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San Carlos, California

San Carlos (Spanish for "St. Charles") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. The population is 30,722 per the 2020 census.

Native Americans
Prior to the Spanish arrival in 1769, the land of San Carlos was occupied by a group of Native Americans who called themselves the Lamchins. While they considered themselves to have a separate identity from other local tribes, modern scholars consider them to be a part of the Ohlone or Costanoan tribes that inhabited the Bay Area.

The Lamchins referred to the area of their primary residence—probably on the north bank of Pulgas creek—as "Cachanihtac", which included their word for vermin. When the Spanish arrived, they translated this as "the fleas", or "las Pulgas", giving many places and roads their modern names.

The Native American life was one of traditional hunting and gathering. There was plentiful game and fowl available, and fish could be caught in the San Francisco Bay. There were also grasses, plants and oak trees (for acorns), and archaeological finds of mortars and pestles indicate that these source were processed for food. No doubt they also participated in the regional trading networks for goods that could not be gathered or grown locally.

The Lamchin permanent village is thought to have been between the modern streets of Alameda de las Pulgas and Cordilleras Avenue, near San Carlos Avenue.

Spanish colonial era
In 1769, Gaspar de Portolá was the first westerner to reach the San Francisco Bay. While early historians placed his approach to the Bay from the Pacific Ocean as coming over the San Carlos hills, present researchers believe this "discovery" actually occurred in present-day Belmont.

The Spanish, with overwhelming military and economic advantages over the native population, quickly dominated the Bay Area. Initially, the missionaries invited local people to join them at Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) and convert to Christianity. Facing the end of their way of life, the local population had little choice but to seek assistance from the missions and convert to Christianity. Traditional trade routes and alliances fell apart. The Lamchin were one of the first local peoples to move to the mission. The first Lamchin were baptized at the mission in 1777 and last 1794. A total of 139 Lamchin people appear in the mission's baptismal records.

Afterward, the land was deeded in large "ranchos", or ranches, to prominent and wealthy Spaniards, with no concern for the native populations that lived on them. The new ranch owners raised cattle on the lands, displacing the native game populations and disrupting the food supply of the indigenous population. As well, the Spanish strongly discouraged the Native Americans from their periodic controlled burns, which helped maintain the grasslands.

The land now occupied by the city of San Carlos was deeded as a single large rancho to Don José Darío Argüello. He and his family did not live there, but rather raised cattle and crops for money on "Rancho Cachinetac" (a Spanish derivation of "Cachanihtac"). José's son Luis Argüello was the first California-born governor of the state, and after his death in 1830 the remaining family moved to the ranch, now known as Rancho de las Pulgas. The family abode was located at the present-day intersection of Magnolia and Cedar streets.

Late 19th century
While the California Gold Rush of 1849 found no gold nearby, disappointed Sierra Nevada prospectors made their way to the region, bringing the first non-Spanish western settlers. The Argüello family retained deed to their ranch through the transfer of governments to the United States, and, in the 1850s, began selling parcels of it through their agent S. M. Mezes.

While the port of Redwood City, to the south, and the town of Belmont, to the north, both grew quickly in the late 19th century, San Carlos' growth was much slower. Major portions were purchased by the Brittan Family, the Hull Family, the Ralston family and Timothy Guy Phelps.

Timothy Phelps, a wealthy politician, made an early attempt to further develop the San Carlos area. He paid for significant improvements such as sewer lines and street grading, and began to promote lot sales in what he immodestly called "The Town of Phelps".

Phelps' sales were largely unsuccessful, and he eventually sold much of his land to Nicholas T. Smith's San Carlos Land Development Company. Other developers were not overly fond of Phelps' eponymous efforts, and decided to rename the town. Some maps are existent referring to the area as "Lomitas" ("little hills" in Spanish) but eventually due to historical legend, the name "San Carlos" was chosen. As noted previously, it was believed that Portolá had first seen the San Francisco Bay on November 4 from the San Carlos hills. November 4 is the feast day of St. Charles. As well, the Spanish king at the time was Carlos III, and the first ship to sail into San Francisco bay was the San Carlos.

The newly named region—not yet incorporated—received a boost with the construction of the Peninsula Railroad Corridor in 1863, and the addition, of a station at San Carlos in 1888.

Growth remained slow through the turn of the 20th century, with most residents enjoying the short 35-minute train ride to San Francisco while living in a rural setting. The Hull family operated a dairy located at the modern intersection of Hull and Laurel. Many of the other residents which were not involved in agriculture were wealthy business and professional men who worked with the railroad or in San Francisco.

Despite the efforts of the developers, growth was very slow in this period, and San Carlos ended the 19th century with fewer than one hundred houses and families.

1900–1941
The turn of the 20th century saw the layout of the initial town streets. While "Old County Road" east of the railroad track had been in use as a stage line since at least 1850, the present-day layout west of the railroad track was constructed in the first years of 1900. Cedar, Elm, Laurel, Magnolia, Maple (renamed El Camino Real) and Walnut were put down in this time.

Growth remained slow through the first fifteen years of the new century, but in 1918 the town had grown enough to build a school at 600 Elm Street. One year previously Frederick Drake ("The Father of San Carlos") had purchased 130 acres of real estate in San Carlos in foreclosure, and began marketing it. Growth came quickly, and the early 1920s saw Drake build an office at the southwest corner of Cypress (now San Carlos Ave) and El Camino Real, which is still existent, and is home to Drake's Restaurant dedicated to Frederick Drake. In the early 1920s, the cypresses along Cypress Ave. were removed, and the street widened and renamed San Carlos Ave. In 1923 the growing municipality founded a fire station, and in 1925 the founders voted to incorporate.

The Great Depression affected families in San Carlos, as it did everywhere, but growth continued, and population grew from approximately 600 at incorporation in 1925 to 5,000 in 1941.

While services such as stores increased in this period, by the beginning of World War II San Carlos was still known in the Bay Area as a rural community. Most of the land in the municipality was still used for agricultural purposes, and photographs of the time show a landscape with few houses separated by large fields.

War Dogs
During World War II, not long after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the American Kennel Club and a new group calling itself "Dogs for Defense" mobilized dog owners across the country to donate quality animals to the Quartermaster Corps. Dogs donated by a patriotic public to the Army saved the lives of a number of soldiers in combat.

In October 1942, the US Army and “Dogs for Defense” came to San Carlos. The 178-acre site, at the top of today's Club and Crestview Drives, which was locally known as the H and H Ranch, was selected to become the US Army War Dog Reception and Training Center (also known as Western Remount Area Reception and Training Center). It was established between October 15, 1942, and November 7, 1942.

The first enlisted men for the army post were temporarily housed in the San Carlos Fire Station (located on Laurel Street between San Carlos Ave. and Holly St.) from December 15 to 28, 1942. Each dog handler was given four dogs to train, and at the end of the course, the trainer selected the best one and shipped out. Dogs were trained for sentry, attack, scout, and messenger roles, and later to detect mines. 1,200 dogs could be accommodated at any one time.

The first army dog platoon to go overseas in the Pacific was the 25th Quartermaster Corps War Dog Platoon, under the command of 1st Lt. Bruce D. Walker. When they left San Carlos, on May 11, 1944, none of the handlers knew what their final destination would be. They left via San Francisco aboard the Liberty ship SS John Isaacson for assignments in the Pacific Theatre.

The facility closed in October 1944, with approximately 4,500 dogs going through the facility during the war.

1945 to the end of the 20th century
In 1944, Dalmo Victor established the city's first large electronics plant, followed soon after by Eitel McCullough, Varian Associates (Later occupied by Tesla Motors and currently by Devil's Canyon Brewing Company), and Lenkurt Electric Company.

Establishment of these two firms was a factor in the quadrupling of San Carlos population in the decade after 1940. In 1950, when the population was 14,371, the city boasted a total of 89 industries: wholesalers, manufacturers and distributors, producing a variety of commodities from electronics to cosmetic. By 1958, the electronic industry comprised a substantial segment of the city's industrial area.

In the late 1940s when Bayshore was a two-lane road, the San Carlos Airport was moved from its former location between Brittan and San Carlos Avenues to its present site. The airport was bought by the county from Cal West Yacht Harbor in 1964 for $990,000.

In 2022, the city received national attention after a woman was beheaded with a sword.

Geography
San Carlos is located on the San Francisco Peninsula.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.54 sqmi, of which, 5.54 sqmi of it is land and 0.05% is water.

2020
The 2020 United States Census reported that San Carlos had a population of 30,722. The population density was 5,676.6 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of San Carlos was 21,843 (71.1%) White, 215 (0.7%) African American, 31 (0.1%) Native American, 5,407 (17.6%) Asian, 61 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, and 2,519 (8.2%) Hispanic or Latino. 2,519 (8.2%) residents identified as being from two or more races.

There were 10,955 households, out of which 9,695 (88.5%) of its residents had been living in the household for more than one year. The average number of persons per household was 2.69.

The population was spread out, with 1,812 people (5.9%) under the age of 5, 5,530 (18.0%) aged 6 to 18, 20,584 (67.0%) aged 19 to 64, and 4,608 (15.0%) over the age of 65. For every 100 females, there were 91.9 males.

Out of residents aged 25 and older, 29,923 (97.4%) were high school graduates, and 20,983 (68.3%) had completed a bachelor's degree or higher.

