SAN MATEO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

'San Mateo County' is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula just south of San Francisco, near San Francisco State University, and north of Santa Clara County. San Francisco International Airport is located at the northern end of the county, and Silicon Valley begins at the southern end. As of 2005 the population was 712,462. The county seat is Redwood City.

Contents

History

Geography

Incorporated cities

Unincorporated communities

Adjacent Counties

Transportation Infrastructure

Major Highways

Public Transportation

Airports

Marine Transport

Demographics

Environmental features

Notable structures

Politics

County trails

County parks

State parks

State beaches

See also

External links

History

San Mateo County was formed from parts of San Francisco County and Santa Cruz County in 1856.
The county bears the Spanish name for Saint Matthew. As a place name, San Mateo appears as early as 1776 and several local geographic features were also designated San Mateo on early maps including variously: a settlement, an arroyo, a headland jutting into the Pacific (Point Montara), and a large land holding (Rancho San Mateo). Until about 1850, the name appeared as ''San Matheo''.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,919 km² (741 mi²). 1,163 km² (449 mi²) of it is land and 756 km² (292 mi²) of it (39.40%) is water. A number of bayside watercourses drain the eastern part of the county including San Bruno Creek and Colma Creek. Streams draining the western county include Frenchmans Creek, Pilarcitos Creek, Naples Creek, Arroyo de en Medio and Denniston Creek.

Incorporated cities

★ Atherton ★ Belmont ★ Brisbane ★ Burlingame ★ Colma ★ Daly City ★ East Palo Alto ★ Foster City ★ Half Moon Bay ★ Hillsborough

★ Menlo Park ★ Millbrae ★ Pacifica ★ Portola Valley ★ Redwood City ★ San Bruno ★ San Carlos ★ San Mateo ★ South San Francisco ★ Woodside

Unincorporated communities

★ Broadmoor

★ El Granada

★ Emerald Lake Hills

★ Highlands-Baywood Park

★ La Honda

★ Loma Mar

★ Montara

★ Moss Beach

★ North Fair Oaks

★ Pescadero

★ Princeton-by-the-Sea

★ San Gregorio

★ Sky Londa

★ West Menlo Park

Adjacent Counties

★ San Francisco County, California north

★ Alameda County, California east, border is entirely in San Francisco Bay

★ Santa Clara County, California southeast

★ Santa Cruz County, California south

Transportation Infrastructure

Major Highways

★ Interstate 280 (Junipero Serra Freeway)

★ Interstate 380 (Kopp Freeway)

★ U.S. Route 101 (Bayshore Freeway)

★ California State Route 1 (Cabrillo Highway)

★ California State Route 82 (El Camino Real)

★ California State Route 84 (Woodside Road, Dumbarton Bridge)

★ California State Route 92 (J. Arthur Younger Freeway, San Mateo Bridge)

Public Transportation

SamTrans (San Mateo County Transit District) provides local bus service within San Mateo County. Local and commuter bus routes also operate into San Francisco.
Caltrain, the commuter rail system, has several stations in San Mateo County. Bay Area Rapid Transit trains serve the northern portion of the county.

Airports

San Francisco International Airport is geographically located in San Mateo County, but it is part of the City and County of San Francisco.
San Mateo County does own two general aviation airports: Half Moon Bay Airport and San Carlos Airport.

Marine Transport

The only deepwater port in South San Francisco Bay is the Port of Redwood City, situated along Redwood Creek begun as a lumber float channel in the year 1850.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 707,161 people, 254,103 households, and 171,265 families residing in the county. The population density was 608/km² (1,575/mi²). There were 260,576 housing units at an average density of 224/km² (580/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 59.49% White, 3.51% Black or African American, 0.44% Native American, 20.04% Asian, 1.33% Pacific Islander, 10.17% from other races, and 5.02% from two or more races. 21.88% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 58.6% spoke English, 18.1% Spanish, 6.4% Tagalog, 4.2% Chinese or Mandarin and 1.3% Cantonese as their first language.
In 2005 47.3% of San Mateo County's population was non-Hispanic whites. African-Americans had declined to 3.4% of the county population. 23.4% of the population was Asian. The Hispanic proportion had grown, but had fallen below that of the Asians. Hispanics now made up 22.6% of the county population.

There were 254,103 households out of which 31.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.00% were married couples living together, 10.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.60% were non-families. 24.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.29.
In the county the population was spread out with 22.90% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 33.20% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 12.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 97.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.60 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $70,819, and the median income for a family was $80,737. Males had a median income of $51,342 versus $40,383 for females. The per capita income for the county was $36,045. About 3.50% of families and 5.80% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.00% of those under age 18 and 5.10% of those age 65 or over.

