Oakland, the third most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the U.S. state of California, is home to 40 buildings taller than 200 feet (61 m) as of 2026. Eighteen buildings in Oakland reach a height of 300 feet (91 m) or more, the fourth most of any city in California, after San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Oakland has the second largest skyline in Northern California and the Bay Area. The tallest building in Oakland is the 28-story Ordway Building, built in 1970 at a height of 404 feet (123.1 m). Atlas, a residential tower that is the city's second tallest, is less than a foot shorter at a height of 403 feet (122.9 m).
Oakland rose as a major city alongside San Francisco in the late 19th century. The city's earliest high-rises, the Gothic Revival style Cathedral Building and the Beaux-Arts Oakland City Hall, the first high-rise city hall, both rose in 1914. At 319 ft (97 m), the city hall was among the tallest buildings in the United States west of the Mississippi River at the time, second to Seattle's Smith Tower. A minor construction boom occurred during the 1920s, including the completion of the Tribune Tower, home to the Oakland Tribune newspaper. Following the Great Depression, few tall buildings were added to the city until the 1960s.
A larger building boom took place in Oakland from the 1960s to 1990s, shaping the city's current skyline. Several office towers were completed in part due to companies founded by American Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, including Ordway Tower, headquarters of Kaiser Permanente; the Kaiser Center, former headquarters of Kaiser Industries; and the Kaiser Engineering Building. Commercial high-rise development fell in the 1990s, during which two major governmental buildings were constructed instead: the two-towered Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building. A residential apartment boom began in the late 2010s, with Oakland adding more housing units than San Francisco in 2019. New buildings in the skyline include Atlas, 1900 Broadway, and 17th and Broadway, Oakland's second, third, and fifth tallest buildings respectively. The boom has dwindled by 2024 in part due to financial constraints and other factors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oakland's tallest buildings are concentrated in Downtown Oakland, which is north of the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880, east of Interstate 980, and west of Lake Merritt; a few high-rises sit on the shores of Lake Merritt. The Skylyne, completed in 2020 in Temescal, is the tallest building in the neighborhood and outside downtown. Downtown Oakland and its skyline is located across the San Francisco Bay from nearby San Francisco. From some angles, such as from the Oakland Hills, the two skylines are visible together.
The history of high-rises in Oakland began with the completion of the nine-story Bank of America Building in 1907. A nine-story section was later added to the same building. It remained the tallest building in the city until 1914, when the Oakland City Hall, at , became the tallest. At the time it was built, the City Hall was the first high-rise government building in the United States and the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. The Kaiser Center surpassed the height of the City Hall in 1960, and was the tallest building for a decade. In 1970, Ordway Building became the tallest building in the city.
<imagemap> File:Oakland Skyline and Lake Merritt.jpg|thumb|center|1100px||alt=Daytime skyline of a city behind a lake, showing several tall skyscrapers in the middle of the image, with several low-rises on the left and trees on the right.
poly 4200 194 4197 203 4197 518 4197 538 4649 516 4648 445 4648 196 4544 194 4544 187 4514 185 4511 189 4510 194 4462 194 4462 189 4455 176 4392 176 4392 194 4316 197 4316 193 4305 188 4276 189 4276 198 4227 200 4226 190 4221 189 4199 192 4202 197 Kaiser Center poly 4649 490 4648 197 4623 196 4623 188 4647 183 4666 183 4671 179 4698 175 4847 184 4846 488 4763 514 4668 518 Ordway Building poly 3772 191 3770 424 3773 427 3772 558 3798 553 3984 555 3985 543 3987 235 3978 227 3971 228 3971 223 3963 216 3956 216 3956 212 3948 205 3941 205 3940 201 3935 196 3935 195 3775 192 Lake Merritt Plaza poly 3160 196 3161 344 3178 346 3178 351 3184 358 3194 360 3209 365 3216 372 3223 378 3241 380 3246 375 3254 379 3309 383 3321 381 3320 527 3328 527 3330 197 3313 194 3282 193 3282 183 3279 177 3211 178 3211 192 3178 194 3161 196 Kaiser Engineering Building poly 1992 324 1989 324 1962 322 1960 313 1956 312 1905 310 1882 314 1882 319 1881 321 1870 323 1876 342 1879 343 1884 359 1884 363 1883 394 1888 393 1889 398 1889 410 1894 411 1909 415 1910 416 1910 432 1917 436 1918 436 1921 443 1922 444 1928 433 1933 436 1937 440 1943 441 1951 449 1957 449 1958 464 1970 464 1969 377 1974 373 1992 372 Clorox Building poly 1850 303 1841 345 1837 344 1834 353 1830 363 1832 371 1832 383 1839 382 1845 386 1845 393 1845 403 1861 403 1867 402 1868 404 1879 406 1885 406 1890 406 1889 395 1887 394 1884 394 1883 363 1883 355 1866 313 1865 304 Tribune Tower poly 0 589 326 592 598 593 939 595 1278 599 1353 602 1603 605 1831 604 2395 605 2794 606 3773 610 4133 608 4143 620 4372 624 4666 624 4727 620 4938 623 5114 624 5312 623 5447 624 5641 622 5837 614 6083 612 6270 613 6440 605 6472 608 6472 797 0 798 Lake Merritt poly -1 467 39 466 42 458 44 455 45 453 52 452 87 451 89 443 105 441 108 343 107 339 112 338 129 338 129 324 137 322 137 315 139 309 214 277 214 258 216 251 217 250 228 243 229 235 231 230 234 234 234 243 246 253 246 257 247 257 247 267 248 276 322 311 321 312 322 313 323 315 322 317 322 323 324 325 329 326 331 326 331 333 331 339 330 340 351 342 352 343 352 348 352 349 352 350 351 444 354 446 356 446 369 446 370 456 370 461 379 458 389 457 421 553 444 556 442 572 436 573 382 576 257 576 185 575 157 576 140 578 132 580 94 572 72 581 92 572 132 578 128 580 111 581 82 581 54 581 37 580 0 580 René C. Davidson Courthouse rect 6674 800 0 0
desc none </imagemap>
The map below show the location of buildings taller than 200 ft (61 m) in Downtown Oakland and around Lake Merritt, where the majority of such buildings are. Each marker is numbered by the building's height rank, and colored by the decade of its completion. There are two buildings in Oakland taller than 200 ft (61 m) that are located outside of the map: The Skylyne at Temescal, and the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center.
This list ranks completed buildings in Oakland that stand at least 200 ft (61 m) tall as of 2026, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. The âÂÂYearâ column indicates the year of completion. Buildings tied in height are sorted by year of completion with earlier buildings ranked first, and then alphabetically.
Since the completion of 1900 Broadway in 2024, there have been no buildings taller than 200 ft (61 m) under construction in Oakland.
The following table includes approved buildings in Oakland that are expected to be at least 200 ft (61 m) tall as of 2026, based on standard height measurement. The âÂÂYearâ column indicates the expected year of completion. A dash âÂÂâÂÂâ indicates information about the buildingâÂÂs height, floor count, or year of completion is unknown or has not been released.