The median value of an owner-occupied housing unit was $1,756,800, and the median gross rent was $2,423. The median household income was $189,739, second only to Hillsborough among cities of 10,000 or more residents in San Mateo County.

2010
The 2010 United States Census reported that San Carlos had a population of 28,406. The population density was 5,126.9 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of San Carlos was 22,497 (79.2%) White, 233 (0.8%) African American, 65 (0.2%) Native American, 3,267 (11.5%) Asian, 70 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 827 (2.9%) from other races, and 1,447 (5.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2,855 persons (10.1%).

The Census reported that 28,315 people (99.7% of the population) lived in households, 79 (0.3%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 12 (0%) were institutionalized.

There were 11,524 households, out of which 3,854 (33.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 6,645 (57.7%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 830 (7.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 352 (3.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 481 (4.2%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 112 (1.0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 2,972 households (25.8%) were made up of individuals, and 1,109 (9.6%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46. There were 7,827 families (67.9% of all households); the average family size was 2.99.

The population was spread out, with 6,699 people (23.6%) under the age of 18, 1,176 people (4.1%) aged 18 to 24, 7,657 people (27.0%) aged 25 to 44, 8,827 people (31.1%) aged 45 to 64, and 4,047 people (14.2%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.7 males.

There were 12,018 housing units at an average density of 2,169.1 /mi2, of which 8,282 (71.9%) were owner-occupied, and 3,242 (28.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.3%. 21,635 people (76.2% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 6,680 people (23.5%) lived in rental housing units.

2000
As of the census of 2000, there were 27,238 people, 11,455 households, and 7,606 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,685.1 PD/sqmi. There were 11,691 housing units at an average density of 1,976.1 /mi2.

There were 11,455 households, out of which 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.5% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.6% were non-families. 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.93.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.1% under the age of 18, 4.3% from 18 to 24, 33.0% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.6 males.

According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $99,110, and the median income for a family was $137,325. Males had a median income of $70,554 versus $51,760 for females. The per capita income for the city was $46,628. 2.7% of the population and 1.4% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 2.3% were under the age of 18 and 3.7% were 65 or older.

Economy
Companies based in San Carlos include Check Point, Kelly-Moore Paints, MarkLogic, Helix, and Natera.

Top employers
According to the city's 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

L-3 Communications manufactured gas-filled and vacuum tubes used among others in radar system and TV-emitters at their San Carlos plant. In 2016, the company announced they would be moving their operations to South California and Pennsylvania.

Arts and culture
The San Carlos History Museum is dedicated to the display of the history of the town from early Native American history to the space age. This museum is open every Saturday from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The Hiller Aviation Museum, a museum specializing in helicopter and aviation history, offers interactive exhibits and more than forty aircraft including a replica of the first aircraft to fly, a spy drone with a 200-foot wingspan, and the nose section of a Boeing 747.

San Carlos was also once home of the Circle Star Theater where performers such as Big Brother & the Holding Company, Richard Marx and Richard Pryor performed. It was torn down and replaced with office buildings.

Every May, the town hosts the "Hometown Days" carnival in Burton Park, the city's largest park. In October, the Chamber of Commerce hosts the San Carlos "Art & Wine Faire". October 2015 marked the 25th year it has been held. Sunday mornings during the summer Laurel street is home to a weekly farmer's market. San Carlos is home to a sculpture titled "Balancing Act" by artist James Moore, in front of Frank D. Harrington park on Laurel Street, which is often decorated for various holidays and local events.

The city is served by the San Carlos Public Library of the San Mateo County Libraries, a member of the Peninsula Library System.

Municipal government
The current mayor of San Carlos is John Dugan. The current vice mayor is Sara McDowell. The three city council members are Ron Collins, Adam Rak, and Pranita Venkatesh.

Brad Lewis, a producer of films including Ratatouille, served as mayor in 2008.

According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, San Carlos has 19,706 registered voters. Of those, 9,590 (48.7%) are registered Democrats, 3,657 (18.6%) are registered Republicans, and 5,699 (28.9%) have declined to state a political party.

State and federal representation
In the California State Legislature, San Carlos is in, and in.

In the United States House of Representatives, San Carlos is in.

Public schools
The public schools in San Carlos are run by the San Carlos School District, although the school district boundaries do not cover the entire city of San Carlos. Within the city, there are several elementary schools (grades K–3), two upper elementary schools (grades 4–5), and two middle schools (grades 6–8). Since the 1982 closure of San Carlos High School, local students have attended Sequoia High School in Redwood City and Carlmont High School in Belmont.

In 1996, Vice President Al Gore came to speak at Arundel Elementary School in regards to Net Day 1996. Former president Bill Clinton came to Charter Learning Center in 1997 to recognize the site as the second charter school in the nation.

Elementary schools

 * Arundel
 * Brittan Acres
 * Heather
 * White Oaks

Upper elementary schools

 * Arroyo
 * Mariposa

Middle schools

 * Central Middle School
 * Tierra Linda Middle School
 * Charter Learning Center (Kindergarten through 8th grade)

High schools
Up until 1982 San Carlos had its own public high school, San Carlos High School. It was closed due to a decline in student enrollment from an overall aging of San Carlos residents, with the students of San Carlos middle schools divided up among the nearby Carlmont High School in Belmont and Sequoia High School in Redwood City. The playing fields were kept and converted into Highlands Park, which now hosts many local youth sporting groups, while the school was replaced with new housing. By the late 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century, city demographics changed again to a new generation of younger families with children, with the concurrent growth in student populations a new challenge for local schools.

In December 2014, the Sequoia Union High School District proposed development of a small high school in east San Carlos. Due to community opposition, the District instead selected a location in Menlo Park, which opened in 2019 as TIDE Academy.

Parochial schools

 * St. Charles School

Private, non-parochial schools

 * Arbor Bay School

Bus service
Transportation options include membership in the SamTrans (San Mateo County Transit) bus system and a Caltrain station. The administrative headquarters of both agencies are located at 1250 San Carlos Avenue. In 2002, the city began experimenting with a free shuttle bus service named SCOOT, short for San Carlos Optimum Operational Transit, to help with transportation difficulties for those living in the hills of the town, and especially to make up for a lack of school buses. However, voters rejected a parcel tax that placed 100% of the financial burden on property owners and the SCOOT program was dismantled on June 17, 2005.

Airport
San Carlos Airport is located in San Carlos. It is a private airport, but will soon open the Mineta bus terminal, to allow easy transport to major airports in the area.

Notable people

 * Luís Antonio Argüello, first governor of Alta California
 * Kathryn Bigelow, film producer, director, first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director
 * Bryan Bishop, podcast personality
 * Hunter Bishop (born 1998), baseball player
 * Barry Bonds, former MLB player
 * Bobby Bonds, former MLB player
 * Sorcha Boru, pottery maker
 * Steve Capps, former Apple Fellow
 * Dana Carvey, actor and comedian; raised in San Carlos
 * Emma Chamberlain, internet personality and YouTuber; attended middle school in San Carlos
 * Keith Comstock, former MLB player and professional baseball coach
 * Jim Davenport, former MLB player/coach/manager
 * Daniel Descalso, MLB player
 * Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan, political commentator on CNN, graduated from San Carlos High School
 * Randy Gomez, former Major League Baseball catcher.
 * James Kilburg, former mayor and inventor of the Geochron
 * Brad Lewis, producer of Pixar film Ratatouille and former city mayor
 * Kevin McCarthy, director of American Television game show, Jeopardy!
 * Paul McClellan, American Major League Baseball player for the San Francisco Giants
 * Mike McCurry, former United States press secretary
 * Timothy Guy Phelps, president of Southern Pacific Railroad
 * Greg Proops, actor and stand-up comedian
 * Dick Stuart, former MLB player (born in San Francisco, raised in San Carlos)
 * Tom Tennant, baseball player
 * Mark Ulriksen, painter and magazine illustrator
 * Rex J. Walheim, NASA astronaut, flying on three Space Shuttle missions, STS-110, STS-122 and the final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135
 * Bob Wasserman, former San Carlos police chief (1969–1972) and Mayor of Fremont, California (2004–2011)

Former

 * 🇦🇺 Maroondah, Australia
 * 🇳🇮 San Carlos, Río San Juan, Nicaragua
 * 🇨🇦 Okotoks, Alberta, Canada

Current

 * 🇯🇵 Omura, Japan
 * 🇲🇽 Metepec, Mexico

title: San Carlos, California


text:
San Mateo, California

is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 mi south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster City to the east and Belmont to the south. The population was 105,661 at the 2020 census.

San Mateo has a Mediterranean climate and is known for its rich history at the center of the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the biggest economic drivers for the city include technology, health care and education.

History
The earliest known settlers of the Bay Area were the Ramaytush people, since at least 10000 BC.

Spanish era
In 1789, the Spanish missionaries had named a Native American village along Laurel Creek as Los Laureles or the Laurels (Mission Dolores, 1789). At the time of Mexican Independence, 30 native Californians were at San Mateo, most likely from the Salson tribelet.

