San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442.

Redwood City Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a po ...

is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

, and the third most populated city following Daly City and San Mateo. San Mateo County is included in the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA MSA (

metropolitan statistical area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or tow ...

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

, and is part of the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, the nine counties bordering San Francisco Bay. It covers most of the

San Francisco Peninsula The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is Mountain View, south of Palo Alt ...

. San Francisco International Airport is located in the northeastern area of the county and is approximately 7 miles south of the city and county limits of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, even though the airport itself is assigned a San Francisco

postal address An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used to give the location of a building, apartment, or other structure or a plot of land, generally using political boundaries and street names as references, along w ...

. The county's built-up areas are mostly suburban, and are home to several corporate campuses.

History

San Mateo County was formed in 1856 upon the division of San Francisco County, one of the state's 18 original counties established at California statehood in 1850. Until 1856,

's city limits extended west to Divisadero Street and Castro Street, and south to 20th Street. In 1856, the California state government divided the county. A straight line was then drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of San Bruno Mountain. Everything south of the line became the new San Mateo County while everything north of the line became the new consolidated

City and County of San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. San Mateo County was officially organized on April 18, 1857 under a bill introduced by Senator T.G. Phelps. The 1857 bill defined the southern boundary of San Mateo County as following the south branch of

San Francisquito Creek San Francisquito Creek (Spanish for "Little San Francisco" - the "little" referring to size of the settlement compared to Mission San Francisco de Asís) is a creek that flows into southwest San Francisco Bay in California, United States. Histo ...

to its source in the Santa Cruz Mountains and thence due west to the Pacific Ocean, and named Redwood City as the county seat. San Mateo County then annexed part of northern Santa Cruz County in March 1868, including Pescadero and Pigeon Point. Although the formation bill named Redwood City the county seat, a May 1856 election marked by "unblushing frauds perpetuated on an unorganized and wholly unprotected community by thugs and ballot stuffers from San Francisco" named Belmont the county seat.Alexander & Hamm (1916), p. 24. The election results were declared illegal and the county government was moved to Redwood City, with land being donated from the original Pulgas Grant for the county government on February 27, 1858. Redwood City's status as county seat was upheld in two successive elections in May 1861 and December 9, 1873, defeating San Mateo and Belmont. Another election in May 1874 named San Mateo the county seat, but the state supreme court overturned that election on February 24, 1875, and the county seat has remained at Redwood City ever since. San Mateo County bears the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

name for

Saint Matthew Matthew the Apostle,, shortened to ''Matti'' (whence ar, مَتَّى, Mattā), meaning "Gift of YHWH"; arc, , Mattai; grc-koi, Μαθθαῖος, ''Maththaîos'' or , ''Matthaîos''; cop, ⲙⲁⲧⲑⲉⲟⲥ, Mattheos; la, Matthaeus a ...

. As a place name, San Mateo appears as early as 1776 in the diaries of Anza and Font. Several local geographic features were also designated San Mateo on early maps including variously: a settlement, an arroyo, a headland jutting into the Pacific ( Point Montara), and a large land holding ( Rancho San Mateo). Until about 1850, the name appeared as ''San Matheo''.

Japanese Americans in San Mateo

The Japanese first arrived in San Mateo County and were part of a group guided by Ambassador Tomomi Iwakura in 1872. A number of male Japanese students came to San Mateo to learn English and many other helpful skills to bring back to Japan. These students were also some of the first Japanese to join American students in the Belmont School for Boys. These students had to work for their housing and food before classes and in the evenings. Many of the first Japanese immigrants were able to find jobs as gardeners and landscapers In San Mateo. Most of them had a good educational background from their homelands, but their lack of knowledge of the English language made it difficult for them to find other jobs in the beginning.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (40%) is water. It is the third-smallest county in California by land area. A number of bayside watercourses drain the eastern part of the county including San Bruno Creek and Colma Creek. Streams draining the western county include Frenchmans Creek, Pilarcitos Creek, Naples Creek, Arroyo de en Medio, and

Denniston Creek Denniston Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed March 15, 2011 coastal stream in western San Mateo County, California. Denniston Creek rises on the western slopes of ...

