List of tallest buildings in San Francisco

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 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 in California, with 27, after Los Angeles. When ranked by buildings that reach 300 ft, 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, 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, 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 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, Humboldt Bank Building, Hobart Building, and Southern Pacific Building. Another skyscraper boom took hold during the 1920s, when several Neo-Gothic and Art Deco high rises, reaching three to four hundred feet in height, were constructed, including the Standard Oil Building, Pacific Telephone Building, Russ Building, Hunter-Dulin Building, 450 Sutter Medical Building, Shell Building, and McAllister Tower.
The Great Depression and World War II halted any further skyscraper construction until the 1950s when the Equitable Life Building and Crown-Zellerbach Building 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, 44 Montgomery, Bank of America Center, and Transamerica Pyramid 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 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 in San Francisco. Each marker is numbered by height and colored by the decade of the building's completion.

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.

Rank	Name	Image	Location	Height ft	Floors	Year	Purpose	Notes
1	Salesforce Tower			1,070	61	2018	Office	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 1970s
3	181 Fremont				56	2018	Mixed-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.
7	The Avery				56	2019	Residential
8	Park Tower at Transbay				43	2018	Office
9	One Rincon Hill				54	2008	Residential	Originally known as One Rincon Hill South Tower. Tallest entirely residential building in the city from 2008 to 2019.
10	101 California Street				48	1982	Office
11	Salesforce West				43	1985	Office	Previously known as 50 Fremont Center.
12	575 Market Street				40	1975	Office	Formerly 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	Office	Tallest 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	Office	Also known as the Citigroup Center
18	The Harrison				45	2014	Residential	Originally known as One Rincon Hill North Tower.
19	One Front Street				38	1982	Office	Also known as Shaklee Terraces and 444 Market Street
20	McKesson Plaza				38	1969	Office	Also 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	Office	Formerly 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	Hotel	Tallest building used exclusively as a hotel in the city
27	Pacific Gas & Electric Building				34	1971	Office	In September 2021, it was proposed that the building be reskinned for $106 million and be addressed as 200 Mission Street.
28	50 California Street				37	1972	Office	Also known as Union Bank Building
29	555 Mission Street				33	2008	Office	Tallest 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	Office	Also known as the Bechtel Building
33	333 Market Street				33	1979	Office
34	650 California Street				33	1964	Office	Tallest building in California from 1965 to 1967. Also known as the Hartford Building
35	100 First Plaza				27	1988	Office	Also 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 Originally called the Pacific Telephone Building
40	Russ Building				32	1927	Office	Second tallest building completed in San Francisco in the 1920s
41	500 Folsom				42	2019	Residential
42	415 Natoma Street				25	2022	Office
43	Jasper				39	2015	Residential
44	MIRA				39	2020	Residential
45	505 Montgomery Street				24	1988	Office
46	Fifteen Fifty				37	2020	Residential	Also known as 1550 Mission Street
47	JPMorgan Chase Building				31	2002	Office
48	The Infinity II				41	2009	Residential
49	The Paramount				40	2002	Residential
50	Providian Financial Building				30	1983	Office	Also known as the Pacific Gateway Building
51	Two Embarcadero Center				31	1974	Office
52	Three Embarcadero Center				31	1976	Office
53	350 Mission Street				27	2015	Office	Also known as Salesforce East.
54	595 Market Street				30	1979	Office
55	123 Mission Street				29	1986	Office
56	101 Montgomery				28	1984	Office
57	275 Battery Street				33	1989	Office	Also known as Embarcadero Center West or Embarcadero West
58	100 Van Ness Avenue				30	1974	Residential	Originally completed as an office tower in 1974 as the California Automobile Association Building. Renovated as a residential tower in 2015.
59	Westin-St. Francis Hotel Tower				32	1972	Hotel
60	LUMINA I				42	2015	Residential
