Chinese American Photo 1935 San Francisco Ca Original Children Vintage

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (807) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176270374194 CHINESE AMERICAN PHOTO 1935 SAN FRANCISCO CA ORIGINAL CHILDREN VINTAGE. Leland Yee, politician. Norman Yee, politician. View of the city's central districts along its northwestern coastline. (10.1) 51.6. Club Founded Venue League Tier level. (7.2) 48.0. (6.5) 45.0. -WATCH YOUR CREDIT. A FANTASTIC 6 1/2 X 8 1/2  INCH PHOTOGRAPH OF  123944… -WATCH YOUR CREDIT International NEWS PHOTOS SAN FRANCISCO BUREAU SLUG (ENVOYS OF COURTESY) SAN FRANCISCO , CALIFORNIA FIVE PRETTY CHINESE GIRLS UPHELD THEIR COUNTRIES REPUTATION FOR COURTESY YES- TERDAY THEY CALLED FATHER CUMMINGS, LOCAL SUPERIOR OF THE MARYKNOLL ORDER, TO THANK HIM FOR THE WORK THAT WILL BE DONE IN CHINA BY XXX SIXTEEN YOUNGPRIESTS OF THE ORDER WHO SAILED FROM SAN FRANCISCO A FEW DAYS AGO IN THE GROUP ARE:MISSES IDA NOO, MILDRED LEE, LEATRICE LAMB, MAY DAIR AND IDA CHANG AL BUREAUS-LTST --C-0-60 RE|GN(X)9-|2-35

Father William T. Cummings was born on October 30, 1903 in San Francisco. Because there was no Catholic school in the area he was enrolled at the Freemont Grammar School. For religious instruction he attended Sunday School under the direction of the Holy Family Sisters, and upon graduation at the age of thirteen he had a desire to become a priest. He attended St. Patrick’s Seminary at Menlo Park in 1917 and was there for the next ten years.

In September of 19l8 Father Cummings was present at a talk given by Father Price who was then on his way to China. To that inspiring conference he attributed the beginning of his missionary calling. He wanted to come to Maryknoll at the beginning of his second year of Philosophy. This first attempt met with parental objections. The next year he could not go because he was unable to get the permission of his Ordinary who was in Rome. When he was ready for his third attempt his mother became very ill and so he finished another year, his second of Theology, at St. Patrick’s. At last, in August of 1926, he started for Maryknoll.

After his last two years of Theology and ordination (June 16, 1928) he was assigned to Los Altos. He taught during the year 1928-29 and was Spiritual Director during 1929-30. Then he was assigned to promotion in San Francisco, assisting Father Keller. He did promotion work for the next ten years.

Despite his physical ailments, he had a great desire to go to the missions. In April of 1940 he was assigned to Manila but his back once again caused him trouble. Nevertheless, he begged his superiors not to let the operation be a cause for a change of assignment.

In Manila he taught for a while at the Maryknoll Sisters’ school. Then came the war with Japan. He became a chaplain, and during the years of captivity he gave himself to the men and the work. In his book “Give Us This Day” Sidney Steward paints a moving picture of the sufferings the Americans underwent during the Second World War after the fall of Bataan. He describes the dreadful details of their ordeal in the prison camps and in the hold of the prison ship. Father Cummings’ heroism and charity will ever remain a tribute to him. After several years of suffering which he shared with his men, he himself succumbed on January 18, 1945. His death is summed up in the following words: “he died as he would have wanted to die, praying to the God he believed in, to the God that gave him strength.” His remains were consigned to the sea some place en route between the Philippines and Japan.



'Father William T. Cummings was born on October 30, 1903 in San Francisco. Because there was no Catholic school in the area he was enrolled at the Freemont Grammar School. For religious instruction he attended Sunday School under the direction of the Holy Family Sisters, and upon graduation at the age of thirteen he had a desire to become a priest. He attended St. Patrick’s Seminary at Menlo Park in 1917 and was there for the next ten years. In September of 19l8 Father Cummings was present at a talk given by Father Price who was then on his way to China. To that inspiring conference he attributed the beginning of his missionary calling. He wanted to come to Maryknoll at the beginning of his second year of Philosophy. This first attempt met with parental objections. The next year he could not go because he was unable to get the permission of his Ordinary who was in Rome. When he was ready for his third attempt his mother became very ill and so he finished another year, his second of Theology, at St. Patrick’s. At last, in August of 1926, he started for Maryknoll. After his last two years of Theology and ordination (June 16, 1928) he was assigned to Los Altos. He taught during the year 1928-29 and was Spiritual Director during 1929-30. Then he was assigned to promotion in San Francisco, assisting Father Keller. He did promotion work for the next ten years. Despite his physical ailments, he had a great desire to go to the missions. In April of 1940 he was assigned to Manila but his back once again caused him trouble. Nevertheless, he begged his superiors not to let the operation be a cause for a change of assignment. In Manila he taught for a while at the Maryknoll Sisters’ school. Then came the war with Japan. He became a chaplain, and during the years of captivity he gave himself to the men and the work. In his book “Give Us This Day” Sidney Steward paints a moving picture of the sufferings the Americans underwent during the Second World War after the fall of Bataan. He describes the dreadful details of their ordeal in the prison camps and in the hold of the prison ship. Father Cummings’ heroism and charity will ever remain a tribute to him. After several years of suffering which he shared with his men, he himself succumbed on January 18, 1945. His death is summed up in the following words: “he died as he would have wanted to die, praying to the God he believed in, to the God that gave him strength.” His remains were consigned to the sea some place en route between the Philippines and Japan. San Francisco (/ˌsæn frənˈsɪskoʊ/ SAN frən-SISS-koh; Spanish for 'Saint Francis'), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous city in California, with 808,437 residents, and the 17th most populous city in the United States as of 2022.[16] The city covers a land area of 46.9 square miles (121 square kilometers)[24] at the end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second most densely populated large U.S. city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. Among the 91 U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco was ranked first by per capita income[25] and sixth by aggregate income as of 2021.[26] Colloquial nicknames for San Francisco include Frisco, San Fran, The City, and SF.[27][28] San Francisco was founded on June 29, 1776, when settlers from New Spain established the Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate, and the Mission San Francisco de Asís a few miles away, both named for Francis of Assisi.[4] The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, transforming an unimportant hamlet into a busy port, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time; between 1870 and 1900, approximately one quarter of California's population resided in the city proper.[26] In 1856, San Francisco became a consolidated city-county.[29] After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire,[30] it was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, it was a major port of embarkation for naval service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater.[31] In 1945, the United Nations Charter was signed in San Francisco, establishing the United Nations before permanently relocating to Manhattan, and in 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers.[32][33][34] After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, significant immigration, liberalizing attitudes, the rise of the beatnik and hippie countercultures, the sexual revolution, the peace movement growing from opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism in the United States. San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area are a global center of economic activity and the arts and sciences,[35][36] spurred by leading universities,[37] high-tech, healthcare, finance, insurance, real estate, and professional services sectors.[38] As of 2020, the metropolitan area, with 6.7 million residents, ranked 5th by GDP ($874 billion) and 2nd by GDP per capita ($131,082) across the OECD countries, ahead of global cities like Paris, London, and Singapore.[39][40][41] San Francisco anchors the 13th most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States with 4.6 million residents, and the fourth-largest by aggregate income and economic output, with a GDP of $669 billion in 2021.[42] The wider San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland Combined Statistical Area is the fifth most populous, with 9.5 million residents, and the third-largest by economic output, with a GDP of $1.25 trillion in 2021. In the same year, San Francisco proper had a GDP of $236.4 billion, and a GDP per capita of $289,990.[42] San Francisco was ranked fifth in the world and second in the United States on the Global Financial Centres Index as of March 2023.[43] The city centers of both San Francisco and nearby Oakland have suffered a severe and continuing exodus of businesses, significantly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.[44] Despite this commercial and corporate exodus, the Bay Area is still the home to four of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization, and the city proper still houses the headquarters of numerous companies inside and outside of technology, including Wells Fargo, Salesforce, Uber, Airbnb, Twitter, Levi's, Gap, Dropbox, and Lyft.[45][46][47] However, the conservative Hoover Institution in California, in addition to various media organizations, have warned of a uniquely severe long-term doom spiral impending for San Francisco.[48] Theories advanced range from narcotics and other illicit substances, crime, and homelessness,[49] to the West Coast's and particularly San Francisco's challenge to remain a relevant center for flagship commerce and industry given its relative geographic isolation from other North American commercial centers in an era of increasingly ubiquitous e-commerce.[50][51] With over 3.3 million visitors as of 2019, San Francisco is the fifth-most visited city in the United States after New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, and Orlando.[52] The city is known for its steep rolling hills and eclectic mix of architecture across varied neighborhoods, as well as its cool summers, fog, and landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Alcatraz, along with the Chinatown and Mission districts.[53] The city is home to a number of educational and cultural institutions, such as the University of California, San Francisco, the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the de Young Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet, the San Francisco Opera, the SFJAZZ Center, and the California Academy of Sciences. Two major league sports teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors, play their home games within San Francisco proper. San Francisco's main international airport offers flights to over 125 destinations while a light rail and bus network, in tandem with the BART and Caltrain systems, connects nearly every part of San Francisco with the wider region.[54][55] Etymology See also: List of San Francisco placename etymologies The city takes its name from Mission San Francisco de Asís, founded in 1776 in honor of Saint Francis. San Francisco, which is Spanish for "Saint Francis", takes its name from Mission San Francisco de Asís, which was named after Saint Francis of Assisi. The mission received its name in 1776, when it was founded by the Spanish under the leadership of Padre Francisco Palóu. The city has officially been known as San Francisco since 1847, when Washington Allon Bartlett, then serving as the city's alcalde, renamed it from Yerba Buena (Spanish for "Good Herb"), which had been name used throughout the Spanish and Mexican eras since approximately 1776. The name Yerba Buena continues to be used in locations in the city, such as Yerba Buena Island, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Yerba Buena Gardens. Bay Area residents often refer to San Francisco as "the City".[1] For residents of San Francisco living in the more suburban parts of the city, "the City" generally refers to the densely populated areas around Market Street. Its use, or lack thereof, is a common way for locals to distinguish long time residents from tourists and recent arrivals (as a shibboleth). San Francisco has several nicknames, including "The City by the Bay", "Golden Gate City",[56] "Frisco", "SF", "San Fran", and "Fog City"; as well as older ones like "The City that Knows How", "Baghdad by the Bay", or "The Paris of the West".[1] "San Fran" and "Frisco" are controversial as nicknames among San Francisco residents.[57][58][59] History See also: History of San Francisco For a chronological guide, see Timeline of San Francisco. Indigenous history The earliest archeological evidence of human habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC.[60] The Yelamu group of the Ohlone people resided in a few small villages when an overland Spanish exploration party arrived on November 2, 1769, the first documented European visit to San Francisco Bay.[61] The Ohlone name for San Francisco was Ahwaste, meaning, "place at the bay".[62] Spanish era Juan Bautista de Anza established the Presidio of San Francisco for the Spanish Empire in 1776. Mission San Francisco de Asís was founded by Padre Francisco Palóu on October 9, 1776. The Spanish Empire claimed San Francisco as part of Las Californias, a province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Spanish first arrived in what is now San Francisco on November 2, 1769, when the Portolá expedition led by Don Gaspar de Portolá and Juan Crespí arrived at San Francisco Bay. Having noted the strategic benefits of the area due to its large natural harbor, the Spanish dispatched Pedro Fages in 1770 to find a more direct route to the San Francisco Peninsula from Monterey, which would become part of the El Camino Real route. By 1774, Juan Bautista de Anza had arrived to the area to select the sites for a mission and presidio. The first European maritime presence in San Francisco Bay occurred on August 5, 1775, when the Spanish ship San Carlos, commanded by Juan Manuel de Ayala, became the first ship to anchor in the bay.[63] Soon after, on March 28, 1776, Anza established the Presidio of San Francisco. On October 9, Mission San Francisco de Asís, also known as Mission Dolores, was founded by Padre Francisco Palóu.[4] In 1794, the Presidio established the Castillo de San Joaquín, a fortification on the southern side of the Golden Gate, which later came to be known as Fort Point. In 1804, the province of Alta California was created, which included San Francisco. At its peak in 1810–1820, the average population at the Mission Dolores settlement was about 1,100 people.[64] Mexican era Juana Briones de Miranda, known as the "Founding Mother of San Francisco"[65] In 1821, the Californias were ceded to Mexico by Spain. The extensive California mission system gradually lost its influence during the period of Mexican rule. Agricultural land became largely privatized as ranchos, as was occurring in other parts of California. Coastal trade increased, including a half-dozen barques from various Atlantic ports which regularly sailed in California waters.[66][67] Yerba Buena (after a native herb), a trading post with settlements between the Presidio and Mission grew up around the Plaza de Yerba Buena. The plaza was later renamed Portsmouth Square (now located in the city's Chinatown and Financial District). The Presidio was commanded in 1833 by Captain Mariano G. Vallejo.[66] In 1833, Juana Briones de Miranda built her rancho near El Polín Spring, founding the first civilian household in San Francisco, which had previously only been comprised by the military settlement at the Presidio and the religious settlement at Mission Dolores.[65] In 1834, Francisco de Haro became the first Alcalde of Yerba Buena. De Haro was a native of Mexico, from that nation's west coast city of Compostela, Nayarit. A land survey of Yerba Buena was made by the Swiss immigrant Jean Jacques Vioget as prelude to the city plan. The second Alcalde José Joaquín Estudillo was a Californio from a prominent Monterey family. In 1835, while in office, he approved the first land grant in Yerba Buena: to William Richardson, a naturalized Mexican citizen of English birth. Richardson had arrived in San Francisco aboard a whaling ship in 1822. In 1825, he married Maria Antonia Martinez, eldest daughter of the Californio Ygnacio Martínez.[68][a] The 1846 Battle of Yerba Buena was an early U.S. victory in the American conquest of California. Yerba Buena began to attract American and European settlers; an 1842 census listed 21 residents (11%) born in the United States or Europe, as well as one Filipino merchant.[69] Following the Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma and the beginning of the U.S. Conquest of California, American forces under the command of John B. Montgomery captured Yerba Buena on July 9, 1846, with little resistance from the local Californio population. Following the capture, U.S. forces appointed both José de Jesús Noé and Washington Allon Bartlett to serve as co-alcaldes (mayors), while the conquest continued on in the rest of California. Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Alta California was ceded from Mexico to the United States. Post-Conquest era San Francisco in 1849, during the beginning of the California Gold Rush Port of San Francisco in 1851 Despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, post-Conquest San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography.[70] Its 1847 population was said to be 459.[66] The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers (known as "forty-niners", as in "1849"). With their sourdough bread in tow,[71] prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia,[72] raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849.[73] The promise of wealth was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor.[74] Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons, and hotels; many were left to rot, and some were sunk to establish title to the underwater lot. By 1851, the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870, Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land. Buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings.[75] California was quickly granted statehood in 1850, and the U.S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate and a fort on Alcatraz Island to secure the San Francisco Bay. San Francisco County was one of the state's 18 original counties established at California statehood in 1850.[76] Until 1856, San Francisco's city limits extended west to Divisadero Street and Castro Street, and south to 20th Street. In 1856, the California state government divided the county. A straight line was then drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of San Bruno Mountain. Everything south of the line became the new San Mateo County while everything north of the line became the new consolidated City and County of San Francisco.[77] The Bank of California, established in 1863, was the first commercial bank in Western United States.[78] Entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush. Silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth.[79] With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, bootlegging, and gambling.[80] Early winners were the banking industry, with the founding of Wells Fargo in 1852 and the Bank of California in 1864. Development of the Port of San Francisco and the establishment in 1869 of overland access to the eastern U.S. rail system via the newly completed Pacific Railroad (the construction of which the city only reluctantly helped support[81]) helped make the Bay Area a center for trade. Catering to the needs and tastes of the growing population, Levi Strauss opened a dry goods business and Domingo Ghirardelli began manufacturing chocolate. Chinese immigrants made the city a polyglot culture, drawn to "Old Gold Mountain", creating the city's Chinatown quarter. By 1880, Chinese made up 9.3% of the population.[82] View of the city in 1878 The first cable cars carried San Franciscans up Clay Street in 1873. The city's sea of Victorian houses began to take shape, and civic leaders campaigned for a spacious public park, resulting in plans for Golden Gate Park. San Franciscans built schools, churches, theaters, and all the hallmarks of civic life. The Presidio developed into the most important American military installation on the Pacific coast.[83] By 1890, San Francisco's population approached 300,000, making it the eighth-largest city in the United States at the time. Around 1901, San Francisco was a major city known for its flamboyant style, stately hotels, ostentatious mansions on Nob Hill, and a thriving arts scene.[84] The first North American plague epidemic was the San Francisco plague of 1900–1904.[85] 1906 earthquake and interwar era The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was the deadliest earthquake in U.S. history. At 5:12 am on April 18, 1906, a major earthquake struck San Francisco and northern California. As buildings collapsed from the shaking, ruptured gas lines ignited fires that spread across the city and burned out of control for several days. With water mains out of service, the Presidio Artillery Corps attempted to contain the inferno by dynamiting blocks of buildings to create firebreaks.[86] More than three-quarters of the city lay in ruins, including almost all of the downtown core.[30] Contemporary accounts reported that 498 people died, though modern estimates put the number in the several thousands.[87] More than half of the city's population of 400,000 was left homeless.[88] Refugees settled temporarily in makeshift tent villages in Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, on the beaches, and elsewhere. Many fled permanently to the East Bay. Jack London is remembered for having famously eulogized the earthquake: "Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone."[89] The reconstruction of San Francisco City Hall on Civic Center Plaza, c. 1913–16 Rebuilding was rapid and performed on a grand scale. Rejecting calls to completely remake the street grid, San Franciscans opted for speed.[90] Amadeo Giannini's Bank of Italy, later to become Bank of America, provided loans for many of those whose livelihoods had been devastated. The influential San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association or SPUR was founded in 1910 to address the quality of housing after the earthquake.[91] The earthquake hastened development of western neighborhoods that survived the fire, including Pacific Heights, where many of the city's wealthy rebuilt their homes.[92] In turn, the destroyed mansions of Nob Hill became grand hotels. City Hall rose again in the Beaux Arts style, and the city celebrated its rebirth at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915.[93] The Panama–Pacific Exposition, a major world's fair held in 1915, was seen as a chance to showcase the city's recovery from the earthquake. During this period, San Francisco built some of its most important infrastructure. Civil Engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy was hired by San Francisco Mayor James Rolph as chief engineer for the city in September 1912 to supervise the construction of the Twin Peaks Reservoir, the Stockton Street Tunnel, the Twin Peaks Tunnel, the San Francisco Municipal Railway, the Auxiliary Water Supply System, and new sewers. San Francisco's streetcar system, of which the J, K, L, M, and N lines survive today, was pushed to completion by O'Shaughnessy between 1915 and 1927. It was the O'Shaughnessy Dam, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, and Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct that would have the largest effect on San Francisco.[94] An abundant water supply enabled San Francisco to develop into the city it has become today. The Bay Bridge under construction on Yerba Buena Island in 1935 In ensuing years, the city solidified its standing as a financial capital; in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, not a single San Francisco-based bank failed.[95] Indeed, it was at the height of the Great Depression that San Francisco undertook two great civil engineering projects, simultaneously constructing the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, completing them in 1936 and 1937, respectively. It was in this period that the island of Alcatraz, a former military stockade, began its service as a federal maximum security prison, housing notorious inmates such as Al Capone, and Robert Franklin Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz. San Francisco later celebrated its regained grandeur with a World's fair, the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939–40, creating Treasure Island in the middle of the bay to house it.[96] Contemporary era See also: San Francisco in the 1970s The United Nations was created in San Francisco in 1945, when the United Nations Charter was signed at the San Francisco Conference. During World War II, the city-owned Sharp Park in Pacifica was used as an internment camp to detain Japanese Americans.[97] Hunters Point Naval Shipyard became a hub of activity, and Fort Mason became the primary port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater of Operations.[31] The explosion of jobs drew many people, especially African Americans from the South, to the area. After the end of the war, many military personnel returning from service abroad and civilians who had originally come to work decided to stay. The United Nations Charter creating the United Nations was drafted and signed in San Francisco in 1945 and, in 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers.[98] Urban planning projects in the 1950s and 1960s involved widespread destruction and redevelopment of west-side neighborhoods and the construction of new freeways, of which only a series of short segments were built before being halted by citizen-led opposition.[99] The onset of containerization made San Francisco's small piers obsolete, and cargo activity moved to the larger Port of Oakland.[100] The city began to lose industrial jobs and turned to tourism as the most important segment of its economy.[101] The suburbs experienced rapid growth, and San Francisco underwent significant demographic change, as large segments of the white population left the city, supplanted by an increasing wave of immigration from Asia and Latin America.[102][103] From 1950 to 1980, the city lost over 10 percent of its population. The Summer of Love in 1967 was an influential counterculture phenomenon with as many as 100,000 people converging in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Over this period, San Francisco became a magnet for America's counterculture movement. Beat Generation writers fueled the San Francisco Renaissance and centered on the North Beach neighborhood in the 1950s.[104] Hippies flocked to Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s, reaching a peak with the 1967 Summer of Love.[105] In 1974, the Zebra murders left at least 16 people dead.[106] In the 1970s, the city became a center of the gay rights movement, with the emergence of The Castro as an urban gay village, the election of Harvey Milk to the Board of Supervisors, and his assassination, along with that of Mayor George Moscone, in 1978.[107] Bank of America, now based in Charlotte, North Carolina, was founded in San Francisco; the bank completed 555 California Street in 1969. The Transamerica Pyramid was completed in 1972,[108] igniting a wave of "Manhattanization" that lasted until the late 1980s, a period of extensive high-rise development downtown.[109] The 1980s also saw a dramatic increase in the number of homeless people in the city, an issue that remains today, despite many attempts to address it.[110] Transamerica Pyramid, built in 1972, characterized the Manhattanization of the city's skyline in the 1970–80's. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake caused destruction and loss of life throughout the Bay Area. In San Francisco, the quake severely damaged structures in the Marina and South of Market districts and precipitated the demolition of the damaged Embarcadero Freeway and much of the damaged Central Freeway, allowing the city to reclaim The Embarcadero as its historic downtown waterfront and revitalizing the Hayes Valley neighborhood.[111] The two recent decades have seen booms driven by the internet industry. During the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, startup companies invigorated the San Francisco economy. Large numbers of entrepreneurs and computer application developers moved into the city, followed by marketing, design, and sales professionals, changing the social landscape as once poorer neighborhoods became increasingly gentrified.[112] Demand for new housing and office space ignited a second wave of high-rise development, this time in the South of Market district.[113] By 2000, the city's population reached new highs, surpassing the previous record set in 1950. When the bubble burst in 2001 and again in 2023, many of these companies folded and their employees were laid off. Yet high technology and entrepreneurship remain mainstays of the San Francisco economy. By the mid-2000s (decade), the social media boom had begun, with San Francisco becoming a popular location for tech offices and a common place to live for people employed in Silicon Valley companies such as Apple and Google.[114] The Ferry Station Post Office Building, Armour & Co. Building, Atherton House, and YMCA Hotel are historic buildings among dozens of historical landmarks in the city according to the National Register of Historic Places listings in San Francisco.[115] Geography Satellite view of San Francisco San Francisco is located on the West Coast of the United States, at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula and includes significant stretches of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay within its boundaries. Several picturesque islands—Alcatraz, Treasure Island and the adjacent Yerba Buena Island, and small portions of Alameda Island, Red Rock Island, and Angel Island—are part of the city. Also included are the uninhabited Farallon Islands, 27 miles (43 km) offshore in the Pacific Ocean. The mainland within the city limits roughly forms a "seven-by-seven-mile square", a common local colloquialism referring to the city's shape, though its total area, including water, is nearly 232 square miles (600 km2). There are more than 50 hills within the city limits.[116] Some neighborhoods are named after the hill on which they are situated, including Nob Hill, Potrero Hill, and Russian Hill. Near the geographic center of the city, southwest of the downtown area, are a series of less densely populated hills. Twin Peaks, a pair of hills forming one of the city's highest points, forms an overlook spot. San Francisco's tallest hill, Mount Davidson, is 928 feet (283 m) high and is capped with a 103-foot (31 m) tall cross built in 1934.[117] Dominating this area is Sutro Tower, a large red and white radio and television transmission tower reaching 1,811 ft (552 m) above sea level. Lake Merced, located in southwestern San Francisco The nearby San Andreas and Hayward Faults are responsible for much earthquake activity, although neither physically passes through the city itself. The San Andreas Fault caused the earthquakes in 1906 and 1989. Minor earthquakes occur on a regular basis. The threat of major earthquakes plays a large role in the city's infrastructure development. The city constructed an auxiliary water supply system and has repeatedly upgraded its building codes, requiring retrofits for older buildings and higher engineering standards for new construction.[118] However, there are still thousands of smaller buildings that remain vulnerable to quake damage.[119] USGS has released the California earthquake forecast which models earthquake occurrence in California.[120] San Francisco's shoreline has grown beyond its natural limits. Entire neighborhoods such as the Marina, Mission Bay, and Hunters Point, as well as large sections of the Embarcadero, sit on areas of landfill. Treasure Island was constructed from material dredged from the bay as well as material resulting from the excavation of the Yerba Buena Tunnel through Yerba Buena Island during the construction of the Bay Bridge. Such land tends to be unstable during earthquakes. The resulting soil liquefaction causes extensive damage to property built upon it, as was evidenced in the Marina district during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.[121] A few natural lakes and creeks (Lake Merced, Mountain Lake, Pine Lake, Lobos Creek, El Polin Spring) are within parks and remain protected in what is essentially their original form, but most of the city's natural watercourses, such as Islais Creek and Mission Creek, have been partially or completely culverted and built over. Since the 1990s, however, the Public Utilities Commission has been studying proposals to daylight or restore some creeks.[122] Neighborhoods Main articles: Neighborhoods in San Francisco and List of Landmarks and Historic Places in San Francisco See also: List of tallest buildings in San Francisco View of the city's central districts along its northwestern coastline The historic center of San Francisco is the northeast quadrant of the city anchored by Market Street and the waterfront. Here the Financial District is centered, with Union Square, the principal shopping and hotel district, and the Tenderloin nearby. Cable cars carry riders up steep inclines to the summit of Nob Hill, once the home of the city's business tycoons, and down to the waterfront tourist attractions of Fisherman's Wharf, and Pier 39, where many restaurants feature Dungeness crab from a still-active fishing industry. Also in this quadrant are Russian Hill, a residential neighborhood with the famously crooked Lombard Street; North Beach, the city's Little Italy and the former center of the Beat Generation; and Telegraph Hill, which features Coit Tower. Abutting Russian Hill and North Beach is San Francisco's Chinatown, the oldest Chinatown in North America.