San Francisco is an international city known as much for its tech companies and progressive politics as it is for iconic urban parks, world-famous architecture and foggy vistas. Instantly recognizable landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge tower over the skyline alongside glassy high-rise condos and office buildings. Diverse and artistic, the city is brimming with award-winning restaurants, live music at historic theaters, independent art galleries and world-class museums. It's the fourth largest city in California, with just over 800,000 residents. “San Francisco is not one distinct destination," says Eddie O’Sullivan, a longtime San Francisco resident and Realtor and Broker of Elevation Real Estate. "Every neighborhood has its own flavor. It’s cool because you could be hiking in one part of the city, having brunch in another spot like Cole Valley/Parnassus Heights , then off to go look out at the ocean or to take in a show or opera performance, usually in Hayes Valley , which is one of our districts that’s closest to something you’d find in New York City.”
San Francisco’s location is another draw. It sits north of Silicon Valley, west of Oakland and south of scenic Marin County and Napa Valley wine country, while the gusty Pacific coastline dominates the city’s western edge. At the center of it all are the tall, rangy hills of Twin Peaks, Mount Davidson and Mount Sutro. The surrounding streetscapes are full of diverse architecture that spans generations, ranging from ultramodern chic in districts like Mission Bay to gaudy Italianate structures in Nob Hill and pastel rowhomes in the Central Sunset and Inner Sunset communities.
San Francisco is steeped in history that reverberates today. Beat Generation poets like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg put San Francisco on the literary map and helped inspire the hippie movement that took over the streets of Haight-Ashbury in 1967. Around the same time, the Castro district emerged as one of the nation’s first gay neighborhoods, and it remains a significant symbol of LGBTQ+ pride and culture. In the 1990s, San Francisco and Silicon Valley were the epicenter of the nation’s tech boom. The city remains home to major companies like Uber, Lyft, X Corp. and Salesforce and is a hub for emerging industries like artificial intelligence and self-driving vehicles. The tech industry’s rapid expansion brought with it an influx of affluent new residents that transformed San Francisco into one of the wealthiest cities in the world.
The Golden Gate Bridge offers stunning views of San Francisco from Inspiration Point.
San Francisco's skyline glows at night, highlighting its rich culture and tech influence.
North Beach has vibrant nightlife along Columbus Avenue.
The Financial District skyline is an iconic part of what makes San Francisco special.
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From historic homes to ultramodern chic
San Francisco has some of the highest housing prices in the country, on par with New York City. The market soared to new heights during the COVID-19 pandemic but has since fallen to near pre-pandemic levels. “Sale prices are down, and interest rates are up. If you’re a buyer, there are some real deals out there right now,” says Michael Minson, a real estate agent at Keller Williams Realty and longtime San Francisco resident. The median single-family home price in San Francisco is about $1.3 million, around 32% higher than the state’s average and significantly higher than the national median average price of $412,000.
The sprawling city offers everything from brand-new, multi-million-dollar condos with Bay views to century-old homes in historic neighborhoods. San Francisco is probably best known for its ornate and colorful Victorian and Edwardian houses and condo buildings, but it also commonly showcases eclectic Arts and Crafts properties built in the 1920s and 30s and vibrant Marina-style homes known for their distinctive “tuck-under” garages and large, front bay windows. Streetscapes vary, from winding, steep hills and valleys to blustery flatlands near the Pacific coast.
Arden Condos is sleekly designed with a rooftop pool and garden.
Nearly every home in Sea Cliff has easy access to an ocean front view.
Rows of colorful stucco homes line the streets of the Outer Sunset.
With a variety of homes and rolling fog, Mount Davidson is a unique place to call home.
