San Mateo, California

San Mateo population, 2020 to 2024

San Mateo lost 2,652 residents from July 2020 to July 2024, a change of -2.5%. In the latest year it moved by +908. Among 429 California places of 5,000 or more, that growth ranks 306th; the median place changed by -1.1%. The median place of 5,000+ in California has 37,056 people, so San Mateo is 2.8 times that size.

San Mateo covers 12.13 square miles of land and 3.72 of water, for 8,492 people per square mile of land. The median California place of 5,000+ has 3,725, so San Mateo is denser than the typical town.

What county San Mateo is in

All of San Mateo's residents live in San Mateo County, which had 742,893 residents in 2024. San Mateo holds 13.9% of the county's population. The shaded shape is on the map above; dots mark the eight nearest places.

ZIP codes in San Mateo

4 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) overlap San Mateo by at least 10% of the ZCTA's or the city's land: 94401, 94402, 94403, 94404. ZCTAs are Census approximations of USPS ZIP code delivery areas. The list comes from the 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file, so a city that annexed land after 2020 may reach into ZIP codes not listed here.

Where San Mateo is

The Census internal point of San Mateo is at 37.560300, -122.310600. Sacramento, the capital, is 83.1 miles NNE in a straight line. The nearest larger place is Hayward, CA (158,440 people), 12.2 miles away. The ground at the internal point is about 3 m (10 ft) above sea level.

Daylight in San Mateo

At 37.56° N, San Mateo gets about 14 h 46 min of daylight around the June solstice and 9 h 34 min around the December solstice, a swing of 5 h 12 min. Figures are sunrise to sunset from the SunCalc model for June 21 and December 21, 2026. Month-by-month sunrise and sunset times are on the San Mateo daylight page.

Places near San Mateo

The eight nearest incorporated places of 1,000+ in California, measured between internal points. The closest is Hillsborough, 2.6 miles away, with 11,171 people.