[123][124][125][126] The South of Market, which was once San Francisco's industrial core, has seen significant redevelopment following the construction of Oracle Park and an infusion of startup companies. New skyscrapers, live-work lofts, and condominiums dot the area. Further development is taking place just to the south in Mission Bay area, a former railroad yard, which now has a second campus of the University of California, San Francisco and Chase Center, which opened in 2019 as the new home of the Golden State Warriors.[127] West of downtown, across Van Ness Avenue, lies the large Western Addition neighborhood, which became established with a large African American population after World War II. The Western Addition is usually divided into smaller neighborhoods including Hayes Valley, the Fillmore, and Japantown, which was once the largest Japantown in North America but suffered when its Japanese American residents were forcibly removed and interned during World War II. The Western Addition survived the 1906 earthquake with its Victorians largely intact, including the famous "Painted Ladies", standing alongside Alamo Square. To the south, near the geographic center of the city is Haight-Ashbury, famously associated with 1960s hippie culture.[128] The Haight is now[timeframe?] home to some expensive boutiques[129][better source needed] and a few controversial chain stores,[130] although it still retains[timeframe?][citation needed] some bohemian character. San Francisco Chinatown, the oldest in North America and one of the world's largest. North of the Western Addition is Pacific Heights, an affluent neighborhood that features the homes built by wealthy San Franciscans in the wake of the 1906 earthquake. Directly north of Pacific Heights facing the waterfront is the Marina, a neighborhood popular with young professionals that was largely built on reclaimed land from the Bay.[131] In the southeast quadrant of the city is the Mission District—populated in the 19th century by Californios and working-class immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Scandinavia. In the 1910s, a wave of Central American immigrants settled in the Mission and, in the 1950s, immigrants from Mexico began to predominate.[132] In recent years, gentrification has changed the demographics of parts of the Mission from Latino, to twenty-something professionals. Noe Valley to the southwest and Bernal Heights to the south are both increasingly popular among young families with children. East of the Mission is the Potrero Hill neighborhood, a mostly residential neighborhood that features sweeping views of downtown San Francisco. West of the Mission, the area historically known as Eureka Valley, now popularly called the Castro, was once a working-class Scandinavian and Irish area. It has become North America's first gay village, and is now the center of gay life in the city.[133] Located near the city's southern border, the Excelsior District is one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco. The Bayview-Hunters Point in the far southeast corner of the city is one of the poorest neighborhoods, though the area has been the focus of several revitalizing and urban renewal projects. The Ferry Building, located in the Embarcadero, the city's eastern waterfront along San Francisco Bay The construction of the Twin Peaks Tunnel in 1918 connected southwest neighborhoods to downtown via streetcar, hastening the development of West Portal, and nearby affluent Forest Hill and St. Francis Wood. Further west, stretching all the way to the Pacific Ocean and north to Golden Gate Park lies the vast Sunset District, a large middle-class area with a predominantly Asian population.[134] The northwestern quadrant of the city contains the Richmond, a mostly middle-class neighborhood north of Golden Gate Park, home to immigrants from other parts of Asia as well as many Russian and Ukrainian immigrants. Together, these areas are known as The Avenues. These two districts are each sometimes further divided into two regions: the Outer Richmond and Outer Sunset can refer to the more western portions of their respective district and the Inner Richmond and Inner Sunset can refer to the more eastern portions. Many piers remained derelict for years until the demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway reopened the downtown waterfront, allowing for redevelopment. The centerpiece of the port, the Ferry Building, while still receiving commuter ferry traffic, has been restored and redeveloped as a gourmet marketplace. Climate San Francisco fog is a regular phenomenon in the summer. San Francisco has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb), characteristic of California's coast, with moist, mild winters and dry summers.[135] San Francisco's weather is strongly influenced by the cool currents of the Pacific Ocean on the west side of the city, and the water of San Francisco Bay to the north and east. This moderates temperature swings and produces a remarkably mild year-round climate with little seasonal temperature variation.[136] Among major U.S. cities, San Francisco has the coolest daily mean, maximum, and minimum temperatures for June, July, and August.[137] During the summer, rising hot air in California's interior valleys creates a low-pressure area that draws winds from the North Pacific High through the Golden Gate, which creates the city's characteristic cool winds and fog.[138] The fog is less pronounced in eastern neighborhoods and during the late summer and early fall. As a result, the year's warmest month, on average, is September, and on average, October is warmer than July, especially in daytime. Temperatures reach or exceed 80 °F (27 °C) on an average of only 21 and 23 days a year at downtown and San Francisco International Airport (SFO), respectively.[139] The dry period of May to October is mild to warm, with the normal monthly mean temperature peaking in September at 62.7 °F (17.1 °C).[139] The rainy period of November to April is slightly cooler, with the normal monthly mean temperature reaching its lowest in January at 51.3 °F (10.7 °C).[139] On average, there are 73 rainy days a year, and annual precipitation averages 23.65 inches (601 mm).[139] Variation in precipitation from year to year is high. Above-average rain years are often associated with warm El Niño conditions in the Pacific while dry years often occur in cold water La Niña periods. In 2013 (a "La Niña" year), a record low 5.59 in (142 mm) of rainfall was recorded at downtown San Francisco, where records have been kept since 1849.[139] Snowfall in the city is very rare, with only 10 measurable accumulations recorded since 1852, most recently in 1976 when up to 5 inches (13 cm) fell on Twin Peaks.[140][141] The Farallon Islands are located in the Gulf of the Farallones, off the Pacific coast of San Francisco. The highest recorded temperature at the official National Weather Service downtown observation station[b] was 106 °F (41 °C) on September 1, 2017.[143] During that hot spell, the warmest ever night of 71 °F (22 °C) was also recorded.[144] The lowest recorded temperature was 27 °F (−3 °C) on December 11, 1932.[145] The National Weather Service provides a helpful visual aid[146] graphing the information in the table below to display visually by month the annual typical temperatures, the past year's temperatures, and record temperatures.[importance?] During an average year between 1991 and 2020, San Francisco recorded a warmest night at 64 °F (18 °C) and a coldest day at 49 °F (9 °C).[139] The coldest daytime high since the station's opening in 1945 was recorded in December 1972 at 37 °F (3 °C).[139] As a coastal city, San Francisco will be heavily affected by climate change. As of 2021, sea levels are projected to rise by as much as 5 feet (1.5 m), resulting in periodic flooding, rising groundwater levels, and lowland floods from more severe storms.[147] San Francisco falls under the USDA 10b Plant hardiness zone, though some areas, particularly downtown, border zone 11a.[148][149] vte Climate data for San Francisco (downtown),[c] 1991–2020 normals,[d] extremes 1849–present Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °F (°C) 79 (26) 81 (27) 87 (31) 94 (34) 97 (36) 103 (39) 99 (37) 98 (37) 106 (41) 102 (39) 86 (30) 76 (24) 106 (41) Mean maximum °F (°C) 67.1 (19.5) 71.8 (22.1) 76.4 (24.7) 80.7 (27.1) 81.4 (27.4) 84.6 (29.2) 80.5 (26.9) 83.4 (28.6) 90.8 (32.7) 87.9 (31.1) 75.8 (24.3) 66.4 (19.1) 94.0 (34.4) Average high °F (°C) 57.8 (14.3) 60.4 (15.8) 62.1 (16.7) 63.0 (17.2) 64.1 (17.8) 66.5 (19.2) 66.3 (19.1) 67.9 (19.9) 70.2 (21.2) 69.8 (21.0) 63.7 (17.6) 57.9 (14.4) 64.1 (17.8) Daily mean °F (°C) 52.2 (11.2) 54.2 (12.3) 55.5 (13.1) 56.4 (13.6) 57.8 (14.3) 59.7 (15.4) 60.3 (15.7) 61.7 (16.5) 62.9 (17.2) 62.1 (16.7) 57.2 (14.0) 52.5 (11.4) 57.7 (14.3) Average low °F (°C) 46.6 (8.1) 47.9 (8.8) 48.9 (9.4) 49.7 (9.8) 51.4 (10.8) 53.0 (11.7) 54.4 (12.4) 55.5 (13.1) 55.6 (13.1) 54.4 (12.4) 50.7 (10.4) 47.0 (8.3) 51.3 (10.7) Mean minimum °F (°C) 40.5 (4.7) 42.0 (5.6) 43.7 (6.5) 45.0 (7.2) 48.0 (8.9) 50.1 (10.1) 51.6 (10.9) 52.9 (11.6) 52.0 (11.1) 49.9 (9.9) 44.9 (7.2) 40.7 (4.8) 38.8 (3.8) Record low °F (°C) 29 (−2) 31 (−1) 33 (1) 40 (4) 42 (6) 46 (8) 47 (8) 46 (8) 47 (8) 43 (6) 38 (3) 27 (−3) 27 (−3) Average precipitation inches (mm) 4.40 (112) 4.37 (111) 3.15 (80) 1.60 (41) 0.70 (18) 0.20 (5.1) 0.01 (0.25) 0.06 (1.5) 0.10 (2.5) 0.94 (24) 2.60 (66) 4.76 (121) 22.89 (581) Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 11.2 10.8 10.8 6.8 4.0 1.6 0.7 1.1 1.2 3.5 7.9 11.6 71.2 Average relative humidity (%) 80 77 75 72 72 71 75 75 73 71 75 78 75 Mean monthly sunshine hours 185.9 207.7 269.1 309.3 325.1 311.4 313.3 287.4 271.4 247.1 173.4 160.6 3,061.7 Percent possible sunshine 61 69 73 78 74 70 70 68 73 71 57 54 69 Average ultraviolet index 2 3 5 7 9 10 10 9 7 5 3 2 6 Source 1: NOAA (sun 1961–1974)[139][150][151][152] Source 2: Met Office (humidity)[153], Weather Atlas (UV)[154] Time Series Graphs are temporarily unavailable due to technical issues. See or edit raw graph data. Ecology Aerial view of the Presidio of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Historically, tule elk were present in San Francisco County, based on archeological evidence of elk remains in at least five different Native American shellmounds: at Hunter's Point, Fort Mason, Stevenson Street, Market Street, and Yerba Buena.[155][156] Perhaps the first historical observer record was from the De Anza Expedition on March 23, 1776. Herbert Eugene Bolton wrote about the expedition camp at Mountain Lake, near the southern end of today's Presidio: "Round about were grazing deer, and scattered here and there were the antlers of large elk."[157] Also, when Richard Henry Dana Jr. visited San Francisco Bay in 1835, he wrote about vast elk herds near the Golden Gate: on December 27 "...we came to anchor near the mouth of the bay, under a high and beautifully sloping hill, upon which herds of hundreds and hundreds of red deer [note: "red deer" is the European term for "elk"], and the stag, with his high branching antlers, were bounding about...", although it is not clear whether this was the Marin side or the San Francisco side.[158] Demographics Main article: Demographics of San Francisco Historical population Year Pop. ±% 1848 1,000 —     1849 25,000 +2400.0% 1852 34,776 +39.1% 1860 56,802 +63.3% 1870 149,473 +163.1% 1880 233,959 +56.5% 1890 298,997 +27.8% 1900 342,782 +14.6% 1910 416,912 +21.6% 1920 506,676 +21.5% 1930 634,394 +25.2% 1940 634,536 +0.0% 1950 775,357 +22.2% 1960 740,316 −4.5% 1970 715,674 −3.3% 1980 678,974 −5.1% 1990 723,959 +6.6% 2000 776,733 +7.3% 2010 805,235 +3.7% 2020 873,965 +8.5% 2022 808,437 −7.5% U.S. Decennial Census[159] 2020–2022[16] The 2020 United States census showed San Francisco's population to be 873,965, an increase of 8.5% from the 2010 census.[160] With roughly one-quarter the population density of Manhattan, San Francisco is the second-most densely populated large American city, behind only New York City among cities greater than 200,000 population, and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, following only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco is part of the five-county San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 4.7 million people (13th most populous in the U.S.), and has served as its traditional demographic focal point. It is also part of the greater 14-county San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area, whose population is over 9.6 million, making it the fifth-largest in the United States as of 2018.[161] Race, ethnicity, religion, and languages Ethnic origins in San Francisco San Francisco has a majority minority population, as non-Hispanic whites comprise less than half of the population, 41.9%, down from 92.5% in 1940.[162] As of the 2020 census, the racial makeup and population of San Francisco included: 361,382 Whites (41.3%), 296,505 Asians (33.9%), 46,725 African Americans (5.3%), 86,233 Multiracial Americans (9.9%), 6,475 Native Americans and Alaska Natives (0.7%), 3,476 Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (0.4%) and 73,169 persons of other races (8.4%). There were 136,761 Hispanics or Latinos of any race (15.6%). In 2010, residents of Chinese ethnicity constituted the largest single ethnic minority group in San Francisco at 21% of the population; other large Asian groups include Filipinos (5%) and Vietnamese (2%), with Japanese, Koreans and many other Asian and Pacific Islander groups represented in the city.[163] The population of Chinese ancestry is most heavily concentrated in Chinatown and the Sunset and Richmond Districts. Filipinos are most concentrated in SoMa and the Crocker-Amazon; the latter neighborhood shares a border with Daly City, which has one of the highest concentrations of Filipinos in North America.[163][164] The Tenderloin District is home to a large portion of the city's Vietnamese population as well as businesses and restaurants, which is known as the city's Little Saigon.[163] The principal Hispanic groups in the city were those of Mexican (7%) and Salvadoran (2%) ancestry. The Hispanic population is most heavily concentrated in the Mission District, Tenderloin District, and Excelsior District.[165] The city's percentage of Hispanic residents is less than half of that of the state. African Americans constitute 6% of San Francisco's population,[162] a percentage similar to that for California as a whole.[166] The majority of the city's black population reside within the neighborhoods of Bayview-Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, and the Fillmore District.[165] There are smaller, yet sizeable Black communities in Diamond Heights, Glen Park, and Mission District. The city has long been home to a significant Jewish community, today Jewish Americans make up 10% (80,000) of the city's population as of 2018. The Jewish population of San Francisco is relatively young compared to many other major cities, and at 10% of the population, San Francisco has the third-largest Jewish community in terms of percentages after New York City, and Los Angeles, respectively.[167] The Jewish community is one of the largest minority groups in the city and is scattered throughout the city, but the Richmond District is home to an ethnic enclave of mostly Russian Jews.[168] The Fillmore District was formerly a mostly Jewish neighborhood from the 1920s until the 1970s, when many of its Jewish residents moved to other neighborhoods of the city as well as the suburbs of nearby Marin County.[169] Demographic profile[170] 1860 1880 1920 1960 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020[171] Non-Hispanic White alone 90.2% 87.7% 93.5% 72.7% 52.8% 46.9% 43.5% 41.7% 39.1% Non-Hispanic Asian alone 4.6% 9.3% 2.7% 7.9% 21.3% 28.0% 30.7% 33.1% 33.7% — Chinese American 4.6% 9.3% 1.5% 5.1% 12.1% 17.6% 20.0% 19.8% 21.0% — Filipino American — — 0.2% 1.5% 5.2% 5.4% 5.0% 4.9% 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, any race(s) 3.0% 2.4% 3.4% 9.4% 12.6% 13.3% 14.2% 15.2% 15.6% — Mexican American 1.8% 1.4% 1.5% 5.1% 5.0% 5.2% 6.0% 7.5% 7.9% Non-Hispanic Black alone 2.1% 0.6% 0.4% 9.7% 12.3% 10.7% 7.6% 6.0% 5.1% Non-Hispanic Pacific Islander alone — — <0.1% — 0.2% 0.4% 0.4% 0.5% 0.3% Non-Hispanic Native American alone <0.1% <0.1% <0.1% 0.1% 0.4% 0.4% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% Non-Hispanic other — — — 0.2% 0.4% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.8% Non-Hispanic two or more races — — — — — — 3.0% 2.9% 5.2% Foreign-born[e] 50.2% 44.5% 30.1% 20.2% 29.5% 35.4% 38.4% 38.2% 34.2% See also: Demographics of San Francisco § Historical estimates Source: US Census and IPUMS USA[170] Map of racial distribution in San Francisco, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: ⬤ White ⬤ Black ⬤ Asian ⬤ Hispanic ⬤ Other According to a 2018 study by the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, Jews make up 10% (80,000) of the city's population, making Judaism the second-largest religion in San Francisco after Christianity.[167] A prior 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, the largest religious groupings in San Francisco's metropolitan area are Christians (48%), followed by those of no religion (35%), Hindus (5%), Jews (3%), Buddhists (2%), Muslims (1%) and a variety of other religions have smaller followings. According to the same study by the Pew Research Center, about 20% of residents in the area are Protestant, and 25% professing Roman Catholic beliefs. Meanwhile, 10% of the residents in metropolitan San Francisco identify as agnostics, while 5% identify as atheists.[172][173] As of 2010, 55% (411,728) of San Francisco residents spoke only English at home, while 19% (140,302) spoke a variety of Chinese (mostly Taishanese and Cantonese[174][175]), 12% (88,147) Spanish, 3% (25,767) Tagalog, and 2% (14,017) Russian. In total, 45% (342,693) of San Francisco's population spoke a language at home other than English.[176] Ethnic clustering San Francisco has several prominent Chinese, Mexican, and Filipino neighborhoods including Chinatown and the Mission District. Research collected on the immigrant clusters in the city show that more than half of the Asian population in San Francisco is either Chinese-born (40.3%) or Philippine-born (13.1%), and of the Mexican population 21% were Mexican-born, meaning these are people who recently immigrated to the United States.[177] Between the years of 1990 and 2000, the number of foreign-born residents increased from 33% to nearly 40%.[177] During this same time period, the San Francisco metropolitan area received 850,000 immigrants, ranking third in the United States after Los Angeles and New York.[177] Education, households, and income Sea Cliff is one of the city's most expensive neighborhoods.[178] Of all major cities in the United States, San Francisco has the second-highest percentage of residents with a college degree, second only to Seattle. Over 44% of adults have a bachelor's or higher degree.[179] San Francisco had the highest rate at 7,031 per square mile, or over 344,000 total graduates in the city's 46.7 square miles (121 km2).[180] San Francisco has the highest estimated percentage of gay and lesbian individuals of any of the 50 largest U.S. cities, at 15%.[181] San Francisco also has the highest percentage of same-sex households of any American county, with the Bay Area having a higher concentration than any other metropolitan area.[182] San Francisco ranks third of American cities in median household income[183] with a 2007 value of $65,519.[166] Median family income is $81,136.[166] An emigration of middle-class families has left the city with a lower proportion of children than any other large American city,[184] with the dog population cited as exceeding the child population of 115,000, in 2018.[185] The city's poverty rate is 12%, lower than the national average.[186] Homelessness has been a chronic problem for San Francisco since the early 1970s.[187] The city is believed to have the highest number of homeless inhabitants per capita of any major U.S. city.[188][189] There are 345,811 households in the city, out of which: 133,366 households (39%) were individuals, 109,437 (32%) were opposite-sex married couples, 63,577 (18%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 21,677 (6%) were unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 10,384 (3%) were same-sex married couples or partnerships. The average household size was 2.26; the average family size was 3.11. 452,986 people (56%) lived in rental housing units, and 327,985 people (41%) lived in owner-occupied housing units. The median age of the city population is 38 years. San Francisco declared itself a sanctuary city in 1989, and city officials strengthened the stance in 2013 with its 'Due Process for All' ordinance. The law declared local authorities could not hold immigrants for immigration offenses if they had no violent felonies on their records and did not currently face charges."[190] The city issues a Resident ID Card regardless of the applicant's immigration status.[191] Homelessness See also: Homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area Homeless encampment under a freeway in San Francisco Homelessness in San Francisco emerged as a major issue in the late 20th century and remains a growing problem in modern times.[192] 8,035 homeless people were counted in San Francisco's 2019 point-in-time street and shelter count. This was an increase of more than 17% over the 2017 count of 6,858 people. 5,180 of the people were living unsheltered on the streets and in parks.[193] 26% of respondents in the 2019 count identified job loss as the primary cause of their homelessness, 18% cited alcohol or drug use, and 13% cited being evicted from their residence.[193] The city of San Francisco has been dramatically increasing its spending to service the growing population homelessness crisis: spending jumped by $241 million in 2016–17 to total $275 million, compared to a budget of just $34 million the previous year. In 2017–18 the budget for combatting homelessness stood at $305 million.[194] In the 2019–2020 budget year, the city budgeted $368 million for homelessness services. In the proposed 2020–2021 budget the city budgeted $850 million for homelessness services.[195] In January 2018 a United Nations special rapporteur on homelessness, Leilani Farha, stated that she was "completely shocked" by San Francisco's homelessness crisis during a visit to the city. She compared the "deplorable conditions" of the homeless camps she witnessed on San Francisco's streets to those she had seen in Mumbai.[194] In May 2020, San Francisco officially sanctioned homeless encampments.[196] Crime Main article: Crime in San Francisco SFPD mounted police officers In 2011, 50 murders were reported, which is 6.1 per 100,000 people.[197] There were about 134 rapes, 3,142 robberies, and about 2,139 assaults. There were about 4,469 burglaries, 25,100 thefts, and 4,210 motor vehicle thefts.[198] The Tenderloin area has the highest crime rate in San Francisco: 70% of the city's violent crimes, and around one-fourth of the city's murders, occur in this neighborhood. The Tenderloin also sees high rates of drug abuse, gang violence, and prostitution.[199] Another area with high crime rates is the Bayview-Hunters Point area. In the first six months of 2015 there were 25 murders compared to 14 in the first six months of 2014. However, the murder rate is still much lower than in past decades.[200] That rate, though, did rise again by the close of 2016. According to the San Francisco Police Department, there were 59 murders in the city in 2016, an annual total that marked a 13.5% increase in the number of homicides (52) from 2015.[201] The city has also gained a reputation for car break-ins, with over 19,000 car break-ins occurring in 2021.[202] During the first half of 2018, human feces on San Francisco sidewalks were the second-most-frequent complaint of city residents, with about 65 calls per day. The city has formed a "poop patrol" to attempt to combat the problem.[203] SFPD parking enforcement officers San Francisco is a center of sexual slavery.[204] In January 2022, CBS News reported that a single suspect was "responsible for more than half of all reported hate crimes against the API community in San Francisco last year," and that he "was allowed to be out of custody despite the number of charges against him."[205] Several street gangs have operated in the city over the decades, including MS-13,[206] the Sureños and Norteños in the Mission District.[207] In 2008, a MS-13 member killed three family members as they were arriving home in the city's Excelsior District. His victims had no relationship with him, nor did they have any known gang or street crime involvement.[208][citation needed] African-American street gangs familiar in other cities, including the Bloods, Crips and their sets, have struggled to establish footholds in San Francisco,[209] while police and prosecutors have been accused of liberally labeling young African-American males as gang members.[210] However, gangs founded in San Francisco with majority Black memberships have made their presence in the city. Criminal gangs with shotcallers in China, including Triad groups such as the Wo Hop To, have been reported active in San Francisco.[211] Economy See also: List of companies based in San Francisco San Francisco's Financial District, despite its declining importance,[212] is still considered the Wall Street of the West. According to academic Rob Wilson, San Francisco is a global city, a status that pre-dated the city's popularity during the California Gold Rush.[213] However, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the exodus of business from the downtown core of San Francisco.[45][214] In 2023, the conservative think tank Hoover Institution warned of a uniquely severe long-term economic collapse impending for San Francisco.[48] Attributed causes range from crime, drugs, and homelessness,[49] to the West Coast's and particularly San Francisco's challenge to remain relevant as a commercial center given its relative geographic isolation from other North American commercial centers in an era of increasingly ubiquitous e-commerce.[50][51] San Francisco has a diversified service economy, with employment spread across a wide range of professional services, including tourism, financial services, and (increasingly) high technology.[215] In 2016, approximately 27% of workers were employed in professional business services; 14% in leisure and hospitality; 13% in government services; 12% in education and health care; 11% in trade, transportation, and utilities; and 8% in financial activities.[215] In 2019, GDP in the five-county San Francisco metropolitan area grew 3.8% in real terms to $592 billion.[216][217] Additionally, in 2019 the 14-county San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland combined statistical area had a GDP of $1.086 trillion,[217] ranking 3rd among CSAs, and ahead of all but 16 countries. As of 2019, San Francisco County was the 7th highest-income county in the United States (among 3,142), with a per capita personal income of $139,405.[218] Marin County, directly to the north over the Golden Gate Bridge, and San Mateo County, directly to the south on the Peninsula, were the 6th and 9th highest-income counties respectively. Skyline of South of Market (SoMa), including Salesforce Tower, the tallest building in San Francisco The legacy of the California Gold Rush turned San Francisco into the principal banking and finance center of the West Coast in the early twentieth century.[219] Montgomery Street in the Financial District became known as the "Wall Street of the West", home to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Wells Fargo corporate headquarters, and the site of the now-defunct Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.[219] Bank of America, a pioneer in making banking services accessible to the middle class, was founded in San Francisco and in the 1960s, built the landmark modern skyscraper at 555 California Street for its corporate headquarters. eventually moving to Charlotte, North Carolina. Many large financial institutions, multinational banks, and venture capital firms are based in or have regional headquarters in the city. With over 30 international financial institutions,[220] six Fortune 500 companies,[221] and a large supporting infrastructure of professional services—including law, public relations, architecture and design—San Francisco is designated as an Alpha(-) World City.[222] The 2017 Global Financial Centres Index ranked San Francisco as the sixth-most competitive financial center in the world.[223] Beginning in the 1990s, San Francisco's economy diversified away from finance and tourism towards the growing fields of high tech, biotechnology, and medical research.[224] Technology jobs accounted for just 1 percent of San Francisco's economy in 1990, growing to 4 percent in 2010 and an estimated 8 percent by the end of 2013.[225] San Francisco became a center of Internet start-up companies during the dot-com bubble of the 1990s and the subsequent social media boom of the late 2000s (decade).[226] Since 2010, San Francisco proper has attracted an increasing share of venture capital investments as compared to nearby Silicon Valley, attracting 423 financings worth US$4.58 billion in 2013.[227][228][229] In 2004, the city approved a payroll tax exemption for biotechnology companies[230] to foster growth in the Mission Bay neighborhood, site of a second campus and hospital of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Mission Bay hosts the UCSF Medical Center, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, and Gladstone Institutes,[231] as well as more than 40 private-sector life sciences companies.[232] Union Square is a major retail hub for the city and for the Bay Area. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has accelerated the continuing exodus of business from Union Square and the adjacent downtown core of San Francisco.[233][44][234][51] The top employer in the city is the city government itself, employing 5.6% (31,000+ people) of the city's workforce, followed by UCSF with over 25,000 employees.[235] The largest private-sector employer is Salesforce, with 8,500 employees, as of 2018.[236] Small businesses with fewer than 10 employees and self-employed firms make up 85% of city establishments,[237] and the number of San Franciscans employed by firms of more than 1,000 employees has fallen by half since 1977.[238] The growth of national big box and formula retail chains into the city has been made intentionally difficult by political and civic consensus. In an effort to buoy small privately owned businesses in San Francisco and preserve the unique retail personality of the city, the Small Business Commission started a publicity campaign in 2004 to keep a larger share of retail dollars in the local economy,[239] and the Board of Supervisors has used the planning code to limit the neighborhoods where formula retail establishments can set up shop,[240] an effort affirmed by San Francisco voters.[241] However, by 2016, San Francisco was rated low by small businesses in a Business Friendliness Survey.[242] Ferry Building in the Embarcadero. Like many U.S. cities, San Francisco once had a significant manufacturing sector employing nearly 60,000 workers in 1969, but nearly all production left for cheaper locations by the 1980s.[243] As of 2014, San Francisco has seen a small resurgence in manufacturing, with more than 4,000 manufacturing jobs across 500 companies, doubling since 2011. The city's largest manufacturing employer is Anchor Brewing Company, and the largest by revenue is Timbuk2.[243] As of the first quarter of 2022, the median value of homes in San Francisco County was $1,297,030. It ranked third in the US for counties with highest median home value, behind Nantucket, Massachusetts and San Mateo County, California.[244] Technology Twitter headquarters on Market St. San Francisco became a hub for technological driven economic growth during the internet boom of the 1990s, and still holds an important position in the world city network today.[177][245] Intense redevelopment towards the "new economy" makes business more technologically minded. Between the years of 1999 and 2000, the job growth rate was 4.9%, creating over 50,000 jobs in technology firms and internet content production.[177] In the second technological boom driven by social media in the mid-2000s, San Francisco became a location for companies such as Apple, Google, Ubisoft, Facebook, and Twitter to base their tech offices and for their employees to live.[246] Tourism and conventions See also: Port of San Francisco The Fisherman's Wharf is a popular tourist attraction. Tourism is one of the city's largest private-sector industries, accounting for more than one out of seven jobs in the city.[224][247] The city's frequent portrayal in music, film, and popular culture has made the city and its landmarks recognizable worldwide. In 2016, it attracted the fifth-highest number of foreign tourists of any city in the United States.[248] More than 25 million visitors arrived in San Francisco in 2016, adding US$9.96 billion to the economy.[249] With a large hotel infrastructure and a world-class convention facility in the Moscone Center, San Francisco is a popular destination for annual conventions and conferences.[250] Some of the most popular tourist attractions in San Francisco, as noted by the Travel Channel, include the Golden Gate Bridge and Alamo Square Park, home to the famous "Painted Ladies". Both of these locations were often used as landscape shots for the hit American television sitcom Full House. There is also Lombard Street, known for its "crookedness" and extensive views. Tourists also visit Pier 39, which offers dining, shopping, entertainment, and views of the bay, sunbathing California sea lions, the Aquarium of the Bay, and the famous Alcatraz Island.