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Iconic urban parks and surrounding recreation
Natural scenery and urban parks are major selling points for San Francisco residents. Nowhere is this more apparent than at Golden Gate Park, an iconic, 1,000-acre linear park designed by renowned landscape architect Frank Olmsted. Located on the city's western side, it features botanical gardens, walking paths and art institutions like the De Young Museum. Nearby is Presidio National Park, a massive coastal green space between the Palace of Fine Arts, Baker Beach and the Golden Gate Bridge. Scenic views at Golden Gate Overlook and Inspiration Point have made it a premier outdoor destination. Plus, early morning tee times are sought-after at the park’s municipal golf course. People come from all around to view the famous Painted Ladies, a set of Victorian homes that sit along the eastern side of Alamo Square Park.
The windswept coastline offers scenic views of the Pacific. It’s typically too frigid to swim, but serious surfers ride the waves year round, while other residents enjoy walking along the beaches. The Upper Great Highway, a stretch of roadway that borders the beach, becomes a bustling, pedestrian promenade on weekends, with the street closed to cars. Perched along the hills in the heart of the city is the lively Mission Delores Park, with tennis courts, playgrounds and soccer fields tucked away amid dense residential streets.
San Francisco’s tallest mountains, Twin Peaks and Mountain Davidson, rise nearly 1,000 feet above sea level. Winding trails at Buena Vista Park, Corona Heights Park and inside the Twin Peaks neighborhood offer rugged hiking to mountaintops with views of the city skyline below. The Bay coast is dotted with harbors and marinas for boating, fishing and kayaking adventures. San Francisco is also close expansive forests of 3,000-year-old Redwood trees at Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park and Muir Woods National Monument, both less than 20 miles away.
San Francisco’s iconic Painted Ladies line Alamo Square.
California poppies grow throughout the Twin Peaks neighborhood in San Francisco.
San Franciscans can enjoy a warm summer day at Golden Gate Park's Conservancy of Flowers.
One can jog on Baker Beach with the iconic Golden Gate as a backdrop in the Presidio.
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Arts, culture and city events
San Francisco is known around the world for its vibrant culinary scene. Nowhere exemplifies the diversity of the city’s food scene quite like the Mission District, where upscale Michelin-starred restaurants like Lazy Bear open their door alongside Mexican cantinas that made the neighborhood famous with their Mission-style burritos in the 1960s. With tons of options, including Thai, Korean, Russian, Chinese, Italian and Vietnamese, the city thas something for everyone.
Arts, history and culture can be found at more than a dozen museums. The Asian Art Museum offers a massive collection of sculpture, painting and textiles dating back thousands of years, while the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is the spot for contemporary and modern works. Located on the waterfront at Pier 17 is the Exploratorium, a world-class science museum with interactive exhibits. Independent and performing arts are alive and well in the city, with dozens of local art galleries, bright murals and historic venues like The Fillmore and the Orpheum Theatre.
Sports fans will find plenty to enjoy — the city features the brand-new Chase Center arena, the home venue of the Golden State Warriors. The 18,000-seat arena is located at the San Francisco Bay waterfront, surrounded by Thrive City, an open-air community plaza with parks, public art and casual dining. Just north of Chase Center is Oracle Park, where the San Francisco Giants baseball team plays home games. Beyond museums and sports offerings, there are annual events such as the San Francisco Pride Parade in June, the Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown, and the Carnaval San Francisco, the largest multicultural festival on the West Coast.
Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco hosts the incredible SF Symphony.
San Francisco summers offer free, live music concerts at the Stern Grove Festival every Sund
Discover new perspectives by Yayoi Kusama at SFMOMA in San Francisco.
Oracle Park in South Beach is the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants.
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Top-rated public schools and colleges
San Francisco prides itself on its well-rated public and private schools and universities. Overall, the San Francisco Unified School District earns an A rating from Nich and offers numerous language immersion schools. Public high schools like Lowell High School are among the highest-rated schools in the state, earning an A-plus grade from Niche.
City College of San Francisco is one of the largest community colleges in the United States. The University of California, San Francisco is a graduate-level health, medical and life sciences school with four campuses throughout the city. Its Mission Bay campus is one of the largest biomedical research areas in the world. San Francisco State is a public research university that serves more than 25,000 students.
