Exceptional South San Francisco Home

South San Francisco is perhaps best known among Bay Area residents for its hillside sign, which has broadcast the city’s slogan ("The Industrial City") to passing motorists on Highway 101 for decades. In the late 1920s, the city approved a bond to have the slogan emblazoned in 60-foot cement letters on the aptly named Sign Hill. 

Prior to the annual “big game” between Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley football teams, the sign’s letters used to be painted in each school’s colors. Now, players from the city’s El Camino and South San Francisco high school football teams paint the sign’s letters with their colors before playing each other in an annual game.  

South San Francisco, or “South City” as it’s affectionately called by Bay Area residents, is located four miles north of San Francisco International Airport. The biotech company Genentech is headquartered in the city, as is See’s Candies. 

The city of more than 66,000 offers views of San Francisco Bay, opportunities for outdoor recreation, and the Oyster Point Marina, which provides ferry service to Oakland and Alameda. South City has also has its own Caltrain and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations, facilitating commutes to San Francisco or Silicon Valley. 

Of the city’s 21,814 housing units, 59 percent are owner occupied, according to United States Census Bureau data. The median household income is $77,000, and the median home value is $585,000.