[251] Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill San Francisco also offers tourists cultural and unique nightlife in its neighborhoods.[252][253] The new Terminal Project at Pier 27 opened September 25, 2014, as a replacement for the old Pier 35.[254] Itineraries from San Francisco usually include round-trip cruises to Alaska and Mexico. A heightened interest in conventioneering in San Francisco, marked by the establishment of convention centers such as Yerba Buena, acted as a feeder into the local tourist economy and resulted in an increase in the hotel industry: "In 1959, the city had fewer than thirty-three hundred first-class hotel rooms; by 1970, the number was nine thousand; and by 1999, there were more than thirty thousand."[255] The commodification of the Castro District has contributed to San Francisco's tourist economy.[256] Arts and culture Main article: Culture of San Francisco See also: San Francisco in popular culture The Palace of Fine Arts, originally built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition Although the Financial District, Union Square, and Fisherman's Wharf are well known around the world, San Francisco is also characterized by its numerous culturally rich streetscapes featuring mixed-use neighborhoods anchored around central commercial corridors to which residents and visitors alike can walk.[citation needed] Because of these characteristics,[original research?] San Francisco is ranked the "most walkable" city in the United States by Walkscore.com.[257] Many neighborhoods feature a mix of businesses, restaurants and venues that cater to the daily needs of local residents while also serving many visitors and tourists. Some neighborhoods are dotted with boutiques, cafés and nightlife such as Union Street in Cow Hollow, 24th Street in Noe Valley, Valencia Street in the Mission, Grant Avenue in North Beach, and Irving Street in the Inner Sunset. This approach especially has influenced the continuing South of Market neighborhood redevelopment with businesses and neighborhood services rising alongside high-rise residences.[258][failed verification] The Castro is famous as one of the first gay villages in the country.[259] Since the 1990s, the demand for skilled information technology workers from local startups and nearby Silicon Valley has attracted white-collar workers from all over the world and created a high standard of living in San Francisco.[260] Many neighborhoods that were once blue-collar, middle, and lower class have been gentrifying, as many of the city's traditional business and industrial districts have experienced a renaissance driven by the redevelopment of the Embarcadero, including the neighborhoods South Beach and Mission Bay. The city's property values and household income have risen to among the highest in the nation,[261][262][263] creating a large and upscale restaurant, retail, and entertainment scene. According to a 2014 quality of life survey of global cities, San Francisco has the highest quality of living of any U.S. city.[264] However, due to the exceptionally high cost of living, many of the city's middle and lower-class families have been leaving the city for the outer suburbs of the Bay Area, or for California's Central Valley.[265] By June 2, 2015, the median rent was reported to be as high as $4,225.[266] The high cost of living is due in part to restrictive planning laws which limit new residential construction.[267] The Mission District is the historic center of the city's Chicano/Mexican-American population and greater Hispanic and Latino community. The international character that San Francisco has enjoyed since its founding is continued today by large numbers of immigrants from Asia and Latin America. With 39% of its residents born overseas,[238] San Francisco has numerous neighborhoods filled with businesses and civic institutions catering to new arrivals. In particular, the arrival of many ethnic Chinese, which began to accelerate in the 1970s, has complemented the long-established community historically based in Chinatown throughout the city and has transformed the annual Chinese New Year Parade into the largest event of its kind on the West Coast. With the arrival of the "beat" writers and artists of the 1950s and societal changes culminating in the Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury district during the 1960s, San Francisco became a center of liberal activism and of the counterculture that arose at that time. The Democrats and to a lesser extent the Green Party have dominated city politics since the late 1970s, after the last serious Republican challenger for city office lost the 1975 mayoral election by a narrow margin. San Francisco has not voted more than 20% for a Republican presidential or senatorial candidate since 1988.[268] In 2007, the city expanded its Medicaid and other indigent medical programs into the Healthy San Francisco program,[269] which subsidizes certain medical services for eligible residents.[270][271][272] The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, also known as SF MOMA Since 1993, the San Francisco Department of Public Health has distributed 400,000 free syringes every month aimed at reducing HIV and other health risks for drug users, as well as providing disposal sites and services.[273][274][275] San Francisco also has had a very active environmental community. Starting with the founding of the Sierra Club in 1892 to the establishment of the non-profit Friends of the Urban Forest in 1981, San Francisco has been at the forefront of many global discussions regarding the environment.[276][277] The 1980 San Francisco Recycling Program was one of the earliest curbside recycling programs.[278] The city's GoSolarSF incentive promotes solar installations and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is rolling out the CleanPowerSF program to sell electricity from local renewable sources.[279][280] SF Greasecycle is a program to recycle used cooking oil for conversion to biodiesel.[281] The Sunset Reservoir Solar Project, completed in 2010, installed 24,000 solar panels on the roof of the reservoir. The 5-megawatt plant more than tripled the city's 2-megawatt solar generation capacity when it opened in December 2010.[282][283] LGBT Main article: LGBT culture in San Francisco San Francisco Pride is one of the oldest and largest LGBT pride events in the world. San Francisco has long had an LGBT-friendly history. It was home to the first lesbian-rights organization in the United States, Daughters of Bilitis; the first openly gay person to run for public office in the United States, José Sarria; the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, Harvey Milk; the first openly lesbian judge appointed in the U.S., Mary C. Morgan; and the first transgender police commissioner, Theresa Sparks. The city's large gay population has created and sustained a politically and culturally active community over many decades, developing a powerful presence in San Francisco's civic life.[citation needed] Survey data released in 2015 by Gallup places the proportion of LGBT adults in the San Francisco metro area at 6.2%, which is the highest proportion of the 50 most populous metropolitan areas as measured by the polling organization.[284] The gay pride flag was originally developed in San Francisco. One of the most popular destinations for gay tourists internationally, the city hosts San Francisco Pride, one of the largest and oldest pride parades. San Francisco Pride events have been held continuously since 1972. The events are themed and a new theme is created each year.[285] In 2013, over 1.5 million people attended, around 500,000 more than the previous year.[286] Pink Saturday is an annual street party held the Saturday before the pride parade, which coincides with the Dyke march. The Folsom Street Fair (FSF) is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair that is held in September, endcapping San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week".[287] It started in 1984 and is California's third-largest single-day, outdoor spectator event and the world's largest leather event and showcase for BDSM products and culture.[288] Performing arts See also: List of theatres in San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, part of the S.F. War Memorial & Performing Arts Center, one of the largest performing arts centers in the U.S. Golden Gate Theatre is located in the historic Theatre District San Francisco's War Memorial and Performing Arts Center hosts some of the most enduring performing-arts companies in the country. The War Memorial Opera House houses the San Francisco Opera, the second-largest opera company in North America[289] as well as the San Francisco Ballet, while the San Francisco Symphony plays in Davies Symphony Hall. Opened in 2013, the SFJAZZ Center hosts jazz performances year round.[290] The Fillmore is a music venue located in the Western Addition. It is the second incarnation of the historic venue that gained fame in the 1960s, housing the stage where now-famous musicians such as the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, and Jefferson Airplane first performed, fostering the San Francisco Sound.[291] It closed its doors in 1971 with a final performance by Santana and reopened in 1994 with a show by The Smashing Pumpkins.[292] San Francisco has a large number of theaters and live performance venues. Local theater companies have been noted for risk taking and innovation.[293] The Tony Award-winning non-profit American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a member of the national League of Resident Theatres. Other local winners of the Regional Theatre Tony Award include the San Francisco Mime Troupe.[294] San Francisco theaters frequently host pre-Broadway engagements and tryout runs,[295] and some original San Francisco productions have later moved to Broadway.[296] Museums Further information: List of museums in San Francisco Bay Area, California § San Francisco The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) houses 20th century and contemporary works of art. It moved to its current building in the South of Market neighborhood in 1995 and attracted more than 600,000 visitors annually.[297] SFMOMA closed for renovation and expansion in 2013. The museum reopened on May 14, 2016, with an addition, designed by Snøhetta, that has doubled the museum's size.[298] The Palace of the Legion of Honor holds primarily European antiquities and works of art at its Lincoln Park building modeled after its Parisian namesake. The de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park features American decorative pieces and anthropological holdings from Africa, Oceania and the Americas, while Asian art is housed in the Asian Art Museum. Opposite the de Young stands the California Academy of Sciences, a natural history museum that also hosts the Morrison Planetarium and Steinhart Aquarium. Located on Pier 15 on the Embarcadero, the Exploratorium is an interactive science museum. The Contemporary Jewish Museum is a non-collecting institution that hosts a broad array of temporary exhibitions. On Nob Hill, the Cable Car Museum is a working museum featuring the cable car powerhouse, which drives the cables.[299] Sports Further information: Sports in the San Francisco Bay Area Oracle Park, home of the SF Giants Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants have played in San Francisco since moving from New York in 1958. The Giants play at Oracle Park, which opened in 2000.[300] The Giants won World Series titles in 2010, 2012, and in 2014. The Giants have boasted stars such as Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Barry Bonds (MLB's career home run leader). In 2012, San Francisco was ranked No. 1 in a study that examined which U.S. metro areas have produced the most Major Leaguers since 1920.[301] The San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) began play in 1946 as an All-America Football Conference (AAFC) league charter member, moved to the NFL in 1950 and into Candlestick Park in 1971. The team left the San Francisco area in 2014, moving approximately 50 miles south to Santa Clara, and began playing its home games at Levi's Stadium,[302][303] but despite the relocation did not change its name from the "San Francisco" 49ers. The 49ers won five Super Bowl titles between 1982 and 1995. The Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors NBA’s Golden State Warriors have played in the San Francisco Bay Area since moving from Philadelphia in 1962. The Warriors played as the San Francisco Warriors, from 1962 to 1971, before being renamed the Golden State Warriors prior to the 1971–1972 season in an attempt to present the team as a representation of the whole state of California, which had already adopted "The Golden State" nickname.[304] The Warriors' arena, Chase Center, is located in San Francisco.[305] After winning two championships in Philadelphia, they have won five championships since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area,[306] and made five consecutive NBA Finals from 2015 to 2019, winning three of them. They won again in 2022, the franchise's first championship while residing in San Francisco proper. At the collegiate level, the San Francisco Dons compete in NCAA Division I. Bill Russell led the Dons basketball team to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956. There is also the San Francisco State Gators, who compete in NCAA Division II.[307] Oracle Park hosted the annual Fight Hunger Bowl college football game from 2002 through 2013 before it moved to Santa Clara. There are a handful of lower-league soccer clubs in San Francisco playing mostly from April – June. Club Founded Venue League Tier level El Farolito 1985 Boxer Stadium NPSL 4 San Francisco City FC 2001 Kezar Stadium USL League Two 4 San Francisco Glens SC 1961 Skyline College USL League Two 4 SF Elite Metro 2017 Negoesco Stadium NISA Nation 5 Bay to Breakers is an annual foot race known for colorful costumes. The Bay to Breakers footrace, held annually since 1912, is best known for colorful costumes and a celebratory community spirit.[308] The San Francisco Marathon attracts more than 21,000 participants.[309] The Escape from Alcatraz triathlon has, since 1980, attracted 2,000 top professional and amateur triathletes for its annual race.[310] The Olympic Club, founded in 1860, is the oldest athletic club in the United States. Its private golf course has hosted the U.S. Open on five occasions. San Francisco hosted the 2013 America's Cup yacht racing competition.[311] With an ideal climate for outdoor activities, San Francisco has ample resources and opportunities for amateur and participatory sports and recreation. There are more than 200 miles (320 km) of bicycle paths, lanes and bike routes in the city.[312] San Francisco residents have often ranked among the fittest in the country.[313] Golden Gate Park has miles of paved and unpaved running trails as well as a golf course and disc golf course. Boating, sailing, windsurfing and kitesurfing are among the popular activities on San Francisco Bay, and the city maintains a yacht harbor in the Marina District. San Francisco also has had Esports teams, such as the Overwatch League's San Francisco Shock. Established in 2017,[314] they won two back-to-back championship titles in 2019 and 2020.[315][316] Parks and recreation See also: List of parks in San Francisco Golden Gate Park is the 3rd most-visited city park in the U.S., after Central Park and the National Mall.[317] Several of San Francisco's parks and nearly all of its beaches form part of the regional Golden Gate National Recreation Area, one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States with over 13 million visitors a year. Among the GGNRA's attractions within the city are Ocean Beach, which runs along the Pacific Ocean shoreline and is frequented by a vibrant surfing community, and Baker Beach, which is located in a cove west of the Golden Gate. The Presidio of San Francisco is the former 18th century Spanish military base, which today is one of the city's largest parks and home to numerous museums and institutions. Also within the Presidio is Crissy Field, a former airfield that was restored to its natural salt marsh ecosystem. The GGNRA also administers Fort Funston, Lands End, Fort Mason, and Alcatraz. The National Park Service separately administers the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park – a fleet of historic ships and waterfront property around Aquatic Park.[citation needed] Painted Ladies on Alamo Square. The Cliff House over Ocean Beach There are more than 220 parks maintained by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department.[318] The largest and best-known city park is Golden Gate Park,[319] which stretches from the center of the city west to the Pacific Ocean. Once covered in native grasses and sand dunes, the park was conceived in the 1860s and was created by the extensive planting of thousands of non-native trees and plants. The large park is rich with cultural and natural attractions such as the Conservatory of Flowers, Japanese Tea Garden and San Francisco Botanical Garden.[citation needed] Lake Merced is a fresh-water lake surrounded by parkland[citation needed] and near the San Francisco Zoo, a city-owned park that houses more than 250 animal species, many of which are endangered.[320] The only park managed by the California State Park system located principally in San Francisco, Candlestick Point was the state's first urban recreation area.[321] Most of San Francisco's islands are protected as parkland or nature reserves. Alcatraz Island, operated by the National Park Service, is open to the public. The Farallon Islands are protected wildlife refuges. The Seal Rocks are protected as part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Red Rock Island is the only privately-owned island in San Francisco Bay, but is uninhabited. Yerba Buena Island is largely utilized by the military. San Francisco is the first city in the U.S. to have a park within a 10-Minute Walk of every resident.[322][323] It also ranks fifth in the U.S. for park access and quality in the 2018 ParkScore ranking of the top 100 park systems across the United States, according to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.[324] Government Main articles: Government of San Francisco, Politics of San Francisco, and Mayors of San Francisco See also: San Francisco City Hall San Francisco City Hall, built 1913–16 and designed by Arthur Brown Jr. The mayor is also the county executive, and the county Board of Supervisors acts as the city council. The government of San Francisco is a charter city and is constituted of two co-equal branches: the executive branch is headed by the mayor and includes other citywide elected and appointed officials as well as the civil service; the 11-member Board of Supervisors, the legislative branch, is headed by a president and is responsible for passing laws and budgets, though San Franciscans also make use of direct ballot initiatives to pass legislation.[325] Because of its unique city-county status, the local government is able to exercise jurisdiction over certain property outside city limits. San Francisco International Airport, though located in San Mateo County, is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco. San Francisco's largest jail complex (County Jail No. 5) is located in San Mateo County, in an unincorporated area adjacent to San Bruno. San Francisco was also granted a perpetual leasehold over the Hetch Hetchy Valley and watershed in Yosemite National Park by the Raker Act in 1913.[326] The Supreme Court of California is based in the Earl Warren Building. The members of the Board of Supervisors are elected as representatives of specific districts within the city.[327] Upon the death or resignation of the mayor, the President of the Board of Supervisors becomes acting mayor until the full Board elects an interim replacement for the remainder of the term. In 1978, Dianne Feinstein assumed the office following the assassination of George Moscone and was later selected by the board to finish the term.[citation needed] In 2011, Ed Lee was selected by the board to finish the term of Gavin Newsom, who resigned to take office as Lieutenant Governor of California.[328] Lee (who won two elections to remain mayor) was temporarily replaced by San Francisco Board of Supervisors President London Breed after he died on December 12, 2017. Supervisor Mark Farrell was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to finish Lee's term on January 23, 2018. Most local offices in San Francisco are elected using ranked choice voting.[329] San Francisco Federal Building San Francisco serves as the regional hub for many arms of the federal bureaucracy, including the U.S. Court of Appeals, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the U.S. Mint. Until decommissioning in the early 1990s, the city had major military installations at the Presidio, Treasure Island, and Hunters Point—a legacy still reflected in the annual celebration of Fleet Week. The State of California uses San Francisco as the home of the state supreme court and other state agencies. Foreign governments maintain more than seventy consulates in San Francisco.[330] The municipal budget for fiscal year 2015–16 was $8.99 billion,[331] and is one of the largest city budgets in the United States.[332] The City of San Francisco spends more per resident than any city other than Washington, D.C., over $10,000 in FY 2015–2016.[332] The city employs around 27,000 workers.[333] The historic Browning Courthouse In the California State Senate, San Francisco is in the 11th Senate District, represented by Democrat Scott Wiener. In the California State Assembly, it is split between the 17th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Matt Haney, and the 19th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Phil Ting.[334] In the United States House of Representatives, San Francisco is split between two congressional districts. Most of the city is in the 11th District, represented by Nancy Pelosi (D–San Francisco). A sliver in the southwest is part of the 15th District represented by Kevin Mullin (D–South San Francisco).[335] Pelosi served as the House Speaker from January 3, 2019 to January 3, 2023, a post she also held from 2007 through 2011. She has also held the post of House Minority Leader, from 2003 to 2007 and 2011 to 2019. Education University of San Francisco Colleges and universities See also: List of colleges and universities in San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco is the sole campus of the University of California system entirely dedicated to graduate education in health and biomedical sciences. It is ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States[336] and operates the UCSF Medical Center, which ranks as the number one hospital in California and the number 5 in the country.[337] UCSF is a major local employer, second in size only to the city and county government.[338][339][340] A 43-acre (17 ha) Mission Bay campus was opened in 2003, complementing its original facility in Parnassus Heights. It contains research space and facilities to foster biotechnology and life sciences entrepreneurship and will double the size of UCSF's research enterprise.[341] All in all, UCSF operates more than 20 facilities across San Francisco.[342] The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, founded in Civic Center in 1878, is the oldest law school in California and claims more judges on the state bench than any other institution.[343] San Francisco's two University of California institutions have recently formed an official affiliation in the UCSF/UC Law SF Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy.[344] San Francisco Art Institute is the oldest art school in the Western U.S. San Francisco State University is part of the California State University system and is located near Lake Merced.[345] The school has approximately 30,000 students and awards undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees in more than 100 disciplines.[345] The City College of San Francisco, with its main facility in the Ingleside district, is one of the largest two-year community colleges in the country. It has an enrollment of about 100,000 students and offers an extensive continuing education program.[346] University of California College of the Law Founded in 1855, the University of San Francisco, a private Jesuit university located on Lone Mountain, is the oldest institution of higher education in San Francisco and one of the oldest universities established west of the Mississippi River.[347] Golden Gate University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational university formed in 1901 and located in the Financial District. With an enrollment of 13,000 students, the Academy of Art University is the largest institute of art and design in the nation.[348] Founded in 1871, the San Francisco Art Institute is the oldest art school west of the Mississippi.[349] The California College of the Arts, located north of Potrero Hill, has programs in architecture, fine arts, design, and writing.[350] The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the only independent music school on the West Coast, grants degrees in orchestral instruments, chamber music, composition, and conducting. The California Culinary Academy, associated with the Le Cordon Bleu program, offers programs in the culinary arts, baking and pastry arts, and hospitality and restaurant management. California Institute of Integral Studies, founded in 1968, offers a variety of graduate programs in its Schools of Professional Psychology & Health, and Consciousness and Transformation. Primary and secondary schools See also: San Francisco public grammar schools and List of high schools in California § San Francisco County The San Francisco Unified School District operates 114 schools and is the oldest school district in California. Public schools are run by the San Francisco Unified School District, which covers the entire city and county,[351] as well as the California State Board of Education for some charter schools. Lowell High School, the oldest public high school in the U.S. west of the Mississippi,[352] and the smaller School of the Arts High School are two of San Francisco's magnet schools at the secondary level. Public school students attend schools based on an assignment system rather than neighborhood proximity.[353] Just under 30% of the city's school-age population attends one of San Francisco's more than 100 private or parochial schools, compared to a 10% rate nationwide.[354] Nearly 40 of those schools are Catholic schools managed by the Archdiocese of San Francisco.[355] San Francisco has nearly 300 preschool programs primarily operated by Head Start, San Francisco Unified School District, private for-profit, private non-profit and family child care providers.[356] All 4-year-old children living in San Francisco are offered universal access to preschool through the Preschool for All program.[357] Media Further information: Media in the San Francisco Bay Area This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) San Francisco Chronicle building The major daily newspaper in San Francisco is the San Francisco Chronicle, which is currently Northern California's most widely circulated newspaper.[358] The Chronicle is most famous for a former columnist, the late Herb Caen, whose daily musings attracted critical acclaim and represented the "voice of San Francisco". The San Francisco Examiner, once the cornerstone of William Randolph Hearst's media empire and the home of Ambrose Bierce, declined in circulation over the years and now takes the form of a free daily tabloid, under new ownership.[359][360] Sing Tao Daily claims to be the largest of several Chinese language dailies that serve the Bay Area.[361] SF Weekly is the city's alternative weekly newspaper. San Francisco and 7x7 are major glossy magazines about San Francisco. The national newsmagazine Mother Jones is also based in San Francisco. San Francisco is home to online-only media publications such as SFist, and AsianWeek. The Julia Morgan-designed Hearst Building, the western headquarters of the Hearst Corporation The San Francisco Bay Area is the sixth-largest television market.[362] It is the fourth-largest radio market after that of New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.[363] in the U.S. All major U.S. television networks have affiliates serving the region, with most of them based in the city. CNN, MSNBC, BBC, Russia Today, and CCTV America also have regional news bureaus in San Francisco. Bloomberg West was launched in 2011 from a studio on the Embarcadero and CNBC broadcasts from One Market Plaza since 2015. ESPN uses the local ABC studio for their broadcasting. The regional sports network, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and its sister station Comcast SportsNet California, are both located in San Francisco. The Pac-12 Network is also based in San Francisco. Sutro Tower is a broadcast tower and local landmark. Public broadcasting outlets include both a television station and a radio station, both broadcasting under the call letters KQED from a facility near the Potrero Hill neighborhood. KQED-FM is the most-listened-to National Public Radio affiliate in the country.[364] KUSF is a student-run radio station by college students from the University of San Francisco.[365] Another local broadcaster, KPOO, is an independent, African-American owned and operated noncommercial radio station established in 1971.[366] CNET, founded 1994, and Salon.com, 1995, are based in San Francisco. Sutro Tower is an important broadcast tower located between Mount Sutro and the Twin Peaks, built in 1973 for KTVU, KRON, and KPIX. Infrastructure Transportation See also: Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area Public transportation See also: San Francisco Municipal Railway A San Francisco cable car with Alcatraz seen behind Transit is the most used form of transportation every day in San Francisco. Every weekday, more than 560,000 people travel on Muni's 69 bus routes and more than 140,000 customers ride the Muni Metro light rail system.[367] 32% of San Francisco residents use public transportation for their daily commute to work, ranking it fourth in the United States and first on the West Coast.[368] The San Francisco Municipal Railway, primarily known as Muni, is the primary public transit system of San Francisco. Muni is the seventh-largest transit system in the United States, with 210,848,310 rides in 2006.[369] The system operates a combined light rail and subway system, the Muni Metro, as well as large bus and trolley coach networks.[370] Additionally, it runs a historic streetcar line, which runs on Market Street from Castro Street to Fisherman's Wharf.[370] It also operates the famous cable cars,[370] which have been designated as a National Historic Landmark and are a major tourist attraction.[371] Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), a regional Rapid Transit system, connects San Francisco with the East Bay and San Jose through the underwater Transbay Tube. The line runs under Market Street to Civic Center where it turns south to the Mission District, the southern part of the city, and through northern San Mateo County, to the San Francisco International Airport, and Millbrae.[370] Muni Metro, run by SF Muni Another commuter rail system, Caltrain, runs from San Francisco along the San Francisco Peninsula to San Jose.[370] Historically, trains operated by Southern Pacific Lines ran from San Francisco to Los Angeles, via Palo Alto and San Jose. Amtrak California Thruway Motorcoach runs a shuttle bus from three locations in San Francisco to its station across the bay in Emeryville.[372] Additionally, BART offers connections to San Francisco from Amtrak's stations in Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond, and Caltrain offers connections in San Jose and Santa Clara. Thruway service also runs south to San Luis Obispo with connection to the Pacific Surfliner. San Francisco was an early adopter of carsharing in America. The non-profit City CarShare opened in 2001[373] and Zipcar closely followed.[374] Golden Gate Ferries connect the city to North Bay communities, while San Francisco Bay Ferry connects the city to both the North and East Bay. San Francisco Bay Ferry operates from the Ferry Building and Pier 39 to points in Oakland, Alameda, Bay Farm Island, South San Francisco, Richmond, and north to Vallejo in Solano County.[375] The Golden Gate Ferry is the other ferry operator with service between San Francisco and Marin County.[376] SolTrans runs supplemental bus service between the Ferry Building and Vallejo. To accommodate the large amount of San Francisco citizens who commute to the Silicon Valley daily, employers like Genentech, Google, and Apple have begun to provide private bus transportation for their employees, from San Francisco locations. These buses have quickly become a heated topic of debate within the city, as protesters claim they block bus lanes and delay public buses.[377] Freeways and roads Further information: List of streets in San Francisco The Bay Bridge connects the city to Oakland and the East Bay. In 2014, only 41.3% of residents commuted by driving alone or carpooling in private vehicles in San Francisco, a decline from 48.6% in 2000.[378] There are 1,088 miles of streets in San Francisco with 946 miles of these streets being surface streets, and 59 miles of freeways.[378] Due to its unique geography, and the freeway revolts of the late 1950s,[379] Interstate 80 begins at the approach to the Bay Bridge and is the only direct automobile link to the East Bay. U.S. Route 101 connects to the western terminus of Interstate 80 and provides access to the south of the city along San Francisco Bay toward Silicon Valley. Northward, the routing for U.S. 101 uses arterial streets to connect to the Golden Gate Bridge, the only direct automobile link to Marin County and the North Bay. As part of the retrofitting of the Golden Gate Bridge and installation of a suicide barrier, starting in 2019 the railings on the west side of the pedestrian walkway were replaced with thinner, more flexible slats in order to improve the bridge's aerodynamic tolerance of high wind to 100 mph (161 km/h). Starting in June 2020, reports were received of a loud hum produced by the new railing slats, heard across the city when a strong west wind was blowing.