Tenderloin, San Francisco

The Tenderloin is a neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, in the flatlands on the southern slope of Nob Hill, situated between the Union Square shopping district to the northeast and the Civic Center office district to the southwest. Encompassing about fifty square blocks, it is historically bounded on the north by Geary Street, on the east by Mason Street, on the south by Market Street and on the west by Van Ness Avenue. The northern boundary with Lower Nob Hill has historically been set at Geary Boulevard.

It contains the Uptown Tenderloin Historic District. The terms "Tenderloin Heights" and "Tendernob" refer to the area around the boundary between the Upper Tenderloin and Lower Nob Hill. The eastern extent, near Union Square, overlaps with the Theater District. Part of the western extent of the Tenderloin, Larkin and Hyde Streets between Turk and O'Farrell, was officially named "Little Saigon" by the City of San Francisco.

The area has a reputation for crime, homelessness, and open-air drug markets. It is the center of the fentanyl crisis in San Francisco.

The Tenderloin is also known for the families and communities that have lived in the neighborhood. It has the highest concentration of children in San Francisco, with an estimated 3000 children in the neighborhood, mostly coming from an immigrant families. The neighborhood includes a Little Saigon, a historically Vietnamese section on two blocks of Larkin Street. The Tenderloin has a rich LGBTQ history, including historic gay bars and a Transgender Cultural District that encompasses the site of the Compton's Cafeteria riot.