San Francisco Unified School District earns an A rating from Niche.
San Francisco's Lick-Wilmerding High has a lovely modern entrance.
UCSF Mission Bay in San Francisco is a world-renowned hub for health sciences.
The City of College of San Francisco sits in the far south of the Sunnyside neighborhood.
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Getting around the Bay
The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train has eight stops in San Francisco, primarily on the city's eastern side. The BART system spans the Bay Area, taking passengers east to Oakland, Berkeley and Antioch and south to North San Jose. The Caltrain commuter train service transports residents to Silicon Valley tech hubs like Palo Alto, Menlo Park and San Jose. Cable cars, light rail and buses provide reliable local transit. Interstate 80, Interstate 280 and State Route 101 connect residents to the wider region. The San Francisco International Airport is about 14 miles south of downtown and offers nonstop service to dozens of domestic and international destinations, including Miami, Los Angeles and Mexico City.
Above-average crime rates and the city’s microclimates
According to FBI data, San Francisco's reported property crime rates often exceed state and national averages, and the reported violent crime rates are generally on par with U.S. averages. The city of San Francisco reported a 29% overall decrease in crime between 2023 and 2024, with both property crime and violent crime rates trending downward.
San Francisco experiences a Mediterranean-like climate, with dry and warm summers and mildly cool, wet winters. "The climate is one of the biggest highlights of San Francisco," Sullivan says. "There are micro-climates here, so you have to pick your place and preference. But you generally get the blue skies and very mild weather that never gets super-hot or super cold." San Francisco’s coastal neighborhoods, like Sunset and Outer Richmond , can get more fog and wind than other areas, while those on the other side of Twin Peaks tend to be sunnier and warmer. San Francisco is expecting more high-risk heat temperatures and sea level rise in the coming decades, which could then bring flood risks to certain parts of the area. The city instated a Climate Action Plan in 2021 with the hopes of meeting the city’s goals of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
A new neighborhood comes to life
New development is a near-constant in San Francisco. One of the largest real estate ventures currently under construction is the rebuilding of Yerba Buena Island, a small island in the San Francisco Bay along the Interstate 80 bridge. Once home to a U.S. naval base, the island is being revamped with thousands of homes, restaurants, retail and coastal parks. “It’s the most exciting new project going on in San Francisco," Minson says. "They’re creating an entire new neighborhood there."
Yerba Buena Island welcomes visitors with bold signage and scenic views of San Francisco Bay.
San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Island gains new homes, parks, and scenic views.
New homes on Yerba Buena Island offer Bay Bridge views and easy access to San Francisco.
Yerba Buena Island prepares for San Francisco’s newest neighborhood.
Tom is a San Francisco native and his family has been in the Bay Area for over a century. As a child he spent summers in Marin (when a summer cottage in Marin was affordable) and has now lived here for the past 25 years. His three children were educated at Bacich, Kent, and Redwood schools.
For over forty years, Tom has been purchasing and remodeling houses in San Francisco, New York, and Marin, designing and overseeing all the work. His formal education was in fine arts, but with a grandfather, father, and brother all in architecture, renovating houses came naturally.
Tom's office is in downtown Mill Valley. Here they maintain the feel of an old time, small town real estate office, yet they are part of an international real estate giant. He loves the ambiance of being in the heart of Mill Valley, plus the opportunity to meet people from all over the world who drop in inquiring about renting or buying a home in Marin, or who are just looking for a restaurant or the route to Stinson Beach.
Tom's background as a Marin resident and a San Francisco native enable him to assist both clients already living in Marin and those moving to Marin from San Francisco. With his background as an artist and a home renovator he can help buyers see the potential in property that others might miss. He offers sellers his energy, his enthusiasm, and his full attention in assuring that their property is well marketed. He works with a range of clients in all price ranges.
Disclaimer: Certain information contained herein is derived from information provided by parties other than Homes.com. Our sources include: Accuweather, Public Records and Neustar. All information provided is deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate and should be independently verified.
