https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_California
Cities. Northern California's largest metropolitan area is the San Francisco Bay Area which consists of 9 counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties. The Bay Area consists of the major cities of San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and their many suburbs.Although not a part of the Bay Area, in recent years the Bay Area has ...