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san francisco neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Outer & Central Richmond, San Francisco Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
The Richmond District avenues from Park Presidio Boulevard west to Ocean Beach: 1910s-1920s houses and flats between Golden Gate Park and Lincoln Park, with shops on Clement, Geary and Balboa.
Outer & Central Richmond by the numbers
outer & central richmond by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Outer & Central Richmond (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in outer & central richmond · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Outer & Central Richmond
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Outer & Central Richmond from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
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Listings come from MLSListings and other MLSs through IDX and show their listing brokerage; confirm details with the listing agent. The map outline is the neighborhood boundary used by our listing search (Outer & Central Richmond (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Outer & Central Richmond came to be
For most of the 1800s this was sand. The Point Lobos Toll Road and the first Cliff House opened in 1863, Congress added these Outside Lands to the city in 1866, the city set aside today's Lincoln Park as a cemetery in 1868, and Golden Gate Park was begun in 1871. Weekend crowds came for the beach and the Sutro resorts, but full-time settlement was slow until streetcars and the 1906 earthquake pushed building west. The Western Neighborhoods Project's history adds a naming footnote: in the 1910s and 1920s a local improvement group pushed to rename the district 'Park Presidio' to avoid confusion with the East Bay city of Richmond, the old name stuck, and the city officially restored 'Richmond' in 2005.
The avenues filled in during the 1910s and 1920s; the Assessor's median recorded year built is 1920 in Central Richmond and 1924 in the Outer Richmond. A Planning evaluation credits Fernando Nelson's last Richmond tract to three blocks north of Geary between 15th and 17th avenues. On the slope below Lincoln Park, Lincoln Manor was laid out as a small residence park between 36th and 38th avenues from Geary to Clement, with brick gateway pillars at Geary and 37th Avenue and its own curved street, Shore View Avenue. The last open land near the coast went later: the houses on Seal Rock Drive are recorded as built from 1941 to 1948.
The neighborhood's edges are mostly public land. Lincoln Park's golf course began in 1902 as the city's first municipal course and reached 18 holes by 1917, and the Legion of Honor museum opened there in 1924. North of Clement Street, Fort Miley's batteries and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center's 29-acre campus are both National Register historic districts. To the west the National Park Service manages Lands End and the Sutro Baths ruins, and Golden Gate Park's west end keeps its 1902 North Windmill.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
This is the classic Richmond grid: numbered avenues from 14th to 48th cross California, Clement, Geary, Anza, Balboa, Cabrillo and Fulton, on blocks long north-south with lots of about 3,000 square feet. The exceptions are near the coast, where Point Lobos Avenue, Seal Rock Drive, Sutro Heights Avenue and La Playa follow the ground, and in Lincoln Manor, whose blocks along Shore View Avenue run east-west with rear alleys for garages.
The two halves differ on the Assessor's 2025 roll. In Central Richmond about 43 percent of residential parcels are single-family houses (2,237), with 1,395 flat or duplex buildings, about 650 condo units and about 690 apartment buildings. In the Outer Richmond houses are about 64 percent (2,739), with 748 flat buildings, about 520 condo units and about 230 apartment buildings. Houses are compact: the median building area is about 1,900 square feet in Central Richmond and about 1,600 in the Outer Richmond, and the roll records about three in four Outer Richmond houses as one story.
Zoning is mostly RH-2 (two units), with RM-1 apartment zoning in parts of Central Richmond and RH-1 pockets in the Outer Richmond. Commercial districts cover Outer Clement Street (19th to 27th Avenue), Geary Boulevard to about 28th Avenue and Outer Balboa Street (32nd to 39th Avenue). The city's 2026 rezoning added RTO-C corridor zoning, which allows mid-rise housing, along California, Balboa and Fulton streets, Point Lobos Avenue and parts of Geary and Clement. Blocks near the Great Highway are also inside the state Coastal Zone, which adds a Coastal Zone Permit step for some projects.
streets in outer & central richmond
- Clement Street
- Geary Boulevard
- Balboa Street
- Anza Street
- Cabrillo Street
- Fulton Street
- California Street
- Point Lobos Avenue
- Seal Rock Drive
- Shore View Avenue
- Sutro Heights Avenue
- La Playa
- 25th Avenue
- 32nd Avenue
- 37th Avenue
- 46th Avenue
- 48th Avenue
- Park Presidio Boulevard
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Outer & Central Richmond
- park
Lincoln Park and the Legion of Honor
North of Clement Street at the west end of the avenues: Lincoln Park Golf Course and the Legion of Honor museum, about 0.65 mile straight-line from Balboa Street and 40th Avenue.
- trail
Lands End and the Sutro Baths
The National Park Service's Lands End area, with the Coastal Trail, the Sutro Baths ruins and the Lands End Lookout visitor center, sits at the northwest corner; the visitor center is about 0.7 mile straight-line from Balboa and 40th Avenue.
- park
Golden Gate Park's west end
Fulton Street is the park's north edge. The 1,017-acre park's west end includes the North Windmill, built in 1902 to pump irrigation water, about 0.6 mile straight-line from Balboa and 40th Avenue.
- landmark
Balboa Theatre
A neighborhood movie house on Balboa Street near 38th Avenue, designed by the Reid Brothers, which opened in 1926, per the city's 2018 Legacy Business Registry staff report.
- shopping
Clement, Geary and Balboa
Three commercial strips: Outer Clement Street from 19th to 27th Avenue, Geary Boulevard to about 28th Avenue, and Outer Balboa Street from 32nd to 39th Avenue.
