Editing San Francisco (section)

==Economy==
{{See also|List of companies based in San Francisco}}
[[File:Montgomery Street from Telegraph Hill, San Francisco.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Financial District, San Francisco|San Francisco's Financial District]], despite its declining importance,<ref name=SanFranciscoFinancialDistrictDecline>{{cite news|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2022/sfnext-downtown/|title=Downtown S.F. on the brink: It's worse than it looks|first1=Noah |last1=Arroyo|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=June 10, 2022|access-date=September 8, 2023}}</ref> is still considered the [[Wall Street West#"Wall Street of the West"|Wall Street of the West]].]]

The city has a diversified [[service economy]], with employment spread across a wide range of professional services, including [[tourism]], [[financial services]], and [[high tech]]nology.<ref name="caedd-2016">{{cite web |url=http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/file/indhist/sanfrhaw.xls |title=Industry Employment & Labor Force – by Annual Average for San Francisco County |year=2016 |publisher=California Employment Development Department}}</ref> In 2016, approximately 27% of workers were employed in professional business services; 14% in leisure and hospitality; 13% in government services; 12% in education and health care; 11% in trade, transportation, and utilities; and 8% in financial activities.<ref name="caedd-2016" /> In 2023, GDP in the five-county [[San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area|San Francisco metropolitan area]] grew 3.4% in real terms to $779&nbsp;billion.<ref name=":1" /> Additionally, in 2023 the 14-county [[San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area|San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland]] [[combined statistical area]] had a GDP of $1.397&nbsp;trillion, ranking 3rd among [[Combined statistical area|CSA]]s, and ahead of all but [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|15 countries]]. {{As of|2023}}, San Francisco County ranked 11th by income per capita among U.S. counties, with a per capita personal income of $164,807.<ref name="2021Pop"/> [[Marin County, California|Marin County]], directly to the north over the [[Golden Gate Bridge]], and [[San Mateo County, California|San Mateo County]], directly to the south on the [[San Francisco Peninsula|Peninsula]], were the 7th and 9th highest-income counties respectively.
[[File:San Francisco, California April 2022 skyline (cropped2).jpg|thumb|right|Skyline of [[South of Market, San Francisco|South of Market]] (SoMa), including [[Salesforce Tower]], the [[List of tallest buildings in San Francisco|tallest building in San Francisco]]]]
The legacy of the California gold rush turned San Francisco into the principal banking and finance center of the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] in the early twentieth century.<ref name="California2011">{{cite book|author=Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration of Northern California|title=San Francisco in the 1930s: The WPA Guide to the City by the Bay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gejyWi3CI74C&pg=PA114|year=2011|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-26880-7|page=114}}</ref> [[Montgomery Street]] in the [[Financial District, San Francisco|Financial District]] became known as the "[[Wall Street West#San Francisco|Wall Street of the West]]", home to the [[Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco]], and the site of the now-defunct [[Pacific Exchange|Pacific Coast Stock Exchange]].<ref name="California2011"/> [[Bank of America]], a pioneer in making banking services accessible to the middle class, was founded in San Francisco and in the 1960s, built the landmark modern skyscraper at [[555 California Street]] for its corporate headquarters, since relocated to [[Charlotte, North Carolina]]. Many large financial institutions, multinational banks, and venture capital firms are based in or have regional headquarters in the city. With over 30 international financial institutions,<ref name="CityData.com">{{cite web
|title = San Francisco: Economy
|publisher=City-Data.com
|url = http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-West/San-Francisco-Economy.html
|access-date =June 15, 2008
}}</ref> six [[Fortune 500]] companies,<ref>{{cite news
|title = Fortune 500
|publisher = Fortune magazine, Time Inc
|year = 2013
|url = https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2013/full_list/index.html?iid=F500_sp_full
|access-date = April 6, 2014
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140327164549/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2013/full_list/index.html?iid=F500_sp_full
|archive-date = March 27, 2014
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> and a large supporting infrastructure of professional services—including law, public relations, [[San Francisco architecture|architecture]] and design—San Francisco is designated as an [[Globalization and World Cities Research Network#Alpha|Alpha(-) World City]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2012.html|title=The World According to GaWC 2012|work=Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group and Network|publisher=[[Loughborough University]]|access-date=January 25, 2014}}</ref> The 2024 [[Global Financial Centres Index]] ranked San Francisco as the fifth-most competitive financial center in the world.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=The Global Financial Centres Index 36 |url=https://www.longfinance.net/publications/long-finance-reports/the-global-financial-centres-index-36/ |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=www.longfinance.net}}</ref>

