The city lies north of San Francisco International Airport in a small valley between San Bruno Mountain and the Coast Range. The city is served by two major highways, U.S. Route 101 (the Bayshore Freeway) and Interstate 280. A BART station, located directly adjacent to El Camino High School and Solaire Transit Village, opened in 2003, supplementing Caltrain service to San Francisco and San Jose. The city's small downtown and several aging residential subdivisions, such as Mayfair Village, Sunshine Gardens, Avalon Park, Winston Manor, and Rancho Buri Buri, are located west of Highway 101, while the area east of Highway 101 is dominated by bland industrial complexes interspersed with futuristic office parks, particularly the Oyster Point Marina. The extreme western portions of the city near Interstate 280 sit along a hillside and offer views of San Francisco Bay. This area is known to local residents as Westborough. The southern part of the city, closest to the airport, is home to a large number of car repair shops, airport parking lots, and airport hotels.
Locals refer to the town as "South City," in much the same way that San Francisco is called "The City." People unfamiliar with the area often mistake South San Francisco as the southern part of the city of San Francisco.
South San Francisco is part of the South San Francisco Unified School District, which also serves portions of the neighboring cities of Daly City and San Bruno. The city is home to two public high schools: El Camino High School and South San Francisco High School, which share a cross-town rivalry. The city also has three public middle schools: Parkway Heights, Westborough, and Alta Loma. These public high and middle schools, as well as a number of public elementary schools, and an adult school, South San Francisco Adult Education, are part of the South San Francisco Unified School District. Several parochial schools are also established in the city: All Souls School, Mater Dolorosa School (recently closed), and St. Veronica's School.
As of the census of 2000, there were 60,552 people, 19,677 households, and 14,659 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,712.8 people per square mile (2,591.9/km²). There were 20,138 housing units at an average density of 2,232.5/sq mi (862.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 44.05% White, 28.92% Asian, 2.82% African American, 1.56% Pacific Islander, 0.60% Native American, 15.01% from other races, and 7.05% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 31.84% of the population.
There were 19,677 households out of which 35.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.8% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.5% were non-families. 19.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.05 and the average family size was 3.51.
In the city the population was spread out with 24.2% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 32.0% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $61,764, and the median income for a family was $66,598. Males had a median income of $41,442 versus $35,452 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,562. About 3.5% of families and 5.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.1% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over.
South San Francisco is a middle class and working class city. However, that image is quickly changing as many luxury homes have been built, particularly at the foot of the mountain that divides Brisbane and South San Francisco, in the area in recent years to take advantage of the city's close proximity to downtown San Francisco, bio-tech industry, and the peninsula.
The most commonly spoken language at home was English 46.13%, followed by Spanish 25.36%, Tagalog 12.48%, Chinese 4.4%, Hindi 1.6%, Arabic 1.56%, Cantonese 1.52%, Italian 1.44%, Vietnamese 0.66%, Russian 0.54%, Korean and Japanese 0.5% respectively, other languages were spoken by less than half of one percent of the population.