628 Area Code 🌍☎️

San Francisco, the fourth-most populous city in California with 826,079 residents in 2025, ranks first among U.S. cities with 200,000+ people by per capita income and second by population density, while its metropolitan area of 4.6 million is the 13th-largest in the nation. Founded on June 29, 1776, by Spanish settlers at the Golden Gate with the Mission San Francisco de Asís, the city experienced explosive growth during the 1849 California gold rush and was largely rebuilt after the devastating 1906 earthquake, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. The San Francisco Bay Area generates a $1.332 trillion GDP in 2024 - exceeding all but 17 countries worldwide - driven by leading technology, healthcare, finance, and professional services sectors, including major companies like Salesforce, Uber, Airbnb, OpenAI, and Dropbox. Known globally for iconic landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Alcatraz, and distinctive neighborhoods like Chinatown and the Mission District, San Francisco attracts over 21.7 million visitors annually and hosts world-renowned cultural institutions, universities, and sports teams including the Giants and Golden State Warriors. The city emerged as a center of liberal activism through the Summer of Love and gay rights movement, cemented by its role as a major World War II port and subsequent cultural movements including the beatnik and hippie countercultures. San Rafael is the county seat of Marin County in California's North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, located 16 miles south of San Francisco, with a 2020 population of 61,271. Founded by Spanish priests on December 14, 1817, as the 20th mission in Alta California and upgraded to full mission status in 1822, the city was named after the Archangel Raphael and incorporated as a city in 1874 following the American conquest. The mission initially served as a hospital for ill Native Americans from Mission Dolores and attracted 1,140 converts by 1828 before being abandoned in 1844 after Mexican secularization. San Rafael has served as the Marin County seat since April 25, 1851, and developed as a rail hub when the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad arrived in 1879 and connected to the national network in 1888. The city encompasses 22.5 square miles with a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, diverse natural habitats supporting endangered species like the salt marsh harvest mouse, and historically extensive bay mud underlayment. Novato is a city in Marin County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, with a 2020 population of 53,225. Originally home to Coast Miwok villages including Chokecherry, Puyuku, and Olómpali, the area became Rancho Novato in 1839 when the Mexican government granted 8,876 acres to Fernando Feliz, named after a local Miwok leader. Following California's incorporation into the United States in 1848, early pioneers like Joseph Sweetser and Francis De Long planted orchards and vineyards on 15,000 acres in the 1850s, while an 1879 railroad connected Novato to Sonoma County and San Rafael. Incorporated as a city in 1960 after rapid post-World War II growth, Novato is notable as a former home of Grateful Dead members, a birthplace of American enduro mountain bike racing, and Marin County's largest city by area at 28.0 square miles. The city features diverse geography including the mountainous southwestern region, eastern marshlands, Mount Burdell, Stafford Lake, and ten Open Space District preserves.