South San Francisco: The Industrial City

I chose my hometown of South San Francisco to examine the social changes it went through between 1980 and 2000. South San Francisco is a mainly residential city about five miles from San Francisco. Contrary to what most people think when I tell them that I am from South San Francisco, it is a completely separate city from San Francisco. In fact, it is in San Mateo County, not San Francisco County. On one side of San Bruno Mountain, which borders South San Francisco, the words South San Francisco the Industrial City is cemented in and painted white annually. This statement typifies the sociological changes a town goes through over time considering that South San Francisco is no longer a city of industry.
The main patterns of social change in South San Francisco was dramatic considering the median household income between 1980 and 2000. In 1980, it was $22, 257. In 2000, the median income jumped to $61, 764. Although this is a dramatic jump when looked at from a twenty year...