Beginning in the 1990s, San Francisco's economy diversified away from finance and tourism towards the growing fields of high tech, [[biotechnology]], and [[medical research]].<ref name="Waters2009"/> Technology jobs accounted for just 1 percent of San Francisco's economy in 1990, growing to 4 percent in 2010 and an estimated 8 percent by the end of 2013.<ref>{{cite news
|title = Forecasting San Francisco's Economic Fortunes
|first = Jennifer |last = Warburg
|date = February 27, 2014
|work = SPUR
|url = http://www.spur.org/blog/2014-02-27/forecasting-san-francisco-s-economic-fortunes
|access-date = April 6, 2014
}}</ref> San Francisco became a center of Internet [[Startup company|start-up companies]] during the [[dot-com bubble]] of the 1990s and the subsequent [[social media]] boom of the late 2000s (decade).<ref>{{cite news
|last = Selna |first = Robert
|title = New jobs, houses spur S.F. population in 2007
|work=San Francisco Chronicle |page = B-1

|date = May 15, 2008
|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/15/BA2110LPHB.DTL
|access-date =June 14, 2008
}}</ref> Since 2010, San Francisco proper has attracted an increasing share of venture capital investments as compared to nearby [[Silicon Valley]], attracting 423 financings worth US$4.58&nbsp;billion in 2013.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/02/27/as-bay-area-investment-shifts-north-institutional-venture-partners-opens-san-francisco-office/ |title=As Bay Area Investment Shifts North, Institutional Venture Partners Opens San Francisco Office |date=February 27, 2014 |first=Russ |last=Garland |work=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=April 11, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first1=Richard|last1=Florida|url=http://martinprosperity.org/2014/03/26/startup-city-the-urban-shift-in-venture-capital-and-high-technology/ |title=Startup City: The Urban Shift in Venture Capital and High Technology |date=March 31, 2014 |access-date=April 6, 2014 |publisher=Martin Prosperity Institute, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140405044024/http://martinprosperity.org/2014/03/26/startup-city-the-urban-shift-in-venture-capital-and-high-technology/ |archive-date=April 5, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/San-Francisco-s-urban-tech-boom-3850039.php |title=San Francisco's urban tech boom |first=Richard |last=Florida |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=September 8, 2012 |access-date=April 6, 2014}}</ref> In 2004, the city approved a payroll tax exemption for biotechnology companies<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2010/05/03/daily38.html |title=S.F. extends biotech payroll tax exemption |date=May 4, 2010 |first=Eric |last=Young |work=San Francisco Business Times |access-date=April 6, 2014}}</ref> to foster growth in the [[Mission Bay, San Francisco|Mission Bay]] neighborhood, site of a second campus and hospital of the [[University of California, San Francisco]] (UCSF). Mission Bay hosts the [[UCSF Medical Center]], the [[California Institute for Regenerative Medicine]], [[California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences]], and [[Gladstone Institutes]],<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://sfced.org/case-for-business/sectors/life-sciences-biotech/sector-data/ |title=Life Sciences & Biotech |publisher=San Francisco Center for Economic Development |access-date=April 6, 2014}}</ref> as well as more than 40 private-sector life sciences companies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfmayor.org/index.aspx?page=899&recordid=91 |title=Mayor Lee Announces New Biotech Incubator in Mission Bay |date=September 10, 2013|publisher=Office of the Mayor, City and County of San Francisco|access-date=April 6, 2014}}</ref>

[[File:Union Square - San Francisco (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|[[Union Square, San Francisco|Union Square]], despite its declining profile,<ref name=UnionSquareSFDecline>{{cite news|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/union-square-macys-18693950.php|title=Union Square once was the center of San Francisco. Now it's off the map|first1=John|last1=King|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=March 3, 2024|access-date=March 3, 2024}}</ref> is still a major [[retail]] hub for San Francisco and the Bay Area.]]