[380] Lombard Street in Russian Hill is famed as "the most crooked street in the world". State Route 1 also enters San Francisco from the north via the Golden Gate Bridge and bisects the city as the 19th Avenue arterial thoroughfare, joining with Interstate 280 at the city's southern border. Interstate 280 continues south from San Francisco, and also turns to the east along the southern edge of the city, terminating just south of the Bay Bridge in the South of Market neighborhood. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, city leaders demolished the Embarcadero Freeway and a portion of the Central Freeway, converting them into street-level boulevards.[379] State Route 35 enters the city from the south as Skyline Boulevard and terminates at its intersection with Highway 1. State Route 82 enters San Francisco from the south as Mission Street, and terminates shortly thereafter at its junction with 280. The western terminus of the historic transcontinental Lincoln Highway, the first road across America, is in San Francisco's Lincoln Park. Vision Zero In 2014, San Francisco committed to Vision Zero, with the goal of ending all traffic fatalities caused by motor vehicles within the city by 2024.[381] San Francisco's Vision Zero plan calls for investing in engineering, enforcement, and education, and focusing on dangerous intersections. In 2013, 25 people were killed by car and truck drivers while walking and biking in the city and 9 car drivers and passengers were killed in collisions. In 2019, 42 people were killed in traffic collisions in San Francisco.[382] Airports Main article: San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world Though located 13 miles (21 km) south of downtown in unincorporated San Mateo County, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is under the jurisdiction of the City and County of San Francisco. SFO is a hub for United Airlines[383] and Alaska Airlines.[384] SFO is a major international gateway to Asia and Europe, with the largest international terminal in North America.[385] In 2011, SFO was the eighth-busiest airport in the U.S. and the 22nd-busiest in the world, handling over 40.9 million passengers.[386] Located in the South Bay, the San Jose International Airport (SJC) is the second-busiest airport in the Bay Area, followed by Oakland International Airport, which is a popular, low-cost alternative to SFO. Geographically, Oakland Airport is approximately the same distance from downtown San Francisco as SFO, but due to its location across San Francisco Bay, it is greater driving distance from San Francisco.[citation needed] Cycling and walking Main article: Cycling in San Francisco Bay Wheels station on Market St. Cycling is a popular mode of transportation in San Francisco, with 75,000 residents commuting by bicycle each day.[387] In recent years, the city has installed better cycling infrastructure such as protected bike lanes and parking racks.[388] Bay Wheels, previously named Bay Area Bike Share at inception, launched in August 2013 with 700 bikes in downtown San Francisco, selected cities in the East Bay, and San Jose. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and Bay Area Air Quality Management District are responsible for the operation with management provided by Motivate.[389] A major expansion started in 2017, along with a rebranding as Ford GoBike; the company received its current name in 2019.[390] Pedestrian traffic is also widespread. In 2015, Walk Score ranked San Francisco the second-most walkable city in the United States.[391][392][393] San Francisco has significantly higher rates of pedestrian and bicyclist traffic deaths than the United States on average. In 2013, 21 pedestrians were killed in vehicle collisions, the highest since 2001,[394] which is 2.5 deaths per 100,000 population – 70% higher than the national average of 1.5.[395] San Francisco cycling event Cycling is becoming increasingly popular in the city. The 2010 Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) annual bicycle count showed the number of cyclists at 33 locations had increased 58% from the 2006 baseline counts.[396] In 2008, the MTA estimated that about 128,000 trips were made by bicycle each day in the city, or 6% of total trips.[397] As of 2019, 2.6% of the city's streets have protected bike lanes, with 28 miles of protected bike lanes in the city.[367] Since 2006, San Francisco has received a Bicycle Friendly Community status of "Gold" from the League of American Bicyclists.[398] In 2022 a measure on the ballot passed to protect JFK drive in Golden Gate Park as a pedestrian and biking space with 59% of voters in favor.[399] Public safety See also: History of the San Francisco Police Department The San Francisco Police Department was founded in 1849.[400] The portions of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area located within the city, including the Presidio and Ocean Beach, are patrolled by the United States Park Police. The San Francisco Fire Department provides both fire suppression and emergency medical services to the city.[401] Sister cities Main articles: Sister cities of San Francisco, California and List of diplomatic missions in San Francisco San Francisco participates in the Sister Cities program.[402] A total of 41 consulates general and 23 honorary consulates have offices in the San Francisco Bay Area.[403] Notable residents Main article: List of people from San Francisco See also San Francisco Bay Area portal Cities portal flag California portal San Francisco Bay Area List of cities and towns in California List of counties in California List of people from San Francisco Northern California Megaregion Ships lost in San Francisco USS San Francisco, 3 ships Notes  The land grant was near a boat anchorage around what is today Portsmouth Square.  Station currently at the United States Mint building[142][self-published source?]  The coordinates of the station are 37.7706°N 122.4269°W. Precipitation, high temperature, low temperature, snow, and snow depth records date from October 1, 1849; June 1, 1874; January 1, 1875; January 1, 1876; and January 1, 1922; respectively.  Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the expected highest and lowest temperature readings at any point during the year or given month) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.  Those not born in the 50 states or D.C., excluding California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas before 1850. Northern California is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties,[1][2] its main population centers include the San Francisco Bay Area (anchored by the cities of San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland), the Greater Sacramento area (anchored by the state capital Sacramento), the Redding, California, area south of the Cascade Range, and the Metropolitan Fresno area (anchored by the city of Fresno). Northern California also contains redwood forests, along with most of the Sierra Nevada, including Yosemite Valley and part of Lake Tahoe, Mount Shasta (the second-highest peak in the Cascade Range after Mount Rainier in Washington), and most of the Central Valley, one of the world's most productive agricultural regions. The 48-county definition is not used for the Northern California Megaregion, one of the 11 megaregions of the United States. The megaregion's area is instead defined from Metropolitan Fresno north to Greater Sacramento, and from the Bay Area east across Nevada state line to encompass the entire Lake Tahoe–Reno area.[3] Evidence of Native American habitation in the area dates from at least 19,000 years ago[4] and successive waves of arrivals led to one of the most densely populated areas of pre-Columbian North America. The arrival of European explorers from the early 16th to the mid-18th centuries did not establish European settlements in northern California. In 1770, the Spanish mission at Monterey was the first European settlement in the area, followed by other missions along the coast—eventually extending as far north as Sonoma County.[5] Description Map of northern California counties Northern California is not a formal geographic designation. California's north–south midway division is around 37°N, near the level of Morgan Hill and Chowchilla. (The geographic center of California is at 37°09′58″N 119°26′58″W near North Fork, northeast of Fresno.[6]) Popularly, though, "Northern California" usually refers to the state's northernmost 48 counties. Because of California's large size and diverse geography, the state can be subdivided in other ways as well. For example, the Central Valley is a region that is distinct both culturally and topographically from coastal California, though in northern versus southern California divisions, the Sacramento Valley and most of the San Joaquin Valley are usually placed in northern California. Some observers describe three partitions of California, with north and south sections separated by Central California. The state is often considered as having an additional division north of the urban areas of the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento metropolitan areas. Extreme northern residents have felt under-represented in state government and, in 1941, attempted to form a new state with southwestern Oregon to be called Jefferson, or more recently to introduce legislation to split California into two or three states. The coastal area north of the Bay Area is often referred to as the North Coast — Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, and Del Norte Counties (also potentially including Napa and Sonoma Counties). The interior region north of Sacramento metropolitan area is referred to by locals as the Northstate — roughly speaking, Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties.[7] Northern California was used for the name of a proposed new state on the 2018 California ballot created by splitting the existing state into three parts.[8] Significance Since the events of the California Gold Rush, Northern California has been a leader on the world's economic, scientific, and cultural stages. From the development of gold mining techniques and logging practices in the 19th century that were later adopted around the world, to the development of world-famous and online business models (such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Google, Yahoo!, and eBay), northern California has been at the forefront of new ways of doing business. In science, advances range from being the first to isolate and name fourteen transuranic chemical elements, to breakthroughs in microchip technology. Cultural contributions include the works of Ansel Adams, George Lucas, and Clint Eastwood, as well as beatniks, the Summer of Love, winemaking, the cradle of the international environmental movement, and the open, casual workplace first popularized in the Silicon Valley dot-com boom and now widely in use around the world. Other examples of innovation across diverse fields range from Genentech (development and commercialization of genetic engineering) to CrossFit as a pioneer in extreme human fitness and training. It is also home to one of the largest Air Force Bases on the West Coast, and the largest in California by square meters, Travis Air Force Base. Cities Northern California's largest metropolitan area is the San Francisco Bay Area which consists of 9 counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties. The Bay Area consists of the major cities of San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and their many suburbs. Although not a part of the Bay Area, in recent years the Bay Area has drawn more commuters from as far as Central Valley cities such as Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Turlock and Modesto. These cities in the central part of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills may be viewed as part of a single megalopolis.[3] The 2010 U.S. Census showed that the Bay Area grew at a faster rate than the Greater Los Angeles Area while Greater Sacramento had the largest growth rate of any metropolitan area in California. The state's larger inland cities are considered part of Northern California in cases when the state is divided into two parts. Key cities in the region which are not in major metropolitan areas include Eureka on the far North Coast, Redding, at the northern end of the Central Valley, Chico, and Yuba City in the mid-north of the Central Valley, as well as Fresno and Visalia on the southern end. Though smaller in each case, with the notable exception of Fresno, than the larger cities of the general region, these smaller regional centers are often of historical and economic importance for their respective size, due to their locations, which are primarily rural or otherwise isolated. San Jose, the most populous city in Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area, and the tenth largest city in the United States. San Jose is the center of Silicon Valley, the preeminent region for technology in the country. San Jose, the most populous city in Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area, and the tenth largest city in the United States. San Jose is the center of Silicon Valley, the preeminent region for technology in the country.   San Francisco, the second most populated city in Northern California and a major economic, cultural, and financial center for the region. San Francisco, the second most populated city in Northern California and a major economic, cultural, and financial center for the region.   Fresno, the third most populated city in northern California, as seen from Chukchansi Park. Fresno is the largest city by population in the Central Valley. Fresno, the third most populated city in northern California, as seen from Chukchansi Park. Fresno is the largest city by population in the Central Valley.   Sacramento Skyline (cropped).jpg Sacramento, the fourth most populous city in Northern California, the capital city of the State of California, and the principal city of the Sacramento metropolitan area.   Oakland, the fifth-largest city by population in Northern California. Oakland is the major port city of the region and the center of Northern California's African American community. Oakland, the fifth-largest city by population in Northern California. Oakland is the major port city of the region and the center of Northern California's African American community. History Prehistory to 1847 Inhabited for millennia by Native Americans, from the Shasta tribe in the north, to the Miwoks in the central coast and Sierra Nevada, to the Yokuts of the southern Central Valley, northern California was among the most densely populated areas of pre-Columbian North America.[9] European explorers The first European to explore the coast was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, sailing for the Spanish Crown; in 1542, Cabrillo's expedition sailed perhaps as far north as the Rogue River in today's Oregon.[10] Beginning in 1565, the Spanish Manila galleons crossed the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to the Spanish Philippines, with silver and gemstones from Mexico. The Manila galleons returned across the northern Pacific, and reached North America usually off the coast of northern California, and then continued south with their Asian trade goods to Mexico. In 1579, northern California was visited by the English explorer Sir Francis Drake who landed north of today's San Francisco and claimed the area for England. In 1602, the Spaniard Sebastián Vizcaíno explored California's coast as far north as Monterey Bay, where he went ashore. Other Spanish explorers sailed along the coast of northern California for the next 150 years, but no settlements were established.[11] Spanish era The first European inhabitants were Spanish missionaries, who built missions along the California coast. The mission at Monterey was first established in 1770, and at San Francisco in 1776. In all, ten missions stretched along the coast from Sonoma to Monterey (and still more missions to the southern tip of Baja California). In 1786, the French signaled their interest in the northern California area by sending a voyage of exploration to Monterey. The first twenty years of the 19th century continued the colonization of the northern California coast by Spain. By 1820, Spanish influence extended inland approximately 25 to 50 miles (80 km) from the missions. Outside of this zone, perhaps 200,000 to 250,000 Native Americans continued to lead traditional lives. The Adams-Onís Treaty, signed in 1819 between Spain and the young United States, set the northern boundary of the Spanish claims at the 42nd parallel, effectively creating today's northern boundary of northern California. Russian presence In 1812, the Russian state-sponsored Russian-American Company established Fort Ross, a fur trading outpost on the coast of today's Sonoma County. Fort Ross was the southernmost Russian settlement, located some 60 miles (97 km) north of Spanish colonies in San Francisco. In 1839, the settlement was abandoned due to its inability to meet resource demands, and the increasing Mexican and American presence in the region.[12] Mexican era After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico continued Spain's missions and settlements in northern California as well as Spain's territorial claims. The Mexican Californios (Spanish-speaking Californians) in these settlements primarily traded cattle hides and tallow with American and European merchant vessels. Coast Redwoods in Muir Woods National Monument, in Marin County In 1825, the Hudson's Bay Company established a major trading post just north of today's Portland, Oregon. British fur trappers and hunters then used the Siskiyou Trail to travel throughout northern California.[13] The leader of a further French scientific expedition to northern California, Eugene Duflot de Mofras, wrote in 1840 "...it is evident that California will belong to whatever nation chooses to send there a man-of-war and two hundred men."[14]: 260  By the 1830s, a significant number of non-Californios had immigrated to northern California. Chief among these was John Sutter, a European immigrant from Switzerland, who was granted 48,827 acres (197.60 km2) centered on the area of today's Sacramento.[15] American interest American trappers began entering northern California in the 1830s.[14]: 263–4  In 1834, American visionary Ewing Young led a herd of horses and mules over the Siskiyou Trail from missions in northern California to British and American settlements in Oregon. Although a small number of American traders and trappers had lived in northern California since the early 1830s, the first organized overland party of American immigrants to arrive in northern California was the Bartleson-Bidwell Party of 1841 via the new California Trail.[14]: 263–273  Also in 1841, an overland exploratory party of the United States Exploring Expedition came down the Siskiyou Trail from the Pacific Northwest. In 1846, the Donner Party earned notoriety as they struggled to enter northern California. Californian independence and beginning of the United States era When the Mexican–American War was declared on May 13, 1846, it took almost two months (mid-July 1846) for word to get to California. On June 14, 1846, some 30 non-Mexican settlers, mostly Americans, staged a revolt and seized the small Mexican garrison in Sonoma. They raised the "Bear Flag" of the California Republic over Sonoma. The "Bear Flag Republic" lasted only 26 days, until the U.S. Army, led by John Frémont, took over on July 9.[16] The California state flag today is based on this original Bear Flag, and continues to contain the words "California Republic." Commodore John Drake Sloat ordered his naval forces to occupy Yerba Buena (present San Francisco) on July 7 and within days American forces controlled San Francisco, Sonoma, and Sutter's Fort in Sacramento.[16] The treaty ending the Mexican–American War was signed on February 2, 1848, and Mexico formally ceded Alta California (including all of present-day northern California) to the United States. Moon Lake in Lassen County, California Gold Rush and California statehood The California Gold Rush took place almost exclusively in northern California from 1848 to 1855. It began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in Coloma.[17] News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 people coming to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet, home to about 1,000 Californios into a boomtown of over 50,000 people in the 12 years between 1848 and 1860.[18][19] New roads, churches, and schools were built, and new towns sprung up, aided in part by the development of new methods of transportation such as steamships which came into regular service and railroads which now connected the coasts. The Gold Rush also had negative effects: American colonists chose to use genocide as a tool to remove the Indigenous people so that they could look for gold on their land. Native oyster species saw their numbers plummet when American colonists began over-harvesting them, leading to a near-extinction of the oysters from the California coast on up into the Pacific Northwest,[citation needed] and gold mining caused environmental harm[specify]. The Gold Rush also increased pressure to make California a U.S. state. Pro-slavery politicians initially attempted to permanently divide northern and southern California at 36 degrees, 30 minutes, the line of the Missouri Compromise. But instead, the passing of the Compromise of 1850 enabled California to be admitted to the Union as a free state.[20] Population and agricultural expansion (1855–1899) Farm near Mount Shasta The decades following the Gold Rush brought dramatic expansion to northern California, both in population and economically – particularly in agriculture. The completion of the First transcontinental railroad in 1869, with its terminus in Sacramento (and then later, Oakland), meant that northern California's agricultural produce (and some manufactured goods) could now be shipped economically to the rest of the United States. In return, immigrants from the rest of the United States (and Europe) could comfortably come to northern California. A network of railroads spread throughout northern California, and in 1887, a rail link was completed to the Pacific Northwest. Almost all of these railways came under the control of the Southern Pacific Railroad, headquartered in San Francisco, and San Francisco continued as a financial and cultural center. Substantial tensions during this era included nativist sentiments (primarily against Chinese immigrants),[21] tensions between the increasing power of the Southern Pacific Railroad and small farmers, and the beginnings of the labor union movement. Economy Satellite image of Northern California at night Northern California's economy is noted for being the de facto world leader in high-tech industry (software, semiconductor/micro-electronics, biotechnology and medical devices/instruments), as well as being known for clean power, biomedical, government, and finance. Other significant industries include tourism, shipping, manufacturing, and agriculture. Its economy is diverse, though more concentrated in high technology, and subject to the whims of venture capital than any other major regional economy in the nation especially within Silicon Valley, and less dependent on oil and residential housing than Southern California.[citation needed] It is home to the state capital, as well as several Western United States regional offices in San Francisco, such as the Federal Reserve and 9th Circuit Court. Climate Köppen climate types in northern California Northern California has a warm or mild to cool climate, in which the Sierra mountains gets snow in the late fall through winter and occasionally into spring. Summers are mild along the coast and generally warm and dry, while winters are cool and usually wet. The high temperatures range from 50s to 30s in the winters while summers temperature range is 90s to 60s or 50s, with highs well into the 100s for the Sacramento region. Snow covers the mountains (generally above 3000 feet) in mid January through February. Fog occurs infrequently or occurs normally in the west and coast, especially in the summer, creating some of the coolest summer conditions in North America.[22] Since the first decade of the 21st century, droughts and wildfires have increased in frequency as a consequence of climate change.[23][24] Population Historical population Census Pop. Note %± 1850 86,105 — 1860 346,714 302.7% 1870 516,089 48.9% 1880 772,778 49.7% 1890 961,628 24.4% 1900 1,147,725 19.4% 1910 1,569,141 36.7% 1920 2,003,075 27.7% 1930 2,632,273 31.4% 1940 3,066,654 16.5% 1950 4,654,248 51.8% 1960 6,318,482 35.8% 1970 7,849,575 24.2% 1980 9,359,160 19.2% 1990 11,490,926 22.8% 2000 13,234,136 15.2% 2010 14,573,946 10.1% 2020 15,775,319 8.2% The population of the forty-eight counties of northern California has shown a steady increase over the years.[25][26] The largest percentage increase outside the Gold Rush era (52%) came during the 1940s, as the region was the destination of many post-War veterans and their families, attracted by the greatly expanding industrial base and (often) by their time stationed in northern California during World War II. The largest absolute increase occurred during the 1980s (over 2.1 million person increase), attracted by job opportunities in part by the expansion taking place in Silicon Valley and the Cold War era expansion of the defense industry. Since the 2000 U.S. Census, Northern California has grown at a faster rate than Southern California due to the strong economic performances of the Bay Area and Sacramento.[27] Ethnic origins in Northern California Parks and other protected areas National Park System Main articles: List of areas in the United States National Park System and List of national parks of the United States The U.S. National Park System controls a large and diverse group of parks in northern California. The best known is Yosemite National Park, which is displayed on the reverse side of the California state quarter. Other prominent parks are the Kings Canyon-Sequoia National Park complex, Redwood National Park, Pinnacles National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park and the largest in the contiguous forty-eight states, Death Valley National Park. National Monuments and other federally protected areas Main articles: List of national monuments of the United States, United States National Marine Sanctuary, List of National Wildlife Refuges of the United States, and List of national forests of the United States Other areas under federal protection include Muir Woods National Monument, Giant Sequoia National Monument, Devils Postpile National Monument, Lava Beds National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and the Cordell Bank and Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuaries (both off the coast of San Francisco). Included within the latter National Marine Sanctuary is the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge; this National Wildlife Refuge is one of approximately twenty-five such refuges in northern California. National forests occupy large sections of northern California, including the Shasta–Trinity, Klamath, Modoc, Lassen, Mendocino, Eldorado, Tahoe, and Sequoia national forests, among others. Included within (or adjacent to) national forests are federally protected wilderness areas, including the Trinity Alps, Castle Crags, Granite Chief, and Desolation wilderness areas. In addition, the California Coastal National Monument protects all islets, reefs, and rock outcroppings from the shore of northern California out to a distance of 12 nmi (22 km), along the entire northern California coastline. In addition, the National Park Service administers protected areas on Alcatraz Island, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area, and the Smith River National Recreation Area. The NPS also administers the Manzanar National Historic Site in Inyo County, the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, and the Tule Lake National Monument outside of Tulelake. Other This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008) Tilden Regional Park Alum Rock Park Angel Island Bidwell Park Big Basin Redwoods State Park Butano State Park Calaveras Big Trees State Park Castle Rock State Park Caswell Memorial State Park East Bay Regional Park District Farallon Islands Golden Gate Park Henry W. Coe State Park Humboldt Redwoods State Park Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park Lake Tahoe Basin Marble Mountain Wilderness Mill Creek State Park Mount Tamalpais State Park Suisun Marsh Sacramento River Talowa Dunes State Park Turtle Bay Exploration Park McArthur–Burney Falls Memorial State Park Wilder Ranch State Park Sequoia National Park Educational institutions Northern California hosts a number of world-renowned universities including Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley. Top-tier public graduate schools include Boalt Hall and Hastings law schools and UC San Francisco (a top-ranked medical school) and UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the largest veterinary school in the United States. Public Six University of California campuses: UC Berkeley UC Davis UC Hastings UC Merced UC San Francisco UC Santa Cruz Eleven California State University campuses: California Maritime Academy Chico State CSU East Bay CSU Monterey Bay Fresno State Humboldt State Sacramento State San Francisco State San Jose State Sonoma State Stanislaus State A large number of local community colleges Private (Partial list) Brandman University Dominican University Drexel University Sacramento Fresno Pacific University Holy Names University Mills College Northwestern Polytechnic University Pacific Union College Stanford University Santa Clara University St. Mary's College Simpson University Touro University California University of San Francisco University of the Pacific William Jessup University Academy of Art University Notre Dame de Namur University Samuel Merritt University Research (Partial list) American Institute of Mathematics Bodega Marine Reserve Hopkins Marine Station Joint Genome Institute Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lick Observatory Long Marine Laboratory Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute NASA Ames Research Center Owens Valley Radio Observatory Pacific Institute Point Reyes Bird Observatory White Mountain Research Station Counties Alameda Alpine Amador Butte Calaveras Colusa Contra Costa Del Norte El Dorado Fresno Glenn Humboldt Inyo Kings Lake Lassen Madera Marin Mariposa Mendocino Merced Modoc Mono Monterey Napa Nevada Placer Plumas Sacramento San Benito San Francisco San Joaquin San Mateo Santa Clara Santa Cruz Shasta Sierra Siskiyou Solano Sonoma Stanislaus Sutter Tehama Trinity Tulare Tuolumne Yolo Yuba Regions The following regions are entirely or partly within northern California: Big Sur Cascade Range Central California Central Coast Central Valley Coastal California East Bay (SF) Eastern California Emerald Triangle Gold Country Greater Sacramento Klamath Basin Lake Tahoe Lassen Peak Lost Coast Metropolitan Fresno Mount Shasta North Bay (SF) North Coast Russian River Sacramento Valley San Francisco Bay Area San Francisco Peninsula San Joaquin Valley Santa Clara Valley Shasta Cascade Sierra Nevada Silicon Valley South Bay (SF) Telecom Valley Tri-Valley Trinity Alps Wine Country Yosemite Yuba–Sutter area Cities and towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants Largest cities (city proper) in northern California 1 – San Jose 1 – San Jose   2 – San Francisco 2 – San Francisco   3 – Fresno 3 – Fresno   4 – Sacramento 4 – Sacramento   5 – Oakland 5 – Oakland   6 – Stockton 6 – Stockton   7 – Fremont 7 – Fremont   8 – Modesto 8 – Modesto   9 – Santa Rosa 9 – Santa Rosa   10 – Elk Grove 10 – Elk Grove   11 – Salinas 11 – Salinas   12 – Hayward 12 – Hayward   13 – Sunnyvale 13 – Sunnyvale   14 – Roseville 14 – Roseville   15 – Visalia 15 – Visalia   16 – Santa Clara 16 – Santa Clara   17 – Vallejo 17 – Vallejo   18 – Concord 18 – Concord   19 – Berkeley 19 – Berkeley   20 – Clovis 20 – Clovis   21 – Fairfield 21 – Fairfield   22 – Richmond 22 – Richmond   23 – Antioch 23 – Antioch   24 – San Mateo 24 – San Mateo   25 – Daly City 25 – Daly City   26 – Vacaville 26 – Vacaville   27 – Chico 27 – Chico   28 – Redding 28 – Redding   29 – Tracy 29 – Tracy   30 – San Leandro 30 – San Leandro   31 – Livermore 31 – Livermore   32 – Citrus Heights 32 – Citrus Heights   33 – Merced 33 – Merced   34 – San Ramon 34 – San Ramon   35 – Redwood City 35 – Redwood City   36 – Manteca 36 – Manteca   37 – Mountain View 37 – Mountain View   38 – Folsom 38 – Folsom   39 – Milpitas 39 – Milpitas   40 – Pleasanton 40 – Pleasanton City Population (2020)[28] Alameda 78,280 Antioch 115,291 Berkeley 124,321 Brentwood 64,292 Chico 101,475 Citrus Heights 87,583 Clovis 120,124 Concord 125,410 Cupertino 60,381 Daly City 104,901 Davis 66,850 Dublin 72,589 Elk Grove 176,124 Fairfield 119,881 Folsom 80,454 Fresno 542,107 Fremont 230,504 Gilroy 59,520 Hanford 57,990 Hayward 162,954 Livermore 87,955 Lodi 66,348 Madera 66,224 Manteca 83,498 Merced 86,333 Milpitas 80,273 Modesto 218,464 Mountain View 82,376 Napa 79,246 Novato 53,225 Oakland 440,646 Palo Alto 68,572 Petaluma 59,776 Pittsburg 76,416 Pleasanton 79,871 Porterville 62,623 Rancho Cordova 79,332 Redding 93,611 Redwood City 84,292 Richmond 116,448 Rocklin 71,601 Roseville 147,773 Sacramento 524,943 Salinas 163,542 San Francisco 873,965 San Jose 1,013,240 San Leandro 91,008 San Mateo 105,661 San Rafael 61,271 San Ramon 84,605 Santa Clara 127,647 Santa Cruz 62,956 Santa Rosa 178,127 South San Francisco 66,105 Stockton 320,804 Sunnyvale 155,805 Tracy 93,000 Tulare 68,875 Turlock 72,740 Union City 70,143 Vacaville 102,386 Vallejo 126,090 Visalia 141,384 Walnut Creek 70,127 Watsonville 52,590 West Sacramento 53,915 Woodland 61,032 Yuba City 70,117 Metropolitan areas Northern California is home to three of the state's four extended metropolitan areas, which are home to over three-fourths of the region's population as of the 2010 United States Census:[29] Metropolitan region Population San Francisco Bay Area 7,468,390 Greater Sacramento 2,461,780 Metropolitan Fresno 1,081,315 Major business districts The following are major central business districts: San Francisco Financial District Downtown Oakland Downtown Sacramento Downtown San Jose Transportation See also articles: Transportation in the Sacramento metropolitan area Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area See also categories: Transportation in Alameda County Transportation in Alpine County Transportation in Amador County Transportation in Butte County Transportation in Calaveras County Transportation in Colusa County Transportation in Contra Costa County Transportation in Del Norte County Transportation in El Dorado County Transportation in Fresno County Transportation in Glenn County Transportation in Humboldt County Transportation in Inyo County Transportation in Kings County Transportation in Lake County Transportation in Lassen County Transportation in Madera County Transportation in Marin County Transportation in Mariposa County Transportation in Mendocino County Transportation in Merced County Transportation in Modoc County Transportation in Mono County Transportation in Monterey County Transportation in Napa County Transportation in Nevada County Transportation in Oakland Transportation in Placer County Transportation in Plumas County Transportation in Sacramento Transportation in Sacramento County Transportation in San Benito County Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area Transportation in San Francisco Transportation in San Joaquin County Transportation in San Mateo County Transportation in Santa Clara County Transportation in Santa Cruz County Transportation in Shasta County Transportation in Sierra County Transportation in Siskiyou County Transportation in Solano County Transportation in Sonoma County Transportation in Stanislaus County Transportation in Sutter County Transportation in Tehama County Transportation in Trinity County Transportation in Tulare County Transportation in Tuolumne County Transportation in Yolo County Transportation in Yuba County Airports Main article: List of airports in California San Francisco International Airport (or SFO) is the largest and busiest airport in northern California, also ranking second in the state and tenth in the United States. San Jose International Airport is ranked as the best-run airport in the United States, by the ACBJ.