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The San Francisco Bay Area, sometimes referred to as The Bay Area or simply The Bay, is a metropolitan area that lies along the San Francisco Bay in northern California. It is often defined as the area covered by the nine counties that border either San Francisco Bay or San Pablo Bay: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. By this definition, the Bay Area has a population of over seven million residents. Santa Cruz County is sometimes considered a member of the Bay Area as well. It does not adjoin the San Francisco Bay, but has strong cultural ties to the Bay Area.
This nine- or ten-county area consists of cities of various size that lie more or less contiguously around the length of the bay. Three large cities dominate the area: San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. Because, unlike most other metropolitan areas in the United States, no single large city dominates the region, residents generally refer to the region generically as the Bay Area, without associating it with any one city. However, because San Francisco was historically the first major population center in the area, and because of its densely urbanized character in constrast to its neighbors, people in the region often refer to San Francisco as simply the City. In a charming local twist, the San Francisco natives are more likely to refer to San Francicso as "Town" - as in "Are you coming to town?
A more restrictive, informal definition includes only the urban portions of the previously defined area and also excludes Napa, Solano, and Sonoma counties, which are largely rural or suburban in character and have inland climates. The Bay Area Rapid Transit District consists of Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco Counties. High real-estate prices in this core of the Bay Area have driven many residents and businesses to move to outlying areas or to the Sacramento area. As this trend continues, the definition of the Bay Area will likely expand, perhaps even including Yolo County as well.
The combined area of the nine Bay Area counties is 22,789 km2 (8,798 mi²), or 21,216 km2 (8,191 mi²), not including Santa Cruz County.
As well as constituting one of the world's greatest metropolitan areas, the Bay Area includes some exceptional natural coastal and rural landscape. It includes significant national parks such as the Point Reyes National Seashore, a large number of state parks including important ones like the Mount Diablo State Park, and numerous parks and preserves maintained by local government agencies - notably by the East Bay Regional Park District which has major land holdings in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Most of these conserved areas are within easy reach of the metropolitan areas, many of them by public transportation.
Because the hills, mountains, and large bodies of water produce such vast geographic diversity within this region, the Bay Area offers a signficant 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.
The population distribution of the Bay Area is generally subdivided into several smaller subregions.
The Bay Area posesses an extensive freeway and highway system.
| Geography of California | |
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| Central Valley | Central Coast | Channel Islands | Coast Ranges | Gold Country | Greater Los Angeles | Imperial Valley | Inland Empire | Mojave | Napa Valley | Northern California | Owens Valley | Pomona Valley | Redwood Empire | San Fernando Valley | San Francisco Bay Area | The Peninsula | San Gabriel Valley | Santa Clara Valley | Santa Clarita Valley | Shasta Cascade | Sierra Nevada | Silicon Valley | Southern California | Wine Country | |
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