San Mateo County encompasses 741.01 square miles on the San Francisco Peninsula and draws a diverse community of professionals seeking family-friendly suburbs close to both sophisticated San Francisco and innovative Silicon Valley. But the county is not just bedroom communities for the big local metropolitan areas.
San Mateo is ethnically and economically diverse with some of the state's most affluent communities (Atherton and Menlo Park).
It is also unique because its borders touch both the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay, creating a wide variety of shoreline recreational facilities for residents to enjoy.
Population: 718,451
Cities: The county encompasses 20 incorporated cities, the largest of which are Daly City and San Mateo.
Schools: The San Mateo County Office of Education serves the 24 school districts of San Mateo County. The graduation rate for the county is 83.3 percent.
Housing: Median value of a total of 152,358 owner occupied houses in San Mateo County was $729,500 based on 2010 data.
Transportation: The county’s local bus service is run by SamTrans (the San Mateo County Transit District). In addition, the county is served by the Caltrain commuter rail system and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trains. All three services meet up in Millbrae, close to our Burlingame Center on the brand-new Mills-Peninsula Medical Center hospital campus. The major local airport is San Francisco International Airport.
Parks and Recreation: The county operates 17 parks, three regional trails and numerous other local paths that encompass 15,680 acres. The park system includes a coastal marine reserve, a bayside recreational area, mountain woodland areas and urban sites.
A favorite escape of San Mateo residents is the beautiful Half Moon Bay State Beach and the city of Half Moon Bay.
Additional information: San Mateo County website