. These streams originate along the northern spur of the Santa Cruz Mountains that run through the county. The northern and eastern parts of the county are very heavy densely populated with largely urban and suburban areas, with many of its cities as edge-cities for the Bay Area, while the deep south and the west-central parts of the county are less densely populated with more rural environment and coastal beaches areas. Portola Redwoods State Park in March 2020

Portola Redwoods State Park in March 2020

Features

San Mateo County straddles the

, with the Santa Cruz Mountains running its entire length. The county encompasses a variety of habitats, including estuarine, marine, oak woodland, redwood forest, coastal scrub and oak savannah. There are numerous species of

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

present, especially along the San Francisco Bay estuarine shoreline, San Bruno Mountain, Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and the forests on the Montara Mountain block. Several creeks discharge to the San Francisco Bay, including San Mateo Creek and Laurel Creek, and several coastal streams discharge to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

, such as Frenchmans Creek and San Vicente Creek. Año Nuevo State Marine Conservation Area and Greyhound Rock State Marine Conservation Area are two adjoining marine protected areas off the coast of San Mateo County. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.

Flora and fauna

The county is home to several endangered species including the

San Francisco garter snake The San Francisco garter snake (''Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia'') is a slender multi-colored subspecies of the common garter snake. Designated as an endangered subspecies since the year 1967, it is endemic to San Mateo County and the extrem ...

and the San Bruno elfin butterfly, both of which are endemic to San Mateo County. The endangered Ridgway's Rail is also found on the shores of San Francisco Bay, in the cities of Belmont and San Mateo. The endangered wildflower

Hickman's potentilla ''Potentilla hickmanii'' (called Hickman's potentilla or Hickman's cinquefoil) is an endangered perennial herb of the rose family. This rare plant species is found in a narrowly restricted range in two locations in coastal northern California, ...

is found near the Pacific Ocean on the lower slopes of

Montara Mountain Montara Mountain, positioned between the unincorporated community of Montara, California, to the southwest and the city of Pacifica, California, to the north, forms the northern spur of the Santa Cruz Mountains, a narrow mountain range running the ...

. The endangered wildflowers White-rayed pentachaeta, '' Pentachaeta bellidiflora'',

San Mateo Woolly Sunflower ''Eriophyllum latilobum'', the San Mateo woolly sunflower, is a perennial herb of sharply limited range, endemic and occurring only in the state of California, United States. This flowering plant of the family Asteraceae has been listed as an e ...

, ''

Eriophyllum latilobum ''Eriophyllum latilobum'', the San Mateo woolly sunflower, is a perennial herb of sharply limited range, endemic and occurring only in the state of California, United States. This flowering plant of the family Asteraceae has been listed as an e ...

'', Marin Dwarf Flax, '' Hesperolinon congestum'' and the San Mateo Thornmint, '' Acanthomintha duttonii'', are found in the vicinity of the Crystal Springs Reservoir. In May 2014, a

California condor The California condor (''Gymnogyps californianus'') is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987 when all remaining wild individuals were captured, but has since been reintroduced to nort ...

was spotted near Pescadero, a coastal community south of San Francisco—it was the first California condor spotted in San Mateo County since 1904. The condor, tagged with the number "597", and also known as "Lupine", is one of 439 condors living in the wild or captivity in California, Baja California and Arizona. The three-year-old female flew more than north from Pinnacles National Park, in San Benito County, on May 30, and landed on a private, forested property near Pescadero, on the San Mateo County Coast, where it was photographed by a motion-activated wildlife camera. Harold Heath, Professor Emeritus, of Stanford University was responsible for the 1904 sighting, west of the University campus. Pumas (''Puma concolor''), also known as cougars or mountain lions, roam the county.