According to academic Rob Wilson, San Francisco is a [[global city]], a status that pre-dated the city's popularity during the [[California gold rush]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wilson|first=Rob|date=November 2008|title=Spectral city: San Francisco as Pacific Rim city and counter-cultural contado|journal=Inter-Asia Cultural Studies|volume=9|issue=4|pages=583–597|doi=10.1080/14649370802386503|s2cid=145302676}}</ref> However, the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United States|COVID-19 pandemic]] has led to high office vacancy rates and the accelerating evacuation of many retail and tech businesses out of the downtown core of San Francisco.<ref name=DowntownSanFranDying/><ref name=SanFran2025AcceleratingDoomLoop>{{cite web|url=https://sfist.com/2025/01/21/bloomingdales-to-close-at-sf-centre-ushering-in-further-bleak-days-for-beleaguered-mall/|title=Bloomingdale's to Close at SF Centre, Ushering In Further Bleak Days for Beleaguered Mall|author=Jay Barmann|publisher=SFiST|date=January 21, 2025|access-date=January 23, 2025|archive-date=January 22, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122200834/https://sfist.com/2025/01/21/bloomingdales-to-close-at-sf-centre-ushering-in-further-bleak-days-for-beleaguered-mall/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="SanFranExodus4">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/business/economy/california-san-francisco-empty-downtown.html|title=What Comes Next for the Most Empty Downtown in America – Tech workers are still at home. The $17 salad place is expanding into the suburbs. So what is left in San Francisco?|first1=Conor|last1=Dougherty|first2=Emma|last2=Goldberg|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 17, 2022|access-date=December 17, 2022|quote=On any given week in San Francisco, office buildings are at about 40 percent of their prepandemic occupancy.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=D'Innocenzio |first1=Anne |last2=Har |first2=Janie |title=Diversify or die: San Francisco's downtown is a wake-up call for other cities |url=https://apnews.com/article/san-francisco-downtown-retail-exodus-6c956f6f219a25aafd292f567a45a302 |access-date=October 10, 2023 |work=AP News |date=July 16, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Attributed causes include a shift to [[remote work]] in the technology and professional services sectors, as well as high levels of [[homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area|homelessness]], drug use, and crime in areas around downtown San Francisco, such as the [[Tenderloin, San Francisco|Tenderloin]] and [[Mid-Market, San Francisco|Mid-Market]] neighborhoods.<ref name="SanFranDoomLoop5">{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/06/how-san-francisco-became-failed-city/661199/|title=HOW SAN FRANCISCO BECAME A FAILED CITY|first1=Nellie|last1=Bowles|date=June 8, 2022 |publisher=[[The Atlantic]]|access-date=June 27, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Truong |first1=Kevin |title=As Twitter Goes, So Goes a Revival of the Neighborhood It Helped Transform |url=https://sfstandard.com/2022/10/24/as-twitter-goes-so-goes-a-revival-of-the-neighborhood-it-helped-transform/ |access-date=October 10, 2023 |work=The San Francisco Standard |date=October 24, 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

