The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 13th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the most densely populated city in the state, the second most densely populated major city in the U.S., and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San Francisco Bay Area, a region of more than seven million people. The city is located at the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, with the Pacific Ocean to the west and San Francisco Bay to the north and east.
In 1776, the Spanish established a fort at the Golden Gate and a mission named for Francis of Assisi. The California Gold Rush in 1848 propelled the city into a period of rapid growth, transforming it into the largest city on the West Coast at the time. After being devastated by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. During World War II, San Francisco was the send-off point for many soldiers to the Pacific Theater. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, massive immigration, liberalizing attitudes, and other factors gave rise to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a liberal bastion in the United States.
Today, San Francisco is a popular international tourist destination renowned for its chilly summer fog, steep rolling hills, eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture and its famous landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, the cable cars, and Chinatown.
Demographics
The estimated 2008 population of San Francisco was 808,976. With over 16,000 people per square mile, San Francisco is the second-most densely populated major American city. San Francisco is the traditional focal point of the San Francisco Bay Area and forms part of the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont Metropolitan Statistical Area and the greater San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area (CSA) whose population is over seven million, making it the fifth largest in the United States as of the 2000 Census.
Like many larger U.S. cities, San Francisco is a minority-majority city, as non-Hispanic whites comprise less than half of the population. As of 2007, the Census Bureau estimated that 45.0 percent of the population was non-Hispanic white. Asian Americans make up 33.1% of the population; Chinese Americans constitute the largest single ethnic group in San Francisco at about a fifth of the population. Hispanics of any race make up 14.0% of the population. San Francisco's African American population has declined in recent decades, from 13.4 percent of the city in 1970 to 7.3 percent of the population in 2007. The current percentage of African Americans in San Francisco is similar to that of the state of California.
Native San Franciscans form a relatively small percentage of the city's population: only 37.4 percent of its residents were born in California, while 26.9 percent were born in a different U.S. state. More than a third of city residents (35.7 percent) were born outside the United States.
According to the 2005 American Community Survey, San Francisco has the highest percentage of gay and lesbian individuals of any of the 50 largest U.S cities, at 15.4%. 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.
The San Francisco median household income in 2007 was $65,519, with the median family income at $81,136. Following a national trend, an out-migration of middle class families is contributing to widening income disparity and has left the city with a lower proportion of children, 14.5 percent, than any other large American city.
The city's poverty rate, at 7.7 percent, is lower than the national average and among the lowest for cities ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Homelessness has been a chronic and controversial problem for San Francisco since the early 1980s. The city is believed to have the highest number of homeless inhabitants per capita of any major U.S. city.
San Francisco's rates of violent and property crime, reported for 2006 as 875 and 4,958 incidents per 100,000 residents respectively, are higher than the national average. In 2008, the city recorded 99 homicides.
| Financial |
|
| Median family income (per year) |
$82,530 |
| Family purchasing power (annual, cost-of-living adjusted) |
$52,802 |
| State sales tax |
7.25% |
| State income tax rate (highest bracket) |
10.30% |
| State income tax rate (lowest bracket) |
1.00% |
| Auto insurance premiums (Average price quotes, for the state) |
$1,860 |
|
| Housing |
|
| Median home price |
$699,763 |
| Average property taxes |
N.A. |
|
| Education |
|
| Colleges, universities and professional schools (within 30 miles) |
28 |
| Test scores reading (% above/below state average) |
-2.6% |
| Test scores math (% above/below average) |
0.9% |
| % students attending public/private schools (located within town limits) |
71.1/28.9 |
| |
|
| Quality of life |
|
| Air quality index* (% of days AQI ranked as good) |
83.0% |
| Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) |
8 |
| Property crime incidents (per 1,000) |
45 |
| Median commute time (in minutes) |
29.0 |
| % population with commute 45 mins. or longer |
22.7% |
| % population walk or bike to work |
12.0% |
| |
|
| Leisure and culture |
|
| Movie theaters (within 15 miles) |
85 |
| Restaurants (within 15 miles) |
7,645 |
| Bars (within 15 miles) |
669 |
| Public golf courses (within 30 miles) |
168 |
| Libraries (within 15 miles) |
167 |
| Museums (accredited by AAM; within 30 miles) |
13 |
| Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) |
0.1 |
| |
|
| Weather |
|
| Annual rainfall (inches) |
21.70 |
| % clear days in the area |
44 |
| High temp in July ° F* |
66.6°/ 18.8° C |
| Low temp in Jan ° F* |
46.0°/ 7.7 °C |
| |
|
| Meet the neighbors |
|
| Median age |
39.7 |
| Completed at least some college (% of residents) |
72.0% |
| Married % |
33.9% |
| Divorced % |
8.6% |
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity) |
269.8 |
Colleges and universities
The University of California, San Francisco is part of the University of California system but is solely dedicated to graduate education in health and biomedical sciences. It is ranked among the top-five medical schools in the United States and also operates the UCSF Medical Center, ranked among the top 10 hospitals in the country UCSF is a major local employer, second in size only to the city and county government. A 43-acre 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. The University of California, Hastings College of the Law, 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.
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. Its curriculum focuses on the liberal arts.
San Francisco State University is part of the California State University system and is located near Lake Merced. The school has close to 30,000 students and awards undergraduate and master's degrees in more than 100 disciplines. 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.
With an enrollment of 13,000 students, Academy of Art University is the largest institute of art and design in the nation. Founded in 1871, the San Francisco Art Institute is the oldest art school west of the Mississippi. The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the only independent school of music 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
Source: Wikipedia |