[30] There are 11 airports in Northern California categorized as Primary Service Commercial airports by the FAA:[31] Airport ID City Category 2018 Enplanements San Francisco International Airport SFO San Francisco Large Hub 27,794,154 San Jose International Airport SJC San Jose Medium Hub 7,037,144 Oakland International Airport OAK Oakland Medium Hub 6,687,963 Sacramento International Airport SMF Sacramento Medium Hub 5,907,901 Fresno Yosemite International Airport FAT Fresno Small Hub 853,538 Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport STS Santa Rosa Non Hub 217,994 Monterey Regional Airport MRY Monterey Non Hub 188,046 Stockton Metropolitan Airport SCK Stockton Non Hub 99,258 Arcata-Eureka Airport ACV Arcata Non Hub 69,604 Redding Municipal Airport RDD Redding Non Hub 42,775 Mammoth Yosemite Airport MMH Mammoth Lakes Non Hub 23,522 Railroad The 19th Street/Oakland BART station in downtown Oakland Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) – commuter subway connecting most of the core Bay Area including San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose Caltrain – commuter rail between San Francisco and Gilroy (south of San Jose) Muni Metro (San Francisco) VTA Light Rail (San Jose) Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) – commuter train connecting Stockton and the Central Valley with San Jose and the Bay Area Sacramento Regional Transit District light rail Amtrak: California Zephyr – connects Chicago to the Bay Area Capitol Corridor – San Jose to Auburn (eastern suburb of Sacramento) Coast Starlight – coastal train between Los Angeles and Seattle with northern California stops in San Jose, Oakland, and Sacramento San Joaquin – Central Valley train linking Bakersfield in the Central Valley to Sacramento and Oakland Major transit organizations AC Transit Arcata and Mad River Transit System County Connection El Dorado Transit Eureka Transit Service Fairfield and Suisun Transit Fresno Area Express Golden Gate Transit Lake Transit Mendocino Transit Authority Monterey-Salinas Transit Porterville City Operated Local Transit Redwood Transit System SamTrans San Benito Express SF MUNI San Joaquin Regional Transit District Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Santa Cruz Metro Solano Express SolTrans Sonoma County Transit Tri Delta Transit Visalia Transit VINE (Napa County) Major transit ferries The historic San Francisco Ferry Building is the busiest ferry terminal on the West Coast and connects Downtown San Francisco to various parts of the Bay Area. San Francisco Bay Ferry Golden Gate Ferry Blue & Gold Fleet Angel Island – Tiburon Ferry Freeways See also: Category:San Francisco Bay Area freeways Interstate highways  Interstate 80 (Eastshore Freeway/Lincoln Highway)  Interstate 280 (Southern Embarcadero Freeway/Southern Freeway/Junipero Serra Freeway/Sinclair Freeway)  Interstate 380  Interstate 580 (Eastshore Freeway/MacArthur Freeway/Brown Freeway)  Interstate 680 (Joseph P. Sinclair Freeway/Donald D. Doyle Highway/Blue Star Memorial Highway/Luther E. Gibson Freeway)  Interstate 780  Interstate 880 (Nimitz Freeway)  Interstate 980 (Grove-Shafter Freeway)  Interstate 238  Interstate 5 (Golden State Freeway/West Side Freeway)  Interstate 205 (Robert T. Monagan Freeway)  Interstate 505  Interstate 80 Business (Capital City Freeway) U.S. Routes The Golden Gate Bridge is one of northern California's most well-known landmarks and one of the most famous bridges in the world.  U.S. Route 6  U.S. Route 50 (El Dorado Freeway)  U.S. Route 101 (South Valley Freeway/Bayshore Freeway/James Lick Freeway/Central Freeway/Redwood Highway/Michael J. Burns Freeway/Redwood Highway)  U.S. Route 395  U.S. Route 97  U.S. Route 199 I-80 and I-580 in Berkeley in the Bay Area State Route 120 is one of the many highways that traverse the isolated areas of inner northern California. Principal state highways  State Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway/Cabrillo Highway)  State Route 3  State Route 4  State Route 9  State Route 12  State Route 13 (Ashby Avenue/Tunnel Road/Warren Freeway)  State Route 16  State Route 17  State Route 20  State Route 24  State Route 25  State Route 26  State Route 29  State Route 32  State Route 33  State Route 35 (Skyline Boulevard)  State Route 36  State Route 37 (Sears Point Tollway)  State Route 41 (E.G. Lewis Highway, Yosemite Freeway, Southern Yosemite Highway, Wawona Road)  State Route 43  State Route 44  State Route 49 (Golden Chain Highway)  State Route 59 // State Route 61 (Webster Tube/Posey Tube/Doolittle Drive/Davis Street)  State Route 63  State Route 65  State Route 68  State Route 70  State Route 82 (Monterey Highway/El Camino Real/Mission Street)  State Route 84  State Route 85 (Stevens Creek Freeway/West Valley Freeway/Norman Y. Mineta Highway/CHP Officer Scott M. Greenly Memorial Freeway)  State Route 87 (Guadalupe Parkway)  State Route 88  State Route 89  State Route 92 (J. Arthur Younger Freeway/Jackson Street)  State Route 96  State Route 99  State Route 104  State Route 108  State Route 113  State Route 116  State Route 120  State Route 121  State Route 128  State Route 130  State Route 132  State Route 137  State Route 139  State Route 140  State Route 152  State Route 156  State Route 160 (North Sacramento Freeway/River Road)  State Route 162  State Route 165  State Route 168  State Route 174  State Route 180 / State Route 185 (International Boulevard/East 14th Street/Mission Boulevard)  State Route 190  State Route 193  State Route 198  State Route 201  State Route 216  State Route 219  State Route 236  State Route 237  State Route 238 (Mission Boulevard, Foothill Boulevard)  State Route 245  State Route 254 (Avenue of the Giants)  State Route 262 (Mission Boulevard)  State Route 267  State Route 269  State Route 275 (Tower Bridge Gateway)  State Route 299 Communication Telephone area codes 209 — Northern San Joaquin Valley (Stockton, Modesto, and Merced). 408/669 — Most of Santa Clara County (San Jose and Gilroy). 415/628 — San Francisco, Daly City, and Marin County. One of the three original Area Codes in California. 510/341 — Inner East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and Fremont). Originally part of area code 415. 530 — A large northeastern section of the region including Tehama County, Shasta County, Lassen County, Yuba County, Sutter County, Butte County, and Nevada County. Split from area code 916 in 1997–1998. 559 — Southern San Joaquin Valley (Madera, Fresno, and Visalia). 650 — San Francisco Peninsula (San Mateo, Redwood City, and Palo Alto). Originally part of area code 415. 707 — The North Coast section of the region from Sonoma County to the Oregon border. Cities include Eureka, Ukiah, Santa Rosa, Napa, Vallejo and Fairfield. 831 — Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties. Originally part of area code 408. 916/279 — Sacramento County and the Sacramento suburbs in western Placer and El Dorado Counties. One of the three original area codes in California, formerly covered all areas now within 530. 925 — Outer East Bay (Concord, Pittsburg, Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Pleasanton and Livermore). Originally part of area codes 415 and 510.[32] Sports See also: Bay Bridge Series and Sports in California § Northern California–Southern California rivalry Major league professional sports teams Sport League Team Venue City Baseball MLB Oakland Athletics (American League) RingCentral Coliseum Oakland San Francisco Giants (National League) Oracle Park San Francisco Basketball NBA Golden State Warriors Chase Center San Francisco Sacramento Kings Golden 1 Center Sacramento Football NFL San Francisco 49ers Levi's Stadium Santa Clara Ice hockey NHL San Jose Sharks SAP Center San Jose Soccer MLS San Jose Earthquakes Avaya Stadium San Jose Indoor football IFL Bay Area Panthers SAP Center San Jose College sports teams California Golden Bears Cal Poly Humboldt Lumberjacks Stanford Cardinal Fresno State Bulldogs San Jose State Spartans Sacramento State Hornets UC Davis Aggies Sports venues Laguna Seca Raceway (motorsport) Sonoma Raceway (motorsport) Olympic Club (golf) Silverado Country Club (golf) TPC Harding Park (golf) TPC Stonebrae (golf) Sporting events Pac-12 Football Championship Game (college football) Emerald Bowl (college football) AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (golf) Frys.com Open (golf) Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic (golf) Grand Prix of Sonoma (motorsport) Toyota/Save Mart 350 (motorsport) Monterey Sports Car Championships (motorsport) Superbike World Championship (motorsport) See also flag California portal San Francisco Bay Area portal Northern California Megaregion California megapolitan areas Central California History of California through 1899 History of the west coast of North America Jefferson (proposed Pacific state) Megaregions of the United States Southern California References California is a state in the Western United States. With over 38.9 million residents[6] across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2),[11] it is the most populous U.S. state, the third-largest U.S. state by area, and the most populated subnational entity in North America. California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and the Mexican state of Baja California to the south; it has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west. The Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas in California are the nation's second and fifth-most populous urban regions, respectively. Greater Los Angeles has over 18.7 million residents and the San Francisco Bay Area has over 9.6 million residents.[12] Los Angeles is state's most populous city and the nation's second-most populous city. San Francisco is the second-most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous county, and San Bernardino County is the nation's largest county by area. Sacramento is the state's capital. California's economy is the largest of any state within the United States, with a $3.37 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2022.[13] It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy as of 2022,[14][15] behind India and ahead of the United Kingdom, as well as the 37th most populous.[16] The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco area are the nation's second- and fourth-largest urban economies ($1.0 trillion and $0.6 trillion respectively as of 2020).[17] The San Francisco Bay Area Combined Statistical Area had the nation's highest gross domestic product per capita ($106,757) among large primary statistical areas in 2018,[18] and is home to five of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization[19] and four of the world's ten richest people.[20] Slightly over 84 percent of the state's residents 25 or older hold a high school degree, the lowest high school education rate of all 50 states.[21] Prior to European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America, and the indigenous peoples of California constituted the highest Native American population density north of what is now Mexico. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization of California by the Spanish Empire. In 1804, it was included in Alta California province within the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The California Gold Rush started in 1848 and led to dramatic social and demographic changes, including the depopulation of indigenous peoples in the California genocide. The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850, as a free state, following the Compromise of 1850. Notable contributions to popular culture, ranging from entertainment, sports, music, and fashion, have their origins in California. The state also has made substantial contributions in the fields of communication, information, innovation, education, environmentalism, entertainment, economics, politics, technology, and religion.[22][23][24] California is the home of Hollywood, the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, profoundly influencing global entertainment. It is considered the origin of the American film industry, hippie counterculture, beach and car culture, the personal computer, the internet, fast food, diners, burger joints, skateboarding, and the fortune cookie, among other inventions.[25][26][27][28] The San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area are widely seen as the centers of the global technology and U.S. film industries, respectively. California's economy is very diverse.[29] California's agricultural industry has the highest output of any U.S. state,[30][31][32] and is led by its dairy, almonds, and grapes.[33] With the busiest ports in the country (Los Angeles and Long Beach), California plays a pivotal role in the global supply chain, hauling in about 40% of all goods imported to the United States.[34] The state's extremely diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. Two-thirds of the nation's earthquake risk lies in California.[35] The Central Valley, a fertile agricultural area, dominates the state's center. California is well known for its warm Mediterranean climate along the coast and monsoon seasonal weather inland. The large size of the state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains. Droughts and wildfires are an ongoing issue for the state.[36] Etymology Main articles: Etymology of California and Island of California California and its namesake ruler, Queen Calafia, originate in the 1510 epic Las Sergas de Esplandián, written by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The Spaniards gave the name Las Californias to the peninsula of Baja California and to Alta California, the latter region becoming the present-day state of California. The name derived from the mythical island of California in the fictional story of Queen Calafia, as recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián by Castilian author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo.[37] This work was the fifth in a popular Spanish chivalric romance series that began with Amadís de Gaula.[38][39][40] Queen Calafia's kingdom was said to be a remote land rich in gold and pearls, inhabited by beautiful Black women who wore gold armor and lived like Amazons, as well as griffins and other strange beasts.[37][41][42] In the fictional paradise, the ruler Queen Calafia fought alongside Muslims and her name may have been chosen to echo the Muslim title caliph, used for Muslim leaders.[37][43] Know ye that at the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California, very close to that part of the Terrestrial Paradise, which was inhabited by black women without a single man among them, and they lived in the manner of Amazons. They were robust of body with strong passionate hearts and great virtue. The island itself is one of the wildest in the world on account of the bold and craggy rocks. — Chapter CLVII of The Adventures of Esplandián[44] Official abbreviations of the state's name include CA, Cal., Calif., and US-CA. History Main article: History of California Further information: History of California before 1900 A map of indigenous Californian tribes and languages at the time of European contact Indigenous Main article: Indigenous peoples of California California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America.[45] Historians generally agree that there were at least 300,000 people living in California prior to European colonization.[46] The indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups, inhabiting environments ranging from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests.[47] Living in these diverse geographic areas, the indigenous peoples developed complex forms of ecosystem management, including forest gardening to ensure the regular availability of food and medicinal plants.[48][49] This was a form of sustainable agriculture.[50] To mitigate destructive large wildfires from ravaging the natural environment, indigenous peoples developed a practice of controlled burning.[51] This practice was recognized for its benefits by the California government in 2022.[36] These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and, on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms, such as the Chumash, Pomo and Salinan. Trade, intermarriage, craft specialists, and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups. Although nations would sometimes war, most armed conflicts were between groups of men for vengeance. Acquiring territory was not usually the purpose of these small-scale battles.[52] Men and women generally had different roles in society. Women were often responsible for weaving, harvesting, processing, and preparing food, while men for hunting and other forms of physical labor. Most societies also had roles for people whom the Spanish referred to as joyas,[53] who they saw as "men who dressed as women".[54] Joyas were responsible for death, burial, and mourning rituals, and they performed women's social roles.[54] Indigenous societies had terms such as two-spirit to refer to them. The Chumash referred to them as 'aqi.[54] The early Spanish settlers detested and sought to eliminate them.[55] Spanish period Main articles: Province of Las Californias and Spanish missions in California Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claiming California for the Spanish Empire in 1542 The first Europeans to explore the coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain, to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island.[56] Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco.[57] Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain, putting ashore in Monterey.[58] Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into the 18th century.[59] The Portolá expedition of 1769–70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios, and pueblos. The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá, who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra, who came by sea from Baja California. In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and the Presidio of San Diego, the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay. Junípero Serra conducting the first Mass in Monterey Bay in 1770 After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along the California coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco (Mission San Francisco de Asís), San Diego (Mission San Diego de Alcalá), Ventura (Mission San Buenaventura), or Santa Barbara (Mission Santa Barbara), among others. Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into the interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga, a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River. After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga, would found the pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California. The Spanish founded Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, the third to be established of California's missions. During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast.[60][61] Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and was abandoned by 1841. During the War of Mexican Independence, Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution,[62] though many Californios supported independence from Spain, which many believed had neglected California and limited its development.[63] Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited local trade prospects. Following Mexican independence, California ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over the transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent Mexican rule. Mexican period Main articles: Alta California and Ranchos of California The flag used by Californio leader Juan Bautista Alvarado's 1836 California independence movement In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions, which controlled most of the best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government.[64] The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become a commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush. From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government.[65] During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842.[66] The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California,[67] including Isaac Graham.[68] In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to the Graham Affair, which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials.[67] General Mariano G. Vallejo reviewing his troops in the Sonoma Plaza, 1846 One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh. After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California.[69] He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports.[70] After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. The armies of each met at the Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles. Marsh had been forced against his will to join Micheltorena's army. Ignoring his superiors, during the battle, he signaled the other side for a parley. There were many settlers from the United States fighting on both sides. He convinced each side that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States.[71][72][73][74][75] U.S. Conquest and the California Republic Main articles: Conquest of California and Bear Flag Revolt The 1846 Bear Flag Revolt declared the California Republic and prefaced the American conquest of California. In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide,[76] who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders. The California Republic was short-lived;[77] the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–1848).[78] Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California, with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces.[79] In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of the conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California.[80] Early American period See also: California Gold Rush and Interim government of California The Treaty of Cahuenga, signed in 1847 by Californio Andrés Pico and American John C. Frémont, was a ceasefire that ended the U.S. Conquest of California. Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as a part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769.[81] In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both the state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Middle Easterns, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California Gold Rush. By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come.[82] Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.[83] California Gold Rush An ad to sail to California, c. 1850 San Francisco harbor, c. 1850–51 Mining near Sacramento, c. 1852 The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845.[64] Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin. In 1849, a state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854[84] with only a short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento. Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood. On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state and September 9 a state holiday. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of the Union.[85] However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army, such as the "California 100 Company", were unofficially associated with the state of California due to a majority of their members being from California. At the time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time. Much of the state was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere. In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to the state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work.[86] Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.[87] California Genocide Main article: California Genocide Between 1846 and 1873, U.S. government agents and private settlers perpetrated many massacres against indigenous Californians, known as the California genocide. At least 9,456 were killed with estimates as high as 100,000 deaths.[88][89] Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which the indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity.[90] Under its new American administration, California's first governor Peter Hardeman Burnett instituted policies that have been described as a state-sanctioned policy of elimination toward California's indigenous people.[91] Burnett announced in 1851 in his Second Annual Message to the Legislature: "That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected. While we cannot anticipate the result with but painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power and wisdom of man to avert."[92] As in other American states, indigenous peoples were forcibly removed from their lands by American settlers, like miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as a free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians," were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians.[93] One of these de facto slave auctions was approved by the Los Angeles City Council and occurred for nearly twenty years.[94] There were many massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed by settlers for their land.[95] Between 1850 and 1860, the California state government paid around 1.5 million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government)[96] to hire militias with the stated purpose of protecting settlers, however these militias perpetrated numerous massacres of indigenous people.[89][95] Indigenous people were also forcibly moved to reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from the government to adequately sustain the populations living on them.[89] As a result, settler colonialism was a calamity for indigenous people. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo, have described the actions of the California government as a genocide,[89][88] as well as the 40th governor of California Gavin Newsom.[97] Benjamin Madley estimates that from 1846 to 1873, between 9,492 and 16,092 indigenous people were killed, including between 1,680 and 3,741 killed by the U.S. Army.[88] 1900–present Main article: History of California 1900–present View of the destruction from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake In the twentieth century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to the US and California specifically to attempt to purchase and own land in the state. However, the state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act, excluding Asian immigrants from owning land.[98] During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps such as at Tule Lake and Manzanar.[99] In 2020, California officially apologized for this internment.[100] Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6.0% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 89.5% non-Hispanic white.[101] To meet the population's needs, major engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts; the Oroville and Shasta Dams; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built across the state. The state government also adopted the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop a highly efficient system of public education. In the early 20th century, Hollywood studios, like Paramount Pictures, helped transform Hollywood into the world capital of film and helped solidify Los Angeles as a global economic hub. Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's wide variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 8.7 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking third (behind New York and Michigan) among the 48 states.[102] California however easily ranked first in production of military ships during the war (transport, cargo, [merchant ships] such as Liberty ships, Victory ships, and warships) at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area.[103][104][105][106] After World War II, California's economy greatly expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries,[107] whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War.[107][108] Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in California instead of leaving the state, and develop a high-tech region in the area now known as Silicon Valley.[109] As a result of these efforts, California is regarded as a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the United States center of agricultural production.[110] Just before the Dot Com Bust, California had the fifth-largest economy in the world among nations.[111] In the mid and late twentieth century, a number of race-related incidents occurred in the state. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to violent riots, such as the 1965 Watts riots and 1992 Rodney King riots.[112][113] California was also the hub of the Black Panther Party, a group known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice [114] and for organizing free breakfast programs for schoolchildren.[115] Additionally, Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 1970s.[116] Civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, flanked by Brown Berets, at a 1971 rally during the Chicano movement During the 20th century, two great disasters happened in California. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain the deadliest in U.S. history.[117] Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze known as "smog" has been substantially abated after the passage of federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.[118][119] An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts, soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism.[120] Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase; a modest home which in the 1960s cost $25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses they never intended to live in, expecting to make a huge profit in a matter of months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as everyone assumed the prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as housing prices began to crash and the boom years ended. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared as many financial institutions and investors were badly hurt.[121][122] The 2007 launch of the iPhone by Apple founder Steve Jobs in Silicon Valley, the largest tech hub in the world In the twenty-first century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred in the state.[123][124] From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history.[125] The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive, most notably Camp Fire.[126] One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States that occurred in California was first of which was confirmed on January 26, 2020.[127][128] Meaning, all of the early confirmed cases were persons who had recently travelled to China in Asia, as testing was restricted to this group. On this January 29, 2020, as disease containment protocols were still being developed, the U.S. Department of State evacuated 195 persons from Wuhan, China aboard a chartered flight to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, and in this process, it may have granted and conferred to escalated within the land and the US at cosmic.[129][130] On February 5, 2020, the U.S. evacuated 345 more citizens from Hubei Province to two military bases in California, Travis Air Force Base in Solano County and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, where they were quarantined for 14 days.[129][131] A state of emergency was largely declared in this state of the nation on March 4, 2020, and as of February 24, 2021, remains in effect. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020, due to increase, which was ended on January 25, 2021, allowing citizens to return to normal life.[132] On April 6, 2021, the state announced plans to fully reopen the economy by June 15, 2021.[133] In 2019, the 40th governor of California, Gavin Newsom formally apologized to the indigenous peoples of California for the California genocide: "Genocide. No other way to describe it, and that's the way it needs to be described in the history books."