Tule elk The tule elk (''Cervus canadensis nannodes'') is a subspecies of elk found only in California, ranging from the grasslands and marshlands of the Central Valley to the grassy hills on the coast. The subspecies name derives from the tule (), a ...

(''Cervus canadensis nannodes'') were native to San Mateo County and among the "favored foods" of the

Ohlone people The Ohlone, formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the ...

based on ethnohistoric and archeological evidence there. The discovery of two elk specimens made news in 1962, one a royal elk (royal elk bulls have six

tines Tines (; also spelled tynes), prongs or teeth are parallel or branching spikes forming parts of a tool or natural object. They are used to spear, hook, move or otherwise act on other objects. They may be made of metal, wood, bone or other hard, ...

per antler) from a peat bog excavated in Pacifica's historic Laguna Alta, and now in the

Museum of Vertebrate Zoology The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology is a natural history museum at the University of California, Berkeley. The museum was founded by philanthropist Annie Montague Alexander in 1908. Alexander recommended zoologist Joseph Grinnell as museum director, ...

collection. These may date from the time of Spanish settlement. Laguna Alta lay just south of the Interstate 280 and Skyline Boulevard intersection, east of Mussel Rock. The California Academy of Sciences also has an elk skull fragment collected one mile inland from the mouth of Purisima Creek in 1951. Additional coastal elk remains dating from the Middle and Late Periods in Northern California were found in at least five more late

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

archeological sites in San Mateo County: SMA-115 (

Montara State Beach Montara State Beach is a beach located in the coastal region of the U.S. state of California, eight miles north of Half Moon Bay on State Route 1. It is operated by the California State Department of Parks and Recreation under the San Mateo Co ...

site), SMA-118 ( Bean Hollow State Beach site), SMA-244 ( Butano Ridge site), SMA-97 ( Año Nuevo Creek site) and SMA-218 (Año Nuevo State Reserve site). On the eastern side of the

, elk remains were also unearthed at multiple archaeological sites along

National protected areas

Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge (DESFBNWR) is a United States National Wildlife Refuge located in the southern part of San Francisco Bay, California. The Refuge headquarters and visitor center is located in the Baylands dist ...

(part) *

Golden Gate National Recreation Area The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the United ...

(part)

Marine protected area

* Montara State Marine Reserve & Pillar Point State Marine Conservation Area

County parks

The County of San Mateo Parks Department operates 22 parks, trails, and historic sites spread throughout the county: ;Notes Prior to the rebuilding of the San Mateo Bridge that began in 1996, the county had also operated Werder Pier for fishermen; it had been the western segment of the original 1929

vertical-lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...

. In addition to the county-operated parks, San Mateo County voters created the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in 1972, administered by the

Peninsula Open Space Trust The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) is a nonprofit land trust headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Mission and Work POST mission is to protect open space on the Peninsula and in the South Bay for the benefit of all. The organization has bee ...

, which owns several protected spaces within San Mateo County (as well as within Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties). San Mateo County protected spaces administered by POST include: * Coal Creek Open Space Preserve * El Corte de Madera Creek * La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve *

Long Ridge Open Space Preserve Long Ridge Open Space Preserve is a 2,035 acre open space preserve along Long Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Recreation Long Ridge has 13.5 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding, including the Bay Area Ridge Trail ...

(partially within Santa Clara County) * Los Trancos Open Space Preserve (partially within Santa Clara County) * Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve *

Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve The Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve is located on the western slopes of historic Kings Mountain in Woodside, California. This preserve was established with a $2 million gift from the Save the Redwoods League. Purisima Creek a ...

