Government Services

Incorporated August 7, 1905, Richmond is a Charter City in West Contra Costa County. Located 16 miles northeast of San Francisco, on a peninsula separating San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay, Richmond is 56.1 square miles. 33.8 square miles of land area and 22.3 square miles of water area with 32 miles of Shoreline, Richmond has the most shoreline of any city in the Bay area.

Richmond's city government is a Council-Manager System. The City Council has 9 members elected at large to alternating 4 year terms. The Mayor is elected at large and is a member of the City Council.

Richmond is located in the County of Contra Costa, which was incorporated in 1850 as one of the original 27 counties of the State of California with the City of Martinez as the County Seat. It is one of the nine counties in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area.