point | Neighborhood | — | 94124 |
| Bernal Heights | Neighborhood | — | 94110 |
| Castro · Upper Market | Neighborhood | — | 94114 |
| Chinatown | Neighborhood | — | 94108 |
| Excelsior | Neighborhood | — | 94112 |
| Financial District · South Beach | Neighborhood | — | — |
| Glen Park | Neighborhood | — | 94131 |
| Golden Gate Park | Neighborhood | — | — |
| Haight Ashbury | Neighborhood | — | 94117 |
| Hayes Valley | Neighborhood | — | 94102 |
| Inner Richmond | Neighborhood | — | 94118 |
| Inner Sunset | Neighborhood | — | 94122 |
| Japantown | Neighborhood | — | 94115 |
| Lakeshore | Neighborhood | — | 94132 |
| Lincoln Park | Neighborhood | — | 94121 |
| Lone Mountain · USF | Neighborhood | — | 94118 |
| Marina | Neighborhood | — | 94123 |
| McLaren Park | Neighborhood | — | 94134 |
| Mission | Neighborhood | 57,700 | 94110 |
| Mission Bay | Neighborhood | — | 94158 |
| Nob Hill | Neighborhood | — | — |
| Noe Valley | Neighborhood | — | 94114 |
| North Beach | Neighborhood | — | 94133 |
| Oceanview · Merced · Ingleside | Neighborhood | — | — |
| Outer Mission | Neighborhood | — | 94112 |
| Outer Richmond | Neighborhood | 45,400 | 94121 |
| Pacific Heights | Neighborhood | — | 94115 |
| Portola | Neighborhood | — | 94134 |
| Potrero Hill | Neighborhood | — | 94107 |
| Presidio | Neighborhood · federal land | — | 94129 |
| Presidio Heights | Neighborhood | — | 94118 |
| Russian Hill | Neighborhood | — | 94109 |
| Seacliff | Neighborhood | — | 94121 |
| South of Market | Neighborhood | — | 94103 |
| Sunset · Parkside | Neighborhood | 81,000 | — |
| Tenderloin | Neighborhood | — | 94102 |
| Treasure Island | Neighborhood | — | 94130 |
| Twin Peaks | Neighborhood | — | 94131 |
| Visitacion Valley | Neighborhood | — | 94134 |
| West of Twin Peaks | Neighborhood | — | 94127 |
| Western Addition | Neighborhood | — | 94115 |
Two pairs are easy to mix up. Nob Hill and Russian Hill are adjacent hills sharing the 94109 boundary line, not one neighborhood under two names. And Sunset/Parkside — the single largest analysis neighborhood by population, at roughly 9.4% of the city’s 2020 population — straddles both the 94116 and 94122 ZIP codes, which is why no single ZIP is listed for it above.
ZIP Codes
San Francisco uses 27 ZIP codes, more than most counties this size can list in a short table, so they are grouped here by area rather than given one per neighborhood. Downtown and the eastern core run 94102 (Civic Center · Tenderloin · Hayes Valley), 94103 (South of Market), 94104 (Financial District), 94105 (South Beach · Rincon Hill), 94107 (Potrero Hill · Dogpatch), 94108 (Chinatown · Nob Hill) and 94111 (Embarcadero). The northern neighborhoods use 94109 (Russian Hill · Polk Gulch), 94115 (Pacific Heights · Japantown · Western Addition), 94123 (Marina) and 94133 (North Beach). The west side runs 94116, 94118, 94121 and 94122 (the Richmond and Sunset districts), plus 94127 (West Portal · St. Francis Wood) and 94132 (Lake Merced · SF State). The south side covers 94110 (Mission · Bernal Heights), 94112 (Excelsior · Ingleside), 94114 (Castro · Noe Valley), 94124 (Bayview-Hunters Point) and 94134 (Visitacion Valley · Portola), with 94131 (Twin Peaks · Glen Park) in the centre. Three ZIPs serve specific enclaves: 94129 (Presidio), 94130 (Treasure Island) and 94158 (Mission Bay). Golden Gate Park and McLaren Park carry no ZIP of their own, since they are municipal parkland rather than addressed lots.