* Ravenswood Open Space Preserve * Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve * Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve * Teague Hill Open Space Preserve * Thornewood Open Space Preserve * Windy Hill Open Space Preserve

State parks

* Año Nuevo State Park * Butano State Park * Castle Rock State Park * Heritage Grove * Portola Redwoods State Park * Quarry Park * Burleigh H. Murray Ranch * Pigeon Point Light Station Historic State Park * Point Montara Light Station State Park * San Bruno Mountain State Park

State beaches

* Año Nuevo State Reserve * Bean Hollow State Beach * Big Basin State Beach * Gray Whale Cove State Beach * Half Moon Bay State Beach *

* Pacifica State Beach * Pebble Beach * Pescadero State Beach * Pomponio State Beach * San Gregorio State Beach * Thornton State Beach

Demographics

2020 census

''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.''

2012

As of 2012, San Mateo County had one of the largest Tongan communities outside of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

, with an estimated 13,000 Tongan Americans.

2011

Places by population, race, and income

2010

The

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...

reported that San Mateo County had a population of 718,451. The racial makeup of San Mateo County was 383,535 (53.4%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 20,436 (2.8%)

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 3,306 (0.5%) Native American, 178,118 (24.8%) Asian (9.8% Filipino, 9.0% Chinese, 1.9% Indian, 1.2% Japanese, 0.8% Korean, 0.5% Vietnamese, 0.3% Burmese, 0.1% Pakistani), 10,317 (1.4%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

(0.6% Tongan, 0.3% Samoan, 0.2% Fijian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian), 84,529 (11.8%) from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 38,210 (5.3%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

or Latino of any race were 182,502 persons (25.4%); 15.7% of San Mateo County is Mexican, 2.7% Salvadoran, 1.2% Guatemalan, 1.2% Nicaraguan, 0.7% Peruvian, 0.6% Puerto Rican, 0.2% Colombian, and 0.2% Cuban.

2000

USA San Mateo County, California age pyramid

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2009, there were 714,936 people, 258,648 households, and 174,582 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 2,753/sq mi (825/km²). There were 284,471 housing units at an average density of . 7.4% were of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, 7.1%

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

, 7.0% German and 5.3% English ancestry according to

Census 2000 The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 ce ...

. 46.9% spoke English, 28.4%

, 6.2% Tagalog, 4.0% Chinese or Mandarin and 1.1%

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

, and other language 4.2%, as their first language from estimate census 2009. There were 258,648 households, out of which 30% had children under the age of 18, 48.6% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.7% were non-families. 31.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.79 and the average family size was 4.44. In the county, the population was spread out, with 28.6% under the age of 18, 15.9% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 21% from 45 to 64, and 9.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.1 males. The median income for a household in the county was $69,306, and the median income for a family was $77,737. Males had a median income of $48,342 versus $45,383 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $36,045. About 6.42% of families and 9.51% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 10.01% of those under age 18 and 8.52% of those age 65 or over.

Government

San Mateo County has a five-member Board of Supervisors, representing five geographic districts, elected at-large until November 2012. On November 6, 2012, Measure B passed to amend the San Mateo County Charter so that each member of the Board of Supervisors will cease to be elected by an at-large vote of all the voters in the County, but is instead elected only by the voters of his or her district. San Mateo County is split between California's 14th and 18th congressional districts, represented by and , respectively. In the California State Assembly, San Mateo County is split between three legislative districts: * , * , and * . In the California State Senate, San Mateo is split between the

11th 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first atteste ...

and

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

districts, represented by and , respectively.

Politics

Presidential election results and voter registration

Cities by population and voter registration

Overview

The California Secretary of State, as of February 2019, reports that San Mateo County has 404,958 registered voters. Of those voters, 202,341 (50%) are registered Democratic, 60,045 (14.3%) are registered Republican, 15,834 (3.9%) are registered with other political parties, and 126,738 (31.3%)

declined to state Decline to State (DTS) was an affiliation designation on the California voter registration form that allows voters to register to vote without choosing a party affiliation. It is similar to what in other states would be called declaring oneself as ...

a political party preference. Every city, town, and unincorporated area of San Mateo County has more registered Democrats than Republicans. On November 4, 2008, San Mateo County voted 61.8% against

Proposition 8 Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage; it passed in the November 2008 California state elections and was later overturned in cou ...

, which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

Crime

The following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense.

