San Francisco is in America.
California Gold Rush . The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad . In United States local government , a consolidated city-county is a city and county that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction . Northern California , often abbreviated NorCal , is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California . The Panama -- Pacific International Exposition ( PPIE ) was a world 's fair held in San Francisco , in the United States , between February 20 and December 4 in 1915 . San Francisco . The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth , making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time .