San Francisco Bay Area Combined Statistical Area
Encyclopedia
Table of United States Combined Statistical Areas
thumb|An enlargeable map of the 125 [[Combined Statistical Area]]s of the [[United States]]The United States Office of Management and Budget has defined 125 Combined Statistical Areas for the United States of America...
(CSA) as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget. This census-defined area encompasses the better known nine-county San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
as well as two other counties the Bay Area does not traditionally include.
The SFBA CSA is entirely within Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
and is composed of 11 counties: Alameda
Alameda County, California
Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...
, Contra Costa
Contra Costa County, California
Contra Costa County is a primarily suburban county in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 1,049,025...
, Marin
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
, Napa
Napa County, California
Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....
, San Benito
San Benito County, California
San Benito County is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California, south of San Jose. As of 2010 the population was 55,269. The county seat is Hollister, which includes nearly two-thirds of the county's population. El Camino Real passes through the county and...
, San Francisco, San Mateo
San Mateo County, California
San Mateo County is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula just south of San Francisco, and north of Santa Clara County. San Francisco International Airport is located at the northern end of the county, and...
, Santa Clara
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz County, California
Santa Cruz County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, on the California Central Coast. The county forms the northern coast of the Monterey Bay. . As of the 2010 U.S. Census, its population was 262,382. The county seat is Santa Cruz...
, Solano
Solano County, California
Solano County is a county located in Bay-Delta region of the U.S. state of California, about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento and is one of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. The county's population was reported by the U.S. Census to be 413,344 in 2010...
, and Sonoma
Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of the U.S. state of California, is the largest and northernmost of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. Its population at the 2010 census was 483,878. Its largest city and county seat is Santa Rosa....
. This definition is larger than the popular local definition of the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
which consists of nine counties each touching the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
. The popular designation does not include San Benito or Santa Cruz counties.
The SFBA CSA has a population of more than 7.46 million as determined in the 2010 census, up from about 7 million in 2002. In the U.S., the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland CSA has the second highest educational attainment in both bachelor's and master's degree, and the second highest median household income
Median household income
The median household income is commonly used to generate data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more...
after Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
The Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area is a combined statistical area consisting of the overlapping labor market region of the cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.. The region includes Central Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Jefferson County in the Eastern Panhandle of West...
. The Bay Area contains the two U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) that have the highest per capita number of Forbes 400
Forbes 400
The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by Forbes Magazine magazine of the wealthiest 400 Americans, ranked by net worth. The list is published annually in September, and 2010 marks the 29th issue. The 400 was started by Malcom Forbes in 1982 and treats those in the list like...
millionaires
The SFBA CSA has six component MSA's:
- San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSASan Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSASan Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSA is a Metropolitan Statistical Area within the San Francisco Bay Area, which includes a number of its core cities and counties. It is defined by the US Census Bureau to include core areas economically influenced by San Francisco rather than outlying cities such...
(San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Mateo Counties) - San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA (including San Benito County)
- Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA MSA
- Vallejo-Fairfield, CA MSA
- Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA MSA
- Napa, CA MSA
The 11th-most populous MSA in the U.S. is San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, and the San Jose MSA is the 31st-most populous.