Geography
San Francisco occupies the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Golden Gate strait and San Francisco Bay on the north and east, and San Mateo County on the south. Roughly a fifth of the county’s official area is water, and the county’s high ground — Twin Peaks, Mount Davidson and Mount Sutro — separates the fog-prone western districts from the sunnier eastern side. Ocean Beach runs the length of the western shoreline, and Lake Merced sits in the far southwest corner.
San Francisco has only one land border: San Mateo County to the south, crossed by US-101, I-280 and CA-1 near Daly City and Colma. It has no other adjoining county by land — Marin County lies across the Golden Gate strait to the north, reached by the Golden Gate Bridge, and Alameda County lies across the bay to the east, reached by the Bay Bridge.
Demographics
San Francisco County had a population of 873,965 at the 2020 census, since eased to an estimated 830,235 in 2024 as pandemic-era outmigration cooled the city’s growth. Sunset/Parkside and the Mission are its two largest analysis neighborhoods by population. Median household income runs about $140,970, well above California’s statewide median of roughly $91,900 (2023 American Community Survey), reflecting the county’s concentration of technology and finance jobs. At 830,235 residents over 46.9 square miles, density works out to roughly 17,700 people per square mile, among the highest of any U.S. county outside New York City’s boroughs.
Economy & Local Life
Technology and professional services dominate the county’s job base, anchored by employers such as Salesforce (headquartered at Salesforce Tower, downtown), Wells Fargo, Gap Inc. and Uber, alongside a large healthcare and research sector centred on UCSF’s Parnassus and Mission Bay campuses. Tourism and hospitality remain a major employer citywide, drawing on Fisherman’s Wharf, Golden Gate Park, Chinatown — the oldest Chinatown in North America — and Alcatraz Island. The city’s biggest annual event is Pride Parade and Celebration each June, drawing hundreds of thousands to Market Street and the Civic Center.
History
Spanish soldiers founded the Presidio of San Francisco on September 17, 1776, and Franciscan missionaries established Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) three weeks later, giving the settlement its name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. California’s admission to the Union brought county government in 1850; California’s legislature then consolidated the city and county into one government in 1856, the structure that still holds today. The 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed most of the city east of Van Ness Avenue, and the rebuilding that followed set much of the street grid and building stock still visible downtown.
Getting There
Interstate 80 terminates in San Francisco at the Bay Bridge approach, and US-101 and I-280 run the length of the peninsula through the city. No interstate crosses the city’s western half, which stays reachable only by surface streets and CA-1 (19th Avenue).
- Oakland — 8 miles east
- San Jose — 48 miles south
- Sacramento — 87 miles northeast
- Los Angeles — 380 miles south
San Francisco International Airport sits just south of the county line in unincorporated San Mateo County, about 13 miles from downtown; Oakland International Airport is a similar distance across the bay. The nearest Amtrak station is in Emeryville, reached from the city’s Salesforce Transit Center and Ferry Building by a free connecting Amtrak Thruway bus; Caltrain runs commuter rail south from the 4th and King Street depot to San Jose.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is San Francisco located?
San Francisco is on a peninsula in Northern California, between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, about 8 miles west of Oakland.
What is the population of San Francisco County?
873,965 at the 2020 census, with an estimated 830,235 by 2024.
How big is San Francisco County?
46.9 square miles (121 km2) of land, plus a substantial area of bay water within its official boundaries.
What is the county seat of San Francisco County?
San Francisco itself; the city and county share one government, so there is no separate seat.
How many neighborhoods does San Francisco have?
41 recognised Analysis Neighborhoods, but no separate incorporated towns or CDPs — the whole county is one city.
What ZIP codes does San Francisco use?
27 ZIP codes in total, from 94102 downtown to 94158 in Mission Bay; see the ZIP Codes section above for the full grouping.
Why is San Francisco both a city and a county?
California’s legislature merged San Francisco’s city and county governments into one body in 1856, a structure the state allows and San Francisco is the largest example of.
More counties in this state: Towns and villages in California.