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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

November 2001

Pop (as in Population) Quiz: Can You Name the Bay Area's 10 Largest Cities?
Here's a conversation starter: Ask your friends or family to name the region's 10 largest cities, in order. Or, simplify it by asking them to name and rank the top three cities today. For bonus points, ask them to list and rank the top three cities in 1960. As the graph below shows, over the last 40 years, San Jose quadrupled its population, going from the No. 3 spot in 1960 to the No. 1 spot in 2000, leapfrogging over Oakland and San Francisco in the process.

Graph showing San Jose's ascent to most populous Bay Area city

2000 Rank Top 10 Cities Population
(in thousands)
1 San Jose 895
2 San Francisco 777
3 Oakland 399
4 Fremont 203
5 Santa Rosa 148
6 Hayward 140
7 Sunnyvale 132
8 Concord 122
9 Vallejo 117
10 Daly City 104

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