Mexican era
Captain Frederick William Beechey in 1827 traveling with the hills on their right, known in that part as the Sierra del Sur, began to approach the road, which passing over a small eminence, opened out upon "a wide country of meadow land, with clusters of fine oak free from underwood... It strongly resembled a nobleman's park: herds of cattle and horses were grazing upon the rich pasture, and numerous fallow‑deer, startled at the approach of strangers, bounded off to seek protection among the hills... This spot is named San Matheo, and belongs to the mission of San Francisco."

The city of San Mateo was documented by Spanish colonists as part of the Rancho de las Pulgas (literally "Ranch of the Fleas") and the Rancho San Mateo; the earliest history is held in the archives of Mission Dolores. Rancho San Mateo was granted in May 1846 from Pío Pico to his secretary, Cayetano Arenas; this tract included approximately half of present-day San Mateo, all of Burlingame and Hillsborough, and the Spring Valley lakes (now Crystal Springs Reservoir and San Andreas Lake). William Davis Merry Howard purchased Rancho San Mateo from Arenas in 1846 for US$25000 1846 and spent an equal sum erecting a fence around the property.

Post-Conquest era
In the 1850s, following the American Conquest of California, many San Franciscans began building summer homes in the mid-Peninsula, because of the milder climate. The area that is now the city of San Mateo was owned by a few large landowners, including Howard, whose Rancho San Mateo occupied 6438 acre in 1853 north of San Mateo Creek,  pushing most of this early settlement into adjacent Hillsborough, Burlingame, and Belmont; other significant landowners in the area included John Parrott, who purchased 500 acre in 1860  south of the creek and southwest of El Camino Real and Alvinza Hayward, who owned the land south of the creek and east of El Camino. Much of the remaining land south of these areas was used for agriculture until the early 1900s; the owners included John Whipple, who had a large horse farm south of Parrott's land, Lemuel Murray, J.S. Colegrove, and David McClellan.

In 1858, Sun Water Station, a stage station of the Butterfield Overland Mail route, was established in San Mateo. It was 9 mi from both Clarks Station (to the north) in what is now San Bruno and the next station south at Redwood City.

Several historically important mansions and buildings were constructed in San Mateo around this time. A.P. Giannini, founder of the Bank of Italy (which later became the Bank of America), lived here most of his life. His mansion, Seven Oaks, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (No. 99001181). Located at 20 El Cerrito Avenue, it has been deteriorating as it has not been preserved or occupied for years.

The Howard Estate was built in 1859 on the hill accessed by Crystal Springs Road; the building, named El Cerrito, eventually was moved to Hillsborough and served as its Town Hall starting from in 1910, but it has since been demolished. The Parrott Estate was erected in 1860 in the same area, giving rise to two conflicting names for the hill, Howard Hill and Parrot Hill. After use of the automobile changed traffic patterns, neither historic name was commonly applied to that hill. Once San Mateo was incorporated on September 4, 1894, its first mayor was Captain A.H. Payson, a son-in-law of Parrott.

When the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad was under construction during the 1860s, one of its corporate directors, Charles Polhemus, purchased the land south of the creek, now the site of downtown San Mateo, and began laying out the town; the first town plat was laid out in 1862. Polhemus settled on the land which is now Central Park and one of the succeeding owners, William Kohl, built the iron and stone fence which still encloses the park.

The Borel Estate was developed near Borel Creek in 1874 by Antoine Borel. It has been redeveloped since the late 20th century for use as modern offices and shops. The property is managed and owned by Borel Place Associates and the Borel Estate Company. Hayward Park, the 1880 American Queen Anne-style residence of Alvinza Hayward (often said to be "California's first millionaire" from his silver and banking fortunes), was built on an 800 acre estate in San Mateo which included a deer park and racetrack, roughly bounded by present-day El Camino Real (on the west), 9th Avenue (on the north), B Street (on the east) and 16th Avenue (on the south). A smaller portion of the property and the mansion, was converted into The Peninsula Hotel in 1908, following Hayward's death in 1904. The hotel burned down in a spectacular fire on June 25, 1920.

William H. Howard, eldest son of W.D.M. Howard, is credited with the first subdivisions in the region, resulting in what is now the Western Addition of San Mateo in 1888; he followed up by creating the first subdivision of Burlingame and Highland Park in San Mateo.

20th century
In 1893, Pedro Evencio had been called the last of the Ramaytush Native American of San Mateo. Although Joseph (José) Evencio (the younger) was reported to be his descendant living at Coyote Point until World War II, "Indian Joe", (Joe Mestes) was the American Indian who was actually hired by the Howard family to oversee their land holding at Coyote Point. He is reported to have had a tribal affiliation in Montana. His final whereabouts were reported to be a care facility in Oakland after he had been removed from Coyote Point when a Merchant Marine Academy was established there.

In the early 20th century, Japanese immigrants came to San Mateo to work in the salt ponds and flower industry. Although Japanese-Americans only account for 2.2% of the population today, they continue to be a major cultural influence and a draw for the rest of the region. The Eugene J. De Sabla Japanese Teahouse and Garden was established in 1894 at 70 De Sabla Road, designed by Makoto Hagiwara, designer of the Japanese garden in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. He arranged for Japanese artisans to be brought to the United States primarily for its teahouse construction. The parcel was purchased in 1988 by San Francisco businessman Achille Paladini and wife Joan, who have restored it. The garden features hundreds of varieties of plants and several rare trees. A large koi pond surrounds an island. The property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

In December 1967, Sgt. Joe Artavia, then serving in Vietnam with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division wrote to his sister, Linda Giese, who was a resident of San Carlos working in San Mateo, asking if San Mateo or San Francisco could adopt the company, saying that it would bring "the morale of the guys up as high as the clouds". San Mateo passed a resolution on March 4, 1968, officially adopting Alpha Company and letters and gifts began arriving from the citizens of San Mateo. Joe would be killed in action on March 24, 1968, less than three weeks after the resolution. Linda would travel to Vietnam to meet with the men of Alpha Company for Christmas in 1968 and deliver personalized medallions from the City of San Mateo. In 1972, San Mateo requested and received permission to have Alpha Company visit the city when they left Vietnam, later holding a parade in January 1972, believed to be the only parade honoring the military during the Vietnam War. In 1988, Joseph Brazan wrote a screenplay entitled A Dove Among Eagles chronicling the adoption of Alpha Company by San Mateo and the real-life romance between Linda and Artavia's commander, Lt. Stephen Patterson. The city expanded its support to the entire 1st Battalion in 1991, when they were deployed to Kuwait under Operation Desert Storm. Bay Meadows horse-racing track was torn down in 2008.

21st century
In the November 2022 election, Councilmember Diane Papan was elected to the California State Assembly, creating a vacancy on the 5-person city council. At the December 5, 2022, council reorganization meeting, two of the remaining four councilmembers chose not to follow the standard precedent of selecting a new mayor, which normally rotates to the councilmember who has been in office the longest. With the vote split at 2-2, the city went a week without a mayor. After a second meeting that also ended without a decision, Amourence Lee was selected as the mayor at the third meeting on December 12.

Geography
San Mateo is located at 37.55417°N, -122.31306°W (37.554286, −122.313044). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.9 sqmi, of which 12.1 sqmi are land and 3.8 sqmi, comprising 23.63%, are covered by water.

The best-known natural area is Coyote Point Park, a rock outcropped peninsula that juts out into the San Francisco Bay. The early Spanish navigators named it la punta de San Mateo. Crews of American cargo ships carrying grain in the bay renamed it Big Coyote. Sailors had a penchant for naming promontories at the edge of San Francisco Bay after the coyote; across the bay in Fremont are the Coyote Hills, part of Coyote Hills Regional Park. By the 1890s, the shore area was developed as a popular beach called San Mateo Beach. In 1842, the Spanish had named it playa de San Mateo. Today, Coyote Point is home to CuriOdyssey, formerly known as the Coyote Point Museum, a major natural history museum and wildlife center in the state. The animal care facility for the Peninsula Humane Society is also situated at Coyote Point, where the adoption facility is located in Burlingame, CA. The variety of natural habitats includes mixed oak woodland, riparian zones, and bayland marshes. One endangered species, the California clapper rail, was sighted feeding on mudflats by the Third Avenue bridge in San Mateo. The marsh areas are also likely habitat for the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse, which inhabits the middle and high zones of salt and brackish marshes, as well as for the endangered marsh plant, Point Reyes bird's beak.

Sugarloaf Mountain, whose name has been documented in 1870, is a prominent landform between the forks of Laurel Creek. In the late 20th century, this mixed oak woodland and chaparral habitat was a site of controversy related to proposals to develop a portion of the mountain for residential use. It has been preserved for use as park and open space area, and is home to the endangered mission blue butterfly.

Sawyer Camp Trail, located on the western edge of San Mateo along the Crystal Springs Reservoir, is another popular destination for joggers, pedestrians, and bikers. This roughly 6 mi trail begins in San Mateo and stretches north toward Hillsborough and San Bruno, parallel to the 280 freeway.

Neighborhoods
In general, San Mateo's downtown core and the neighborhoods east of El Camino Real are more populous and have a greater density than the neighborhoods to the west of El Camino Real, where there is a lower population density.

