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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

San Mateo, CA
Real Estate & Demographic Data






San Mateo profile


Living in San Mateo



San Mateo is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 100,984 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 19.85% 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.

One of the nice things about San Mateo is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

Like elsewhere in America, most people in San Mateo use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of San Mateo‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the train. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.

Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in San Mateo. 58.22% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%.

The per capita income in San Mateo in 2022 was $78,990, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $315,960 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 24.71% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in San Mateo include Irish, Italian, German, English, and European.

In addition, San Mateo has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (35.85%).

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