San Francisco Bay Area

n. Bay Area, diverse metropolitan area from a geographical standpoint that encircles the bay of San Francisco (California, USA)

The San Francisco Bay Area, colloquially known as the Bay Area or The Bay, is a geographically and ethnically diverse metropolitan region that surrounds the San Francisco Bay in Northern California. It encompasses the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland, and their many suburbs. It also includes the smaller urban and rural areas of the North Bay. As of July 2006, the Bay Area is home to 7.2 million people, up half a million people since 2000, with the majority of the growth due to international immigration. The Bay Area comprises many cities, towns, military bases, airports, and associated regional, state, and national parks sprawled over nine counties (sometimes defined as ten or eleven counties) and connected by a massive network of roads, highways, railroads, bridges, tunnels and commuter rail.
See more at Wikipedia.org...