San Andreas

San Andreas has two separate identities across the Grand Theft Auto continuities: it is a city in the original 2D universe and a state in the 3D and HD universes. The 3D state in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas spans Los Santos, San Fierro, Las Venturas and the countryside between them.¹ The HD state used by Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online instead focuses on Los Santos, Blaine County and the wider Southern San Andreas region.⁵

The three-city map remains one of GTA: San Andreas' defining strengths. It gives CJ room to move from gang conflict in Los Santos to the hills of San Fierro, the casinos of Las Venturas and long stretches of desert, forest and small-town roads.

Description

In the original Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas is one of the game's three cities. That version belongs to the 2D universe and is separate from the later state.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas rebuilt the name as a sprawling state with three major cities and broad rural areas between them.² CJ begins in Los Santos, but the story steadily opens the rest of the map as he travels through the countryside, San Fierro, the desert and Las Venturas. The mix of dense neighborhoods, mountain roads, farmland, forests and casino districts gives the game a scale and variety that still stand out within the series.

The HD universe created another version of the state for GTA V and GTA Online. Its playable area covers Southern San Andreas, including Los Santos and Blaine County, rather than recreating the full three-city layout from the 2004 game.

The older map has remained popular enough to inspire a community project that imported it into the GTA V engine.

Development and Influence

San Andreas draws heavily from the western United States. In the 3D universe, Los Santos closely resembles Los Angeles, San Fierro draws from San Francisco and Las Venturas mirrors Las Vegas. The state compresses those influences into one connected road network, letting the game shift from inner-city streets to coastal roads, mountain passes and open desert without leaving the map.

Chris Bellard, credited as Young Maylay, voices protagonist Carl "CJ" Johnson.² His performance sits at the center of a story that carries CJ across the state to rebuild his family and confront the people who drove him out of Los Santos.

The 2004 game has received several later editions. Rockstar rebuilt it for mobile devices with remastered graphics in 2013,³ and Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition brought San Andreas to newer platforms in 2021 with updated controls, lighting, textures and draw distances.⁴

Geography and Environment

The 3D version of San Andreas connects three cities with countryside rather than dividing them into four separate islands. Los Santos occupies the southeast, San Fierro sits in the west and Las Venturas rises from the desert in the northeast. Between them are mountains, forests, farmland, rivers, reservoirs, ghost towns and long highways.

Each region has its own atmosphere. Los Santos is dense and sun-baked, San Fierro is hilly and often foggy, and Las Venturas is surrounded by desert. Weather changes across the state, while cheat codes can force fog, sandstorms, thunderstorms and other conditions.

The HD state uses different geography. GTA V and GTA Online place Los Santos beside Blaine County, with the city, desert, mountains and northern settlements forming the playable part of Southern San Andreas.

Districts / Landmarks / Points of Interest

The major locations depend on which continuity is being discussed:

• Los Santos: The 3D version is CJ's hometown in GTA: San Andreas. A separate HD version is the main city in GTA V and GTA Online.
• San Fierro: The 3D universe's hilly western city, shaped by San Francisco and connected to the countryside by landmarks including Gant Bridge.
• Las Venturas: The 3D universe's casino city in the desert, with The Strip as its brightest and busiest district.
• Blaine County: The rural and desert region north of Los Santos in the HD universe, including Sandy Shores, Grapeseed, Paleto Bay and Mount Chiliad.

Population and Residents

The separate continuities also have separate casts. In the 3D universe, Carl "CJ" Johnson is the central figure in GTA: San Andreas. His journey crosses the entire state, and characters including Sweet, Kendl, Cesar Vialpando, The Truth and Wu Zi Mu connect him to its different regions. Claude, the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto III, also appears during Catalina's race missions.

The HD universe follows Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton and Trevor Philips across Los Santos and Blaine County in GTA V. GTA Online adds the player's own criminal career and a growing cast of contacts, business partners and rivals. They belong to the HD continuity, separate from CJ's story.

Grand Theft Auto Online

Grand Theft Auto Online shares GTA V's Southern San Andreas map and continues to expand what players can do within it.⁵ Apartments, businesses, properties, heists, races and new interiors have turned familiar parts of Los Santos and Blaine County into starting points for years of additional missions.

Rockstar has repeatedly used the whole state as the stage for community events. The Heist Challenge, for example, challenged players across San Andreas to combine their heist takings toward a shared target.

Gallery

Trivia

• According to one writer, the game has such a dedicated following that every time San Andreas is mentioned, someone in the world reinstalls it.
• Claude appears in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas during Catalina's race missions before the events of Grand Theft Auto III.
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas includes a large collection of cheat codes, including several that instantly change weather conditions across the state.
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2024, two decades after its original release.