San Mateo has one of the larger, better-developed suburban downtowns in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is located roughly between Tilton Ave. to the northwest, 9th Ave. to the southeast, Delaware St. to the northeast and El Camino Real to the southwest. The downtown core contains over 800 shops and restaurants, many located in historic buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The non-profit Downtown San Mateo Association (DSMA) works on behalf of downtown businesses to promote them and improve the downtown area. Central Park is considered to be San Mateo's signature park with a baseball field, tennis courts, sculptures, picnic areas, playground, Japanese tea garden, recreation center, miniature train, rose garden and the San Mateo Arboretum. The 16.3 acre property was purchased by the city in 1922. A historically influential area for the Japanese-American community, the downtown is home to many Japanese restaurants and shops. A large, 12-screen movie theater complex is located off the Main Street alley between 2nd and 3rd Ave. The San Mateo Caltrain station is situated downtown. The area also contains many large and small multi-story office buildings, apartments, government buildings and Mills Medical Center.
 * Downtown

Segments of South B Street between 1st and 3rd Ave. and the southbound lane between Baldwin and 1st Ave. were temporarily closed to vehicular traffic in 2020 to allow for expanded outdoor dining. The San Mateo City Council extended the temporary closure through the end of 2021 and voted in September 2021 to create a permanent pedestrian mall between 1st and 3rd Ave. The plan requires a 12 ft fire lane in the center of the street for public safety vehicles and necessary garbage or delivery services. The city aims to conduct the project in two phases: First, by installing retractable bollards and updating traffic signals and signage, then by raising the level of the street to be flush with sidewalk and reimagining its landscaping.

The Bay Meadows neighborhood is an 83 acre mixed-use transit-oriented development on the site of the former Bay Meadows Racetrack, a horse racing venue that closed in 2008. The area includes hundreds of new residential units, office space, retail space and parks and a town square. Ground broke in 2012 and construction on various projects continues as of 2021.
 * Bay Meadows

Hillsdale Shopping Center is a mall in San Mateo County, featuring over 120 stores in the mall itself and surrounded by many big box stores. Tenants include anchors Nordstrom, Ethan Allen and Macy's. The construction of a new food court and the outdoor North Block Plaza expanded the mall in 2019. New entertainment additions include luxury movie theater Cinépolis and a Pinstripes bowling alley off El Camino Real. The Hillsdale Caltrain station is located across El Camino.
 * Hillsdale

Climate
San Mateo has a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and mild, damp winters. The city is generally shielded from the Pacific Ocean by the Montara Mountain block of the Santa Cruz Mountains, but two gaps in the mountains (the San Bruno Gap, between Montara Mountain and San Bruno Mountain; and the Crystal Springs Gap, near where State Route 92 meets State Route 35, west of the College of San Mateo) can channel ocean weather, resulting in gusty afternoon winds that bring fog toward San Mateo in the late afternoon through early morning in the summer. The National Weather Service maintained a cooperative weather station in San Mateo until 1978; records for the period show that January, the coolest month, had an average maximum of 57.8 °F and an average minimum of 41.7 °F, and September, the warmest month, had an average maximum of 78.0 °F and an average minimum of 54.2 °F. The record maximum temperature was 109 °F on June 14, 1961, and the record minimum temperature was 25 °F on January 5, 1949, and December 9, 1972. Annual precipitation averaged 18.77 in of rainfall, falling on an average of 60 days each year. The wettest year was 29.77 in in 1973 and the driest year was 11.16 in of rainfall in 1953. The most precipitation in one month was 12.59 in of rainfall in December 1955 and the most precipitation in 24 hours was 3.72 in of rainfall on December 23, 1955. Based on comparison with the existing NWS office at San Francisco International Airport, San Mateo is generally a few degrees warmer in summer than the airport and a few degrees cooler in winter, while annual precipitation is almost the same at the airport and in San Mateo. In recent years, daily temperature reports for San Mateo from local weather observers have been published in the San Mateo Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Demographics
The 2010 United States Census reported that San Mateo had a population of 97,207. The population density was 8,013.8 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of San Mateo was 56,214 (46.8%) White, 2,296 (2.4%) African American, 505 (0.5%) Native American, 18,384 (18.9%) Asian (7.9% Chinese, 4.6% Filipino, 2.2% Japanese, 1.8% Indian, 0.8% Korean, 0.3% Vietnamese, 0.2% Thai), 1,998 (2.1%) Pacific Islander (1.2% Tongan, 0.3% Fijian, 0.2% Samoan, 0.1% Hawaiian), 12,264 (12.6%) from other races, and 5,546 (5.7%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 25,815 persons (26.6%); 14.4% of San Mateo is Mexican, 2.8% Guatemalan, 2.6% Salvadoran, 1.2% Peruvian, 0.9% Nicaraguan, 0.5% Puerto Rican, 0.3% Colombian, 0.3% Chilean, 0.2% Honduran, and 0.2% Cuban.

The Census reported that 95,891 people (98.6% of the population) lived in households, 975 (1.0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 341 (0.4%) were institutionalized.

There were 38,233 households, out of which 11,464 (30.0%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 17,964 (47.0%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 3,824 (10.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,656 (4.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 2,098 (5.5%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 343 (0.9%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 11,751 households (30.7%) were made up of individuals, and 4,391 (11.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51. There were 23,444 families (61.3% of all households); the average family size was 3.14. The population was spread out, with 20,254 people (20.8%) under the age of 18, 6,915 people (7.1%) aged 18 to 24, 30,772 people (31.7%) aged 25 to 44, 25,286 people (26.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 13,980 people (14.4%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males.

There were 40,014 housing units at an average density of 3,298.8 /mi2, of which 19,969 (52.2%) were owner-occupied, and 18,264 (47.8%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.5%; the rental vacancy rate was 3.7%. Of the population, 50,951 people (52.4%) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 44,940 people (46.2%) lived in rental housing units.

According to the 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $86,772, and the median income for a family was $107,023. Males had a median income of $65,541 versus $60,491 for females. The per capita income for the city was $25,248. About 3.6% of families and 5.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government
San Mateo is structured as a council–manager form of government. The city council has five members elected every two years to staggered four-year terms. In 2022, the city began the process of switching from at-large elections to district elections.

In the California State Legislature, San Mateo is in, and in.

In the United States House of Representatives, San Mateo is in.

According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, San Mateo has 54,946 registered voters. Of those, 27,502 (50.1%) are registered Democrats, 8,504 (15.5%) are registered Republicans, and 16,772 (30.5%) have declined to state a political party.

Economy
The economy of San Mateo is considered very diverse with jobs in the technology, health care, financial services, government, and retail trade fields being among the most numerous. Current and former companies based in San Mateo include Sony Interactive Entertainment, NetSuite, Franklin Templeton Investments, Fisher Investments, Solstice, Guidewire Software, Coupa, Snowflake Inc., Roblox Corporation, Marketo, SurveyMonkey, Devsisters USA, and GoPro.

Since 1990, San Mateo has had a voter-approved ordinance limiting the height of new development to 55 ft. The San Mateo housing market is one of the most expensive in the country. In February 2018, the median San Mateo home was valued at $1,463,900, and the median rent was ranked ninth in the entire nation, at $2,242 per month.

In the mid-2000s, the second stories of downtown San Mateo buildings became a hub for startup companies, including Roblox, GoPro and YouTube.

According to the city's 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

Education
Residents are zoned for schools in the San Mateo Foster City School District and San Mateo Union High School District. Elementary schools comprise Preschool, K-5, Middle and Magnet schools. There are several private schools, including: PreK-8 school: Saint Matthew's Episcopal Day School and the Carey school. There are three public high schools: San Mateo, Aragon, and Hillsdale. There are also two main private high schools: one all-male Catholic high school, Junípero Serra; and the Nueva Upper School. The San Mateo Union High School District also hosts an adult school behind San Mateo High School. The San Mateo Performing Arts Center, one of the largest local theaters, is located on the San Mateo High School campus.

The city is home to the College of San Mateo, a community college. The campus of over 10,000 students is located on 153 acre in the western foothills of the city which offer a panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay. Other universities in the area include Notre Dame de Namur University, a private Catholic university of 2,000 students in neighboring Belmont and Stanford University located about 12 mi to the south.

Public libraries
The City of San Mateo operates three libraries within the city. The Main Library, the Hillsdale Library, and the Marina Library are all part of the Peninsula Library System. The Main Library located near Central Park in downtown opened in 2006 after residents passed a $30 million bond measure. Upon opening, the three-story, 93,000 ft2 building earned numerous design awards and was LEED-certified NC Gold. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide abundant natural light. The technologically advanced building is modeled after a retail bookstore.

Parks and recreation

San Mateo maintains more than 15 parks throughout the city. Central Park is considered to be the main one and hosts many community park functions that serve downtown residents. It has a Japanese tea garden to commemorate sister city Toyonaka, Japan. The park also features a rose garden, a mini train and the San Mateo Arboretum.

Beresford Park is another large park that offers bocce ball and a skate plaza. Martin Luther King Jr. Park and Joinville Park offer swimming pools, while Ryder Park boasts a water play structure. Parkside Aquatic Park, located on Seal Slough, has beach swimming and volleyball. Many of these parks have picnic areas with grills, children's play areas, basketball and tennis courts, and baseball diamonds. Coyote Point Park, near the border with Burlingame and on the San Francisco Bay, is a 670 acre regional county park known for its ideal location for windsurfing and sailing. It is also home to CuriOdyssey: a hands-on science museum and small native animal zoo.

