Maps of Silicon Valley & The San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area Regions

The SF Bay Area consists of nine counties: Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Marin County, Napa County, San Francisco County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Solano County and Sonoma County.

The "Bay Area" is often spoken of not so much by counties as by which general region it belongs to, such as "the south bay". Locals also speak of areas that don't match up with the county names, though, such as "Silicon Valley" or "The Delta". So to help out people who are relocating, I sketched out on Google Maps the larger regions of the San Francisco Bay Area, which include (with map colors below):

• San Francisco - light blue
• the Peninsula - dark blue
• the South Bay (Santa Clara County) - in orange
• the East Bay - pink
• the North Bay - yellow
• the Delta - green
• the Monterey Bay - light blue 
   

Click on the different colored areas for more information on each one. (Defined areas are only approximate.)



View San Francisco Bay Area Region in a larger map

How do the counties line up to the regions?

Alameda County: east bay
Contra Costa County: east bay
Marin County: north bay
Napa County: north bay
San Francisco County: the epicenter of the bay area
San Mateo County: the peninsula
Santa Clara County: the south bay
Solano County: the delta
Sonoma County: north bay

The Bay - Delta region is a set of waterways that empties into the SF Bay at a northeast point and crawls through part of the San Joaquin Valley and Stockton areas - it's part East Bay.

The Monterey Bay is not really part of the San Francisco Bay Area but is so close that it's worth including too.
 
What about Silicon Valley? It's primarily in the "south bay" and nearby areas. Silicon Valley is mostly Santa Clara County with a little of Santa Cruz County, Alameda County and a fair amount of San Mateo County.


View Silicon Valley in a larger map

Disclaimer: maps are approximate only!