[134] Newsom further acknowledged that "the actions of the state 150 years ago have ongoing ramifications even today."[134] Cultural and language revitalization efforts among indigenous Californians have progressed among several tribes as of 2022.[135][136] Some land returns to indigenous stewardship have occurred throughout California.[137][138][139] In 2022, the largest dam removal and river restoration project in US history was announced for the Klamath River as a win for California tribes.[140][141] Geography Main article: Geography of California Further information: Northern California and Southern California Topographic map of California Covering an area of 163,696 sq mi (423,970 km2), California is the third-largest state in the United States in area, after Alaska and Texas.[142] California is one of the most geographically diverse states in the union and is often geographically bisected into two regions, Southern California, comprising the ten southernmost counties,[143][144] and Northern California, comprising the 48 northernmost counties.[145][146] It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east and northeast, Arizona to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south (with which it makes up part of The Californias region of North America, alongside Baja California Sur). In the middle of the state lies the California Central Valley, bounded by the Sierra Nevada in the east, the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the Cascade Range to the north and by the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. The Central Valley is California's productive agricultural heartland. Divided in two by the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the northern portion, the Sacramento Valley serves as the watershed of the Sacramento River, while the southern portion, the San Joaquin Valley is the watershed for the San Joaquin River. Both valleys derive their names from the rivers that flow through them. With dredging, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin Rivers have remained deep enough for several inland cities to be seaports. Big Sur, on the Central Coast Yosemite, in the Sierra Nevada The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is a critical water supply hub for the state. Water is diverted from the delta and through an extensive network of pumps and canals that traverse nearly the length of the state, to the Central Valley and the State Water Projects and other needs. Water from the Delta provides drinking water for nearly 23 million people, almost two-thirds of the state's population as well as water for farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Suisun Bay lies at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. The water is drained by the Carquinez Strait, which flows into San Pablo Bay, a northern extension of San Francisco Bay, which then connects to the Pacific Ocean via the Golden Gate strait. The Channel Islands are located off the Southern coast, while the Farallon Islands lie west of San Francisco. The Sierra Nevada (Spanish for "snowy range") includes the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet (4,421 m).[3][4][note 1] The range embraces Yosemite Valley, famous for its glacially carved domes, and Sequoia National Park, home to the giant sequoia trees, the largest living organisms on Earth, and the deep freshwater lake, Lake Tahoe, the largest lake in the state by volume. To the east of the Sierra Nevada are Owens Valley and Mono Lake, an essential migratory bird habitat. In the western part of the state is Clear Lake, the largest freshwater lake by area entirely in California. Although Lake Tahoe is larger, it is divided by the California/Nevada border. The Sierra Nevada falls to Arctic temperatures in winter and has several dozen small glaciers, including Palisade Glacier, the southernmost glacier in the United States. Death Valley, in the Mojave Desert San Miguel, in the Channel Islands The Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. A remnant of Pleistocene-era Lake Corcoran, Tulare Lake dried up by the early 20th century after its tributary rivers were diverted for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses.[147] About 45 percent of the state's total surface area is covered by forests,[148] and California's diversity of pine species is unmatched by any other state. California contains more forestland than any other state except Alaska. Many of the trees in the California White Mountains are the oldest in the world; an individual bristlecone pine is over 5,000 years old.[149][150] In the south is a large inland salt lake, the Salton Sea. The south-central desert is called the Mojave; to the northeast of the Mojave lies Death Valley, which contains the lowest and hottest place in North America, the Badwater Basin at −279 feet (−85 m).[5] The horizontal distance from the bottom of Death Valley to the top of Mount Whitney is less than 90 miles (140 km). Indeed, almost all of southeastern California is arid, hot desert, with routine extreme high temperatures during the summer. The southeastern border of California with Arizona is entirely formed by the Colorado River, from which the southern part of the state gets about half of its water. A majority of California's cities are located in either the San Francisco Bay Area or the Sacramento metropolitan area in Northern California; or the Los Angeles area, the Inland Empire, or the San Diego metropolitan area in Southern California. The Los Angeles Area, the Bay Area, and the San Diego metropolitan area are among several major metropolitan areas along the California coast. As part of the Ring of Fire, California is subject to tsunamis, floods, droughts, Santa Ana winds, wildfires, and landslides on steep terrain; California also has several volcanoes. It has many earthquakes due to several faults running through the state, the largest being the San Andreas Fault. About 37,000 earthquakes are recorded each year; most are too small to be felt,[151] but two-thirds of the human risk from earthquakes lies in California.[35] Climate Main article: Climate of California Further information: Climate change in California This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "California" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Köppen climate types in California Most of the state has a Mediterranean climate. The cool California Current offshore often creates summer fog near the coast. Farther inland, there are colder winters and hotter summers. The maritime moderation results in the shoreline summertime temperatures of Los Angeles and San Francisco being the coolest of all major metropolitan areas of the United States and uniquely cool compared to areas on the same latitude in the interior and on the east coast of the North American continent. Even the San Diego shoreline bordering Mexico is cooler in summer than most areas in the contiguous United States. Just a few miles inland, summer temperature extremes are significantly higher, with downtown Los Angeles being several degrees warmer than at the coast. The same microclimate phenomenon is seen in the climate of the Bay Area, where areas sheltered from the ocean experience significantly hotter summers and colder winters in contrast with nearby areas closer to the ocean.[152][153][154] California wildfires affect the state yearly. In the south, the Santa Ana winds often expand fires and spread smoke over hundreds of miles. Northern parts of the state have more rain than the south. California's mountain ranges also influence the climate: some of the rainiest parts of the state are west-facing mountain slopes. Coastal northwestern California has a temperate climate, and the Central Valley has a Mediterranean climate but with greater temperature extremes than the coast. The high mountains, including the Sierra Nevada, have an alpine climate with snow in winter and mild to moderate heat in summer. California's mountains produce rain shadows on the eastern side, creating extensive deserts. The higher elevation deserts of eastern California have hot summers and cold winters, while the low deserts east of the Southern California mountains have hot summers and nearly frostless mild winters. Death Valley, a desert with large expanses below sea level, is considered the hottest location in the world; the highest temperature in the world,[155][156] 134 °F (56.7 °C), was recorded there on July 10, 1913. The lowest temperature in California was −45 °F (−43 °C) on January 20, 1937, in Boca.[157] The table below lists average temperatures for January and August in a selection of places throughout the state; some highly populated and some not. This includes the relatively cool summers of the Humboldt Bay region around Eureka, the extreme heat of Death Valley, and the mountain climate of Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada. Average temperatures and precipitation for selected communities in California[158] Location August (°F) August (°C) January (°F) January (°C) Annual precipitation (mm/in) Los Angeles 83/64 29/18 66/48 20/8 377/15 LAX/LA Beaches 75/64 23/18 65/49 18/9 326/13 San Diego 76/67 24/19 65/49 18/9 262/10 San Jose 82/58 27/14 58/42 14/5 401/16 San Francisco 67/54 20/12 56/46 14/8 538/21 Fresno 97/66 34/19 55/38 12/3 292/11 Sacramento 91/58 33/14 54/39 12/3 469/18 Oakland 73/58 23/14 58/44 14/7 588/23 Bakersfield 96/69 36/21 56/39 13/3 165/7 Riverside 94/60 35/18 67/39 19/4 260/10 Eureka 62/53 16/11 54/41 12/5 960/38 Death Valley 115/86 46/30 67/40 19/4 60/2 Mammoth Lakes 77/45 25/7 40/15 4/ −9 583/23 The wide range of climates leads to a high demand for water. Over time, droughts have been increasing due to climate change and overextraction,[159] becoming less seasonal and more year-round, further straining California's electricity supply[160] and water security[161][162] and having an impact on California business, industry, and agriculture.[163] In 2022, a new state program was created in collaboration with indigenous peoples of California to revive the practice of controlled burns as a way of clearing excessive forest debris and making landscapes more resilient to wildfires. Native American use of fire in ecosystem management was outlawed in 1911, yet has now been recognized.[36] Ecology Main articles: Ecology of California and Environment of California Mount Whitney, in the Sierra Nevada, is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States. California is one of the ecologically richest and most diverse parts of the world, and includes some of the most endangered ecological communities. California is part of the Nearctic realm and spans a number of terrestrial ecoregions.[164] California's large number of endemic species includes relict species, which have died out elsewhere, such as the Catalina ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus). Many other endemics originated through differentiation or adaptive radiation, whereby multiple species develop from a common ancestor to take advantage of diverse ecological conditions such as the California lilac (Ceanothus). Many California endemics have become endangered, as urbanization, logging, overgrazing, and the introduction of exotic species have encroached on their habitat. Flora and fauna Main articles: Fauna of California and California Floristic Province See also: List of California native plants Giant Sequoias, native to California, are the largest trees in the world. Shown is the Grizzly Giant in Yosemite. California boasts several superlatives in its collection of flora: the largest trees, the tallest trees, and the oldest trees. California's native grasses are perennial plants,[165] and there are close to hundred succulent species native to the state.[166] After European contact, these were generally replaced by invasive species of European annual grasses; and, in modern times, California's hills turn a characteristic golden-brown in summer.[167] Because California has the greatest diversity of climate and terrain, the state has six life zones which are the lower Sonoran Desert; upper Sonoran (foothill regions and some coastal lands), transition (coastal areas and moist northeastern counties); and the Canadian, Hudsonian, and Arctic Zones, comprising the state's highest elevations.[168] Plant life in the dry climate of the lower Sonoran zone contains a diversity of native cactus, mesquite, and paloverde. The Joshua tree is found in the Mojave Desert. Flowering plants include the dwarf desert poppy and a variety of asters. Fremont cottonwood and valley oak thrive in the Central Valley. The upper Sonoran zone includes the chaparral belt, characterized by forests of small shrubs, stunted trees, and herbaceous plants. Nemophila, mint, Phacelia, Viola, and the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica, the state flower) also flourish in this zone, along with the lupine, more species of which occur here than anywhere else in the world.[168] A California sea lion in La Jolla The transition zone includes most of California's forests with the redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and the "big tree" or giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), among the oldest living things on earth (some are said to have lived at least 4,000 years). Tanbark oak, California laurel, sugar pine, madrona, broad-leaved maple, and Douglas-fir also grow here. Forest floors are covered with swordfern, alumnroot, barrenwort, and trillium, and there are thickets of huckleberry, azalea, elder, and wild currant. Characteristic wild flowers include varieties of mariposa, tulip, and tiger and leopard lilies.[169] The high elevations of the Canadian zone allow the Jeffrey pine, red fir, and lodgepole pine to thrive. Brushy areas are abundant with dwarf manzanita and ceanothus; the unique Sierra puffball is also found here. Right below the timberline, in the Hudsonian zone, the whitebark, foxtail, and silver pines grow. At about 10,500 feet (3,200 m), begins the Arctic zone, a treeless region whose flora include a number of wildflowers, including Sierra primrose, yellow columbine, alpine buttercup, and alpine shooting star.[168][170] Palm trees are a well-known feature of California, particularly in Southern California and Los Angeles; many species have been imported, though the Washington filifera (commonly known as the California fan palm) is native to the state, mainly growing in the Colorado Desert oases.[171] Other common plants that have been introduced to the state include the eucalyptus, acacia, pepper tree, geranium, and Scotch broom. The species that are federally classified as endangered are the Contra Costa wallflower, Antioch Dunes evening primrose, Solano grass, San Clemente Island larkspur, salt marsh bird's beak, McDonald's rock-cress, and Santa Barbara Island liveforever. As of December 1997, 85 plant species were listed as threatened or endangered.[168] A Tule Elk in the San Joaquin Valley In the deserts of the lower Sonoran zone, the mammals include the jackrabbit, kangaroo rat, squirrel, and opossum. Common birds include the owl, roadrunner, cactus wren, and various species of hawk. The area's reptilian life include the sidewinder viper, desert tortoise, and horned toad. The upper Sonoran zone boasts mammals such as the antelope, brown-footed woodrat, and ring-tailed cat. Birds unique to this zone are the California thrasher, bushtit, and California condor.[168][172][173][174] In the transition zone, there are Colombian black-tailed deer, black bears, gray foxes, cougars, bobcats, and Roosevelt elk. Reptiles such as the garter snakes and rattlesnakes inhabit the zone. In addition, amphibians such as the water puppy and redwood salamander are common too. Birds such as the kingfisher, chickadee, towhee, and hummingbird thrive here as well.[168][175] The Canadian zone mammals include the mountain weasel, snowshoe hare, and several species of chipmunks. Conspicuous birds include the blue-fronted jay, mountain chickadee, hermit thrush, American dipper, and Townsend's solitaire. As one ascends into the Hudsonian zone, birds become scarcer. While the gray-crowned rosy finch is the only bird native to the high Arctic region, other bird species such as Anna's hummingbird and Clark's nutcracker.[citation needed] Principal mammals found in this region include the Sierra coney, white-tailed jackrabbit, and the bighorn sheep. As of April 2003, the bighorn sheep was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The fauna found throughout several zones are the mule deer, coyote, mountain lion, northern flicker, and several species of hawk and sparrow.[168] Methuselah is the oldest tree in the world, found in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest of Inyo National Forest. Aquatic life in California thrives, from the state's mountain lakes and streams to the rocky Pacific coastline. Numerous trout species are found, among them rainbow, golden, and cutthroat. Migratory species of salmon are common as well. Deep-sea life forms include sea bass, yellowfin tuna, barracuda, and several types of whale. Native to the cliffs of northern California are seals, sea lions, and many types of shorebirds, including migratory species.[168] As of April 2003, 118 California animals were on the federal endangered list; 181 plants were listed as endangered or threatened. Endangered animals include the San Joaquin kitfox, Point Arena mountain beaver, Pacific pocket mouse, salt marsh harvest mouse, Morro Bay kangaroo rat (and five other species of kangaroo rat), Amargosa vole, California least tern, California condor, loggerhead shrike, San Clemente sage sparrow, San Francisco garter snake, five species of salamander, three species of chub, and two species of pupfish. Eleven butterflies are also endangered[176] and two that are threatened are on the federal list.[177][178] Among threatened animals are the coastal California gnatcatcher, Paiute cutthroat trout, southern sea otter, and northern spotted owl. California has a total of 290,821 acres (1,176.91 km2) of National Wildlife Refuges.[168] As of September 2010, 123 California animals were listed as either endangered or threatened on the federal list.[179] Also, as of the same year, 178 species of California plants were listed either as endangered or threatened on this federal list.[179] Rivers Main article: List of rivers of California San Francisco Bay (center left) and the California Delta (top right) The most prominent river system within California is formed by the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, which are fed mostly by snowmelt from the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, and respectively drain the north and south halves of the Central Valley. The two rivers join in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, flowing into the Pacific Ocean through San Francisco Bay. Many major tributaries feed into the Sacramento–San Joaquin system, including the Pit River, Feather River and Tuolumne River. The Klamath and Trinity Rivers drain a large area in far northwestern California. The Eel River and Salinas River each drain portions of the California coast, north and south of San Francisco Bay, respectively. The Mojave River is the primary watercourse in the Mojave Desert, and the Santa Ana River drains much of the Transverse Ranges as it bisects Southern California. The Colorado River forms the state's southeast border with Arizona. Most of California's major rivers are dammed as part of two massive water projects: the Central Valley Project, providing water for agriculture in the Central Valley, and the California State Water Project diverting water from Northern to Southern California. The state's coasts, rivers, and other bodies of water are regulated by the California Coastal Commission. Regions Main article: List of regions of California See also: List of places in California Map of California's regions Map showing the division between Northern California (top white) and Southern California (bottom red) California is traditionally separated into Northern California and Southern California, divided by a straight border which runs across the state, separating the northern 48 counties from the southern 10 counties. Despite the persistence of the northern-southern divide, California is more precisely divided into many regions, multiple of which stretch across the northern-southern divide. Major divisions Northern California Southern California Regions Shasta Cascade Klamath Basin Modoc Plateau North Coast Lost Coast Bay Area North Bay San Francisco Peninsula South Bay (Santa Clara Valley) East Bay Central Valley Sacramento Valley Greater Sacramento San Joaquin Valley Metropolitan Fresno California Delta Sierra Nevada Gold Country Eastern Sierra Central Coast Monterey Bay Area Big Sur Gaviota Coast Southern California Greater Los Angeles Los Angeles Basin San Fernando Valley San Gabriel Valley Channel Islands Orange Coast Inland Empire San Diego–Tijuana California Deserts Mojave Desert Great Basin Desert Colorado Desert (Sonoran Desert) Calexico–Mexicali Cities and towns See also: List of cities and towns in California and List of largest California cities by population The state has 482 incorporated cities and towns, of which 460 are cities and 22 are towns. Under California law, the terms "city" and "town" are explicitly interchangeable; the name of an incorporated municipality in the state can either be "City of (Name)" or "Town of (Name)".[180] Sacramento became California's first incorporated city on February 27, 1850.[181] San Jose, San Diego, and Benicia tied for California's second incorporated city, each receiving incorporation on March 27, 1850.[182][183][184] Jurupa Valley became the state's most recent and 482nd incorporated municipality, on July 1, 2011.[185][186] The majority of these cities and towns are within one of five metropolitan areas: the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Riverside-San Bernardino Area, the San Diego metropolitan area, or the Sacramento metropolitan area.    Largest cities or towns in California Source:[187] Rank Name County Pop. Rank Name County Pop. Los Angeles Los Angeles San Diego San Diego 1 Los Angeles Los Angeles 3,898,747 11 Stockton San Joaquin 320,804 San Jose San Jose San Francisco San Francisco 2 San Diego San Diego 1,386,932 12 Riverside Riverside 314,998 3 San Jose Santa Clara 1,013,240 13 Santa Ana Orange 310,227 4 San Francisco San Francisco 873,965 14 Irvine Orange 307,670 5 Fresno Fresno 542,107 15 Chula Vista San Diego 275,487 6 Sacramento Sacramento 524,943 16 Fremont Alameda 230,504 7 Long Beach Los Angeles 466,742 17 Santa Clarita Los Angeles 228,673 8 Oakland Alameda 440,646 18 San Bernardino San Bernardino 222,101 9 Bakersfield Kern 403,455 19 Modesto Stanislaus 218,464 10 Anaheim Orange 346,824 20 Moreno Valley Riverside 208,634 Largest metropolitan statistical areas in California CA rank U.S. rank Metropolitan statistical area[188] 2020 census[187] 2010 census[187] Change Counties[188] 1 2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA MSA 13,200,998 12,828,837 +2.90% Los Angeles, Orange 2 12 San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA MSA 4,749,008 4,335,391 +9.54% Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo 3 13 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA 4,599,839 4,224,851 +8.88% Riverside, San Bernardino 4 17 San Diego-Carlsbad, CA MSA 3,298,634 3,095,313 +6.57% San Diego 5 26 Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, CA MSA 2,397,382 2,149,127 +11.55% El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Yolo 6 35 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA 2,000,468 1,836,911 +8.90% San Benito, Santa Clara 7 56 Fresno, CA MSA 1,008,654 930,450 +8.40% Fresno 8 62 Bakersfield, CA MSA 909,235 839,631 +8.29% Kern 9 70 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA MSA 843,843 823,318 +2.49% Ventura 10 75 Stockton-Lodi, CA MSA 779,233 685,306 +13.71% San Joaquin Largest combined statistical areas in California CA rank U.S. rank Combined statistical area[187] 2020 census[187] 2010 census[187] Change Counties[188] 1 2 Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA Combined Statistical Area 18,644,680 17,877,006 +4.29% Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura 2 4 San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area 9,714,023 8,923,942 +8.85% Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Merced, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus 3 23 Sacramento-Roseville, CA Combined Statistical Area 2,680,831 2,414,783 +11.02% El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba 4 45 Fresno-Madera, CA Combined Statistical Area 1,317,395 1,234,297 +6.73% Fresno, Kings, Madera 5 125 Redding-Red Bluff, CA Combined Statistical Area 247,984 240,686 +3.03% Shasta, Tehama Demographics Main article: Demographics of California Population Historical population Census Pop. Note %± 1850 92,597 — 1860 379,994 310.4% 1870 560,247 47.4% 1880 864,694 54.3% 1890 1,213,398 40.3% 1900 1,485,053 22.4% 1910 2,377,549 60.1% 1920 3,426,861 44.1% 1930 5,677,251 65.7% 1940 6,907,387 21.7% 1950 10,586,223 53.3% 1960 15,717,204 48.5% 1970 19,953,134 27.0% 1980 23,667,902 18.6% 1990 29,760,021 25.7% 2000 33,871,648 13.8% 2010 37,253,956 10.0% 2020 39,538,223 6.1% 2023 (est.) 38,940,231 −1.5% Sources: 1790–1990, 2000, 2010, 2020, 2023[189][190][191][6] Chart does not include indigenous population figures. Studies indicate that the Native American population in California in 1850 was close to 150,000 before declining to 15,000 by 1900.[192] One out of every eight Americans live in California.[193] The United States Census Bureau reported that the population of California was 39,538,223 on April 1, 2020, a 6.13% increase since the 2010 United States census.[191] The estimated population as of 2022 is 39.22 million.[193] For over a century (1900–2020), California experienced an explosion in population growth, adding an average of more than 300,000 people per year.[194] California's rate of growth began to slow by the 1990s, although it continued to experience population growth in the first two decades of the 21st century.[195][196] The state experienced population declines in 2020 and 2021, attributable to declining birth rates, COVID-19 pandemic deaths, and less internal migration from other states to California.[197] California's population density, 2020 The Greater Los Angeles Area is the 2nd-largest metropolitan area in the United States (U.S.), while Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the U.S. Conversely, San Francisco is the most densely-populated city in California and one of the most densely populated cities in the U.S.. Also, Los Angeles County has held the title of most populous U.S. county for decades, and it alone is more populous than 42 U.S. states.[198][199] Including Los Angeles, four of the top 20 most populous cities in the U.S. are in California: Los Angeles (2nd), San Diego (8th), San Jose (10th), and San Francisco (17th). The center of population of California is located four miles west-southwest of the city of Shafter, Kern County.[note 3] As of 2019, California ranked second among states by life expectancy, with a life expectancy of 80.9 years.[201] Starting in the year 2010, for the first time since the California Gold Rush, California-born residents made up the majority of the state's population.[202] Along with the rest of the United States, California's immigration pattern has also shifted over the course of the late 2000s to early 2010s.[203] Immigration from Latin American countries has dropped significantly with most immigrants now coming from Asia.[204] In total for 2011, there were 277,304 immigrants. Fifty-seven percent came from Asian countries versus 22% from Latin American countries.[204] Net immigration from Mexico, previously the most common country of origin for new immigrants, has dropped to zero / less than zero since more Mexican nationals are departing for their home country than immigrating.[203] The state's population of undocumented immigrants has been shrinking in recent years, due to increased enforcement and decreased job opportunities for lower-skilled workers.[205] The number of migrants arrested attempting to cross the Mexican border in the Southwest decreased from a high of 1.1 million in 2005 to 367,000 in 2011.[206] Despite these recent trends, illegal aliens constituted an estimated 7.3 percent of the state's population, the third highest percentage of any state in the country,[207][note 4] totaling nearly 2.6 million.[208] In particular, illegal immigrants tended to be concentrated in Los Angeles, Monterey, San Benito, Imperial, and Napa Counties—the latter four of which have significant agricultural industries that depend on manual labor.[209] More than half of illegal immigrants originate from Mexico.[208] The state of California and some California cities, including Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco,[210] have adopted sanctuary policies.[211] According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 171,521 homeless people in California.[212][213] Race and ethnicity Hispanic and Latino Californians make up the state's largest ethnic group. The map displays California's counties by percentage of Hispanics and Latinos in the 2020 Census:   50% or more   25–49%   15–24%   5–15% Racial and ethnic composition as of the 2020 census  Race and ethnicity[214] Alone Total Hispanic or Latino[note 5] — 39.4%   White (non-Hispanic) 34.7%   38.3%   Asian (non-Hispanic) 15.1%   17.0%   African American (non-Hispanic) 5.4%   6.4%   Native American (non-Hispanic) 0.4%   1.3%   Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0.3%   0.7%   Other (non-Hispanic) 0.6%   1.3%   Ethnic origins in California According to the United States Census Bureau in 2018 the population self-identified as (alone or in combination):[215] 72.1% White (including Hispanic Whites), 36.8% non-Hispanic whites, 15.3% Asian, 6.5% Black or African American, 1.6% Native American and Alaska Native, 0.5% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 3.9% two or more races. By ethnicity, in 2018 the population was 60.7% non-Hispanic (of any race) and 39.3% Hispanic or Latino (of any race). Hispanics are the largest single ethnic group in California.[215] Non-Hispanic whites constituted 36.8% of the state's population.[215] Californios are the Hispanic residents native to California, who make up the Spanish-speaking community that has existed in California since 1542, of varying Mexican American/Chicano, Criollo Spaniard, and Mestizo origin.[216] As of 2011, 75.1% of California's population younger than age 1 were minorities, meaning they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white (white Hispanics are counted as minorities).[217] In terms of total numbers, California has the largest population of White Americans in the United States, an estimated 22,200,000 residents. The state has the 5th largest population of African Americans in the United States, an estimated 2,250,000 residents. California's Asian American population is estimated at 4.4 million, constituting a third of the nation's total. California's Native American population of 285,000 is the most of any state.[218] According to estimates from 2011, California has the largest minority population in the United States by numbers, making up 60% of the state population.[219] Over the past 25 years, the population of non-Hispanic whites has declined, while Hispanic and Asian populations have grown. Between 1970 and 2011, non-Hispanic whites declined from 80% of the state's population to 40%, while Hispanics grew from 32% in 2000 to 38% in 2011.[220] It is currently projected that Hispanics will rise to 49% of the population by 2060, primarily due to domestic births rather than immigration.[221] With the decline of immigration from Latin America, Asian Americans now constitute the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in California; this growth is primarily driven by immigration from China, India and the Philippines, respectively.[222] Most of California's immigrant population are born in Mexico (3.9 million), the Philippines (825,200), China (768,400), India (556,500) and Vietnam (502,600).[223] California has the largest multiracial population in the United States.[224] California has the highest rate of interracial marriage.[225] Languages Main article: Languages of California See also: California English and Spanish language in California Languages spoken in California by more than 100,000 persons  Language Population (as of 2021)[226] % English 20,763,638 56.08% Spanish 10,434,308 28.18% Chinese 1,244,445 3.36% Tagalog 757,488 2.05% Vietnamese 544,046 1.47% Korean 356,901 0.96% Arabic 231,612 0.63% Persian 221,650 0.6% Armenian 211,614 0.57% Hindi 208,148 0.56% Russian 178,176 0.48% Punjabi 156,763 0.42% Japanese 135,992 0.37% French 126,371 0.34% English serves as California's de jure and de facto official language. According to the 2021 American Community Survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau, 56.08% (20,763,638) of California residents age 5 and older spoke only English at home, while 43.92% spoke another language at home. 60.35% of people who speak a language other than English at home are able to speak English "well" or "very well", with this figure varying significantly across the different linguistic groups.[226] Like most U.S. states (32 out of 50), California law enshrines English as its official language, and has done so since the passage of Proposition 63 by California voters in 1986. Various government agencies do, and are often required to, furnish documents in the various languages needed to reach their intended audiences.[227][228][229] The Constitution of California was written in both English (left) and Spanish (right) by both American and Californio delegates. Spanish is the most commonly spoken language in California, behind English, spoken by 28.18% (10,434,308) of the population (in 2021).[226] The Spanish language has been spoken in California since 1542 and is deeply intertwined with California's cultural landscape and history.[230][231][232] Spanish was the official administrative language of California through the Spanish and Mexican eras, until 1848. Following the U.S. Conquest of California and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the U.S Government guaranteed the rights of Spanish speaking Californians. The first Constitution of California was written in both languages at the Monterey Constitutional Convention of 1849 and protected the rights of Spanish speakers to use their language in government proceedings and mandating that all government documents be published in both English and Spanish.