Economy
In 2011 the San Francisco Bay Area had a GDP of $518.1 billion, which would rank 20th among countries.
The Silicon Valley is located within the southern reaches of the Bay Area. The leading high technology region in the world, Silicon Valley covers San Jose and several cities of South Bay. The Valley is home to many of the industry leaders in technology such as Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Cisco, Apple, Oracle, Marvell, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard. Major corporations in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and the surrounding cities help make the region second in the nation in concentration of Fortune 500 companies, after New York. The region's northern counties encompass California's famous Wine Country, home to hundreds of vineyards and wineries. The Bay Area is a leader in sustainable agriculture, organic farming, and sustainable energy and for being a leading producer of high quality food, wine, and innovation in the culinary arts. California Cuisine was developed primarily in the Bay Area, as was the San Francisco burrito. The area is renowned for its natural beauty. It is also known as being one of the most expensive regions to live in the country.
Oakland, on the east side of the bay, has the fifth largest container shipping port in the United States. The city is also a major rail terminus.
Changes in house prices for the Bay Area are publicly tracked on a regular basis using the Case–Shiller index; the statistic is published by Standard & Poor's and is also a component of S&P's 10-city composite index of the value of the U.S. residential real estate market.
Read more about this topic: San Francisco Bay Area
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“Everyone is always in favour of general economy and particular expenditure.”
—Anthony, Sir Eden (1897–1977)
“The counting-room maxims liberally expounded are laws of the Universe. The merchant’s economy is a coarse symbol of the soul’s economy. It is, to spend for power, and not for pleasure.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The basis of political economy is non-interference. The only safe rule is found in the self-adjusting meter of demand and supply. Do not legislate. Meddle, and you snap the sinews with your sumptuary laws.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)