Cities by population and crime rates

Economy

A July 2013 ''Wall Street Journal'' article identified the

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

initial public offering (IPO) as the cause of a change in the U.S.' national economic statistics, as San Mateo County—the home of the company—became the top wage-earning county in the country after the fourth quarter of 2012. The article revealed that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the average weekly wage in the county was $3,240, which is 107% higher than the previous year: "That’s the equivalent of $168,000 a year, and more than 50% higher than the next highest county, New York County (better known as Manhattan), which came in at $2,107 a week, or roughly $110,000 a year." As of the fourth quarter of 2021, the median value of homes in San Mateo County was $1,247,070, an increase of 11% from the prior year. It ranked fourth in the US for counties with highest median home value, behind Nantucket,

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, and Santa Clara. Additionally, San Mateo County hosts the headquarters of

Visa Inc Visa Inc. (; stylized as ''VISA'') is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded cr ...

, Sony Interactive Entertainment,

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, Genentech, GoPro, and

Gilead Sciences Gilead Sciences, Inc. () is an American biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Foster City, California, that focuses on researching and developing antiviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, and C ...

, as well as a hub of venture capital firms in Menlo Park and several other technology-related companies. In 2016, Peninsula Clean Energy began providing electricity to 20 percent of residential customers, all municipalities, and all small- to mid-size businesses in the county, as a Community Choice Aggregation program, an alternative to Pacific Gas and Electric.

Education

The people of San Mateo County may use the services of San Mateo County Libraries along with the Peninsula Library System and its dozens of branches, bookmobile and Library-a-Go-Go machine at the Millbrae BART/Caltrain station. The county is divided into several public school districts and is also served by the local Catholic diocese and many other private parochial and secular schools. The San Mateo County Board of Education oversees early education, special education, and the court and community schools program in the county, as well as serves as an appeal board for the adjudication of expulsion appeals, interdistrict attendance appeals, and charter schools. Some students in San Mateo County's public schools attend outdoor education in La Honda. San Mateo Outdoor Education is a residential school that teaches major concepts of

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

via exploration of forest, pond, garden, tidepool,

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

, and sandy shore

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s. The center's mascot is the

banana slug Banana slugs are North American terrestrial slugs comprising the genus ''Ariolimax''. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Ariolimax Mörch, 1859. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p= ...

, a large yellow gastropod. The school uses songs from the famous

Banana Slug String Band Banana Slug String Band (BSSB), formed in 1985, is a children's band based out of Santa Cruz, California and are self-described as "Environmental Educators". They focus on live performances at schools assemblies and music festivals. As of 2015, ...

K-12 school districts

They include: ; Unified * Cabrillo Unified School District * La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District *

South San Francisco Unified School District The South San Francisco Unified School District is a school district in northern San Mateo County, California, serving the cities of South San Francisco, a small portion of San Bruno, and the Serramonte district of Daly City. Governance S ...

; Secondary *

Jefferson Union High School District The Jefferson Union High School District (JUHSD) is a high school district in northern San Mateo County, California which serves the cities of Daly City, Brisbane, Pacifica, and the town of Colma. Its district office is located at the former ...

* San Mateo Union High School District *

Sequoia Union High School District The Sequoia Union High School District is a public union school district in the San Francisco Bay Area, primarily serving the southern San Mateo County communities of Atherton, Belmont, East Palo Alto, Ladera, San Carlos, Menlo Park, Portol ...

; Elementary * Bayshore Elementary School District * Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary School District *

Brisbane Elementary School District Brisbane School District is a school district in California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most pop ...

Burlingame Elementary School District Burlingame School District is a public school district in Burlingame, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its schools serve students in kindergarten through 8th grade.Friedman, Jonathan.SMMUSD superintendent appointed to head Northern Cal ...

Hillsborough City Elementary School District The Hillsborough City School District is a public school district in Hillsborough, California, United States. Currently, the district serves over 1530 students who live in the town of Hillsborough. History In 1850, Hillsborough opened its first ...