The top employer in San Francisco is the city government itself, employing 5.6% (35,000+ people) of the city's workforce, followed by [[UCSF]] with over 29,000 employees.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (ACFR) {{!}} San Francisco |url=https://www.sf.gov/annual-comprehensive-financial-reports-acfr |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=www.sf.gov}}</ref> The largest private-sector employer is [[Salesforce]], with 11,953 employees, {{As of|2024|lc=y}}. Small businesses with fewer than 10 employees and self-employed firms made up 85% of city establishments in 2006,<ref>
{{cite news
|last = Tan |first = Aldrich M.
|title = San Francisco is gateway city for immigrants and Silicon Valley Technology
|publisher=Fogcityjournal.com
|date = April 12, 2006
|url = http://www.fogcityjournal.com/news_in_brief/sf_tech_gateway_060412.shtml
|access-date =June 15, 2008
}}</ref> and the number of San Franciscans employed by firms of more than 1,000 employees has fallen by half since 1977.<ref name="SFEconomicStrategy" /> The growth of national [[big-box store|big box]] and [[formula retail]] chains into the city has been made intentionally difficult by political and civic consensus. In an effort to buoy small privately owned businesses in San Francisco and preserve the unique retail personality of the city, the Small Business Commission started a publicity campaign in 2004 to keep a larger share of retail dollars in the local economy,<ref>{{cite news
|title=Main Street Fights Chain Street
|author=Said, Carolyn
|date=November 29, 2005
|url=http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/SMALL-BUSINESS-Main-Street-fights-Chain-Street-2592370.php
|access-date =August 27, 2006 |work=San Francisco Chronicle
}}</ref> and the Board of Supervisors has used the planning code to limit the neighborhoods where formula retail establishments can set up shop,<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-Supervisors-OK-limits-on-2776613.php
|last1=Hetter
|first1=Katia
|date=March 21, 2004
|title=Supervisors OK limits on chain-store expansion
|access-date=January 19, 2007
|work=San Francisco Chronicle
}}</ref> an effort affirmed by San Francisco voters.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://smartvoter.org/2006/11/07/ca/sf/meas/G/
|title=Proposition G: Limitations on Formula Retail Stores, City of San Francisco
|access-date=January 19, 2007
|publisher=smartvoter.org
}}</ref> However, by 2016, San Francisco was rated low by small businesses in a Business Friendliness Survey.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.thumbtack.com/survey#/2016/11/states |title=Nevada|work=[[Thumbtack (website)|Thumbtack]]|access-date= October 21, 2016}}</ref>

[[File:San Francisco Ferry Building January 2014 002 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[San Francisco Ferry Building|Ferry Building]] in the [[Embarcadero (San Francisco)|Embarcadero]].]]

[[Manufacturing in the United States|Like many U.S. cities]], San Francisco once had a significant manufacturing sector employing nearly 60,000 workers in 1969, but nearly all production left for cheaper locations by the 1980s.<ref name="Frojo2014">
{{cite news
|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/print-edition/2014/02/14/made-in-san-francisco-manufacturing.html?page=all
|title=Made in San Francisco: Manufacturing a comeback
|first=Renée |last=Frojo
|date=February 14, 2014
|access-date=April 6, 2014}}</ref> {{As of|2014}}, San Francisco has seen a small resurgence in manufacturing, with more than 4,000 manufacturing jobs across 500 companies, doubling since 2011. The city's largest manufacturing employer is [[Anchor Brewing Company]], and the largest by revenue is [[Timbuk2]].<ref name="Frojo2014"/>

As of the first quarter of {{As of|2022|bare=yes}}, the median value of homes in San Francisco County was $1,297,030. It ranked third in the U.S. for counties with highest median home value, behind [[Nantucket, Massachusetts]] and [[San Mateo County, California]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=County Median Home Price |url=https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/housing-statistics/county-median-home-prices-and-monthly-mortgage-payment |date=2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420122337/https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/housing-statistics/county-median-home-prices-and-monthly-mortgage-payment |archive-date=April 20, 2022 |website=National Association of Realtors |access-date=October 26, 2022}}</ref>

===Technology===
[[File:Twitter Headquarters in San Francisco-L1001299.jpg|thumb|left|Former [[Twitter|X]] headquarters on [[Market Street (San Francisco)|Market Street]], prior to moving to [[Austin, Texas]]]]
San Francisco became a hub for technology-driven economic growth during the [[internet boom]] of the 1990s, and still holds an important position in the world city network today.<ref name=":02"/><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Aranya|first=Rolee|date=Fall 2017|title=A Global 'Urban Roller Coaster'? Connectivity Changes in the World City Network, 2000–2004|journal=Regional Studies|volume=42|issue=1 |pages=1–16|doi=10.1080/00343400601145202|s2cid=154611136|url=http://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/13311}}</ref> Intense redevelopment towards the "[[new economy]]" makes business more technologically minded. Between the years of 1999 and 2000, the job growth rate was 4.9%, creating over 50,000 jobs in technology firms and internet content production.<ref name=":02" /> However, the technology industry has become geographically dispersed.<ref name=NewYorkCloserThanEvertoBayAreaTech>{{cite news|url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/technology/new-york-closer-ever-beating-bay-area-tech|title=New York is closer than ever to beating the Bay Area on tech|first1=Cara|last1=Eisenpress|newspaper=[[Crain Communications]]|date=April 28, 2023|access-date=May 29, 2023}}</ref><ref name=ManhattanNowBiggestTechHub>{{cite news|url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/technology/manhattan-edges-out-san-francisco-new-early-stage-startups-first-time|title=For the first time, Manhattan edges out San Francisco in new early-stage startups|first1=Cara|last1=Eisenpress|newspaper=[[Crain Communications]]|date=May 22, 2023|access-date=October 14, 2023}}</ref>

