San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, about 20 miles south of San Francisco and 31 miles northwest of San Jose. San Mateo had an estimated 2019 population of 104,430. It has a Mediterranean climate and is known for its rich history.   San Mateo had an estimated 2019 population of 104,430. It has a Mediterranean climate, and is known for its rich history. The biggest economic contributors to the city include the Medical Center, one of the local school districts, and Sony’s Sony Interactive Entertainment division. Finally, being in the center of the San Francisco Bay Area, it has many ways to travel between the major cities of that area.

San Mateo is a progressive community that continuously considers the impact that today’s actions will have on future generations. This is why sustainability is a top priority of the City. It is our goal to preserve the environment, provide economic well-being, and ensure social equity for our residents and businesses.

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 Peninsula Humane Society is also situated at Coyote Point.

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.