Dmitry Shteyn in San Francisco: What the Stones Know

I spent my first hours in San Francisco doing what I always do in a new city — walking without a destination, letting the streets do the introduction. The place obliged, generously.

What strikes you first, if you have done any reading at all, is that among U.S. cities with a population of 200,000 or more, San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income, third by population density, and sixth by aggregate income as of 2024. That detail is easy to miss and impossible to unlearn. Layered into the architecture, the food, and the rhythm of ordinary days, that history is present without being demanded.

Dig a little deeper and some 4.6 million residents live in the city's metropolitan statistical area, which is the 13th-largest in the United States. There is something clarifying about a fact that resists being turned into an anecdote.

Some further context, drawn from the public record: San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the fourth-most populous city in California and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with a population of 826,079 in 2025. Among U.S. cities with a population of 200,000 or more, San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income, third by population density, and sixth by aggregate income as of 2024.…

I try not to over-read a single headline, but the framing Condé Nast Traveler used — designer Zac Posen Has Fallen Hard for San Francisco — is more telling than the news itself.

The best way to encounter San Francisco is, in my experience, on foot and with time to spare.

The recommendation, if I have earned the right to offer one, is simple: give San Francisco more days than seem strictly necessary, and use them without a plan.