In the second technological boom driven by social media in the mid-2000s, San Francisco became a location for companies such as [[Apple Inc.|Apple]], [[Google]], [[Ubisoft San Francisco|Ubisoft]], [[Facebook]], and [[Twitter]] (now known as ''X'') to base their tech offices and for their employees to live.<ref name=":22">{{cite web|url=http://www.sfeconomicstrategy.org/site/uploadedfiles/moed/economic_strat/ExecutiveSummary_EconomicPerformanceReview.pdf|title=City and County of San Francisco: An Overview of San Francisco's Recent Economic Performance|author=Egan|date=April 3, 2006|work=Report prepared for Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development|publisher=ICF Consulting|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201053456/http://www.sfeconomicstrategy.org/site/uploadedfiles/moed/economic_strat/ExecutiveSummary_EconomicPerformanceReview.pdf|archive-date=February 1, 2009|url-status=dead|access-date=December 6, 2017}}</ref>

The final wave of technology materialized as AI companies have either been founded in the city or moved there attracted to a large talent pool, proximity to venture capital, and serendipitous connections.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Despite High Costs, AI-Charged San Francisco Remains a Top Choice for Founding Startups |url=https://www.inc.com/kit-eaton/despite-high-costs-ai-charged-san-francisco-remains-a-top-choice-for-founding-startups.html |work=Inc.}}</ref>

The [[Sunset Reservoir]] Solar Project, completed in 2010, installed 24,000 solar panels on the roof of the reservoir. The 5-megawatt plant more than tripled the city's 2-megawatt solar generation capacity when it opened in December 2010.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Mayor Newsom Praises SFPUC For Approving New Five Megawatt Solar Project at Sunset Reservoir |url=http://www.sfmayor.org/ftp/archive/209.126.225.7/archives/PressRoom_NewsReleases_2008_94667/index.html |publisher=Office of the Mayor, San Francisco |date=December 12, 2008 |access-date=September 29, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://abc7news.com/archive/7830862/ |title=SF gets new way to generate renewable energy |first1=Leigh|last1=Glaser|date=December 7, 2010 |publisher=KGO ABC7 News |access-date=April 13, 2013 |archive-date=April 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410123537/http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=resources/lifestyle_community/green&id=7830862 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Tourism and conventions===
{{See also|Port of San Francisco}}
[[File:Fishermans Wharf Sign, SF, CA, jjron 25.03.2012.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco|Fisherman's Wharf]] is a popular tourist attraction.]]
Tourism is one of San Francisco's most important private-sector industries, accounting for more than one out of seven jobs in the city.<ref name="Waters2009">{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a0OqYCnyJ8eY |title=Biotech Jobs Germinate as San Francisco Diversifies Economy |first=Rob |last=Waters |date=May 15, 2009 |work=Bloomberg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151023145832/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a0OqYCnyJ8eY |archive-date=October 23, 2015 }}</ref><ref name="tourism-largest-private-sector">{{cite news
|last = Flinn
|first = Ryan
|title = S.F. tourism picks up, but spending stays flat
|work = San Francisco Chronicle
|page = D-1
|date = September 3, 2010
|url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/02/BU8S1F7CUG.DTL
|archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170524232958/http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/S-F-tourism-picks-up-but-spending-stays-flat-3253943.php
|url-status = dead
|archive-date = May 24, 2017
|access-date = February 4, 2012
}}</ref> The city's [[San Francisco in popular culture|frequent portrayal]] in music, film, and popular culture has made the city and its landmarks recognizable worldwide. In 2016, it attracted the fifth-highest number of foreign tourists of any city in the United States.<ref>{{cite web
|title = Overseas Visitors to Select U.S. Cities 2015–2016
|work = National Travel and Tourism Office
|publisher = International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce
|year = 2016
|url = http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/Top%20Cities%202016.pdf
|access-date = February 22, 2018
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180222165421/http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/Top%20Cities%202016.pdf
|archive-date = February 22, 2018
|url-status = dead
}}</ref> More than 25&nbsp;million visitors arrived in San Francisco in 2016, adding US$9.96&nbsp;billion to the economy.<ref>{{cite press release
|title = San Francisco Travel Reports Record-Breaking Tourism in 2016
|work=San Francisco Travel Association
|date = January 18, 2017
|url = http://www.sftravel.com/article/san-francisco-travel-reports-record-breaking-tourism-2016
|access-date = December 8, 2017
}}</ref>
With a large hotel infrastructure and a major convention facility in the [[Moscone Center]], San Francisco is a popular destination for annual conventions and conferences.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sanfrancisco.travel/research/ |title=San Francisco Visitor Industry Statistics |year=2013 |publisher=San Francisco Travel Association |access-date=April 5, 2014}}</ref>