Public art is located all around the city. One of the more memorable works is the large, brightly colored 1963 mosaic mural designed by Louis Macouillard and constructed by Alfonso Pardiñas. The mural is located in front of a mid-century-modern-style Bank of America branch at 300 S. El Camino Real and tells the story of A. P. Giannini, who founded the bank as the Bank of Italy.

Freeways
San Mateo is considered to be near the center of the San Francisco Bay Area about halfway between San Francisco and San Jose, the region's two largest cities. It is served by three major freeways, including U.S. Route 101, Interstate 280, and State Route 92. State Route 92 east of San Mateo traverses the San Francisco Bay as the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge to the city of Hayward on its eastern shore.

Bicycling
San Mateo has a network of bikeways connecting major destinations in the city. In 2011, the city approved a Bicycle Master Plan to establish bicycling goals, identify gaps in the existing bikeway system, and create a prioritized list of infrastructure improvement projects.

Public transportation
SamTrans provides local bus service within the city of San Mateo as well as the entire county of San Mateo. AC Transit provides transbay bus service via the San Mateo Bridge to Alameda County. Caltrain provides commuter rail service on the San Francisco Peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose. Caltrain operates three stations within the city of San Mateo with stations at (serving the mall and surrounding area),  (near Highway 92), and  (in downtown San Mateo). There are 41 northbound and 41 southbound trains with a stop in the city each weekday and 18 trains in both directions on weekends. Extra southbound trains are run to accommodate passengers after San Francisco Giants games. See public transportation in San Mateo County for more details.

Media

 * San Mateo Daily Journal – Newspaper
 * San Mateo County Times – Newspaper
 * KCSM (FM)
 * KPJK

Sister cities
San Mateo has two sister cities, as designated by the Sister Cities International, Inc.:

 * 🇩🇰 Varde, Denmark (since November 17, 1969)
 * 🇯🇵 Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan (since October 8, 1963)

Actors, entertainers

 * Lina Basquette (1907–1994), silent film actress.
 * Barry Bostwick (born 1945), Golden Globe Award and Tony Award-winning actor and singer, known for The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Spin City television show.
 * Emma Chamberlain, internet personality
 * James P. Connolly, comedian, actor, and radio/television host
 * Merv Griffin (1925–2007), television personality, creator of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune
 * Greg Gutfeld, television personality, author
 * Dennis Haysbert, actor, known for Major League, Heat, 24, The Unit, and as spokesman for Allstate Insurance
 * Jeff Serr, radio personality, voice actor
 * Michael Trucco, actor

Artists, designers

 * Catherine Chalmers (born 1957), artist, photographer
 * Joseph Eichler, real estate developer, known for affordable mid-century modern homes
 * Sam Francis (1923–1994), Abstract expressionist painter.
 * Jack Stauffacher, book designer, graphic designer, printmaker
 * Paul Terry, cartoonist, screenwriter, film director, producer and co-founder of Terrytoons

Business

 * Charles W. Clark (1871–1933), copper industrialist, chairman of the United Verde Copper Company, former owner of the El Paloma estate in San Mateo.
 * Amadeo Giannini, founder of Bank of Italy, moved to San Mateo in 1906.
 * Umang Gupta (1949–2022), former CEO of Keynote Systems; wrote the original business plan for Oracle Corporation.
 * William Kohl (1820–1893) a founding partner of the Alaska Commercial Company, California pioneer, his former estate is now San Mateo's Central Park.

Musicians

 * Kris Kristofferson (born 1936), singer-songwriter
 * Neal Schon (born 1954), musician, attended Aragon High School.
 * Cal Tjader, jazz musician.
 * Pegi Young (1952–2019) singer, songwriter, environmentalist, educator and philanthropist, born in San Mateo.

Politics

 * Jane Baker (1923–2011) first female Mayor of San Mateo, and City Councilwoman from 1973 to 1993.
 * Chris Eachus (born 1955), serves in the New York State Assembly.
 * Zoe Lofgren (born 1947), serves in the United States House of Representatives from California, she was born in San Mateo.

Sports

 * Michael Allen (born 1959), professional golfer.
 * David Binn (born 1972), 18-season NFL player.
 * Tom Brady (born 1977), NFL quarterback, 7-time Super Bowl champion and 5 time Super Bowl MVP who played 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; born in San Mateo.
 * Pat Hennen (born 1953), former professional motorcycle racer, first American to win a World Championship Grand Prix road race (1976 500cc Finnish Grand Prix).
 * Ann Kiyomura, tennis player, Wimbledon doubles champion.
 * Daniel Naroditsky, chess grandmaster and popular YouTube and Twitch streamer.
 * Sean Payton (born 1963), former head coach of the New Orleans Saints and current head coach of the Denver Broncos.
 * Jake Scheiner (born 1995), player for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball
 * Kendal Smith, former NFL player.
 * Lynn Swann (born 1952), Serra student, former NFL wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, four-time Super Bowl champion
 * Sam Tuivailala (born in San Mateo, 1992), former MLB pitcher
 * John Wetteland, former MLB pitcher.

Writers, poets, journalists

 * Kenneth Fisher, Forbes columnist, financial author, money manager.
 * J. Kenji López-Alt, American chef, food writer, author of The Food Lab.
 * Lee Mallory, poet, editor, retired professor.
 * John Matteson, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer.
 * Bill Pronzini, prolific author of detective fiction lived in San Mateo in the 60s before his writing career began

Other

 * James Lanza, Sicilian-born mobster, boss of the San Francisco crime family

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: San Mateo, California


text:
South San Francisco, California

South San Francisco is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its location has been continuously populated for more than five thousand years. The city is colloquially termed "South City". The population was 66,105 at the 2020 census.

History
Prior to European exploration, the northern San Francisco peninsula was inhabited by the Ramaytush, a linguistic sub-group of the Ohlone people. Their village of Urebure on San Bruno Creek was visited by the Gaspar de Portolà expedition in 1769; remains of long-term (5,000+ years) inhabitancy and seasonal encampments have been examined at the Siplichiquin and Buckeye shell-mounds on San Bruno Mountain. Charcoal-sampling indicates these ancient sites were actively occupied into the Spanish colonial period (late 1700s). The delta of Colma Creek was formerly an important habitat for the waterfowl known to be hunted by the Ramaytush in historic times, and archaeologic sites have been recorded near the creek. The city's plan recognizes the existing remains of a village (CA-SMA-299) along El Camino Real.

In 1835, the area which is now South San Francisco was confirmed to be part of Rancho Buri Buri, a large Mexican land grant to the Sanchez family, which they had used for cattle-ranching (with an easement for southbound traffic) for nearly a decade. While the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteed the grant, taxes and legal-fees encouraged family-members to sell parts of the grant. Around that same time, the 12-Mile House was built as a stop on the San Jose Stage road. In 1853 SF butcher Charles Lux and business partner Alfred Edmondson, purchased 1700 acre in Rancho Buri Buri. In 1855 Lux bought another 1464 acre of Buri Buri land and soon partnered with fellow San Francisco butcher and entrepreneur Henry Miller, forming the stockyards and beef-raising firm of Miller & Lux. Lux bought out Edmonson's interest in 1856 and founded the town of Baden (now a neighborhood of South San Francisco) near the 12-Mile House. In 1863, Baden became a station as the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad was built.

The city of South San Francisco was conceived as an industrial suburb and was promoted by representatives of the Beef Trust, a group including some of the country's largest meat packing firms. A city plan was put forward in 1888 by Gustavus Franklin Swift, founder of the Swift & Company meat packing firm. The plan called for multiple individual meat-packing companies with a shared stockyard, as well as a residential area for employees. Swift proposed the name South San Francisco based on South Chicago and South Omaha, where the Swift company already had plants.

In 1890 Peter E. Iler of Omaha, Nebraska, an agent of the Beef Trust, purchased the Lux properties; ownership was transferred to the South San Francisco Land and Improvement Company in 1891. It was divided into industrial and residential districts, and the company installed lighting, sewer connections, and water distributions in the residential areas. A second corporation, eventually known as the Western Meat Company, set up stock yards and meat packing facilities on 80 acre of bayfront property; the facility opened in 1892. Other industries soon moved in, including a pottery works, two brick companies, the paint manufacturer W.P. Fuller & Company, the South San Francisco Lumber Company, and the Pacific Jupiter Steel Company.

The city of South San Francisco was incorporated in 1908 following a dispute with San Mateo County, which had blocked the construction of a smelter on San Bruno Point supported by the locals. Following incorporation additional industries moved into the town, including two steel mills. A new City Hall was opened on November 11, 1920.

By the 1920s the city was "the smokestack capital of the Peninsula." South San Francisco proudly called itself "The Industrial City", a motto immortalized in 1923 by a huge sign on a hillside overlooking the city. Industry remained the city's main economic focus through the 1950s. During the Great Depression the city maintained 35 industrial operations, including four meat-packing businesses, six iron or steel plants, a smelter for precious metals, seven equipment manufacturers of various kinds, two large paint factories, three other chemical works, and three food packing establishments. During World War II shipbuilding also became a significant operation. From August 1940, until the end of the War, a total of 48 ships were built and launched at the Western Pipe & Steel Shipyards.

