San Francisco, a major city in the U.S state of California, has over 480 high-rises, 124 of which are at least 300 feet (91 m) tall as of 2026. The tallest building in the city is Salesforce Tower, the city's sole supertall skyscraper. Headquarters of software company Salesforce, it was completed in 2018 at a height of . It is the 18th-tallest building in the United States and the second tallest in California. San Francisco has the second largest skyline in the Western United States. It has the second most skyscrapers taller than 492 ft (150 m) in California, with 27, after Los Angeles. When ranked by buildings that reach 300 ft (91 m), San Francisco has more skyscrapers than Los Angeles, and is tied with Atlanta as having the fifth-most in the United States, after New York City, Chicago, Miami, and Houston.

The history of skyscrapers in San Francisco began with the 218-foot (66 m), ten-story Chronicle Building, which was completed in 1890. During the 1920s, San Francisco underwent one of the largest pre-war skyscraper booms in the United States, constructing ten structures greater than 300 ft (91 m), including the Telephone Building and the Russ Building. The Great Depression and World War II halted skyscraper development for two decades until the 1950s. Many of San Francisco's tallest buildings, particularly its office skyscrapers, were built in a major construction boom between the 1960s and the late 1980s. This included the iconic Transamerica Pyramid in 1972, which rises to .

After a pause in the 1990s, high-rise construction resumed from the 2000s onward, with an increased share of residential buildings. The rate of development increased in the second half of the 2010s. New additions expanded the skyline towards the south and southeast, particularly in the neighborhoods of SoMa and Rincon Hill. The Transbay development resulted in the completion of the Salesforce Tower and the city's third-tallest building, 181 Fremont. The COVID-19 pandemic of the early 2020s heavily curtailed high-rise construction in the city, while commercial real estate in existing skyscrapers was heavily affected. A number of planned projects could extend the skyline significantly in the future, such as the redevelopment of the Caltrain railyards and the ongoing Treasure Island Development.

The large majority of tall buildings in San Francisco are concentrated in the city's Financial District, located in the northeastern corner of the San Francisco Peninsula. There is also a notable high-rise cluster at the intersection of Market Street and Van Ness Avenue. Shorter high-rises are spread more sparsely in nearby neighborhoods, such as in Russina Hill, Nob Hill, Pacific Heights, and in Mission Bay, where the Mission Rock project is under development. The western half of the city, including the Richmond and Sunset districts that surround Golden Gate Park, is almost entirely devoid of high-rises. San Francisco's skyline is a common photography subject, with a popular viewpoint being that from the Twin Peaks as well as the Marin Headlands, where it can be viewed alongside the Golden Gate Bridge.

History

California's first skyscraper was the Chronicle Building in San Francisco, which was completed in 1890. M. H. de Young, owner of the San Francisco Chronicle, commissioned Burnham and Root to design a signature tower to convey the power of his newspaper. Not to be outdone, de Young's rival, industrialist Claus Spreckels, purchased the San Francisco Call in 1895 and commissioned a tower of his own that would dwarf the Chronicle Building. The Call Building was completed in 1898 and stood across Market Street from the Chronicle Building. The Call Building (later named the Spreckels Building, and Central Tower today) would remain the city's tallest for nearly a quarter century.

Both steel-framed structures survived the 1906 earthquake, demonstrating that tall buildings could be safely constructed in earthquake country. Other early twentieth-century skyscrapers above include the Merchants Exchange Building (1903), Humboldt Bank Building (1908), Hobart Building (1914), and Southern Pacific Building (1916). Another skyscraper boom took hold during the 1920s, when several Neo-Gothic and Art Deco high rises, reaching three to four hundred feet (90 to 120 m) in height, were constructed, including the Standard Oil Building (1922), Pacific Telephone Building (1925), Russ Building (1927), Hunter-Dulin Building (1927), 450 Sutter Medical Building (1929), Shell Building (1929), and McAllister Tower (1930).

The Great Depression and World War II halted any further skyscraper construction until the 1950s when the Equitable Life Building (1955) and Crown-Zellerbach Building (1959) were completed. Many of San Francisco's tallest buildings, particularly its office skyscrapers, were completed in a building boom from the late 1960s until the late 1980s. During the 1960s, at least 40 new skyscrapers were built, and the Hartford Building (1965), 44 Montgomery (1967), Bank of America Center (1969), and Transamerica Pyramid (1972) each, in turn, took the title of the tallest building in California upon completion. At tall, the Transamerica Pyramid was one of the most controversial, with critics suggesting that it be torn down even before it was completed.This surge of construction was dubbed "Manhattanization" by opponents and led to local legislation that set some of the strictest building height limits and regulations in the country. In 1985, San Francisco adopted the Downtown Plan, which slowed development in the Financial District north of Market Street and directed it to the area South of Market around the Transbay Terminal. Over 250 historic buildings were protected from development and developers were required to set aside open space for new projects. To prevent excessive growth and smooth the boom-and-bust building cycle, the Plan included an annual limit of for new office development, although it grandfathered millions of square feet of proposals already in the development pipeline. In response, voters approved Proposition M in November 1986 that reduced the annual limit to until the grandfathered square footage was accounted for, which occurred in 1999. These limits, combined with the early 1990s recession, led to a significant slowdown of skyscraper construction during the late 1980s and 1990s. To guide new development, the city passed several neighborhood plans, such as the Rincon Hill Plan in 2005 and Transit Center District Plan in 2012, which allow taller skyscrapers in certain specific locations in the South of Market area. Since the early 2000s, the city has been undergoing another building boom, with numerous buildings over 400 feet (122 m) proposed, approved, or under construction; some, such as the two-towered One Rincon Hill and mixed-use 181 Fremont, have been completed. Multiple skyscrapers have been constructed near the new Salesforce Transit Center, including Salesforce Tower, which topped-out in 2017 at a height of . This building is the first supertall skyscraper in San Francisco and among the tallest in the United States.

