San Mateo County, California

San Mateo County is a located in the  of the  of. It covers most of the just south of, near , and north of. is located at the northern end of the county, and begins at the southern end. As of 2005 the population was 712,462. The is.

History
San Mateo County was formed from parts of and  in 1856.

The county bears the name for. 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, a headland jutting into the Pacific , and a large land holding. Until about 1850, the name appeared as San Matheo.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,919 (741 ). 1,163 km² (449 sq mi) of it is land and 756 km² (292 sq mi) of it (39.40%) is water. A number of bayside watercourses drain the eastern part of the county including and. Streams draining the western county include, , , , and.

Adjacent counties

 * north
 * east, border is entirely in
 * southeast
 * south

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-280 (CA).svg|23px]] (Junipero Serra Freeway)
 * [[Image:I-380 (CA).svg|23px]] (Kopp Freeway)
 * [[Image:US 101 (CA).svg|23px]] (Bayshore Freeway)
 * [[Image:California 1.svg|20px]] (Cabrillo Highway)
 * [[Image:California 82.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 84.svg|20px]] (Woodside Road, )
 * [[Image:California 92.svg|20px]] (J. Arthur Younger Freeway, )

Public transportation
(San Mateo County Transit District) provides local bus service within San Mateo County. Local and commuter bus routes also operate into San Francisco.

, the commuter rail system, traverses the county from north to south, running alongside the corridor for most of the way. (BART) trains serve and the northern portion of the county, terminating at.

Caltrain, BART, and SamTrans converge at the.

Airports
is geographically located in San Mateo County, but it is owned by the City and County of.

San Mateo County does own two general aviation airports: and.

Marine transport
The only deepwater port in South is the, situated along , originally created as a lumber float channel in 1850.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 707,161 people, 254,103 households, and 171,265 families residing in the county. The was 608/km² (1,575/sq mi). There were 260,576 housing units at an average density of 224/km² (580/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 59.49%, 3.51% or , 0.44% , 20.04% , 1.33% , 10.17% from , and 5.02% from two or more races. 21.88% of the population were or  of any race. 58.6% spoke, 18.1% , 6.4% , 4.2% or  and 1.3%  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 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.0% were living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.6% were non-families. 24.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.4% 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 22.9% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 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 for the county was $36,045. About 3.50% of families and 5.80% of the population were below the, including 6.00% of those under age 18 and 5.10% of those age 65 or over.

Politics
San Mateo is a strongly Democratic county in and  elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was in.

San Mateo is part of California's and  congressional districts, which are held by Democrats  and, respectively. In the, San Mateo is in the 12th, 19th, and 21st districts, which are held by Democrats , , and , respectively. In the, San Mateo is in the 8th and 11th districts, which are held by Democrats and , respectively.

Environmental features
San Mateo County encompasses a variety of habitats including, marine, oak woodland, redwood forest, coastal scrub and oak savannah. There are numerous species of present, especially along the  estuarine shoreline,,  and the forests on the Montara Mountain block. Several creeks discharge to the San Francisco Bay including and  and several coastal streams discharge to the  such as  and.

The county is home to several including the  and the, both of which are endemic to San Mateo County. The endangered is also found on the shores of San Francisco Bay, in the cities of  and. The endangered wildflower is found near the Pacific Ocean on the lower slopes of. The endangered wildflowers, ', , ', , ' and the , ', are found in the vicinity of the.

Some students in San Mateo County's public schools attend outdoor education in. San Mateo Outdoor Education is a residential school that teaches major concepts of via exploration of forest, pond, garden,, , and sandy shore s.  The center's mascot is the , a large yellow.

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


 * , Hillsborough
 * , Daly City
 * , San Mateo
 * , Hillsborough
 * , central part of county
 * , Brisbane
 * , Woodside
 * , Belmont, which incorporates
 * , Pescadero
 * , Montara
 * , Woodside
 * , Pacifica
 * , Menlo Park
 * , Menlo Park

County trails
See this county page for trail descriptions.
 * 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

 * Recreation Area
 * Coyote Point Marina
 * Edgewood Park and Natural Reserve
 * Flood Park (County)
 * Heritage Grove
 * Huddart Park
 * Junipero Serra County Park
 * Pescadero Creek Park
 * Sam MacDonald Park
 * (County Park)
 * San Mateo Fishing Pier
 * San Pedro Valley Park
 * Woodside Store
 * Wunderlich Park - New
 * San Pedro Valley Park
 * Woodside Store
 * Wunderlich Park - New
 * 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

 * Castle Rock State Park
 * Heritage Grove
 * Quarry Park
 * Burleigh H. Murray Ranch
 * Pigeon Point Light Station Historic State Park
 * Point Montara Light Station State Park
 * Portola Redwoods State Park
 * Pigeon Point Light Station Historic State Park
 * Point Montara Light Station State Park
 * Portola Redwoods State Park

State beaches

 * Año Nuevo State Reserve
 * Bean Hollow State Beach
 * Big Basin State Beach
 * Gray Whale Cove State Beach
 * Pebble Beach (is there good online info about this beach?)
 * Pomponio State Beach
 * Thornton State Beach
 * Pebble Beach (is there good online info about this beach?)
 * Pomponio State Beach
 * Thornton State Beach
 * Thornton State Beach
 * Thornton State Beach

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