San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA


Home to the largest population of Afghan in the United States. The San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metro Area, also known as the San Francisco Bay area, encompasses a 5 county area. The Metro Area is best described as "cities" within "cities." That is, with its ethnic diversity, one can easily go to one neighborhood and see numerous people groups living near one another. While at the same time, one can easily go to another neighborhood and only see people of the same people group or similar cultural affinity.

Total Population: 4,623,264

Census Data

  • Foreign Born - 1,340,835
  • Language Spoken at Home - 1,710,695

[ Source: American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Foreign Born and Language Spoken at Home]

29.7% of Total Population are Foreign Born and 40.2% of Total Population Speak another language other than English at Home.

Quick Facts

  • The largest racial/ethnic groups are White (41.4%) followed by Asian (33.3%) and Hispanic (15.3%).

  • Present growth trends indicate Asians will become the metro's largest ethnic group in a couple of decades.

  • The Ethnic Dance Festival is one of the largest cultural dance festivals in the United States.

  • Different ethnic and national groups often cluster in specific counties. For example, the metro area has the largest populations with Chinese and Russian ancestry; Santa Clara has, by far, the greatest number of residents from India, Vietnam or Mexico; Alameda leads in those of Portuguese or Pacific Island heritage.

  • One of the largest population of Filipinos outside the Philippines.

  • Filipino (Tagalog), the most commonly spoken Filipino language in the Bay Area and the official language of the Philippines, is now a third required language requiring city departments that interact with the public to provide translated materials, interpreters at public meetings and other services, in addition to Chinese and Spanish.

  • North Beach and Chinatown, are home to the largest single concentration of Chinese outside of China.

  • North Beach, an Italian enclave where the Chinese once were not allowed to cross into, is packed with cafes, and excellent restaurants.

  • The Mission District is San Francisco's oldest neighborhood, and home to a large number of Mexican immigrants as well as Central and South American immigrants. There are also taquerias, pupuserias, produce markets, Salvadoran bakeries, and Latino music stores located throughout the area.


Profile

Also known as the San Francisco Bay area, San Francisco Metro is a very culturally and ethnically diverse city. As a city, San Francisco’s diversity is slightly higher than the national average. Over half (57%) of San Francisco neighborhoods have a diversity score at or above the national average. The most ethnically diverse neighborhoods include Treasure Island, Excelsior, the Mission, Crocker Amazon, and Bayview.

In addition to having very diverse neighborhoods, there are also ethnic enclave areas where one people group is dominate. For instance, the Chinatown neighborhood is not very diverse due to the large concentration of Chinese and other Asian-American populations in that area. The Tenderloin, or Little Saigon, neighborhood has more than 250 Vietnamese American-owned businesses in this neighborhood including: restaurants, tailors, jewelers, acupuncturists, doctors, and dentists. The neighborhood hosts an annual Tet Festival, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration.


People Group Profiles

Displaying 1-25 of 60 results.
PG Name Country Of Birth Affinity Bloc Primary Religion Baseline Population Total
Fijian HindiFijiSouth Asian PeoplesEthnic Religions - Other / Marginal600
HindiIndiaSouth Asian PeoplesHinduism70,473
VietnameseVietnamSoutheast Asian PeoplesBuddhism56,617
Punjabi SikhIndiaSouth Asian PeoplesOther Religions - Sikhism40,000
GujaratiIndiaSouth Asian PeoplesHinduism39,116
AfghanAfghanistanPersian-MedianIslam30,000
PersianIranPersian-MedianIslam26,862
JapaneseJapanEast Asian PeoplesEthnic Religions - Shintoism23,048
UrduPakistanSouth Asian PeoplesIslam12,654
Burmese, BhamaMyanmar [Burma]Tibetan / Himalayan PeoplesBuddhism - Theravada10,905
ThaiThailandSoutheast Asian PeoplesBuddhism - Theravada10,625
Arab, Palestinian (Muslim)IsraelArab WorldIslam7,609
Iu MienVietnamSoutheast Asian PeoplesEthnic Religions7,500
Arab, Northern YemeniYemenArab WorldIslam - Shia5,000
Arab, Lebanese (Muslim)LebanonArab WorldIslam - Sunni4,980
Chinese, Fuzhou Min DongChinaEast Asian PeoplesBuddhism - Mahayana4,500
Arab, EgyptianEgyptArab WorldIslam3,861
AustralianAustraliaEurasian PeoplesNon-Religious3,552
Jew, IsraeliIsraelJewsEthnic Religions - Judaism3,443
MongolianMongoliaEast Asian PeoplesBuddhism3,000
Arab, MoroccanMoroccoArab WorldIslam - Sunni2,677
Arab, IraqiIraqArab WorldIslam - Shia2,537
Arab, YemeniYemenArab WorldIslam - Shia2,270
KhuenLaosSoutheast Asian PeoplesEthnic Religions1,200
Arab, Jordanian (Muslim)JordanArab WorldIslam1,092