At the end of the war the city's focus shifted away from "smokestack industries" toward light industry, warehousing, and residential development. The major manufacturers closed, and new development was focused on office parks, housing, high-rise hotels, and yacht harbors. The biotechnology giant Genentech opened in 1976, leading to South San Francisco's new identity as "the birthplace of biotechnology". The population grew to 63,632 as of the 2010 census.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 30.2 sqmi, of which 9.1 sqmi of it is land and 21.0 sqmi of it (69.69%) is water.

South San Francisco lies north of San Bruno and San Francisco International Airport in the Colma Creek valley south of Daly City, Colma, Brisbane, and San Bruno Mountain; east of Pacifica and the hills of the northern Coast Range lying along the San Andreas Fault; west of the waters of San Francisco Bay. Locals often refer to the town as South City, in much the same way that San Francisco is called "The City." South San Francisco does not touch on San Francisco, with either Brisbane, Colma, or Daly City lying between them.

Most of the valley faces east toward San Francisco Bay, affording bay views from higher levels. South San Francisco has mild winters and dry cool summers. The hills to the west shield the eastern parts of the city from some of the fog that prevails in neighboring areas.

The population grew from 4,411 in 1920 to 67,009 in 2014. It has tripled since World War II with the opening of such subdivisions as Buri Buri, Winston Manor and Westborough on the slopes west of El Camino; The city is particularly noted for the South San Francisco hillside sign on Sign Hill, which rises to the north of the city, with large white letters that proclaim "South San Francisco, The Industrial City". The sign, a tribute to the city's industrial past, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Climate
South San Francisco, along with most of the Bay Area, has a mild mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csb), with warm, dry summers and cool, relatively wet winters. The microclimate of South San Francisco is dominated by wind from the nearby Pacific Ocean, which typically keeps the daytime temperatures quite cool year round, even during the summer months. January is the coolest month with August being the warmest month. The record highest temperature of 106 °F and was recorded on June 14, 1961. The record lowest temperature of 24 °F was recorded on December 9, 1972. The normal annual precipitation is 19.64 in.

South San Francisco is frequently windy. Summer is the windiest season, with winds averaging 13.6 mph; winter is the least windy season, with winds averaging 7.5 mph.

2000
As of the census of 2000, there were 60,552 people, 20,118 households, and 15,431 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,624.2 PD/sqmi. There were 20,870 housing units at an average density of 2,283.1 /mi2.

There were 20,118 households, out of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.8% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.5% were non-families. 21.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.05 and the average family size was 4.51.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.2% under the age of 18, 11.2% from 18 to 24, 33.0% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $60,764, and the median income for a family was $65,598. Males had a median income of $41,742 versus $35,453 for females. The per capita income for the city was $25,562. About 5.5% of families and 6.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.1% of those under age 18 and 5.7% of those age 65 or over.

South San Francisco is a middle class and working class city. However, that image is quickly changing as a number of higher-priced homes have been built in recent years (particularly at the foot of the mountain that divides Brisbane and South San Francisco) to take advantage of the city's close proximity to downtown San Francisco, the bio-tech industry, and the peninsula. There are also developments of two-and-three bedroom condominiums in the Westborough district and on El Camino Real near the South San Francisco BART station. Since 2007, construction has begun to add more than 1,000 apartments renting at more than $2,000 per month.

The most commonly spoken language at home in 2000 was English (43.13%), followed by Spanish (28.36%), Tagalog (11.48%), Chinese languages like Mandarin and Cantonese (4.9%), Hindi (1.5%), Arabic (1.59%), although a locally large ethnic enclave - Italian (only 1.47%), Vietnamese (0.67%), Russian (0.56%), Korean and Japanese (0.6%), respectively, with other languages were spoken by less than half of one percent of the population.

2010
The 2010 United States Census reported that South San Francisco had a population of 63,632. The population density was 6,961.2 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of South San Francisco was 23,760 (37.3%) White, 1,625 (2.6%) African American, 395 (0.6%) Native American, 23,293 (36.6%) Asian, 1,111 (1.7%) Pacific Islander, 9,598 (15.1%) from other races, and 3,850 (6.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21,645 persons (34.0%). Among the Hispanic population, 13,194 (20.7%) are Mexican, 571 (0.9%) are Puerto Rican, 92 (0.1%) are Cuban, and 7,788 (12.2%) are other Hispanic or Latino.

The Census reported that 63,053 people (99.1% of the population) lived in households, 528 (0.8%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 51 (0.1%) were institutionalized.

There were 20,938 households, out of which 7,588 (36.2%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 11,165 (53.3%) were married couples, 2,897 (13.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,268 (6.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,083 (5.2%) unmarried couples, and 187 (0.9%) same-sex couples. 4,299 households (20.5%) were made up of individuals, and 1,857 (8.9%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.01. There were 15,330 families (73.2% of all households); the average family size was 3.45.

The population was spread out, with 13,787 people (21.7%) under the age of 18, 5,668 people (8.9%) aged 18 to 24, 18,645 people (29.3%) aged 25 to 44, 17,203 people (27.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 8,329 people (13.1%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.7 males.

There were 21,814 housing units at an average density of 2,386.4 /mi2, of which 12,614 (60.2%) were owner-occupied, and 8,324 (39.8%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.0%. 37,802 people (59.4% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 25,251 people (39.7%) lived in rental housing units.

Economy
South San Francisco does not levy gross receipts or payroll taxes, although companies have to pay a business fee of up to $125,000 per year. According to city representatives, who emphasize a business-friendly image in line with "The Industrial City" hill sign, it instead relies on mostly on revenue from property, sales and hotel taxes.

Much of what is now South San Francisco was initially agricultural land, and was originally known as Baden. Small pockets of farmland still exist near San Bruno Mountain, but these lands have, over the years, been replaced by residential subdivisions. Acres of Orchids, founded by the Rod McLellan Company in the late 1920s, was one such example of a farm being converted to housing. Once one of the largest facilities in the United States producing orchids and gardenias, the nursery closed in 1998. A new housing tract now sits upon the land formerly occupied by Acres of Orchids greenhouses, off El Camino near Hickey.

The flat land east of Bayshore Freeway (US 101) is the R&D Campus of South San Francisco.

South San Francisco is home to Genentech, one of the world's largest biotech companies, as well as a satellite office of Amgen, the world's largest biotech firm. Many other biotech companies, such as Exelixis, have also started or moved to South San Francisco to be in proximity to UCSF, Stanford University, and UC Berkeley; all are within an hour's drive. A sign located on East Grand Avenue declares South San Francisco as the "Birthplace of Biotechnology."

The headquarters and main factory of See's Candies is located in South San Francisco, having moved from the original plant in Los Angeles due to the cooler weather. Galoob had its headquarters in South San Francisco before Hasbro bought the company in 1998. Air China operates an office in South San Francisco. Hudson Soft USA (a subsidiary of Hudson Soft, and Sanrio, Inc.) had its headquarters in South San Francisco.

In October 2019, online payment processing company Stripe became South San Francisco's largest tenant by signing a lease for 421,000 ft2 of office space in the redeveloped Oyster Point, announcing it would be moving its headquarters there from neighboring San Francisco in 2021.

Top employers
According to the city's 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

Arts
The Linden Avenue Post Office has a Victor Arnautoff mural fresco painted in the 1930s. The Grand Avenue Library also has a collection of paintings and lithographs by WPA artists, including Maurice Del Mue and Suzanne Scheuer.

The Cabot, Cabot and Forbes Tower was constructed in 1967 as the centerpiece of an industrial park (37.654°N, -122.385°W), this 92-foot-tall sculpture by Lucia and Aristides Demetrios is one of the world's largest aeolian harps. Named for Aeolus, the Greek god of the wind, and invented by the 17th-century polymath Athanasius Kircher, an aeolian harp is a passive instrument played by the movement of the wind. Fabricated from steel manufactured at Bethlehem Steel. It was designed to "take advantage of the viewer’s motion… constantly changing, presenting a series of graceful ellipses and a shifting light pattern."

In 1984, the city began to pursue the acquisition of artworks, most of which are displayed in parks and other public spaces. This program is administered by a Cultural Arts Commission, which also sponsors youth programs and public events. The SSF B.A.R.T. station displays a series of murals based on historic photographs of the city and its people which may be viewed from the transit platform.

Government
The city is governed by a five-member City Council, with one of the five council members serving as Mayor for one year in a rotation among the other council members. Council members are elected by district and serve a four-year term. As of 2021 the council is composed of Mayor Mark Nagales, Vice Mayor Buenaflor Nicolas, Councilmember James H. Coleman, Councilmember Eddie Flores, and Councilmember Mark Addiego. The City Manager is Mike Futrell. In 2020, James Coleman defeated 18-year incumbent Richard Garbarino to become the youngest and first openly LGBTQ member of the city council. On January 26, 2021, the city council appointed Eddie Flores to fill a vacancy left by Councilmember Karyl Matsumoto, who did not run for reelection in 2020.

In the California State Legislature, South San Francisco is in, , and in and.

In the United States House of Representatives, South San Francisco is in.

According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, South San Francisco had 32,934 registered voters. Of those, 17,627 (53.5%) were registered Democrats, 3,590 (10.9%) were registered Republicans, and 10,573 (32.1%) had declined to state a political party.

