Northern California Megaregion


The Northern California Megaregion, distinct from Northern California, is an urbanized region of California consisting of many large cities including San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, and Oakland. There are varying definitions of the megaregion, but it is generally seen as encompassing the San Francisco Bay Area, the Sacramento area, northern San Joaquin Valley, and the Monterey Bay Area.
The most common definition of the megaregion consists of the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland Combined Statistical Area, the Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade Metropolitan Statistical Area, the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area, the Modesto-Merced Combined Statistical Area, and the Salinas Metropolitan Area. Under this definition, the megaregion was home to 12.6 million residents in 2018, and had a GDP of $1.21 trillion, resulting in a GDP per capita of $96,029. The megaregion thus accounted for 3.9% of the U.S. population, and 5.9% of the U.S. economy in 2018.
The concept is seen as increasingly relevant in the context of a rapidly growing Northern California economy plagued by transportation issues and a lack of affordable housing.
The region is home to some of the world's highest ranked universities, including Stanford University, University of California - Berkeley, University of California - San Francisco, and University of California - Davis.

Concept

In 2005, the Regional Plan Association launched its program, , which outlined 11 Megaregions of the United States, including a "Northern California Megaregion." This proposed region extended from Monterey to Sonoma County and from Fresno to Reno, Nevada. In 2007, the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, published a report detailing a more restrictive definition of the Megaregion, which included the counties and metropolitan areas highlighted in the map below. In 2016, the Bay Area Council's Economic Institute published a report titled, "The Northern California Megaregion," using the same delineation for the region as the SPUR report. The report listed the megaregion as being the fifth most populous U.S. megaregion, as having the highest Gross Regional Product per capita of any U.S. megaregion, and as making up over 5% of the U.S. economy. The report also stated that as of 2013, 188 thousand commuters crossed between the subregions of the megaregion daily, including 132 thousand moving from the outer subregions into the Bay Area daily.
The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority has integrated the concept into their "Vision Plan" to increase connectedness between the Bay Area and Sacramento Area.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has used the concept in several programs and analyses, including their "Northern California Mega-Region Goods Movement Study," a partnership between the MTC, the , the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, the , and Caltrans.

Infrastructure and Transportation

The megaregion's transportation network consists of a number of highways, passenger rail lines, bus services, and ferry lines.
The region's passenger rail service includes:
California High-Speed Rail, projected to be completed sometime beyond 2033, will tie the region closer together, and also connect it with the Southern California Megaregion.

Metropolitan Areas

Metropolitan Statistical AreaPopulation 2018GDP 2018GDP per capita 2018
San Francisco–Oakland–Berkeley, CA MSA4,729,484$548.6 billion$115,999
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA MSA2,345,210$145.5 billion$62,033
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA1,999,107$331.0 billion$165,584
Stockton, CA MSA752,660$32.3 billion$42,952
Modesto, CA MSA549,815$25.1 billion$45,713
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA MSA499,942$32.0 billion$63,927
Vallejo, CA MSA446,610$26.4 billion$59,203
Salinas, CA MSA435,594$27.4 billion$62,956
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA MSA274,255$15.3 billion$55,825
Merced, CA MSA274,765$9.8 billion$35,665
Yuba City, CA MSA174,848$7.2 billion$41,310
Napa, CA MSA139,417$11.3 billion$81,173
Northern California Megaregion12,621,707$1,212.0 billion$96,029

Subregions