99 articles
Alameda, California
Alameda, California: island city in Alameda County next to Oakland; 78,280 residents (2020 census), incorporated 1872, former Naval Air Station town, low-lying and planning for sea level rise.
Antioch, California
Antioch, California: a Contra Costa County city on the San Joaquin River, incorporated 1872, population about 119,000, BART Yellow Line terminus, with a new brackish water desalination plant and a 2025 police reform settlement.
Arcata, California
Arcata, California: Humboldt County city on Humboldt Bay, founded 1850 as Union, home of Cal Poly Humboldt, known for the Arcata Marsh wastewater-wetland project; population about 19,000.
ARCO Arena
ARCO Arena (later Power Balance Pavilion, Sleep Train Arena) was the Sacramento Kings' 17,000-seat NBA home in Natomas from 1988 to 2016, famed for loud crowds, demolished for the Innovation Park redevelopment.
Atherton, California
Atherton, California: incorporated 1923 from Fair Oaks, named for Faxon Dean Atherton; a San Mateo County town of about 7,200 with single-family one-acre zoning, no commercial land, and median household income above $250,000.
Auburn, California
Auburn, California: Placer County county seat in the Sierra Nevada foothills at I-80 and Highway 49. Founded 1848 Gold Rush camp by Claude Chana; incorporated 1888; about 13,800 residents; Endurance Capital of the World.
Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California: Alameda County city east of San Francisco, home of UC Berkeley (founded 1868), incorporated 1878, population about 122,000; known for the Free Speech Movement, Chez Panisse, BART service, and an active biennial-budget city government.
Brentwood, California
Brentwood, California: a city in eastern Contra Costa County, 55 miles east of San Francisco, incorporated 1948; farm town turned suburb of 64,292 (2020) with u-pick cherry orchards and median household income of $142,494.
Campbell, California
Campbell, California: a Santa Clara County city of 6.35 square miles founded by Benjamin Campbell, an orchard-shipping rail hub nicknamed the Orchard City, incorporated in 1952.
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Carmel-by-the-Sea is a one-square-mile city in Monterey County, California, incorporated 1916, known for its artists' colony, no traffic lights or chain stores, and recently adopted street numbers; population 3,220, median home value about $2 million.
Chico, California
Chico, California: a Butte County city in the northern Sacramento Valley founded by John Bidwell in 1860, incorporated 1872, home of Chico State and 3,670-acre Bidwell Park, population about 105,000.
Clovis, California
Clovis, California, a city of about 129,000 in Fresno County northeast of Fresno, founded 1891 as a railroad stop named for Clovis M. Cole, incorporated 1912, known for Old Town, the Clovis Rodeo, and Clovis Unified schools.
Colma, California
Colma, California, incorporated in 1924 as Lawndale, is a small San Mateo County town where about 1.6 million dead vastly outnumber its roughly 1,500 living residents.
Concord, California
Concord, California: largest city in Contra Costa County (125,410 in 2020), founded as Todos Santos in 1869, incorporated 1905, city 1948; BART terminus until 1995; site of the 1944 Port Chicago disaster and the 2,422-acre former Naval Weapons Station redevelopment planned for 12,000 homes.
Crescent City, California
Crescent City, California: only incorporated city of Del Norte County, county seat since 1857, population about 6,000. Known as a tsunami magnet due to the Mendocino Fracture Zone; devastated by the 1964 Alaska tsunami.
Cupertino, California
Cupertino, California: Santa Clara County city incorporated October 10, 1955 as its 13th city (vote 231-185), population about 58,000-60,000, home of Apple's headquarters, formerly an orchard town in the Valley of Heart's Delight.
Daly City, California
Daly City, California: city in northern San Mateo County on San Francisco's southern border, incorporated March 22, 1911, named for rancher John Donald Daly; about 104,901 residents (2020), dense suburb known as the Gateway to the Peninsula.
Danville, California
Danville, California: an incorporated town (1982) in Contra Costa County's San Ramon Valley, East Bay, population about 43,000. Known for historic downtown, San Ramon Valley schools, high incomes, and $1.68 million median home values.
Davis, California
Davis, California (formerly Davisville, incorporated 1917) is a Yolo County university city of about 67,000, home of UC Davis, with the nation's highest bicycle commuting share at 24.5%.
Dublin, California
Dublin, California is a city in Alameda County in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area, incorporated in 1982 and home to 72,589 people at the 2020 census.
East Bay
The East Bay is the subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, covering Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
El Cerrito, California
El Cerrito is a Contra Costa County, California city in the East Bay, incorporated August 20, 1917 from the town of Rust; population about 26,000, council-manager government, two BART stations.
Elk Grove, California
Elk Grove is a city in Sacramento County, California, about 15 miles south of downtown Sacramento. Incorporated in 2000, it grew to 176,124 residents by the 2020 census.
Emeryville, California
Emeryville, CA is a compact city in Alameda County on San Francisco Bay's east shore between Oakland and Berkeley, incorporated in 1896 and named for Joseph S. Emery.
Eureka, California
Eureka, California: county seat of Humboldt County on Humboldt Bay, incorporated April 18, 1856; a Victorian Seaport and State Historical Landmark with about 25,000-26,500 residents and a redwood lumber and port heritage.
Fairfield, California
Fairfield, California: Solano County seat along I-80 between San Francisco and Sacramento. Population about 122,500 (2025 est.), home to Travis Air Force Base, the Jelly Belly factory, and Suisun Valley wine country.
Firebaugh, California
Firebaugh is a small agricultural city in Fresno County, California, on the San Joaquin River about 43 miles west of Fresno, with a 2020 population of 8,096.
Folsom, California
Folsom is a city in Sacramento County, California, about 25 miles northeast of Sacramento on the American River, known for Folsom State Prison and its 1895 Powerhouse.
Fort Bragg, California
Fort Bragg, California: coastal city in Mendocino County incorporated August 5, 1889, named for an 1857 army post on the Mendocino Indian Reservation; former lumber and fishing town, now a tourism hub with Glass Beach and the Skunk Train, distinct from Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Foster City, California
Foster City, California: planned San Mateo County city incorporated April 27, 1971, built on filled Brewers Island with sand from San Bruno Shoal; lagoon system, levee project, 2020 population 33,805.