Education
South San Francisco is part of the South San Francisco Unified School District, which also serves portions of the neighboring cities of Daly City and San Bruno. The city is home to two public high schools: El Camino High School and South San Francisco High School, which share a cross-town rivalry. Baden High School and South San Francisco Adult Education are the city's two continuation schools. The city also has three public middle schools: Parkway Heights, Westborough, and Alta Loma, as well as public elementary schools, including: Buri-Buri, Junipero Serra (located in Daly City), Los Cerritos, Martin, Monte Verde (in San Bruno), Ponderosa, Skyline (in Daly City), Spruce, and Sunshine Gardens.

Several parochial schools are also established in the city: All Souls School, Mater Dolorosa Catholic School (recently closed), and St. Veronica's School.

The city is served by the South San Francisco Public Library which is part of the Peninsula Library System.

Fire department
South San Francisco Fire Department currently has five fire stations. Station 61 is home to Engine 61, Rescue 61, Battalion 17, and a basic life support ambulance. Station 62 is home to Quint 62. Station 63 is home to Engine and Rescue 63. Its nickname is "The Bunker". Station 64 is home to Engine 64. Station 65 is home to Engine 65 and USAR 165 (Heavy Rescue). Urban Search and Rescue, or USAR 165 is stationed there. It is staffed by on duty crew from around the city and is decided before every shift. Rescue Boat 62 is located at Oyster Point Marina and can be staffed by Q62 personnel if needed.

Neighborhoods
The city's small downtown and several residential subdivisions, such as Mayfair Village, Sunshine Gardens, Avalon Park, Winston Manor, West Winston Manor, and Rancho Buri Buri, are located west of Highway 101, while the area east of Highway 101 is dominated by industrial complexes interspersed with modern office parks, particularly near the Oyster Point Marina on San Francisco Bay. The extreme western portions of the city near Interstate 280 sit along a hillside and offer views of San Francisco Bay. This area is known to local residents as Westborough. The southern part of the city, closest to the airport, is home to a large number of car repair shops, airport parking lots, and airport hotels.

Grand Avenue, between Spruce and Airport, is zoned "Downtown Core" by the City of South San Francisco, with various small shops and restaurants. Grand Avenue is host to a plethora of stores, one of which is Bronstein Music, a well-known local music store that has been around since 1946. City Hall is located on Grand Avenue, which, to the residents of South City, is known simply as "Grand." Grand also runs perpendicular with one of the city's other well-known streets, Linden, which connects San Bruno to Highway 101. Chestnut Avenue connects Hillside, the northern bordering street at the foot of San Bruno Mountain, to Westborough Blvd, and subsequently to one of the neighborhoods known as Westborough.

Besides the downtown, South San Francisco residents, officials, and local real-estate agencies identify the following neighborhoods:

 * Avalon Park
 * Brentwood
 * Buri Buri
 * Cypress/Airport
 * East Side
 * El Camino
 * Francisco Terrace
 * Lindenville
 * Mayfair Village
 * Mission Road
 * Old Town
 * Orange Park
 * Oyster Point
 * Paradise Valley
 * Parkhaven
 * Pecks Lot
 * Serra Highlands
 * Sign Hill
 * Southwood
 * Sterling Terrace
 * Stonegate
 * Susie Way
 * Sunshine Gardens
 * Terrabay
 * Treasure Island
 * West Winston Manor
 * Westborough
 * West Park
 * Winston Manor

Students from Westborough and Buri Buri generally attend El Camino High School. The majority of Avalon, Brentwood, Sterling Terrace, Parkway inhabitants attend South San Francisco High School, as well as the East Side inhabitants. The same inhabitants are also divided among Westborough Middle School, Alta Loma Middle School and Parkway Heights Middle School, respectively.

Nicknames
Nicknames for South San Francisco include "South City" (in reference to San Francisco's nickname of "The City") and "SSF".

Sign Hill
South San Francisco has a landmark visible to travelers along the San Francisco Peninsula or through the nearby San Francisco International Airport. Sign Hill, near San Bruno Mountain State Park, displays huge letters on its mountainside which reads "SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO THE INDUSTRIAL CITY." The letters are made of painted concrete and sit flush along the hillside. The sign was put up in the 1920s, and in 1996 was given a place in the National Register of Historic Places as an outstanding example of early 20th-Century "civic boosterism", a tribute to the past importance of heavy industry to the regional economy, and recognizing significant contributions the area made during World Wars I and II.

Sign Hill is a city park which provides hikers with access to the letters; the park includes 30 acre of open space and almost 2 mi of hiking trails. During the 2020 pandemic, when access to many state and county parks and trails became restricted, the number of hikers climbing to the top of Sign Hill rose to more than thirty per day.

City Hall and major public buildings
The SSF City Hall is located at 400 Grand Avenue (37.656°N, -122.413°W). The City purchased the Civic Center site in 1913 for $10,000 from the South San Francisco Land and Improvement Company. This property had been marked for nineteen prime home sites. The City Hall design was modeled after Philadelphia's Independence Hall's neo-colonial Georgian design. The city's Mayoral Office, City Manager's Office, City Clerk, Economic and Community Development, Finance and Human Resources services are located in City Hall; the Building department is next door (in the former Police department). A Municipal Services Building on Arroyo Drive near El Camino Real houses the Council Chambers, as well as event spaces. The Police Department is (starting 2022) housed in a dedicated newly constructed building at Chestnut Avenue and Antoinette Lane. Public Works is located on North Canal Street. There are five Fire Stations, with the headquarters in Station 61 on North Canal Street.

Other parks
South San Francisco has a number of other parks: Orange Memorial Park (37.653°N, -122.427°W) offers baseball/softball fields, soccer fields, indoor swimming, picnic grounds, a sculpture garden, children's play equipment, tennis courts, basketball courts, bocce ball, and a skate park. It hosts a Saturday farmer's market (May–October), as well as the annual "Concert in the Park" in September. Alta Loma Park, Buri-Buri Park, Monte Verde Park, Paradise Valley, Sellick Park (37.643°N, -122.45°W), and Westborough Park all include facilities for sports as well as picnics, and the Terrabay Recreation Center has a gymnasium. SSF Unified School District facilities are also available for sports, and the Boys and Girls Club of Northern San Mateo County is headquartered adjacent to Orange and Centennial Parks.

The city also has a park and marina along the shore of San Francisco Bay, named Oyster Point, which is also home to the private Oyster Point Yacht Club. South San Francisco has walkways and bike trails adjacent to the San Francisco Bay, from which runners are able to view San Francisco International Airport operations, fishermen may try their luck, while wind-surfers and kayakers may launch their watercraft. South San Francisco is home to many hotels as well, since it is close to San Francisco and next to SFO.

A unique opportunity was created when BART expanded down the Peninsula to create a "linear park" on the swath of undeveloped land on top of the tube. Running from Colma to Millbrae, South San Francisco's portion is three miles long, running through the center of town from the South San Francisco BART Station to the San Bruno BART Station (37.658°N, -122.437°W). The Class I bicycle and pedestrian trail is a 10' wide asphalt pathway with 2' decomposed granite shoulders, irrigated for low-maintenance landscaping, with safety lighting, signalized intersections where the trail crosses Spruce and Chestnut Avenues, and in-ground flashing lights at Orange Avenue. Centennial Way Dog Park is located adjacent to Orange Park along the pathway. The pathway is called Centennial Way to commemorate the city's 100th birthday in 2008.

Other places of interest
The downtown area along Grand Avenue has buildings from the city's earliest days. Galli's Sanitary Bakery operated from 1909 until it closed in October 2016, while – a few blocks down – the 1905 Plymire-Schwartz house (37.6565°N, -122.4169°W) was the North Peninsula's first hospital; it is now operated by the Historical Society. The 1920 city hall is modeled after Independence Hall in Philadelphia, while next to it sits the original 1916 Carnegie Library. The 1912 Metropolitan Hotel (built by the Meat Packers Consortium) now has a mural depicting SSF History high on its east wall. Bertolucci's is an Italian restaurant that has also been around almost since the birth of the city, located in close proximity to downtown South San Francisco and is easily seen from highway 101.

The South San Francisco Public Library (part of the Peninsula Library System) has served the city since 1917 with branches on Grand Avenue and on West Orange Avenue just off of Westborough. A new library facility is under construction at Chestnut Avenue next to El Camino Real; it is expected to open in 2023.

As well as the Plymire-Schwartz house, the SSF Historical Society operates a museum in a former Water Company facility on Chestnut Avenue; it houses a collection that includes artifacts, oral history tapes, historic documents, special exhibits, and has a database for researching historical photographs. The City Library also houses a collection of documents and photos in basement-level offices at the historic landmark Grand Avenue Library. The former Historic Preservation Commission placed descriptive markers at fifty locations throughout the city.

The South San Francisco Farmers Market is at Orange Memorial Park from May through November, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The market offers only California-grown products sold directly to consumers.

