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Population at Bay

Visitors to San Francisco are often surprised by the population of the city being just under 900k people compared to a city like LA which has a population of almost 4 million. What people don't realise is that in terms of square mileage, SF is a relatively small city compared to most big cities. The size of the city is often referred to as being 7x7 (i.e. 49 square miles) which is less than a 10th of LA's 503 square miles. 

So instead of just 'San Francisco' what you'll often hear is people referring to the 'San Francisco Bay Area' which encompasses the surrounding counties. These counties include cities such as San Jose, Oakland and Fremont which helps to make it more comparable to other major cities. The SF Bay Area is about 6,900 square miles and has a population of about 7.1 million people compared to say a city like Sydney which is about 4,700 square miles and has a population of 5.2 million. 

                               Population                      Land Size

San Francisco        900 k                                49 square miles

SF 'Bay Area'        7,1 million                        6,900 square miles

Los Angeles           4 million                          503 square miles

Sydney                   5.2 million                        4,700 square miles. 




This also explains why if you live in San Francisco, your city address is always just San Francisco, even if you mention to people that you live in the Richmond or Pacific Heights. These are not official postal addresses. In contrast, people in Australia might say they are from 'Sydney' but their official 'city' address will actually be something like Bondi or Newtown. This is because similar to New York City where things are divided into areas such as Manhattan, Queens & Brooklyn, when people refer to Sydney they're referring to what's known as the 'Greater Metropolitan Area of Sydney' which is all 4,700 square miles as shown in the picture above. 



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