- playground
Neighborhood playgrounds
City playgrounds of about an acre each: Argonne Playground and the Richmond Recreation Center on 18th Avenue, Fulton Playground on 27th Avenue and Cabrillo Playground on 38th Avenue, plus the DuPont tennis courts on 31st Avenue.
- library
Anza Branch Library
A San Francisco Public Library branch on 37th Avenue near Anza Street.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Every address here is in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), which assigns seats by application with tiebreakers rather than fixed boundaries; an address's attendance-area school is a tiebreaker, not a guarantee, and SFUSD is changing its elementary assignment policy (its own pages give different start years). Public schools in the area include Alamo Elementary on 23rd Avenue, Argonne Elementary on 18th Avenue, Lafayette Elementary on Anza Street, Presidio Middle School on 30th Avenue and George Washington High School on 32nd Avenue. Check the exact address with SFUSD's Enrollment Center.
Getting around
- The 38 Geary and 38R Geary Rapid run the length of Geary Boulevard to 48th Avenue; Powell Street BART is about 4 to 5 miles straight-line east. Transit lanes from Stanyan Street to 34th Avenue went in during 2023, and the SFMTA expects the rest of the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project to finish in early 2028.
- Other lines: 1 California and 1X on California Street, 5 Fulton and 5R on Fulton Street to La Playa, 31 Balboa on Balboa Street, 18 46th Avenue to the Legion of Honor, 29 Sunset on 25th Avenue, and 28 and 28R on Park Presidio Boulevard.
- Nearest Muni Metro: the N Judah's Ocean Beach terminal at Judah Street and La Playa, about 0.85 mile straight-line south of Fulton and 43rd Avenue across Golden Gate Park.
- South of Lincoln Way the old Upper Great Highway is now Sunset Dunes, a 2-mile car-free park that opened in April 2025.
- Park Presidio Boulevard leads north through the Presidio to the Golden Gate Bridge, about 2 miles straight-line from Geary and 22nd Avenue.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Outer & Central Richmond: what we check
Buying here
- Coastal Zone: Planning says the Coastal Zone takes in the residential blocks next to the Great Highway, and work such as demolition, new construction and some changes of use there can need a Coastal Zone Permit (Planning Code Section 330, per Planning's application packet). Check the zoning map's Coastal Zone sheets for the parcel.
- Ocean-edge hazards: the state's tsunami hazard area covers the Great Highway and La Playa blocks from Balboa Street to Fulton Street (reaching 48th Avenue on Balboa, Cabrillo and Fulton), and a small state liquefaction zone covers part of the same strip. FEMA's March 2021 flood map puts coastal high-hazard VE zones on the beach, not the house lots. Ask about drainage and check each parcel.
- Flats, condos and TICs: about half of residential parcels are not single-family houses. Get HOA budgets, reserve studies and minutes for condos; read TIC agreements and confirm fractional financing; and for tenant-occupied units check Rent Ordinance coverage (many units built on or before June 13, 1979 have both rent limits and eviction protections).
- Soft-story: about 290 buildings in Central and Outer Richmond are on the city's mandatory soft-story retrofit list, nearly all marked work complete; confirm the certificate for any wood-frame building of five or more units.
- Zoning upside and change: RH-2 lots allow two units, Planning Code rules let RH lots reach up to four units (six on corners) under conditions, and RTO-C frontages allow mid-rise buildings. Check current code and nearby Planning notices before you count on, or worry about, new units.
- Lincoln Manor is a residence park, and Planning notes residence-park developers often imposed restrictions to protect their features; check the title report for recorded deed restrictions on lots there.
Selling here
- Order the 3R report (Report of Residential Building Record) from the Department of Building Inspection early; the Housing Code requires sellers to deliver it, and the city quotes about 7 to 10 business days.
- If there is a garage-level room or second unit, have the permit or legalization record ready; it affects Rent Ordinance status, and buyers will compare the 3R's permit history with what they see.
- Near the Great Highway, have the tsunami, Coastal Zone and any flood or drainage history ready for disclosures.
- Before title transfers, get the city's water conservation Certificate of Completion, and confirm the current energy conservation (RECO) requirements with a DBI-certified inspector.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Outer & Central Richmond questions, answered
What is the difference between Central and Outer Richmond?
On the Realtor map the city publishes, 32nd Avenue divides them: Central Richmond runs from Park Presidio Boulevard to 32nd Avenue, the Outer Richmond from 32nd Avenue to the ocean. The Outer Richmond has a higher share of single-family houses (about 64 percent of residential parcels versus 43 percent) and slightly later houses.
Is the Outer Richmond in a tsunami or flood zone?
The blocks along the Great Highway and La Playa between Balboa and Fulton streets are inside the state's tsunami hazard area, and part of that strip is in a liquefaction zone. FEMA's flood map shows coastal high-hazard zones on the beach. Most of the district is outside all of these; check each parcel.
What is Lincoln Manor?
A small residence park from the 1910s between 36th and 38th avenues and Geary and Clement streets, with brick gateway pillars at Geary and 37th Avenue, planted strips and Shore View Avenue as its main street.
How do you get downtown without a car?
The 38R Geary Rapid is the main line, running the length of Geary Boulevard, with transit lanes between 34th Avenue and Stanyan Street; the 1 California and 31 Balboa are parallel options, and the N Judah starts at Ocean Beach south of the park.
Why is it called the Richmond?
Local accounts tie the name to a late-1800s estate called Richmond House near 12th Avenue and Clement Street. A 1910s and 1920s effort to rename the district 'Park Presidio' never stuck, and the city officially restored 'Richmond' in 2005.
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