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The
City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous
city in California and the 14th most populous city in
the United States, with a 2007 estimated population of
764,976. One of the most densely populated major American
cities, San Francisco is part of the much larger San
Francisco Bay Area, which is home to approximately 7.2
million people. The city is located on the tip of the
San Francisco Peninsula, with the Pacific Ocean to the
west, San Francisco Bay to the east, and the Golden Gate
to the north.
In 1776, the Spanish settled the tip of the peninsula,
establishing 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.
After being devastated by the 1906 earthquake and fire,
San Francisco was quickly rebuilt.
San Francisco is a popular international
tourist destination renowned for its steep rolling hills,
eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture, and
famous landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz
Island, the cable cars, Coit Tower, and Chinatown. The
city is also known for its diverse, cosmopolitan population,
including large and long-established Asian American communities.
While the climate includes chilly summer fog, the winters
are mild.
Geography
San Francisco is located on the west coast of the U.S.
at the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula and includes
significant stretches of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco
Bay within its boundaries. Several islands are part of
the city, notably Alcatraz, Treasure Island, and the
adjacent Yerba Buena Island, together with small portions
of Alameda Island, Angel Island, and Red Rock Island.
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 (11-by-11 km), which has become a colloquialism
referring to the city's shape.
San Francisco is famous for its hills.
There are more than 50 hills within city limits.Some
neighborhoods are named after the hill on which they
are situated, including Nob Hill, Pacific Heights, Russian
Hill, Potrero Hill, and Telegraph Hill.
Cars negotiate Lombard Street to descend Russian HillNear
the geographic center of the city, southwest of the
downtown area, are a series of less densely populated
hills. Dominating this area is Mount Sutro, the site
of Sutro Tower, a large red and white radio and television
transmission tower. Nearby is Twin Peaks, a pair of
hills resting at one of the city's highest points and
a popular overlook spot for tour groups. San Francisco's
tallest hill, Mount Davidson, is 925 feet (282 m) high,
and is capped with a 103-ft (31.4 m) tall cross built
in 1934.
The San Andreas and Hayward Faults are responsible for
much earthquake activity, even though neither passes
through the city itself. It was the San Andreas Fault
which slipped and 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. New buildings must
meet high structural standards, and older buildings and
bridges must be retrofitted to comply with new building
codes.
San Francisco's shoreline has grown beyond its natural
limits. Entire neighborhoods such as the Marina 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 tunneling through Yerba Buena Island during
the construction of the Bay Bridge. Such land tends to
be unstable during earthquakes; the resultant liquefaction
causes extensive damage to property built upon it, as
was evidenced in the Marina district during the 1989
Loma Prieta Earthquake.
Climate
A quotation incorrectly attributed to Mark Twain is "The
coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."
San Francisco's climate is characteristic of California’s
Mediterranean climate with mild, wet winters and dry
summers. In addition, since it is surrounded on three
sides by water, San Francisco's climate is strongly influenced
by the cool currents of the Pacific Ocean which tends
to moderate temperature swings and produce a remarkably
mild climate with little seasonal temperature variation.
Average summertime high temperatures in San Francisco
peak at 70 °F (21 °C) and are 20 °F (9 °C)
lower than in nearby inland locations like Livermore.The
highest temperature ever recorded in San Francisco was
103 °F (39 °C) on July 17, 1988 and June
14, 2000.Winters are mild, with daytime highs near
60 °F (15 °C). Lows almost never reach freezing
temperatures, though the lowest temperature ever recorded
in San Francisco was 27 °F (-3 °C) on December
11, 1932. May through September is very dry, but
rain is common from November through March. Snowfall
is extraordinarily rare, with only ten instances recorded
since 1852. The greatest snowfall on record is 3.7 inches
(9.4 cm) in downtown San Francisco, and up to 7 inches
(17.8 cm) elsewhere, on February 5, 1887.[35] The last
measurable snowfall in San Francisco was on February
5, 1976, when most of the city received an inch of snow.
The combination of cold ocean water and
the high heat of the California mainland create the city's
characteristic fog that can cover the western half of
the city all day during the spring and early summer.
The fog is less pronounced in eastern neighborhoods,
in the late summer, and during the fall, which are the
warmest months of the year. Due to its sharp topography
and maritime influences, San Francisco exhibits a multitude
of distinct microclimates. The high hills in the geographic
center of the city are responsible for a 20% variance
in annual rainfall between different parts of the city.They
also protect neighborhoods directly to their east from
the foggy and cool conditions experienced in the Sunset
District; for those who live on the eastern side of the
city, San Francisco is sunnier, with an average of 260
clear days, and only 105 cloudy days per year.
Demographics
The estimated 2007 population of San
Francisco is 764,976. With nearly 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 greater San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland
Combined Statistical Area (CSA) whose population is over
7 million: the fifth largest in the U.S. 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 2005, the Census
Bureau estimated that 44.1 percent of the population
was non-Hispanic white. Asian Americans, principally
Chinese, make up about a third of the population. Hispanics
of any race make up about 14 percent of the population.
San Francisco's African American population has declined
in recent decades, from 13.4 percent of the city in 1970
to 7.2% of the population in 2006.The current percentage
of African Americans in San Francisco is similar to that
of the state of California.
Relatively few of the city's residents
are native San Franciscans. Only 35 percent of its residents
were born in California; 39 percent were born outside
the U.S.
San Francisco 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.Gay men outnumber lesbians; it
has been estimated that one in five male city residents
over the age of 15 is gay.
The San Francisco median household income
is $57,833 and the median family income, at $67,809 in
2005, is the third-highest for any large city in the
nation.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
7.8 percent, is lower than the national average and among
the lowest for cities ranked by the U.S. Census Department.
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 city in the U.S.The
rates of violent and property crime, reported for 2005
as 799 and 4974 incidents per 100,000 residents respectively
are higher than the national average. Among the 50
largest U.S. cities by population, San Francisco ranks
29th and 39th in each of those categories.In 2007,
the city recorded 98 homicides, the highest number in
more than a decade, due largely to guns and drugs.
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