Map of tallest buildings The map below shows the location of buildings taller than 300 feet (91.4 m) in San Francisco. Each marker is numbered by height and colored by the decade of the building's completion.

Cityscape

Tallest buildings

This list ranks San Francisco skyscrapers that stand at least tall, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. The "Year" column indicates the year in which a building was completed. Buildings tied in height are sorted by year of completion, and then alphabetically.

RankName ImageLocationHeightft (m)FloorsYearPurpose Notes1 Salesforce Tower1,070 (326)612018Office 18th-tallest building in the United States 2nd-tallest building in California Tallest building in San Francisco since 2018 Tallest building constructed in San Francisco in the 2010s 2 Transamerica Pyramid 48 1972 Office 5th-tallest building in California Tallest building in San Francisco from 1972 until 2018, when Salesforce Tower was topped-off. Tallest building on the West Coast from 1972 until 1974 Tallest building constructed in San Francisco in the 1970s3 181 Fremont 562018Mixed-use 2nd-tallest mixed-use residential building west of the Mississippi River. Mixed-use hotel and residential building. 4 555 California Street 52 1969 Office Tallest building in San Francisco and on the West Coast from 1969 to 1972 Tallest building constructed in the city in the 1960s Formerly known as Bank of America Center Largest office building in San Francisco by floor area. 5 345 California Center 48 1986 Mixed-use Mixed-use hotel and office building. Tallest mid-block skyscraper in San Francisco Tallest building constructed in the city in the 1980s The height shown includes flagpoles.6 Millennium Tower 58 2009 Residential Tallest building constructed in the city in the 2000s. The Millennium Tower has tilted up to 2 inches a year and has sunk as much as 3 inches per year.7The Avery562019Residential 8 Park Tower at Transbay 43 2018 Office 9One Rincon Hill542008Residential Originally known as One Rincon Hill South Tower. Tallest entirely residential building in the city from 2008 to 2019.10101 California Street481982Office 11 Salesforce West 43 1985 Office Previously known as 50 Fremont Center. 12 575 Market Street 40 1975 OfficeFormerly Standard Oil Buildings and later the Chevron Towers. Part of the Market Center. 13 Four Embarcadero Center 45 1984 Office 14 One Embarcadero Center 45 1970 Office 15 44 Montgomery Street 43 1967 OfficeTallest building in San Francisco and California from 1967 to 1969 16 Spear Tower 42 1976 Office Part of One Market Plaza. 17 One Sansome Street 43 1984 OfficeAlso known as the Citigroup Center 18 The Harrison 45 2014 ResidentialOriginally known as One Rincon Hill North Tower. 19 One Front Street 38 1982 OfficeAlso known as Shaklee Terraces and 444 Market Street20McKesson Plaza381969OfficeAlso known as One Post Street. 21 First Market Tower 38 1972 Office 22 425 Market Street 38 1973 Office 23 Four Seasons Private Residences at 706 Mission Street 43 2020 Mixed-use Mixed-use residential and museum building. Permanent home of the Mexican Museum, located in the bottom four floors. 24 One Montgomery Tower 38 1982 OfficeFormerly the Pacific Telesis Tower. Part of the Post Montgomery Center complex. From 2017 to 2024, the Wikimedia Foundation was headquartered on the sixteenth floor. 25 333 Bush Street 43 1986 Mixed-use Mixed-use office and residential building. 26 Hilton San Francisco Union Square 46 1971 HotelTallest building used exclusively as a hotel in the city 27 Pacific Gas & Electric Building 34 1971 OfficeIn September 2021, it was proposed that the building be reskinned for $106 million and be addressed as 200 Mission Street (now 77 Beale Street). 28 50 California Street 37 1972 OfficeAlso known as Union Bank Building29 555 Mission Street 33 2008 OfficeTallest office building completed in the 2000s 30 St. Regis Museum Tower 42 2005 Mixed-use Mixed-use hotel and residential building. 31 100 Pine Center 34 1972 Office 32 45 Fremont Street 34 1979 OfficeAlso known as the Bechtel Building 33 333 Market Street 33 1979 Office 34 650 California Street 33 1964 OfficeTallest building in California from 1965 to 1967. Also known as the Hartford Building 35 100 First Plaza 27 1988 OfficeAlso known as Delta Dental Tower 36 340 Fremont Street 40 2016 Residential 37 One California 32 1969 Office 38 San Francisco Marriott Marquis 39 1989 Hotel 39 140 New Montgomery 26 1925 Office Tallest building completed in San Francisco in the 1920s