61	399 Fremont Street				42	2016	Residential
62	One Maritime Plaza				25	1967	Office
63	Four Seasons Hotel & Residences				40	2001	Mixed-use	Mixed-use hotel and residential building
64	8 NEMA	–			37	2014	Residential	Also known as NEMA North Tower.
65	33 New Montgomery	–			21	1986	Office
66	Spera SF				35	2017	Residential	Also known as 33 Tehama.
67	535 Mission Street				26	2015	Office
68	Shell Building				29	1929	Office
69	456 Montgomery Street				26	1986	Office
70	388 Market Street				26	1985	Office
71	Hyatt Regency San Francisco Downtown SOMA	–			34	1984	Hotel	Formerly The Westin San Francisco Market Street
72	222 Second Street				26	2015	Office
73	San Francisco Hilton Hotel Financial District	–			30	1971	Hotel	Also known as SF Chinese Cultural Center
74	199 Fremont Street				27	2000	Office
75	Steuart Tower				27	1976	Office
76	88 Kearny Street				22	1986	Office
77	Two Transamerica Plaza	–			20	1980	Office
78	180 Montgomery Street				25	1979	Office	Also known as Bank of the West Building
79	425 California Street				27	1967	Office
80	100 Montgomery Street				25	1955	Office	Also known as the Equitable Life Building.
81	Grand Hyatt San Francisco				35	1972	Hotel
82	101 Second Street				26	1999	Office
83	Fox Plaza				29	1967	Mixed-use	Mixed-use residential and office building
84	580 California Street				23	1984	Office
85	450 Sutter Street				26	1929	Office
86	Parc 55 San Francisco				32	1984	Hotel
87	The Infinity I				35	2008	Residential
88	LUMINA II				37	2015	Residential
89	601 California Street				22	1960	Office	Also known as the International Building
90	Hilton San Francisco Union Square Tower II	–			23	1987	Hotel
91	135 Main Street	–			22	1990	Office
92	The InterContinental San Francisco				31	2008	Hotel
93	71 Stevenson Street	–			26	1986	Office	Also known as Stevenson Place
94	Bridgeview	–			26	2002	Residential
95	Royal Towers Apartments	–			24	1964	Residential
96	KPMG Building				25	2002	Office	Also known by its street address, 55 Second Street.
97	150 California Street				23	1999	Office
98	San Francisco Marriott Union Square				29	1972	Hotel
99	225 Bush Street				22	1922	Office
100	50 Beale Street				23	1967	Office	Also known as the Bechtel Building and the Blue Shield of California Building.
101	Fairmont San Francisco	–			29	1961	Hotel
102	Union Bank Building	–			23	1977	Office
103	235 Pine Street				26	1990	Office
104	Hunter-Dulin Building				22	1926	Office
105	Central Plaza				23	1987	Office
106	Beacon Grand Hotel				22	1928	Hotel	Opened as, and also known as, the Sir Francis Drake Hotel.
107	The Summit				32	1965	Residential
108	1455 Market Street				21	1977	Office
109	W San Francisco				33	1999	Hotel
110	Bank of California Building				21	1967	Office
111	353 Sacramento Street				23	1983	Office
112	Philip Burton Federal Building				21	1959	Mixed-use	Mixed-use office and government building
113	Ritz Carlton Residence Club				24	2006	Mixed-use	Mixed-use residential and hotel building. A renovation of the Chronicle Building, considered the first high-rise in San Francisco. 14 new floors were buitl on top of the original ten in 2006.
114	555 Market Street				22	1964	Office
115	McAllister Tower Apartments				28	1930	Residential
116	Bank of America Center - Annex Building	–			16	1923	Office
117	One Bush Plaza				20	1959	Office
118	215-245 Market Street	–			18	1925	Office	Formerly the headquarters of Pacific Gas & Electric
119	301 Howard Street				23	1988	Office
120	Mark Hopkins Hotel				19	1926	Hotel
121	Trinity Place Building A	–			25	2009	Residential
122	Mills Tower				22	1931	Office
123	Montgomery - Washington Tower				26	1984	Mixed-use	Mixed-use office and residential building
124	299 Fremont				25	2016	Residential

Tallest under construction, approved, or proposed

Under construction

As of 2026, there are no buildings expected to be 300 ft or taller under construction in San Francisco.

On hold

This lists buildings that are on hold in San Francisco and were originally planned to rise at least.

Name	Coordinates	Height ft	Floors	Purpose	Notes
Oceanwide Center, Tower 1			61	Mixed-use	Will be the second tallest building in San Francisco once completed, only behind the Salesforce Tower. Mixed-use office and residential building. Construction started December 2016.
Oceanwide Center, Tower 2			54	Mixed-use	Mixed-use hotel and residential building. This project contains a 169-room Waldorf Astoria San Francisco hotel on the first 21 floors and approximately 154 residential units on the upper 33 floors.
30 Van Ness			47	Mixed-use	Mixed-use office and residential building. Construction is on hold since August 2023.

