The Tallest Residential Towers in San Francisco
San Francisco's height limits have kept its residential skyline modest by global standards — but the slice of city between Rincon Hill, Transbay, and SoMa has quietly produced some of the tallest condo and rental towers on the West Coast.
Here are the buildings that actually define the residential skyline today, ranked by height, with notes on who built them and why each one is worth knowing.
1San Francisco · Rincon Hill / SoMaOne Rincon Hill
195 m60 floorsCompleted 2008Solomon Cordwell BuenzThe tower that started the modern Rincon Hill skyline. Solomon Cordwell Buenz's 64-story north tower tops 640 feet — still the tallest purely residential building west of the Mississippi when it completed.
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2San Francisco · Rincon Hill / South BeachThe Harrison
165 m49 floorsCompleted 2014Solomon Cordwell BuenzForty-nine stories on First Street, anchoring the Transbay district. Heller Manus delivered the building; the views west over the Bay Bridge are the real draw.
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3San Francisco · SoMa / Mid-MarketFifteen Fifty
116 m39 floorsCompleted 2021Skidmore, Owings & MerrillMid-Market's tallest residential tower and Related California's flagship there. A 39-story slab that reset expectations for what rental product on Van Ness could look like.
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4San Francisco · Mid-Market / SoMaChorus
28 floorsCompleted 2021MultistudioA newer addition to the Transbay area — a sleek rental tower from Crescent Heights that fills in the block south of the Salesforce Transit Center.
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Frequently asked
- What is the tallest residential building in San Francisco?
- One Rincon Hill's north tower at 425 1st Street, completed in 2008. At 641 feet (195 meters) it remains the tallest purely residential building in the city.
- Why isn't San Francisco's residential skyline taller?
- Strict height limits across most of the city, plus seismic and shadow rules, cap most neighborhoods well below supertall heights. The Rincon Hill and Transbay plans are the main exceptions, with allowances designed for tall residential and mixed-use towers.
- Are Salesforce Tower or 181 Fremont taller?
- Yes, but both are primarily office buildings. 181 Fremont has residential floors on its upper levels but is not a residential-first tower, so it's a separate category from the list above.
Browse every San Francisco tower in the city index, or jump to the full directory of towers across all cities.