San Mateo is a relatively large coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 101,327 people and 28 associated neighborhoods, San Mateo is the 68th largest community in California.

San Mateo home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but San Mateo real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Also of interest is that San Mateo has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

A relatively large number of people in San Mateo telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 22.28% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Another interesting thing about San Mateo, despite not being a huge city, is that there is a relatively high proportion of people living here who are young, single, and upwardly-mobile professionals. This makes it a good choice for other relocating single professionals. Here, these young singles will find many others like themselves, with opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

San Mateo is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

For the size of the city, public transportation in San Mateo is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the train. For San Mateo, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.

If knowledge is power, San Mateo is a pretty powerful place. 57.57% of the adults in San Mateo have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in San Mateo in 2022 was $80,312, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $321,248 for a family of four. However, San Mateo contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

San Mateo is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call San Mateo home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of San Mateo residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. San Mateo also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 26.77% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in San Mateo include Irish, German, Italian, English, and European.

Foreign born people are also an important part of San Mateo's cultural character, accounting for 36.63% of the city’s population.

The most common language spoken in San Mateo is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.