Every Holiday season residents of Parkway Estates (a three-street development built in the mid-1980s off Chestnut Avenue) decorate their houses and yards with Christmas lights. This display is open to the public, is well-known holiday attraction, and hundreds of visitors arrive every holiday season. Lilac Lane (off of Palm Avenue) was an earlier seasonal decoration cooperative which began in the 1960s, at one point it was the destination of the city's Santa Claus parade, and the spot where the local Chamber of Commerce Santa passed out toys from R. Dakin (formerly headquartered in SSF) to hundreds of children. Few of the original residents survive and decorative technology today has far surpassed the 1960s era, so, in the 21st century, Lilac Lane has become a backwater.

South San Francisco has one bowling alley now named Hometown Bowl on El Camino Real. There are several gyms which serve basketball, volleyball, and other indoor sports; both the high schools and the former Spruce Ave. high school open their gyms to the community when the school is not using them; Terrabay Gymnasium on San Bruno Mountain is also available. Tennis courts, outdoor basketball courts, and a bocce facility are maintained by the city. South San Francisco is also home to the private California Golf Club of San Francisco, next to its public library, bounded by Ponderosa Road and Westborough.

Transportation
South San Francisco is adjacent to the San Francisco International Airport (SFO). A BART station, located directly adjacent to El Camino High School and Solaire Transit Village, provides near-express rapid transit service to SFO (with stops only in San Bruno and, on red line trains, Millbrae), as well as the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond, Antioch, Berkeley, Concord and Walnut Creek. BART supplements the Caltrain service between San Francisco and San Jose, with the latter's station adjacent to downtown on Grand Avenue. A second Caltrain station in South San Francisco, at Oyster Point, was removed in 1983.

On June 4, 2012, the Water Emergency Transportation Authority began a ferry service between the South San Francisco Ferry Terminal at Oyster Point Marina and the east bay cities of Oakland at Jack London Square and Alameda at the Main Street ferry terminal. The ferry service operates during weekday commute hours only.

The city is served by several free shuttle services open to the general public:
 * 1) A South City Shuttle provides service between South San Francisco BART and the city's downtown. It includes trips to local stores, the senior center, libraries, city hall and parks. The shuttle provides transit connections with both BART and SamTrans.
 * 2) A shuttle linking the South San Francisco Ferry Terminal to the Utah/Grand Ave office area operates during commute hours, Monday through Friday.
 * 3) A shuttle linking the South San Francisco Ferry Terminal to the Oyster Point office area operates during commute hours, Monday through Friday.

The city is transited by two major north–south freeways, U.S. Route 101 (the Bayshore Freeway), along the San Francisco Bay, and Interstate 280, along the hills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The city also lies along the historic El Camino Real between Colma and San Bruno, and is bordered on the west by Skyline Boulevard.

South San Francisco is also served by LimeBike, a dockless bike rental service.

Notable people

 * Victor Arnautoff: Painter (Linden PO mural).
 * Enrico Banducci: Impresario
 * Ken Bastida: Television journalist.
 * Robert Bernardo: Politician.
 * Rich Bordi: MLB player.
 * John Broderick: Film director, producer, screenwriter.
 * Alice Bulos: Asian-American leader.
 * Willy Cahill: Olympic Judo coach.
 * Jim Campilongo: Rock guitarist.
 * Joe Carcione: Newspaper & broadcast columnist, greengrocer.
 * Rue Randall Clifford: Early high school teacher, society leader.
 * James H. Coleman: LGBT Councilmember.
 * Marty DeMerritt: MLB coach.
 * Aristides Demetrios: Wind-harp sculptor.
 * Rachel Dutton: Microbiologist, food scientist.
 * Josh Emmett: MMA professional.
 * Alexia Estrada: Professional soccer player.
 * Carina Faris: Japanese-American actress/model.
 * Ronald Fields Jr.: Rapper.
 * Jim Fregosi: MLB player and coach.
 * Mike Futrell: Attorney, city manager.
 * Oliver Gagliani: Photographer and teacher.
 * Jerjer Gibson: Professional soccer player.
 * Jenna Gozali: Badminton professional.
 * Carl Gutierrez: former Governor of Guam
 * Walt Harris: College football coach.
 * Rene Herrerias: Teacher
 * Milford Hodge: NFL player.
 * Don Hoefler: Journalist.
 * Patrick Hunter: NFL player.
 * Peter E. Iler: Meat Trust properties manager.
 * Lenore Jacobson: School principal, researcher.
 * Greg Jones: NFL Running-back, Minnesota Viking.
 * William J. Justice: Catholic bishop.
 * Philip N. Lilienthal: banker, founder - Bank of South San Francisco.
 * Sebastian Lletget: Professional soccer player.
 * Charles Lux: Major rancher-businessman.
 * A. V. Macan: Designer of California Golf Club (1925).
 * Edgar Malepeai: Idaho politician.
 * Bill Martin: Artist.
 * Barry McGee: Artist.
 * Rod McLellan: Horticulturist.
 * Gene Mullin: Politician and teacher.
 * Kevin Mullin: Politician.
 * Rex Navarrete: Filipino comedian.
 * Eduardo Pedemonte: Soccer player for Guam.
 * Franklin Rhoda: Presbyterian minister 1890s.
 * Jessie Rogers: Adult film star.
 * F. James Rutherford: Science educator.
 * Roger Ruzek : NFL player.
 * Leo Ryan: Politician, assassinated while visiting Jonestown.
 * José de la Cruz Sánchez: Californio owner of Rancho Buri-buri
 * Herman Segelke: Major League baseball pitcher.
 * Mike Solari: NFL coach.
 * Aaron Solo Professional wrestler (AEW).
 * Masayoshi Son: Japanese-Korean entrepreneur.
 * Bruce Steivel: Choreographer, ballet director.
 * Henry Stelling: Air Force Major General.
 * Gustavus Franklin Swift: Founder.
 * Bonnie Lynn Tempesta: Gourmet baker.
 * Ralph Thomlinson: sociologist.
 * Darren Uyenoyama: MMA professional.
 * Easop Winston: NFL player.
 * Francis Wong: Jazz musician.
 * Ya Boy: Rapper.
 * Kurt Yaeger: actor, disability advocate.
 * Jim Zylker: Olympic & professional soccer player.

Sister cities
South San Francisco has five sister cities:
 * 🇲🇽 Atotonilco, Mexico
 * 🇯🇵 Kishiwada, Japan
 * 🇮🇹 Lucca, Italy
 * 🇵🇭 Pasig, Philippines
 * 🇫🇷 Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France

title: South San Francisco, California


text:
West Menlo Park, California

West Menlo Park is a census-designated place and an Unincorporated community in San Mateo County, California, located between the majority of City of Menlo Park, the Town of Atherton, the Sharon Heights neighborhood of Menlo Park and Stanford University (in Santa Clara County). As of the 2020 census, the community had a population of 3,930.

The area consists of suburban housing and a small business district along Alameda de las Pulgas (literally, "Avenue of the Fleas"), often just referred to as "the Alameda", which extends the length of the Rancho de las Pulgas land granted to the Argüello family. West Menlo Park is served by the Las Lomitas School District and Menlo Park Fire District.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 0.5 sqmi, all of it land. West Menlo Park has a mild climate.

2010
The 2010 United States Census reported that West Menlo Park had a population of 3,659. The population density was 7,526.9 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of West Menlo Park was 2,983 (81.5%) White, 28 (0.8%) African American, 2 (0.1%) Native American, 416 (11.4%) Asian, 4 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 52 (1.4%) from other races, and 174 (4.8%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 201 persons (5.5%).

The Census reported that 3,650 people (99.8% of the population) lived in households, 5 (0.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 4 (0.1%) were institutionalized.

There were 1,356 households, out of which 574 (42.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 830 (61.2%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 98 (7.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 42 (3.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 61 (4.5%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 11 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 292 households (21.5%) were made up of individuals, and 122 (9.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69. There were 970 families (71.5% of all households); the average family size was 3.17.

The population was spread out, with 1,069 people (29.2%) under the age of 18, 101 people (2.8%) aged 18 to 24, 998 people (27.3%) aged 25 to 44, 1,004 people (27.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 487 people (13.3%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.1 males.

There were 1,422 housing units at an average density of 2,925.2 /sqmi, of which 1,091 (80.5%) were owner-occupied, and 265 (19.5%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.3%. 2,999 people (82.0% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 651 people (17.8%) lived in rental housing units.

2000
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,629 people, 1,420 households, and 955 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 7,299.8 PD/sqmi. There were 1,451 housing units at an average density of 2,918.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP in 2010 was 77.6% non-Hispanic White, 0.7% non-Hispanic African American, 0.1% Native American, 11.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.3% from other races, and 4.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.5% of the population. There were 1,420 households, out of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.6% were married couples living together, 7.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 25.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 25.3% under the age of 18, 3.6% from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 25.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.1 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $125,881, and the median income for a family was $145,946. Males had a median income of $100,000+ versus $70,486 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $62,302. 2.9% of the population and 0.4% of families were below the poverty line. 0.3% of those under the age of 18 and 4.1% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Politics
In the California State Legislature, West Menlo Park is in, and in.

In the United States House of Representatives, West Menlo Park is in per the 2020 redistricting cycle.

Education
For primary schools, West Menlo Park is served by the Las Lomitas Elementary School District. For high school, West Menlo Park is served by the Sequoia Union High School District, with all of West Menlo Park falling into the boundaries of Menlo-Atherton High School.

title: West Menlo Park, California