Environmental features

San Mateo County encompasses a variety of habitats including estuarine, marine, oak woodland, redwood forest, coastal scrub and oak savannah. There are numerous species of wildlife present, especially along the San Francisco Bay estuarine shoreline, San Bruno Mountain, Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and the forests on the Montara Mountain block. Several creeks discharge to the San Francisco Bay including San Mateo Creek and Laurel Creek and several coastal streams discharge to the Pacific Ocean such as Frenchmans Creek and San Vicente Creek.
The county is home to several endangered species including the San Francisco garter snake and the San Bruno elfin butterfly, both of which are endemic to San Mateo County. The endangered California clapper rail is also found on the shores of San Francisco Bay, in the cities of Belmont and San Mateo. The endangered wildflower Hickman's potentilla is found near the Pacific Ocean on the lower slopes of Montara Mountain. The endangered wildflowers White-rayed pentachaeta, ''Pentachaeta bellidiflora'', San Mateo Woolly Sunflower, ''Eriophyllum latilobum'', Marin Dwarf Flax, ''Hesperolinon congestum'' and the San Mateo Thornmint, ''Acanthomintha duttonii'', are found in the vicinity of the Crystal Springs Reservoir.
Some students in San Mateo County's public schools attend outdoor education in La Honda.
★ San Mateo Outdoor Education is a residential school that teaches major concepts of ecology via exploration of forest, pond, garden, tidepool, wetland, and sandy shore habitats. The center's mascot is the banana slug, a large yellow gastropod.

Notable structures

There are a number of well known structures within San Mateo County:

★ Carolands Mansion, Hillsborough

★ Coyote Point Museum, San Mateo

★ Cow Palace, Daly City

★ Crocker Mansion, Hillsborough

★ Crystal Springs Reservoir, unincorporated central part of county

★ Dakin Building, Brisbane

★ Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, which incorporates Ralston Hall

★ Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Pescadero

★ Point Montara Lighthouse, Montara

★ San Francisco International Airport

★ Sanchez Adobe, Pacifica

★ Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park

★ Filoli Mansion, Woodside

★ Pulgas Water Temple, Woodside

Politics

'Presidential elections results'

Year	Republicans	Democrats
2004	29.2% ''83,315	'69.5%' ''197,922
2000	31.0% ''80,296	'64.3%' ''166,757
1996	29.2% ''73,508	'60.6%' ''152,304
1992	27.2% ''75,080	'54.0%' ''149,232
1988	42.9% ''109,261	'55.7%' ''141,859
1984	'51.9%' ''135,185	46.9% ''122,268
1980	'48.8%' ''116,491	36.6% ''87,335
1976	'50.6%' ''117,338	44.4% ''102,896
1972	'52.8%' ''135,377	42.8% ''109,745
1968	43.7% ''98,654	'47.2%' ''106,519
1964	35.5% ''77,916	'64.3%' ''140,978
1960	'51.7%' ''104,570	48.0% ''97,154

County trails

★ Alpine Trail

★ Bog Trail

★ Cañada Trail

★ Crystal Springs Trail

★ Edgewood Trail

★ Ralston Trail

★ San Andreas Trail

★ Sand Hill Trail

★ Sawyer Camp Trail

★ Skyline Trail

★ Sheep Camp Trail

★ Sweeney Ridge Trail

County parks

★ Coyote Point Recreation Area

★ Coyote Point Marina

★ Crystal Springs

★ Edgewood Park and Natural Reserve

★ Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

★ Flood Park (County)

★ Heritage Grove

★ Huddart Park

★ Junipero Serra County Park

★ San Mateo County Memorial Park

★ Pescadero Creek Park

★ Sam MacDonald Park

★ San Bruno Mountain (County Park)

★ San Mateo Fishing Pier

★ San Pedro Valley Park

★ Sanchez Adobe

★ Woodside Store

★ Wunderlich Park - 'New'
Source: http://www.sanmateocountyparks.org/ County Parks
http://www.eparks.net/smc/department/esa/home/0,2151,5556687_10575168,00.html

State parks

★ Año Nuevo State Park

★ Butano State Park

★ Castle Rock State Park

★ Heritage Grove

★ Portola Redwoods State Park

★ Quarry Park

★ Burleigh H. Murray Ranch

★ Pigeon Point Light Station Historic State Park

★ Point Montara Light Station State Park

★ Portola Redwoods State Park

★ San Bruno Mountain State Park

State beaches

★ Año Nuevo State Reserve

★ Bean Hollow State Beach

★ Big Basin State Beach

★ Gray Whale Cove State Beach

★ Half Moon Bay State Beach

★ Montara State Beach

★ Pacifica State Beach

★ Pebble Beach (is there good online info about this beach?)

★ Pescadero State Beach

★ Pomponio State Beach

★ San Gregorio State Beach

★ Thornton State Beach
Source: http://www.parks.ca.gov/parkindex/default.asp?tab=3 State Parks, Choose ''San Mateo''

See also

★ List of school districts in San Mateo County, California

★ Peninsula Humane Society

★ Seaport Centre

★ Telephone Area code 650

★ Leo J. Ryan Memorial Park

★ Leo J. Ryan Federal Building

External links

★ County of San Mateo Official Website

★ San Mateo County Library - 12 branches throughout the County and a bookmobile

★ Peninsula Library System - serving all of San Mateo County

★ Superior Court Records