San Francisco – A Golden Gate State of Mind

San Francisco is located on the west coast of the United States, in the central western region of the state of California, along the Pacific Ocean. The city is located on a peninsula that is borders San Francisco Bay to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is the twelfth most populous city in the United States, with over 800,000 people. San Francisco has a land mass of 47 square miles. Explored and claimed by Spain in the mid to late 1700’s, San Francisco became independent from Spain and part of Mexico in 1821. California was claimed by the United States in 1846, and was ceded to the U.S. at the conclusion of the Mexican American War in 1848. In the mid 1800’s San Francisco experienced an influx of people on account of the Gold Rush. Overland rail in the form of the Pacific Railroad arrived in San Francisco in 1869, positioning the city as a major trade hub. In 1906, a massive earthquake destroyed nearly three fourths of the city, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless. The city rebuilt itself in grand fashion. San Francisco’s banking community fared well during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, and showed itself as a model of stability. During World War II, Fort Mason became the port of departure for personnel destined for the Pacific Theater. The 1950’s and 1960’s brought controversial teardown and redevelopment of San Francisco’s west side neighborhoods and new freeway construction. Port activity started moving out of the city to nearby Oakland, much of the Caucasian population left the city, as an influx of immigrants from Asia and Latin America moved in. San Francisco experienced a new surge of growth in the 1990’s with the dot-com boom, and certain areas in the city became gentrified. While many dot-coms went out of business in the dot-com crash in the early 2000’s, technology remains a mainstay of the San Francisco economy and Silicon Valley, which lies to the south along the San Francisco Peninsula.

The San Francisco Economy: Tourism and Technology are the Trends

San Francisco is a major business and commercial center. The city is home to six companies listed on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies in the U.S. The main drivers of the San Francisco economy today are: tourism and conventions, finance and banking, government services, general services, health care, medical research, education, and small businesses, including technology start-ups.

The Crime Scene in San Francisco: Moving in the Right Direction

San Francisco ranks behind its fellow Californian large cities Los Angeles and San Diego for both violent crime and property crime. However, in 2010 San Francisco is on pace to realize a 9% reduction in overall crime from 2009. Total violent crimes are on pace for a reduction of 4% and property crimes are on pace for a 9% reduction. Violent crime in the city is approaching historic lows.

The San Francisco Population and Politics: Heavily Democratic

San Francisco has a population of over 800,000 people. Its population has been growing at a rate of 1.0% per year over the past decade. The city’s population is composed of non-Hispanic Caucasians at 45%, Asians at 31%, Hispanics at 14%, and African Americans at 7%, with the balance of other races. San Francisco has generally leaned heavily Democratic in its political preferences recently. Among the nearly 600,000 votes cast in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, San Francisco voters chose Democratic candidate Barack Obama over Republican candidate John McCain by a ratio of six to one.

Education in San Francisco: Brainwaves

Educational attainment among the San Francisco populace is ahead of that of the U.S. as a whole. As of 2000, roughly 81% of its residents aged 25 and older had completed high school and a whopping 45% had completed college, well above the national average. There are numerous colleges and universities located in San Francisco. San Francisco State University, the well-known state institution, is home to more than 30,000 students. Among institutions of higher learning in San Francisco are: Golden Gate University, the University of California San Francisco, and University of the Pacific.