Hayward

Hayward is a city located in Alameda County, California in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 159,203 as of 2019, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda County. Hayward was ranked as the 32nd most populous municipality in California. It is located primarily between Castro Valley, San Leandro and Union City, and lies at the eastern terminus of the San Mateo–Hayward Bridge. The city was devastated early in its history by the 1868 Hayward earthquake. From the early 20th century until the beginning of the 1980s, Hayward’s economy was dominated by its now defunct food canning and salt production industries.