Some of the most popular tourist attractions in San Francisco, as noted by the [[Travel Channel]], include the [[Golden Gate Bridge]] and [[Alamo Square, San Francisco|Alamo Square Park]], home to the famous "[[Painted Ladies]]". Both of these locations were often used as landscape shots for the hit American television sitcom ''[[Full House]]''. There is also [[Lombard Street (San Francisco)|Lombard Street]], known for its "crookedness" and extensive views. Tourists also visit [[Pier 39]], which offers dining, shopping, entertainment, and views of the bay, sunbathing [[California sea lions]], the [[Aquarium of the Bay]], and the famous [[Alcatraz Island]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.travelchannel.com/destinations/us/ca/san-francisco/photos/san-francisco/page/16|title=Alcatraz Island : Explore Sensational San Francisco : TravelChannel.com|website=Travel Channel|access-date=November 9, 2016}}</ref>
[[File:Coit Tower, San Francisco, California LCCN2010630427.tif|thumb|left|[[Coit Tower]] on [[Telegraph Hill, San Francisco|Telegraph Hill]]]]
San Francisco also offers tourists varied nightlife in its neighborhoods.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.sftravel.com/article/top-20-attractions-san-francisco|title=Top 20 Attractions in San Francisco|newspaper=San Francisco Travel|access-date=November 9, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=McLean |first=Tessa |title=San Francisco has almost 200 tiny streets. This is my favorite. |url=https://www.sfgate.com/essays/article/best-tiny-streets-alleyways-san-francisco-16386175.php |date=August 16, 2021 |website=SFGATE |language=en-US |access-date=October 26, 2022}}</ref>

The new Terminal Project at Pier 27 opened September 25, 2014, as a replacement for the old Pier 35.<ref>{{cite web|title=SFPort – James R. Herman Cruise Terminal Project at Pier 27|url=http://www.sfport.com/index.aspx?page=282|access-date=March 16, 2013}}</ref>

A heightened interest in conventioneering in San Francisco, marked by the establishment of convention centers such as Yerba Buena, acted as a feeder into the local tourist economy and resulted in an increase in the hotel industry: "In 1959, the city had fewer than thirty-three hundred first-class hotel rooms; by 1970, the number was nine thousand; and by 1999, there were more than thirty thousand."<ref>{{cite book|title=City for sale: The transformation of San Francisco|first=Chester |last=Hartman|publisher=University of California Press|year=2002|page=24}}</ref> The [[pink capitalism|commodification]] of the [[Castro District, San Francisco|Castro District]] has contributed to San Francisco's tourist economy.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = San Francisco's Castro district: from gay liberation to tourist destination|journal = Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change|pages = 237–248|volume = 9|issue = 3|doi = 10.1080/14766825.2011.620122|first = Nan Alamilla|last = Boyd|year = 2011|s2cid = 143916613}}</ref>