37.7775° N, 122.4165° W
SAN FRANCISCO
Most Famous People Born in San Francisco, United States
- Notable people
- 2,619
- Peak decade
- 1960s
- Median birth year
- 1943
- Most distinctive
- Baseball 6.1×
A city of restless reinventions. San Francisco's notables are heavily literary and athletic in the 19th century, then heavily technological and countercultural in the 20th — the same town gave the world Jack London and Steve Jobs, Ansel Adams and Bruce Lee, the Beats and the venture capitalists. The dataset doesn't show the tech industry as a category, but you can see its silhouette in the unusually high share of entrepreneurs, engineers, and screenwriters with day jobs in software.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in San Francisco during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 295 notable births.
What San Francisco Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Actor is San Francisco's biggest profession — 15% of all notables (385).
San Francisco over-indexes on baseball — 6.1× the global rate.
San Francisco under-produces politician — only 0.4× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of San Francisco's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Music
- Politics & Law
- Writing
- Art & Design
- Other
- Field: Politician Clear ×
Robert McNamara
1916 - 2009
Jerry Brown
Born 1938
Dianne Feinstein
Born 1933
Caspar Weinberger
1917 - 2006
Gavin Newsom
Born 1967
Pat Brown
1905 - 1996
Pierre Salinger
1925 - 2004
Jackie Speier
Born 1950
George Moscone
1929 - 1978
John A. McCone
1902 - 1991
Dennis Ross
Born 1948
Sam Farr
Born 1941
Liao Zhongkai
1877 - 1925
James Rolph
1869 - 1934
James D. Phelan
1861 - 1930
Joseph Alioto
1916 - 1998
George Pardee
1857 - 1941
José Sarria
1923 - 2013
Richard Edmund Lyng
1918 - 2003
Stephen M. White
1853 - 1901
David Miller (Canadian politician)
Born 1958
Robert Gordon Sproul
1891 - 1975
Eugene Schmitz
1864 - 1928
John F. Shelley
1905 - 1974
Robert W. Straub
1920 - 2002
Luis Antonio Argüello
1784 - 1830
Frank Jordan
Born 1935
Charlotte Anita Whitney
1867 - 1955
Harold S. Sawyer
1920 - 2003
George P. Miller
1891 - 1982
London Breed
Born 1974
Kathleen Brown
Born 1945
Jeffery Cohelan
1914 - 1999
Darrell Steinberg
Born 1959
Mae Nolan
1886 - 1973
Terry Miller (politician)
1942 - 1989
Mark Farrell (politician)
Born 1974
Janette Sadik-Khan
Born 1960
John I. Nolan
1874 - 1922
William J. Wynn
1860 - 1935
Thomas Rolph
1885 - 1956
Ethan Berkowitz
Born 1962
Williamson Evers
Born 1948
Howie Hawkins
Born 1952
Mónica Ridruejo
Born 1963
Charles F. Curry Jr.
1893 - 1972
Campbell Cavasso
Born 1950
Levi Richard Ellert
1857 - 1901
Kate Marshall
Born 1959
Bill Kenney
Born 1955
Arthur Gietzelt
1920 - 2014
Norman Yee
Born 1949
Lewis H. Sweetser
1868 - 1944
Kevin Shelley
Born 1955
Toni Harp
Born 1947
Nancy Skinner (California politician)
Born 1954
Jeff Hayden
Born 1966
Ed Jew
Born 1960
Eric Mar
Born 1962
Jerry Hill (politician)
Born 1947
Gherardi Davis
1858 - 1941
Tom Torlakson
Born 1949
Malia Cohen
Born 1977
Milton Marks
1920 - 1998
Steve Murphy (politician)
Born 1957
Michela Alioto-Pier
Born 1968
Peter J. Buckley
Born 1957
Alan Short
1920 - 2004
Reuven Carlyle
Born 1965
Kathy Afzali
Born 1957
Lester Petrie
1878 - 1956
Patrick Johnston (American politician)
Born 1946
Robert W. Crown
1922 - 1973
Sharon Tomiko Santos
Born 1961
Michael Sprinkle
Born 1968
Mike Guingona
Born 1962
Peter J. Barnes III
Born 1956
Liz Figueroa
Born 1951
Andrew Halcro
Born 1964
Joan Buchanan
Born 1952
Dan Logue
-
Alexander Alvina Chamberland
Born 1986
Peter S. Brunstetter
Born 1956
Arlen F. Gregorio
Born 1931
Max Gruenberg
1943 - 2016
Sean Elsbernd
Born 1976
Roger Niello
Born 1948
Edgar C. Levey
1881 - 1962
Roger Boas
1921 - 2017
Susan Leal
-
Catherine Stefani
-
Franz Rohwer
1905 - 1981
Theresa Mah
-
William E. Dargie
1854 - 1911
Roberto Robles Garnica
1927 - 2012
James Knox (Montana politician)
Born 1965
Bill Bagley
Born 1928
Yiaway Yeh
Born 1978
Carolyn Jane Rodriguez
1944 - 2002
Basim Elkarra
-
Bill Duplissea (politician)
Died 2020
Charles Casimir Poniatowski
1897 - 1980
T. A. Rottanzi
1867 - 1911
Elizabeth Hughes (legislator)
-
David Young III
Born 1905
Rafael Mandelman
-
Sophie Maxwell
-
Tony Van Vliet (American politician)
Born 1930
Thomas A. Maloney
1889 - 1986
Bob Marshall (California politician)
1934 - 2012
Tallant Tubbs
1897 - 1969
J. Eugene McAteer
1916 - 1967
Arthur Breed
1865 - 1953
Manny Diaz (California politician)
Born 1953
Bob Cline
1933 - 2020
John C. Houlihan
1910 - 1986
Mike Gotch
1947 - 2008
Dion Aroner
Born 1944
Nancy Shepherd
Born 1954
Carlene M. Walker
Born 1947
Kathleen Lynn de Brown
Born 1945
B. J. Feigenbaum
1900 - 1984
Melvyn I. Cronin
1898 - 1977
Charles Drain (politician)
1913 - 1991
Paul V. Priolo
1927 - 2018
John W. Holmdahl
1924 - 2017
Joseph F. Burns
-
Ray Williamson
-
Robert Lincoln Patterson
-
Leland Richard Jacobson
-
Charlie Meyers
-
Robert I. McCarthy
1920 - 2007
Edwin Grant
-
James L. Quigley
-
Mary Estill Buchanan
Born 1934
Carl-Henrik Sölvinger
Born 1980