Multiple Fortune 500 companies headquartered in San Francisco have their offices in the Financial District, including Wells Fargo, Salesforce, and Gap.

[6] Since the 1980s, restrictions on high-rise construction have shifted new development to the adjacent South of Market (SoMa) area surrounding the Transbay Transit Center.

[7][8] The 2020s have seen high office vacancy rates in the Financial District since the COVID-19 pandemic, attributed to the accelerating exodus out of the downtown core, particularly by retail and tech companies.

[9][10][11][12] Successive owners of office buildings and hotels have defaulted on their loans,[13][14] raising concerns about the effect on San Francisco's tax revenues and the financial stability of local government services.

[15] Many retailers have also cited high levels of crime, open-air drug use, homelessness, doubts about San Francisco's viability as a relevant commercial center, and closed storefronts in the areas in and around the adjacent Union Square.

Following Californian independence and American annexation and the California Gold Rush, the area boomed rapidly and the Bay shoreline, which originally ended near Montgomery Street, was filled in and extended to The Embarcadero.

[20] With the onset of the Great Depression and statewide height restrictions due to earthquake fears, few new buildings were constructed, and the district remained relatively low-rise until the late 1950s.

[24] Additionally, a federal judge ruled in August 2022 that Walgreens significantly contributed to San Francisco's opioid crisis by failing to implement proper safeguards against suspicious prescriptions, exacerbating broader issues such as crime and homelessness.

[25] These findings have led some to question the narrative presented by Walgreens and similar retailers, suggesting that such claims of rampant crime might be exaggerated or used as hyperbole to justify business decisions.

The District is home to numerous corporate headquarters, including half of San Francisco's eight Fortune 500 companies—Wells Fargo, Salesforce, Visa, and Gap—[6] as well as Levi Strauss, Kimpton Hotels, Dodge & Cox, Prologis, Docusign, Yelp, and SoFi among others; and formerly Bank of America, Bechtel, Pacific Bell, Crocker Bank, Transamerica, Chevron, PG&E, McKesson, URS, and Charles Schwab among others.

Countries with consulates in the Financial District include France,[30] Brazil,[31] Guatemala,[32] Japan,[33][34] Luxembourg,[35] Mexico,[36] Ireland,[37] the Netherlands,[38] Singapore,[39] and the United Kingdom.