[233] Despite the initial recognition of Spanish by early American governments in California, the revised 1879 constitution stripped the rights of Spanish speakers and the official status of Spanish.[234] The growth of the English-only movement by the mid-20th century led to the passage of 1986 California Proposition 63, which enshrined English as the only official language in California and ended Spanish language instruction in schools.[235] 2016 California Proposition 58 reversed the prohibition on bilingual education, though there are still many barriers to the proliferation of Spanish bilingual education, including a shortage of teachers and lack of funding.[236][235][237] The government of California has since made efforts to promote Spanish language access and bilingual education, [238][239] as have private educational institutions in California.[240] Many businesses in California promote the usage of Spanish by their employees, to better serve both California's Hispanic population and the larger Spanish-speaking world.[241][242] California has historically been one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world, with more than 70 indigenous languages derived from 64 root languages in six language families.[243][244] A survey conducted between 2007 and 2009 identified 23 different indigenous languages among California farmworkers.[245] All of California's indigenous languages are endangered, although there are now efforts toward language revitalization.[note 6] California has the highest concentration nationwide of Chinese, Vietnamese and Punjabi speakers. As a result of the state's increasing diversity and migration from other areas across the country and around the globe, linguists began noticing a noteworthy set of emerging characteristics of spoken American English in California since the late 20th century. This variety, known as California English, has a vowel shift and several other phonological processes that are different from varieties of American English used in other regions of the United States.[246] Religion Main article: Religion in California See also: List of cathedrals in California Religious self-identification, per Public Religion Research Institute's 2021 American Values Survey[247]   Catholicism (34%)   Protestantism (27%)   Jehovah's Witness (1%)   Mormonism (1%)   Unaffilated (28%)   Buddhism (2%)   Judaism (1%)   Hinduism (1%)   Other (5%) The largest religious denominations by number of adherents as a percentage of California's population in 2014 were the Catholic Church with 28 percent, Evangelical Protestants with 20 percent, and Mainline Protestants with 10 percent. Together, all kinds of Protestants accounted for 32 percent. Those unaffiliated with any religion represented 27 percent of the population. The breakdown of other religions is 1% Muslim, 2% Hindu and 2% Buddhist.[248] This is a change from 2008, when the population identified their religion with the Catholic Church with 31 percent; Evangelical Protestants with 18 percent; and Mainline Protestants with 14 percent. In 2008, those unaffiliated with any religion represented 21 percent of the population. The breakdown of other religions in 2008 was 0.5% Muslim, 1% Hindu and 2% Buddhist.[249] The American Jewish Year Book placed the total Jewish population of California at about 1,194,190 in 2006.[250] According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) the largest denominations by adherents in 2010 were the Catholic Church with 10,233,334; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 763,818; and the Southern Baptist Convention with 489,953.[251] The Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo in Monterey, built 1791–94, is the oldest parish in California.[252] The first priests to come to California were Catholic missionaries from Spain. Catholics founded 21 missions along the California coast, as well as the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. California continues to have a large Catholic population due to the large numbers of Mexicans and Central Americans living within its borders. California has twelve dioceses and two archdioceses, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the former being the largest archdiocese in the United States. A Pew Research Center survey revealed that California is somewhat less religious than the rest of the states: 62 percent of Californians say they are "absolutely certain" of their belief in God, while in the nation 71 percent say so. The survey also revealed 48 percent of Californians say religion is "very important", compared to 56 percent nationally.[253] Culture Main article: Culture of California See also: Cuisine of California The Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles The culture of California is a Western culture and most clearly has its modern roots in the culture of the United States, but also, historically, many Hispanic Californio and Mexican influences. As a border and coastal state, California culture has been greatly influenced by several large immigrant populations, especially those from Latin America and Asia.[254][failed verification] California has long been a subject of interest in the public mind and has often been promoted by its boosters as a kind of paradise. In the early 20th century, fueled by the efforts of state and local boosters, many Americans saw the Golden State as an ideal resort destination, sunny and dry all year round with easy access to the ocean and mountains. In the 1960s, popular music groups such as the Beach Boys promoted the image of Californians as laid-back, tanned beach-goers. The California Gold Rush of the 1850s is still seen as a symbol of California's economic style, which tends to generate technology, social, entertainment, and economic fads and booms and related busts. Media and entertainment Further information: Media in Los Angeles, Media in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Music in California See also: List of amusement parks in the Americas § California, List of newspapers in California, and List of radio stations in California Disney, headquartered in Burbank, is one of the world's largest media and entertainment companies. Hollywood and the rest of the Los Angeles area is a major global center for entertainment, with the U.S. film industry's "Big Five" major film studios (Columbia, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bros.) as well as many minor film studios being based in or around the area. Many animation studios are also headquartered in the state. The four major American television commercial broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox) as well as other networks all have production facilities and offices in the state. All the four major commercial broadcast networks, plus the two major Spanish-language networks (Telemundo and Univision) each have at least three owned-and-operated TV stations in California, including at least one in Los Angeles and at least one in San Francisco.[note 7] One of the oldest radio stations in the United States still in existence, KCBS (AM) in the San Francisco Bay Area, was founded in 1909. Universal Music Group, one of the "Big Four" record labels, is based in Santa Monica, while Warner Records is based in Los Angeles. Many independent record labels, such as Mind of a Genius Records, are also headquartered in the state. California is also the birthplace of several international music genres, including the Bakersfield sound, Bay Area thrash metal, alternative rock, g-funk, nu metal, glam metal, thrash metal, psychedelic rock, stoner rock, punk rock, hardcore punk, metalcore, pop punk, surf music, third wave ska, west coast hip hop, west coast jazz, jazz rap, and many other genres. Other genres such as pop rock, indie rock, hard rock, hip hop, pop, rock, rockabilly, country, heavy metal, grunge, new wave and disco were popularized in the state. In addition, many British bands, such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and the Rolling Stones settled in the state after becoming internationally famous. Twitter, headquartered in San Francisco, is one of the largest social media networks in the world. As the home of Silicon Valley, the Bay Area is the headquarters of several prominent internet media, social media, and other technology companies. Three of the "Big Five" technology companies (Apple, Meta, and Google) are based in the area as well as other services such as Netflix, Pandora Radio, Twitter, Yahoo!, and YouTube. Other prominent companies that are headquartered here include HP inc. and Intel. Microsoft and Amazon also have offices in the area. California, particularly Southern California,[255] is considered the birthplace of modern car culture.[256] Several fast food, fast casual, and casual dining chains were also founded California, including some that have since expanded internationally like California Pizza Kitchen, Denny's, IHOP, McDonald's, Panda Express, and Taco Bell. The California State Fair is held annually during the summer at Cal Expo in northeastern Sacramento. Sports Main article: Sports in California See also: List of professional sports teams in California Pebble Beach Golf Links, one of the best ranked golf courses in the world The Grand Prix of Long Beach is the longest running major street race in North America. California has nineteen major professional sports league franchises, far more than any other state. The San Francisco Bay Area has six major league teams spread in its three major cities: San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland, while the Greater Los Angeles Area is home to ten major league franchises. San Diego and Sacramento each have one major league team. The NFL Super Bowl has been hosted in California 12 times at five different stadiums: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Rose Bowl, Stanford Stadium, Levi's Stadium, and San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium. A thirteenth, Super Bowl LVI, was held at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood on February 13, 2022.[257] California has long had many respected collegiate sports programs. California is home to the oldest college bowl game, the annual Rose Bowl, among others. The NFL has three teams in the state: the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers, and San Francisco 49ers. MLB has five teams in the state: the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, and San Diego Padres.[258] The NBA has four teams in the state: the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Sacramento Kings. Additionally, the WNBA also has one team in the state: the Los Angeles Sparks. The NHL has three teams in the state: the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks. MLS has three teams in the state: the Los Angeles Galaxy, San Jose Earthquakes, and Los Angeles Football Club. MLR has one team in the state: the San Diego Legion. California is the only U.S. state to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The 1932 and 1984 summer games were held in Los Angeles. Squaw Valley Ski Resort in the Lake Tahoe region hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics. Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics, marking the fourth time that California will have hosted the Olympic Games.[259] Multiple games during the 1994 FIFA World Cup took place in California, with the Rose Bowl hosting eight matches (including the final), while Stanford Stadium hosted six matches. In addition to the Olympic games, California also hosts the California State Games. Many sports, such as surfing, snowboarding, and skateboarding, were invented in California, while others like volleyball, beach soccer, and skiing were popularized in the state. Other sports that are big in the state include golf, rodeo, tennis, mountain climbing, marathon running, horse racing, bowling, mixed martial arts, boxing, and motorsports, especially NASCAR and Formula One. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, and will also host in 2028. Team Sport League Los Angeles Rams American football National Football League (NFL) Los Angeles Chargers American football National Football League San Francisco 49ers American football National Football League Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) Los Angeles Angels Baseball Major League Baseball Oakland Athletics Baseball Major League Baseball San Diego Padres Baseball Major League Baseball San Francisco Giants Baseball Major League Baseball Golden State Warriors Basketball National Basketball Association (NBA) Los Angeles Clippers Basketball National Basketball Association Los Angeles Lakers Basketball National Basketball Association Sacramento Kings Basketball National Basketball Association Los Angeles Sparks Basketball Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Anaheim Ducks Ice hockey National Hockey League (NHL) Los Angeles Kings Ice hockey National Hockey League San Jose Sharks Ice hockey National Hockey League Los Angeles Galaxy Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) San Jose Earthquakes Soccer Major League Soccer Los Angeles Football Club Soccer Major League Soccer Angel City FC Soccer National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) San Diego Wave FC Soccer National Women's Soccer League San Diego Legion Rugby union Major League Rugby Education Main article: Education in California See also: Spanish bilingual education in California Santa Barbara High School, one of the oldest high schools in continuous use in Southern California California has the most school students in the country, with over 6.2 million in the 2005–06 school year, giving California more students in school than 36 states have in total population and one of the highest projected enrollments in the country.[260] Public secondary education consists of high schools that teach elective courses in trades, languages, and liberal arts with tracks for gifted, college-bound and industrial arts students. California's public educational system is supported by a unique constitutional amendment that requires a minimum annual funding level for grades K–12 and community colleges that grows with the economy and student enrollment figures.[261] In 2016, California's K–12 public school per-pupil spending was ranked 22nd in the nation ($11,500 per student vs. $11,800 for the U.S. average).[262] For 2012, California's K–12 public schools ranked 48th in the number of employees per student, at 0.102 (the U.S. average was 0.137), while paying the 7th most per employee, $49,000 (the U.S. average was $39,000).[263][264][265] A 2007 study concluded that California's public school system was "broken" in that it suffered from overregulation.[266] Higher education Main article: List of colleges and universities in California UC Berkeley is the oldest campus of the University of California, and the state's flagship public university. Stanford University is a private university that is one of the top-ranked universities in the world.[267] California public postsecondary education is organized into three separate systems: The state's public research university system is the University of California (UC). As of fall 2011, the University of California had a combined student body of 234,464 students.[268] There are ten UC campuses; nine are general campuses offering both undergraduate and graduate programs which culminate in the award of bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctorates; there is one specialized campus, UC San Francisco, which is entirely dedicated to graduate education in health care, and is home to the UCSF Medical Center, the highest-ranked hospital in California.[269] The system was originally intended to accept the top one-eighth of California high school students, but several of the campuses have become even more selective.[270][271][272] The UC system historically held exclusive authority to award the doctorate, but this has since changed and CSU now has limited statutory authorization to award a handful of types of doctoral degrees independently of UC. The California State University (CSU) system has almost 430,000 students. The CSU (which takes the definite article in its abbreviated form, while UC does not) was originally intended to accept the top one-third of California high school students, but several of the campuses have become much more selective.[272][273] The CSU was originally authorized to award only bachelor's and master's degrees, and could award the doctorate only as part of joint programs with UC or private universities. Since then, CSU has been granted the authority to independently award several doctoral degrees (in specific academic fields that do not intrude upon UC's traditional jurisdiction). The California Community Colleges system provides lower-division coursework culminating in the associate degree, as well as basic skills and workforce training culminating in various kinds of certificates. (Fifteen California community colleges now award four-year bachelor's degrees in disciplines which are in high demand in their geographical area.[274]) It is the largest network of higher education in the U.S., composed of 112 colleges serving a student population of over 2.6 million. California is also home to notable private universities such as Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of Southern California, the Claremont Colleges, Santa Clara University, Loyola Marymount University, the University of San Diego, the University of San Francisco, Chapman University, Pepperdine University, Occidental College, and University of the Pacific, among numerous other private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions. California has a particularly high density of arts colleges, including the California College of the Arts, California Institute of the Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, Art Center College of Design, and Academy of Art University, among others. Economy Main article: Economy of California Silicon Valley is the largest tech hub in the world and home to Big Tech companies like Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Intel, Netflix, Inc., Uber, Nvidia, HP, X Corp and many more. California's economy ranks among the largest in the world. As of 2022, the gross state product (GSP) was $3.7 trillion ($92,190 per capita), the largest in the United States.[275] California is responsible for one seventh of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).[276] As of 2018, California's nominal GDP is larger than all but four countries (the United States, China, Japan, and Germany).[277] In terms of purchasing power parity (PPP),[278] it is larger than all but eight countries (the United States, China, India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Brazil, and Indonesia).[279] California's economy is larger than Africa and Australia and is almost as large as South America.[280] The state recorded total, non-farm employment of 16,677,800[281] as of September 2021 among 966,224 employer establishments.[282] The combined Port of Los Angeles-Port of Long Beach is the largest port in the U.S. by import volume and one of the busiest ports in the world. As the largest and second-largest U.S. ports respectively, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach in Southern California collectively play a pivotal role in the global supply chain, together hauling in about 40% of all imports to the United States by TEU volume.[283] The Port of Oakland and Port of Hueneme are the 10th and 26th largest seaports in the U.S., respectively, by number of TEUs handled.[284] The five largest sectors of employment in California are trade, transportation, and utilities; government; professional and business services; education and health services; and leisure and hospitality. In output, the five largest sectors are financial services, followed by trade, transportation, and utilities; education and health services; government; and manufacturing.[285] California has an unemployment rate of 3.9% as of September 2022.[281] California's economy is dependent on trade and international related commerce accounts for about one-quarter of the state's economy. In 2008, California exported $144 billion worth of goods, up from $134 billion in 2007 and $127 billion in 2006.[286] Computers and electronic products are California's top export, accounting for 42 percent of all the state's exports in 2008.[286] Agriculture Main article: Agriculture in California Further information: Strawberry cultivation in California, Production of peaches in California, and Walnuts in California See also: California nut crimes California vineyards in Wine Country. The agricultural industry in California is the largest in the U.S. Agriculture is an important sector in California's economy. According to the USDA in 2011, the three largest California agricultural products by value were milk and cream, shelled almonds, and grapes.[287] Farming-related sales more than quadrupled over the past three decades, from $7.3 billion in 1974 to nearly $31 billion in 2004.[288] This increase has occurred despite a 15 percent decline in acreage devoted to farming during the period, and water supply suffering from chronic instability. Factors contributing to the growth in sales-per-acre include more intensive use of active farmlands and technological improvements in crop production.[288] In 2008, California's 81,500 farms and ranches generated $36.2 billion products revenue.[289] In 2011, that number grew to $43.5 billion products revenue.[290] The agriculture sector accounts for two percent of the state's GDP and employs around three percent of its total workforce.[291] Income See also: California locations by per capita income California is the most visited state in the country.[292] Disneyland in Anaheim is a major tourist destination, with 16.9 million annual visits in 2022.[293] Per capita GDP in 2007 was $38,956, ranking eleventh in the nation.[294] Per capita income varies widely by geographic region and profession. The Central Valley is the most impoverished, with migrant farm workers making less than minimum wage. According to a 2005 report by the Congressional Research Service, the San Joaquin Valley was characterized as one of the most economically depressed regions in the United States, on par with the region of Appalachia.[295] Using the supplemental poverty measure, California has a poverty rate of 23.5%, the highest of any state in the country.[296] However, using the official measure the poverty rate was only 13.3% as of 2017.[297] Many coastal cities include some of the wealthiest per-capita areas in the United States. The high-technology sectors in Northern California, specifically Silicon Valley, in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, have emerged from the economic downturn caused by the dot-com bust. In 2019, there were 1,042,027 millionaire households in the state, more than any other state in the nation.[298] In 2010, California residents were ranked first among the states with the best average credit score of 754.[299] If California was an independent country, its gross domestic product (nominal) would rank fifth in the world (2022).[300] If California was an independent country, its gross domestic product (nominal) would rank fifth in the world (2022).[300]   California counties by GDP (2021)[301] California counties by GDP (2021)[301] State finances Main articles: California state finances and 2008–12 California budget crisis California economic regions State spending increased from $56 billion in 1998 to $127 billion in 2011.[302][303] California has the third highest per capita spending on welfare among the states, as well as the highest spending on welfare at $6.67 billion.[304] In January 2011, California's total debt was at least $265 billion.[305] On June 27, 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed a balanced budget (no deficit) for the state, its first in decades; however, the state's debt remains at $132 billion.[306][307] With the passage of Proposition 30 in 2012 and Proposition 55 in 2016, California now levies a 13.3% maximum marginal income tax rate with ten tax brackets, ranging from 1% at the bottom tax bracket of $0 annual individual income to 13.3% for annual individual income over $1,000,000 (though the top brackets are only temporary until Proposition 55 expires at the end of 2030). While Proposition 30 also enacted a minimum state sales tax of 7.5%, this sales tax increase was not extended by Proposition 55 and reverted to a previous minimum state sales tax rate of 7.25% in 2017. Local governments can and do levy additional sales taxes in addition to this minimum rate.[308] All real property is taxable annually; the ad valorem tax is based on the property's fair market value at the time of purchase or the value of new construction. Property tax increases are capped at 2% annually or the rate of inflation (whichever is lower), per Proposition 13. Infrastructure Energy Main article: Energy in California Further information: Solar power in California and Wind power in California See also: History of oil in California through 1930 and Plug-in electric vehicles in California Moss Landing Power Plant, located on the coast of Monterey Bay Because it is the most populous state in the United States, California is one of the country's largest users of energy. The state has extensive hydro-electric energy generation facilities, however, moving water is the single largest energy use in the state. Also, due to high energy rates, conservation mandates, mild weather in the largest population centers and strong environmental movement, its per capita energy use is one of the smallest of any state in the United States.[309] Due to the high electricity demand, California imports more electricity than any other state, primarily hydroelectric power from states in the Pacific Northwest (via Path 15 and Path 66) and coal- and natural gas-fired production from the desert Southwest via Path 46.[310] The state's crude oil and natural gas deposits are located in the Central Valley and along the coast, including the large Midway-Sunset Oil Field. Natural gas-fired power plants typically account for more than one-half of state electricity generation. Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, located in the Mojave Desert As a result of the state's strong environmental movement, California has some of the most aggressive renewable energy goals in the United States. Senate Bill SB 1020 (the Clean Energy, Jobs and Affordability Act of 2022) commits the state to running its operations on clean, renewable energy resources by 2035, and SB 1203 also requires the state to achieve net-zero operations for all agencies. Currently, several solar power plants such as the Solar Energy Generating Systems facility are located in the Mojave Desert. California's wind farms include Altamont Pass, San Gorgonio Pass, and Tehachapi Pass. The Tehachapi area is also where the Tehachapi Energy Storage Project is located.[311] Several dams across the state provide hydro-electric power. It would be possible to convert the total supply to 100% renewable energy, including heating, cooling and mobility, by 2050.[312] California has one major nuclear power plant (Diablo Canyon) in operation. The San Onofre nuclear plant was shut down in 2013. More than 1,700 tons of radioactive waste are stored at San Onofre,[313] and sit on the coast where there is a record of past tsunamis.[314] Voters banned the approval of new nuclear power plants since the late 1970s because of concerns over radioactive waste disposal.[315][note 8] In addition, several cities such as Oakland, Berkeley and Davis have declared themselves as nuclear-free zones. Transportation Main article: Transportation in California See also: History of rail transportation in California The Golden Gate Bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area, is one of the most famous bridges in the world. Highways California's vast terrain is connected by an extensive system of controlled-access highways ('freeways'), limited-access roads ('expressways'), and highways. California is known for its car culture, giving California's cities a reputation for severe traffic congestion. Construction and maintenance of state roads and statewide transportation planning are primarily the responsibility of the California Department of Transportation, nicknamed "Caltrans". The rapidly growing population of the state is straining all of its transportation networks, and California has some of the worst roads in the United States.[317][318] The Reason Foundation's 19th Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems ranked California's highways the third-worst of any state, with Alaska second, and Rhode Island first.[319] San Francisco Bay Ferry is a public water taxi system in the Bay Area. The state has been a pioneer in road construction. One of the state's more visible landmarks, the Golden Gate Bridge, was the longest suspension bridge main span in the world at 4,200 feet (1,300 m) between 1937 (when it opened) and 1964. With its orange paint and panoramic views of the bay, this highway bridge is a popular tourist attraction and also accommodates pedestrians and bicyclists. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge (often abbreviated the "Bay Bridge"), completed in 1936, transports about 280,000 vehicles per day on two-decks. Its two sections meet at Yerba Buena Island through the world's largest diameter transportation bore tunnel, at 76 feet (23 m) wide by 58 feet (18 m) high.[320] The Arroyo Seco Parkway, connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, opened in 1940 as the first freeway in the Western United States.[321] It was later extended south to the Four Level Interchange in downtown Los Angeles, regarded as the first stack interchange ever built.[322] The California Highway Patrol is the largest statewide police agency in the United States in employment with more than 10,000 employees. They are responsible for providing any police-sanctioned service to anyone on California's state-maintained highways and on state property. By the end of 2021, 30,610,058 people in California held a California Department of Motor Vehicles-issued driver's licenses or state identification card, and there were 36,229,205 registered vehicles, including 25,643,076 automobiles, 853,368 motorcycles, 8,981,787 trucks and trailers, and 121,716 miscellaneous vehicles (including historical vehicles and farm equipment).[323] Air travel Los Angeles Intl. Airport (LAX) is the 4th busiest airport in the world. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the 4th busiest airport in the world in 2018, and San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the 25th busiest airport in the world in 2018, are major hubs for trans-Pacific and transcontinental traffic. There are about a dozen important commercial airports and many more general aviation airports throughout the state. Railroads Amtrak California's Pacific Surfliner in San Clemente, on the Orange Coast Inter-city rail travel is provided by Amtrak California; the three routes, the Capitol Corridor, Pacific Surfliner, and San Joaquin, are funded by Caltrans. These services are the busiest intercity rail lines in the United States outside the Northeast Corridor and ridership is continuing to set records. The routes are becoming increasingly popular over flying, especially on the LAX-SFO route.[324] Integrated subway and light rail networks are found in Los Angeles (Metro Rail) and San Francisco (MUNI Metro). Light rail systems are also found in San Jose (VTA), San Diego (San Diego Trolley), Sacramento (RT Light Rail), and Northern San Diego County (Sprinter). Furthermore, commuter rail networks serve the San Francisco Bay Area (ACE, BART, Caltrain, SMART), Greater Los Angeles (Metrolink), and San Diego County (Coaster). The California High-Speed Rail Authority was authorized in 1996 by the state legislature to plan a California High-Speed Rail system to put before the voters. The plan they devised, 2008 California Proposition 1A, connecting all the major population centers in the state, was approved by the voters at the November 2008 general election.[325] The first phase of construction was begun in 2015, and the first segment 171 miles (275 km) long, is planned to be put into operation by the end of 2030. Planning and work on the rest of the system is continuing, with funding for completing it is an ongoing issue.[326] California's 2023 integrated passenger rail master plan includes a high speed rail system.[327] Busses Nearly all counties operate bus lines, and many cities operate their own city bus lines as well. Intercity bus travel is provided by Greyhound, Megabus, and Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach. Water Main article: Water in California Lake Shasta, in the Shasta Cascade region, is California's largest reservoir. California's interconnected water system is the world's largest, managing over 40,000,000 acre-feet (49 km3) of water per year, centered on six main systems of aqueducts and infrastructure projects.[328] Water use and conservation in California is a politically divisive issue, as the state experiences periodic droughts and has to balance the demands of its large agricultural and urban sectors, especially in the arid southern portion of the state. The state's widespread redistribution of water also invites the frequent scorn of environmentalists. The California Water Wars, a conflict between Los Angeles and the Owens Valley over water rights, is one of the most well-known examples of the struggle to secure adequate water supplies.[329] Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said: "We've been in crisis for quite some time because we're now 38 million people and not anymore 18 million people like we were in the late 60s. So it developed into a battle between environmentalists and farmers and between the south and the north and between rural and urban. And everyone has been fighting for the last four decades about water."[330] Government and politics The California Capitol in Sacramento, seat of the California government, hosts the California Legislature and the Governor of California. State government Main article: Government of California The capital city of California is Sacramento.