San Mateo

About San Mateo

The largest city in its namesake San Mateo County, San Mateo is a vibrant community just south of San Francisco and in the heart of the peninsula. Its history goes back to the 1780s, when Spanish missionaries named a Native American village along Laurel Creek as Los Laureles. Beginning in the 1850s, wealthy San Franciscans started building summer and permanent homes in the mid-peninsula, and that contractions spilled into San Mateo. San Mateo’s culture is influenced by Japanese immigrants who came to the city in the early 20th century to work in the salt ponds. The Eugene J. De Sabla Japanese Teahouse and Garden is an example of that influence.

The city, sitting on the peninsula, has one of the larger, more developed, more prominent downtowns in the San Francisco Bay Area. The proximity to the Caltrain station nearby makes this an ideal housing location for those looking to commute up and down the peninsula. The weather it temperate and comfortable year-round.

Companies with offices in San Mateo include GoPro, NetSuite, Sony Interactive, Solstice and Tesla.

San Mateo spans primarily across 2 zip codes: 94402 and 94403. In this area houses are primarily single-family homes. Although, the new construction in Bay Meadows is rapidly changing the overall makeup of housing in the city with each new phase of development.

Neighborhoods

San Mateo is divided into Downtown, Bay Meadows, and Hillsdale. These neighborhoods are broken into Home Owner Associations and Neighborhood Associations, run by their residents. You can find more about these associations at the city web site (PDF).

Learn more at www.cityofsanmateo.org.