Jefferson Elementary School District Jefferson Elementary School District is a K-8 school district headquartered in Daly City, San Mateo County, California, USA, serving the communities of Daly City, Colma, California, Colma, Broadmoor, California, Broadmoor and part of Pacifica, Cal ...

Las Lomitas Elementary School District The Las Lomitas Elementary School District is a public school district in the San Francisco Bay Area, primarily serving parts of the communities of Menlo Park, Atherton and Ladera, with its headquarters in Menlo Park. Under the current arrange ...

Menlo Park City Elementary School District The Menlo Park City School District is a public school district in the San Francisco Bay Area, primarily serving the communities of Menlo Park and Atherton. Through the Tinsley Voluntary Transfer Program the district allows students from East ...

Millbrae Elementary School District The Millbrae Elementary School District is a school district in Millbrae, California. It consists of one middle school (Taylor Middle School) and four elementary schools (Green Hills School, Lomita Park School, Meadows School, and Spring Valley S ...

* Pacifica School District * Portola Valley Elementary School District *

Ravenswood City Elementary School District The Ravenswood City School District is a public school district headquartered in East Palo Alto, California, US. The district, in the San Francisco Bay Area, serves the communities of East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park. Students from this sc ...

Redwood City Elementary School District Redwood City School District (RCSD) is the public elementary school district serving Redwood City, California. As of 2019–2020 school year, the district serves over 8,500 students in 16 schools. Schools Elementary Schools (grades K-8) * Cliffo ...

San Bruno Park Elementary School District San Bruno Park Elementary School District was created in 1906 in San Bruno, California to meet the needs of a growing population following the San Francisco earthquake and fire. History The first public school in San Bruno, California, known as ...

San Carlos Elementary School District San Carlos School District is a K-8 elementary school district in San Carlos, California. It consists of 2 middle schools, 4 lower elementary schools, 2 upper elementary schools, and 1 K-8 charter school, which holds the distinction of being the f ...

San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District San Mateo-Foster City School District is a school district in San Mateo and Foster City, California. It consists of twenty schools: three middle schools (Grades 6–8), fourteen elementary schools (TK/K–5), and three schools with all g ...

* Woodside Elementary School District

Transportation

Major highways

Interstate 280 * I-380 (CA)

Interstate 380 * US 101 (1961 cutout)

U.S. Route 101 * California 1

State Route 1 * California 9

State Route 9 * California 35

State Route 35 * California 82

State Route 82 ( El Camino Real) * California 84

State Route 84 ( Dumbarton Bridge) * California 92

State Route 92 ( San Mateo Bridge) * California 109

State Route 109 * California 114

State Route 114

Public transportation

SamTrans (San Mateo County Transit District) provides local bus service within San Mateo County. Local and commuter bus routes also operate into San Francisco.

Caltrain Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a California commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose at Tamien station with weekday rush hour service running as fa ...

, the commuter rail system, traverses the county from north to south, running alongside the Highway 101 corridor for most of the way. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trains serve San Francisco International Airport and the northern portion of the county, terminating at Millbrae. Caltrain, BART, and SamTrans converge at the Millbrae Intermodal station.

Airports

San Francisco International Airport is geographically located in San Mateo County, but it is owned and operated by the City and County of

. San Mateo County does own two general aviation airports:

Half Moon Bay Airport Eddie Andreini Sr. Airfield, officially Half Moon Bay Airport is a public airport in San Mateo County, northwest of Half Moon Bay, California, United States. The airport is on the Pacific Coast, south of San Francisco. History The Half Moon ...

and San Carlos Airport.

Marine transport

The only deepwater port in South San Francisco Bay is the

Port of Redwood City The Port of Redwood City is a marine freight terminal on the western side of the southern San Francisco Bay, on the West Coast of the United States. This marine terminal is situated within the city of Redwood City, California. The port was d ...

