What Is Considered the Bay

Although it doesn’t have any firm boundaries, the Bay Area includes portions of nine counties: Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano, San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Alameda, and Santa Clara.

What is considered part of the Bay Area?

That’s Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma. Among these nine counties are 101 cities, an estimated 7.756 million people and about 7,000 square miles.

What city is called the Bay?

San Francisco, nicknamed “The City by the Bay,” was officially incorporated in 1850 and has a very rich history. In the year 1848, the first gold was found in the foothills, resulting in a gold rush that caused the population to grow from 1,000 to 25,000 in just one year.