Approved

This lists buildings that are approved in San Francisco and are planned to rise at least. Table entries with dashes indicate that information regarding building floor counts or dates of completion has not yet been released.

Name	Height	Floors	Year	Notes
530 Howard Street		72		This project contains 882,250 square feet, with 730,975 square feet for housing and 48,000 square feet for parking. Once complete, the tower will contain 672 apartments. Approved on October 24, 2024.
10 South Van Ness		67		Developer: Crescent Heights Architect: Arcadis Construction expected to begin the beginning of 2027. When completed it will become the city's 3rd tallest building.
550 Howard Street		61		Approved in March 2021 The project contains 325,000 sqft of office space, 165 condos and 180 hotel rooms by Rosewood Hotels and Resorts. Developed by a joint venture with Hines, Urban Pacific, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management and designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.
45 Third Street		52		Design by Skidmore Owings & Merrill The development is sponsored by Hearst and JMA Ventures.
88 Bluxome Street		58		Approved December 2025. Project will rise at the site of the former San Francisco Tennis Club. The development will construct 1,500 apartments across two towers in addition to ground level retail.
530 Sansome Street		41		Proposed in August 2024 by Related Companies as a mixed-use office and hotel development To be built on the current site of San Francisco Fire Department Station 13; as part of the project, a new station would be constructed at 447 Battery Street. Approved in October 2025
200 Main Street		47		Hines is the property owner and Solomon Cordwell Buenz is the designer.
5M Development – N1 Tower		40		Along with H1, N2 and M2 towers, this project is set on total at Fifth and Mission.
95 Hawthorne Street		42		Approved in October 2019. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
655 4th Street		39		Approved in June 2019. Developed by Tishman Speyer and designed by Bjarke Ingels Group Tower A and Tower B .
One Oak		41		This project developed by The Emerald Fund will contain 541 condominiums.
555 Howard Street		36		This project includes 69 condominiums over a 255-room hotel. The ultra-luxury hotel will be named Langham Place.
570 Market Street		29		Approved September 12th, 2025. Plans for a 211 room boutique hotel.

Proposed

This lists buildings that are proposed in San Francisco and are planned to rise at least. Table entries with dashes indicate that information regarding building floor counts or dates of completion has not yet been released.

Name	Height ft	Floors	Year	Notes
77 Beale Street		–		Proposed in July 2025 by Hines. If built, it would become the tallest building in San Francisco, 155 feet taller than the Salesforce Tower. It would also be the tallest building in the United States outside of New York City or Chicago.
536 Mission Street		47		Height provided is a lower estimate. The other plan option calls for 752 ft tall office building. Replaces an existing Golden Gate University campus
The Cube		62		Applied by Ground Matrix in August 2021. Designed by Arquitectonica and applied by Align Real Estate.
Central SOMA Tower		47		SF Planning Department made initial feedback in March 2023.
95 Hawthorne Street		42		Approved in October 2019. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
180 Hawthorne Street		40		Proposed in 2024
598 Bryant Street		33		Proposed in 2024.

Timeline of tallest buildings

This lists buildings that once held the title of tallest building in San Francisco as well as the current titleholder, the Salesforce Tower.

Name	Image	Street address	Years as tallest	Height ft	Floors	Notes
Montgomery Block		628 Montgomery Street	1853–1854	~50	4
Old Saint Mary's Cathedral		660 California Street	1854–1875	90	1
Palace Hotel		2 New Montgomery Street	1875–1890	120	7
Chronicle Building		690 Market Street	1890–1898	218	10
Call Building		703 Market Street	1898–1922	315	15
225 Bush Street		225 Bush Street	1922–1925	328	22
140 New Montgomery		140 New Montgomery Street	1925–1964	435	26
650 California Street		650 California Street	1964–1967	466	33
44 Montgomery Street		44 Montgomery Street	1967–1969	565	43
555 California Street		555 California Street	1969–1972	779	52
Transamerica Pyramid		600 Montgomery Street	1972–2018	853	48
Salesforce Tower		415 Mission Street	2018–present	1,070	61