[331] The state is organized into three branches of government—the executive branch consisting of the governor[332] and the other independently elected constitutional officers; the legislative branch consisting of the Assembly and Senate;[333] and the judicial branch consisting of the Supreme Court of California and lower courts.[334] The state also allows ballot propositions: direct participation of the electorate by initiative, referendum, recall, and ratification.[335] Before the passage of Proposition 14 in 2010, California allowed each political party to choose whether to have a closed primary or a primary where only party members and independents vote. After June 8, 2010, when Proposition 14 was approved, excepting only the United States president and county central committee offices,[336] all candidates in the primary elections are listed on the ballot with their preferred party affiliation, but they are not the official nominee of that party.[337] At the primary election, the two candidates with the top votes will advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation.[337] If at a special primary election, one candidate receives more than 50% of all the votes cast, they are elected to fill the vacancy and no special general election will be held.[337] Executive branch Main articles: California executive branch, Governor of California, and List of California state agencies The Stanford Mansion is the official reception center for the California government and one of the workplaces of the Governor of California. The California executive branch consists of the governor and seven other elected constitutional officers: lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state controller, state treasurer, insurance commissioner, and state superintendent of public instruction. They serve four-year terms and may be re-elected only once.[338] The many California state agencies that are under the governor's cabinet are grouped together to form cabinet-level entities that are referred to by government officials as "superagencies". Those departments that are directly under the other independently elected officers work separately from these superagencies.[339][340] Legislative branch Main article: California Legislature The California State Legislature consists of a 40-member Senate and 80-member Assembly.[341] Senators serve four-year terms and Assembly members two. Members of the Assembly are subject to term limits of six terms, and members of the Senate are subject to term limits of three terms. Judicial branch Main article: Judiciary of California The Supreme Court of California is headquartered at the Earl Warren Building (shown) in San Francisco, but also meets in Sacramento and Los Angeles. California's legal system is explicitly based upon English common law[342] but carries many features from Spanish civil law, such as community property. California's prison population grew from 25,000 in 1980 to over 170,000 in 2007.[343] Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment and the state has the largest "Death Row" population in the country (though Oklahoma and Texas are far more active in carrying out executions).[344][345] California has performed 13 executions since 1976, with the last being in 2006.[346] California's judiciary system is the largest in the United States with a total of 1,600 judges (the federal system has only about 840). At the apex is the seven-member Supreme Court of California, while the California Courts of Appeal serve as the primary appellate courts and the California Superior Courts serve as the primary trial courts. Justices of the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal are appointed by the governor, but are subject to retention by the electorate every 12 years. The administration of the state's court system is controlled by the Judicial Council, composed of the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, 14 judicial officers, four representatives from the State Bar of California, and one member from each house of the state legislature. In fiscal year 2020–2021, the state judiciary's 2,000 judicial officers and 18,000 judicial branch employees processed approximately 4.4 million cases.[347] Local government Main article: Local government in California San Francisco City Hall is the seat of government of the consolidated City and County of San Francisco. California has an extensive system of local government that manages public functions throughout the state. Like most states, California is divided into counties, of which there are 58 (including San Francisco) covering the entire state. Most urbanized areas are incorporated as cities. School districts, which are independent of cities and counties, handle public education. Many other functions, such as fire protection and water supply, especially in unincorporated areas, are handled by special districts. Counties See also: List of counties in California California is divided into 58 counties. Per Article 11, Section 1, of the Constitution of California, they are the legal subdivisions of the state. The county government provides countywide services such as law enforcement, jails, elections and voter registration, vital records, property assessment and records, tax collection, public health, health care, social services, libraries, flood control, fire protection, animal control, agricultural regulations, building inspections, ambulance services, and education departments in charge of maintaining statewide standards.[348][349] In addition, the county serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas. Each county is governed by an elected board of supervisors.[350] City and town governments See also: List of municipalities in California Los Angeles City Hall, seat of the Government of Los Angeles Incorporated cities and towns in California are either charter or general-law municipalities.[180] General-law municipalities owe their existence to state law and are consequently governed by it; charter municipalities are governed by their own city or town charters. Municipalities incorporated in the 19th century tend to be charter municipalities. All ten of the state's most populous cities are charter cities. Most small cities have a council–manager form of government, where the elected city council appoints a city manager to supervise the operations of the city. Some larger cities have a directly elected mayor who oversees the city government. In many council-manager cities, the city council selects one of its members as a mayor, sometimes rotating through the council membership—but this type of mayoral position is primarily ceremonial. The Government of San Francisco is the only consolidated city-county in California, where both the city and county governments have been merged into one unified jurisdiction. School districts and special districts See also: List of school districts in California Los Angeles Unified School District is the second largest school district in the United States by enrollment. About 1,102 school districts, independent of cities and counties, handle California's public education.[351] California school districts may be organized as elementary districts, high school districts, unified school districts combining elementary and high school grades, or community college districts.[351] There are about 3,400 special districts in California.[352] A special district, defined by California Government Code § 16271(d) as "any agency of the state for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries", provides a limited range of services within a defined geographic area. The geographic area of a special district can spread across multiple cities or counties, or could consist of only a portion of one. Most of California's special districts are single-purpose districts, and provide one service. Federal representation Main article: United States congressional delegations from California See also: California's congressional districts Members of the California Congressional Delegation in 2020 The state of California sends 52 members to the House of Representatives,[353] the nation's largest congressional state delegation. Consequently, California also has the largest number of electoral votes in national presidential elections, with 54. The current speaker of the House of Representatives is the representative of California's 20th district, Kevin McCarthy.[354] California is represented by U.S. senators Dianne Feinstein, a native and former mayor of San Francisco, and Alex Padilla, a native and former secretary of state of California. Former U.S. senator Kamala Harris, a native, former district attorney from San Francisco, former attorney general of California, resigned on January 18, 2021, to assume her role as the current Vice President of the United States. In the 1992 U.S. Senate election, California became the first state to elect a Senate delegation entirely composed of women, due to the victories of Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.[355] Set to follow the Vice President-Elect, Gov. Newsom appointed Secretary of State Alex Padilla to finish the rest of Harris's term which ends in 2022, Padilla has vowed to run for the full term in that election cycle. Padilla was sworn in on January 20, 2021, the same day as the inauguration of Joe Biden as well as Harris.[356][357] Armed forces See also: California during World War II View of NAS North Island at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego In California, as of 2009, the U.S. Department of Defense had a total of 117,806 active duty servicemembers of which 88,370 were Sailors or Marines, 18,339 were Airmen, and 11,097 were Soldiers, with 61,365 Department of Defense civilian employees. Additionally, there were a total of 57,792 Reservists and Guardsman in California.[358] In 2010, Los Angeles County was the largest origin of military recruits in the United States by county, with 1,437 individuals enlisting in the military.[359] However, as of 2002, Californians were relatively under-represented in the military as a proportion to its population.[360] In 2000, California, had 2,569,340 veterans of United States military service: 504,010 served in World War II, 301,034 in the Korean War, 754,682 during the Vietnam War, and 278,003 during 1990–2000 (including the Persian Gulf War).[361] As of 2010, there were 1,942,775 veterans living in California, of which 1,457,875 served during a period of armed conflict, and just over four thousand served before World War II (the largest population of this group of any state).[362] California's military forces consist of the Army and Air National Guard, the naval and state military reserve (militia), and the California Cadet Corps. On August 5, 1950, a nuclear-capable United States Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber carrying a nuclear bomb crashed shortly after takeoff from Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base. Brigadier General Robert F. Travis, command pilot of the bomber, was among the dead.[363] Ideology Main articles: Politics of California and Elections in California See also: Politics of California before 1900 and Political party strength in California California registered voters as of October 24, 2022[364] Party Number of voters Percentage Party registration by county (October 2022):   Democrat ≥ 30%   Democrat ≥ 40%   Democrat ≥ 50%   Republican ≥ 30%   Republican ≥ 40%   Republican ≥ 50% Democratic 10,283,258 46.87% Republican 5,232,094 23.85% No Party Preference 4,943,696 22.53% American Independent 777,152 3.54% Libertarian 231,459 1.05% Peace and Freedom 123,037 0.56% Green 96,229 0.44% Other 253,349 1.16% Total 21,940,274 100% California has an idiosyncratic political culture compared to the rest of the country, and is sometimes regarded as a trendsetter.[365] In socio-cultural mores and national politics, Californians are perceived as more liberal than other Americans, especially those who live in the inland states. In the 2016 United States presidential election, California had the third highest percentage of Democratic votes behind the District of Columbia and Hawaii.[366] In the 2020 United States presidential election, it had the 6th highest behind the District of Columbia, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Hawaii. According to the Cook Political Report, California contains five of the 15 most Democratic congressional districts in the United States. Among the political idiosyncrasies, California was the second state to recall their state governor (the first state being North Dakota in 1921), the second state to legalize abortion, and the only state to ban marriage for gay couples twice by vote (including Proposition 8 in 2008). Voters also passed Proposition 71 in 2004 to fund stem cell research, making California the second state to legalize stem cell research after New Jersey, and Proposition 14 in 2010 to completely change the state's primary election process. California has also experienced disputes over water rights; and a tax revolt, culminating with the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, limiting state property taxes. California voters have rejected affirmative action on multiple occasions, most recently in November 2020. The state's trend towards the Democratic Party and away from the Republican Party can be seen in state elections. From 1899 to 1939, California had Republican governors. Since 1990, California has generally elected Democratic candidates to federal, state and local offices, including current Governor Gavin Newsom; however, the state has elected Republican Governors, though many of its Republican Governors, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, tend to be considered moderate Republicans and more centrist than the national party. Anti-war protesters and pro-military counterprotesters in Berkeley (2008) Several political movements have advocated for California independence. The California National Party and the California Freedom Coalition both advocate for California independence along the lines of progressivism and civic nationalism.[367] The Yes California movement attempted to organize an independence referendum via ballot initiative for 2019, which was then postponed.[368] The Democrats also now hold a supermajority in both houses of the state legislature. There are 62 Democrats and 18 Republicans in the Assembly; and 32 Democrats and 8 Republicans in the Senate. The trend towards the Democratic Party is most obvious in presidential elections. From 1952 through 1988, California was a Republican leaning state, with the party carrying the state's electoral votes in nine of ten elections, with 1964 as the exception. Southern California Republicans Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan were both elected twice as the 37th and 40th U.S. Presidents, respectively. However, Democrats have won all of California's electoral votes for the last eight elections, starting in 1992. In the United States House, the Democrats held a 34–19 edge in the CA delegation of the 110th United States Congress in 2007. As the result of gerrymandering, the districts in California were usually dominated by one or the other party, and few districts were considered competitive. In 2008, Californians passed Proposition 20 to empower a 14-member independent citizen commission to redraw districts for both local politicians and Congress. After the 2012 elections, when the new system took effect, Democrats gained four seats and held a 38–15 majority in the delegation. Following the 2018 midterm House elections, Democrats won 46 out of 53 congressional house seats in California, leaving Republicans with seven. Occupy Los Angeles movement (2011) In general, Democratic strength is centered in the populous coastal regions of the Los Angeles metropolitan area and the San Francisco Bay Area. Republican strength is still greatest in eastern parts of the state. Orange County had remained largely Republican until the 2016 and 2018 elections, in which a majority of the county's votes were cast for Democratic candidates.[369][370] One study ranked Berkeley, Oakland, Inglewood and San Francisco in the top 20 most liberal American cities; and Bakersfield, Orange, Escondido, Garden Grove, and Simi Valley in the top 20 most conservative cities.[371] In October 2022, out of the 26,876,800 people eligible to vote, 21,940,274 people were registered to vote.[372] Of the people registered, the three largest registered groups were Democrats (10,283,258), Republicans (5,232,094), and No Party Preference (4,943,696).[372] Los Angeles County had the largest number of registered Democrats (2,996,565) and Republicans (958,851) of any county in the state.[372] California retains the death penalty, though it has not been used since 2006.[373] There is currently a gubernatorial hold on executions. Authorized methods of execution include the gas chamber.[374] Twinned regions California has region twinning arrangements with: Catalonia Catalonia, autonomous community of Spain Spain[375] Alberta Alberta, province of Canada Canada[134][376] Jeju Province Jeju Province of South Korea South Korea[377] See also Index of California-related articles Outline of California List of people from California Notes  Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988.  The summit of Mount Whitney is the highest point in the Contiguous United States.  The coordinates of the center of population are at 35.491035°N 119.347852°W.[200]  Behind Nevada and Arizona  Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin are not distinguished between total and partial ancestry.  The following are a list of the indigenous languages: Root languages of California: Athabaskan Family: Hupa, Mattole, Lassik, Wailaki, Sinkyone, Cahto, Tolowa, Nongatl, Wiyot, Chilula; Hokan Family: Pomo, Shasta, Karok, Chimiriko; Algonquian Family: Whilkut, Yurok; Yukian Family: Wappo; Penutian Family: Modok, Wintu, Nomlaki, Konkow, Maidu, Patwin, Nisenan, Miwok, Coast Miwok, Lake Miwok, Ohlone, Northern Valley Yokuts, Southern Valley Yokuts, Foothill Yokuts; Hokan Family: Esselen, Salinan, Chumash, Ipai, Tipai, Yuma, Halchichoma, Mohave; Uto-Aztecan Family: Mono Paiute, Monache, Owens Valley Paiute, Tubatulabal, Panamint Shoshone, Kawaisu, Kitanemuk, Tataviam, Gabrielino, Juaneno, Luiseno, Cuipeno, Cahuilla, Serrano, Chemehuevi  ABC has the least amount of owned-and-operated TV stations with three: KABC-TV in Los Angeles, KGO-TV in San Francisco, and KFSN-TV in Fresno.  Minnesota also has a moratorium on construction of nuclear power plants, which has been in place since 1994.[316] As of 2012, 21.4% of the population in San Francisco was of Chinese descent, and there were at least 150,000 Chinese American residents.[1] The Chinese are the largest Asian American subgroup in San Francisco.[2] San Francisco has the highest percentage of residents of Chinese descent of any major U.S. city, and the second largest Chinese American population, after New York City. The San Francisco Area is 7.9% Chinese American, with many residents in Oakland and Santa Clara County. San Francisco's Chinese community has ancestry mainly from Guangdong province, China and Hong Kong, although there is a sizable population of ethnic Chinese with ancestry from other parts of mainland China and Taiwan as well. History The Gateway Arch (Dragon Gate) on Grant Avenue at Bush Street in Chinatown. The Chinese arriving in San Francisco, primarily from the Taishan and Zhongshan regions as well as Guangdong province of mainland China, did so at the height of the California Gold Rush, and many worked in the mines scattered throughout the northern part of the state.[3] Chinatown was the one geographical region deeded by the city government and private property owners which allowed Chinese people to inherit and inhabit dwellings. The majority of these Chinese shopkeepers, restaurant owners, and hired workers in San Francisco Chinatown were predominantly Hoisanese and male[citation needed]. Many Chinese found jobs working for large companies, most famously as part of the Central Pacific[4] on the Transcontinental Railroad. Other early immigrants worked as mine workers or independent prospectors hoping to strike it rich during the California Gold Rush. Although many of the earlier waves of Chinese immigration were predominantly men searching for jobs, Chinese women also began making the journey towards the United States. The first known Chinese woman to immigrate was Marie Seise who arrived in 1848 and worked in the household of Charles V. Gillespie.[5] Within a matter of months of Seise's arrival to the West Coast, the rush for gold in California commenced which brought a flooding of prospective miners from around the globe. Among this group were Chinese, primarily from the Guangdong Province, most of whom were seafarers who had already established Western contacts. “Few women accompanied these early sojourners, many of whom expected to return from after they made their fortune.”[6] Although the oceanic voyage to the United States offered new and exciting opportunities, dangers also loomed for women while traveling and many were discouraged from making the trip due to the harsh living conditions. Oceanic voyages with Chinese immigrants boarded the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and Canadian Pacific Steamship Company. Chinese immigrants would have to ride in the steerage where food was stored. Many were given rice bowls to eat during the voyage. In 1892, a federal law passed to ensure immigrants who were on board, needed a certificate. Due to tight arrangements, unhygienic situations and scarcity in food, this led to health degradation.[7] Many immigrants were unable to board these voyages due to the Geary Act of 1892 which blocked the reunion of immigrants in America with their families not with them.[8] Many diseases found through these voyages were Hookworm Yersinia pestis which contributed greatly to the Bubonic Plague.[9] “During the Gold Rush era, when Chinese men were a common sight in California, Chinese women were an oddity” and in urban spaces were rarely seen in public. Unlike the rural areas, Chinatown afforded few opportunities for women to come into contact with the larger society.”[6] Simultaneously, Chinese women also participated in urban sex work, which resulted in local laws like one passed in April 1854 that sought to shut down "houses of ill-fame," not racialized in name but practically deployed to "[single] out Mexican and Chinese houses of ill fame, starting with Charles Walden's Golden Rule House on Pacific Street and moving on to establishments run by Ah-Choo, C. Lossen, and Ah Yow."[10] With national unemployment in the wake of the Panic of 1873, racial tensions in the city boiled over into full blown race riots. Like much of San Francisco during these times, a period of criminality ensued in some Chinese gangs known as tongs, which were onto smuggling, gambling and prostitution. In response to the violence, the Consolidated Chinese Benevolent Association or the Chinese Six Companies, which evolved out of the labor recruiting organizations for different areas of Guangdong province, was created as a means of providing a unified voice for the community. The heads of these companies were the leaders of the Chinese merchants, who represented the Chinese community in front of the business community as a whole and the city government. Numerous white citizens defended the Chinese community, among them Pastor Franklin Rhoda whose numerous letters appeared in the local press. By the early 1880s, the population had adopted the term Tong war to describe periods of violence in Chinatown, the San Francisco Police Department had established its so-called Chinatown Squad. The anti-immigrant sentiment became law as the United States Government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 – the first immigration restriction law aimed at a single ethnic group. This law, along with other immigration restriction laws such as the Geary Act, greatly reduced the number of Chinese people allowed into the country and the city, and in theory limited Chinese immigration to single men only. Exceptions were granted to the families of wealthy merchants, but the law was still effective enough to reduce the population of the neighborhood to an all-time low in the 1920s. The neighborhood was completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake that leveled most of the city. One of the more successful sergeants of Chinatown Squad, Jack Manion, was appointed in 1921 and served for two decades. From 1910 to 1940, Chinese immigrants were detained at the Angel Island immigration station in the San Francisco Bay. To be permitted entry to the United States, thousands of mostly Chinese immigrants crossing the Pacific to San Francisco had to enter through the gauntlet of Angel Island, and were detained for months in a purgatory of isolation. Some spent years on the island waiting for entry to the U.S.[11][12] The exclusion act was repealed during World War II under the Magnuson Act, in recognition of the important role of China as an ally in the war, although tight quotas still applied. The Chinatown Squad was finally disbanded in August 1955 by police chief George Healey, upon the request of the influential Chinese World newspaper, which had editorialized that the squad was an "affront to Americans of Chinese descent".[13] Many working-class Hong Kong Chinese immigrants began arriving in Chinatown in large numbers in the 1960s, and despite their status and professions in Hong Kong, had to find low-paying employment in restaurants and garment factories in Chinatown because of limited English fluency. An increase in Cantonese-speaking immigrants from Hong Kong and Guangdong has gradually led to the replacement of the Taishanese (Hoisanese) dialect with the standard Cantonese dialect. The Golden Dragon massacre occurred in 1977. In the Sunset District in western San Francisco, a demographic shift began in the late 1960s and accelerated from the 1980s as Asian immigration to San Francisco increased dramatically. Much of the original, largely Irish American population of the Sunset moved to other neighborhoods and outlying suburban areas, although there is still a significant Irish American and Irish minority in the neighborhood. Informal Chinatowns have emerged on Irving Street between 19th Avenue and 26th Avenue as well as on the commercial sections of Taraval Street and Noriega Street west of 19th Avenue. About half of the Sunset District's residents are Asian American, mostly of Chinese birth and descent. The immigrants in the Sunset District were both Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking. With the rise of the technology industry in Silicon Valley, many immigrants from Mainland China and Taiwan moved to the San Francisco Area. Many of them (particularly the Mandarin-speaking group) reside in the South Area cities of Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose, and Fremont.[2] Geography Chinatowns in San Francisco: Chinatown, San Francisco Clement Street Chinatown, San Francisco, the "Second Chinatown" Irving Street Chinatown, San Francisco, the "Third Chinatown" Noriega Street Chinatown, San Francisco, the "Fourth Chinatown" Chinatowns around San Francisco: Chinatown, Oakland Chinatown, San Jose, California Milpitas Square, a Chinese shopping center in Milpitas, California Cultural institutions The Chinese Culture Center, a community-based, non-profit organization, is located between Chinatown and the Financial District in San Francisco. The Chinese Historical Society of America, since 1963, is a non-profit, and the first organization established in the US to preserve, promote and present the history, heritage, culture and legacy of Chinese in America through exhibitions, education, and research; the Museum is located in San Francisco's original Chinatown on Clay Street. Healthcare Prior to health care According to "Handbook of Asian American Health" by Grace J. Yoo, the late 19th century was a period of major epidemics in San Francisco, which included outbreaks such as the bubonic plague, smallpox, and cholera. These diseases were commonly found among the poor and working classes. At the time, many believed in the miasma theory, or the spreading of disease due to "breathing sick air", rather than the now widely accepted germ theory. "In 1876, the Chinese were blamed as the source of the disease because of the unsanitary conditions of Chinatown." The area was unsanitary and overpopulated because the city's Chinese population was discriminated against, as Americans saw them as competition for work. This sentiment withheld services, such as access to healthcare or physicians, and property rights from the Chinese, causing them to cluster within Chinatown.[14] Struggles to establish health care Before the Chinese had any particular health care system for their community, all of them had to go through the following barriers: they had to walk a very long distance to receive any medical attention at a hospital, and they were denied coverage due to unaffordable rates of the services provided by the hospitals. Instead most Chinese relied on "folk healer" than on western medicine. The "Folk Healers" were those that provided Chinese traditional medicine to the Chinese community in San Francisco Chinatown. Therefore, many Chinese did not bother to go to the hospital unless it was a crisis.[15] First medical facility: Tung Wah Dispensary The first medical care place in San Francisco Chinatown was the Tung Wah Dispensary. It was provided by the Chinese Six Companies, and it was built in 1900 on 828 Sacramento Street. The dispensary was named after the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in Hong Kong, and it housed 25 beds, provided both western and Chinese medicine, free or to low cost care to patients, and its staff was volunteers from the community and physicians from outside of the community. Of those physicians three were American physicians and the rest were Chinese American physicians who helped with the Chinese medicine and translating from Chinese to English for the American physicians.[15] Natural disaster led to the first modern hospital In 1906, due to the great earthquake in San Francisco, the Tung Wah Dispensary was destroyed but was rebuilt in Trenton Alley. However, with the many injuries due to the natural disaster, a lot more Chinese patients needed medical attention, and the dispensary was beginning to overflow with patients. Therefore, they decided to expand the dispensary to a modern hospital. In order to build the modern hospital they needed to make $200,000, so they began to have Chinese pageants that helped to contribute the donations from the Chinese Americans and Americans. So, when they got they collected the $200,000, they finally got permission from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to build the Hospital, and in two years the construction was in underway. By April 18, 1925 the San Francisco Chinese Hospital (東華醫院) in the San Francisco Chinatown was established. It is the only Chinese-language hospital in the United States.[16][17] The Asian Aids Project (AAP) was started in the 1987, it is made to help them fight the AIDS epidemic in the Asian Community including the Chinese Americans.[18] Education [icon] This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2015) Chinese School, San Francisco (中華學校) Chinese Education Center Elementary School (舊金山的華人教育中心小學) In San Francisco: The Chinese American International School, Cumberland Chinese School, North Valley Chinese School, Mei Jia Chinese Learning Center, and Alice Fong Yu Alternative School are located in San Francisco. Around San Francisco: Palo Alto Chinese School is located in Palo Alto, and has classes teaching both Mandarin and Cantonese. The Shoong Family Chinese Cultural Center in Oakland serves as the premier Chinese-language school in the East Area, and Contra Costa Chinese School is located in Pleasant Hill. The North Valley Chinese School in Milpitas and San Jose Chinese school both serve the greater San Jose area. The Redwood Empire Chinese Center's Chinese school in Santa Rosa serves the North Bay. Media The New York-based but worldwide-distributed newspaper Epoch Times (大紀元時報) has a branch office in San Francisco. The Hong Kong-based newspaper Sing Tao Daily (星島日報) has an office in San Francisco. East West, The Chinese American Journal folded in 1989.[citation needed] The Chinese-American newspaper World Journal (世界日報) has an office in Millbrae.[19] KTSF serves as a Chinese-language television broadcast station.[20] Transportation Previously the Taiwanese airline China Airlines operated a bus to San Francisco International Airport from Milpitas and Cupertino in California.[21] Cultural events The Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco is held on every Chinese New Year's, and is celebrated in Chinatown. It is the largest Chinese New Year event in North America.[22] The Taiwanese American Cultural Festival, started in 1993, is held in Union Square, San Francisco every May.[23] Notable people Francis Chan, preacher Raymond Chow Kwok Cheung, criminal Carmen Chu, politician Sandra Lee Fewer, politician Edsel Ford Fong, waiter at Sam Wo Heather Fong, former Chief of San Francisco Police Department Alex Gong, kickboxer Ed Jew, politician Fred Lau, former Chief of San Francisco Police Department Bruce Lee, actor, born in Chinatown Ed Lee, former Mayor of San Francisco[2] Walter U. Lum, activist Eric Mar, politician Gordon Mar, politician Betty Ong, American Airlines Flight 11 flight attendant Rose Pak, community organizer Amy Tan, author Katy Tang, politician Phil Ting, politician Alex Tse, screenwriter Ali Wong, comedian Martin Wong, artist Willie "Woo Woo" Wong, basketball player, who a playground in Chinatown is named after Leland Yee, politician Norman Yee, politician
  • Condition: Used
  • Unit of Sale: Single Piece
  • Type: Photograph
  • Year of Production: 1935
  • Size: 6.5X8.5
  • Photographer: CENTRAL PRESS ASSOCATION
  • Number of Photographs: 1
  • Theme: People
  • Image Color: Black & White
  • Time Period Manufactured: 1925-1949
  • Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
  • Subject: CHINESE

PicClick Insights - Chinese American Photo 1935 San Francisco Ca Original Children Vintage PicClick Exclusive

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