, situated along Redwood Creek, originally created as a lumber embarcadero in 1850. The San Mateo Harbor Harbor District manages the Pillar Point Harbor and

Oyster Point Marina Oyster Point Marina/Park is a 408-berth public marina and park located in the city of South San Francisco, California on the western shoreline of San Francisco Bay. The City of South San Francisco owns Oyster Point Marina/Park. The San Mateo Co ...

. Ferry connections connect Oyster Point to

Jack London Square Jack London Square is an entertainment and business destination on the waterfront of Oakland, California, United States. Named after the author Jack London and owned by the Port of Oakland, it is the home of stores, restaurants, hotels, Amtr ...

in Oakland and the Alameda Ferry Terminal in Alameda.

Notable structures

There are a number of well-known structures within San Mateo County: * Carolands Mansion, Hillsborough *

Cow Palace The Cow Palace (originally the California State Livestock Pavilion) is an indoor arena located in Daly City, California, situated on the city's northern border with neighboring San Francisco. Because the border passes through the property, a por ...

, Daly City * Uplands Mansion, Hillsborough * Crystal Springs Reservoir,

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

central part of county * CuriOdyssey, San Mateo * Filoli Mansion, Woodside * The Flintstone House, Hillsborough *

Notre Dame de Namur University Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) is a private Catholic university in Belmont, California. It is the third oldest college in California and the first college in the state authorized to grant the baccalaureate degree to women. In 2021, the ...

, Belmont, which incorporates Ralston Hall * Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Pescadero *

Point Montara Lighthouse The Point Montara Light is a lighthouse in Montara, California, United States, on the southern approach to the San Francisco Bay, California approximately 25 miles south of San Francisco. History Point Montara Lighthouse was established in Fe ...

, Montara *

Pulgas Water Temple The Pulgas Water Temple is a stone structure in Redwood City, California, United States, designed by architect William G. Merchant. It was erected by the San Francisco Water Department to commemorate the 1934 completion of the Hetch Hetchy Aque ...

, Woodside * Sanchez Adobe, Pacifica * San Mateo County History Museum, Redwood City * San Francisco International Airport * Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park

Communities

Cities

* Belmont *

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

* Burlingame * Daly City *

East Palo Alto East Palo Alto (abbreviated E.P.A.) is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of East Palo Alto was 30,034. It is situated on the San Francisco Peninsula, roughly halfway between the cities of ...

* Foster City * Half Moon Bay * Menlo Park * Millbrae * Pacifica *

(county seat) * San Bruno * San Carlos * San Mateo * South San Francisco

Towns

* Atherton * Colma * Hillsborough * Portola Valley * Woodside

Census-designated places

* Broadmoor * El Granada * Emerald Lake Hills * Highlands-Baywood Park *

Ladera ''Ladera'' (Greek λαδερά), ''zeytinyağlı (yemekler)'' ( Turkish), or ''bil zayt'' (Arabic بالزيت) is a category of vegetable dishes cooked in olive oil in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, notably Greek, Turkish, and Arab ...

* La Honda * Loma Mar * Montara * Moss Beach * North Fair Oaks * Pescadero * West Menlo Park

Unincorporated communities

*Burlingame Hills *Devonshire * Kings Mountain * Los Trancos Woods * Menlo Oaks *Palomar Park * Princeton-by-the-Sea * San Gregorio * Sky Londa

Population ranking

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2020 census of San Mateo County. † ''county seat''

Notes

References

External links

*
Visitors Guide from the Visitors BureauSan Mateo County Library – 12 branches throughout the County and a bookmobilePeninsula Library System – serving all of San Mateo CountySuperior Court RecordsSamCERA (San Mateo County Employees' Retirement Association)Brisbane Baylands ProjectDiseño del Rancho Cañada de Guadalupe, la Visitacion y Rodeo Viejo : San Mateo Co., Ca
at the Bancroft Library {{Authority control California counties Counties in the San Francisco Bay Area 1856 establishments in California Populated places established in 1856 Majority-minority counties in California