Atherton vs Half Moon Bay

A side-by-side comparison of Atherton and Half Moon Bay: population, income, housing, and more.

Atherton and Half Moon Bay are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Half Moon Bay has the higher population (11,454 vs 7,021 in Atherton). Atherton has the higher median household income ($250,001 vs $153,199 in Half Moon Bay). Atherton has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,467,000 in Half Moon Bay).

Population, income & housing

	Atherton	Half Moon Bay
Population	7,021	11,454
Median age	49.0 yrs	46.5 yrs
Median household income	$250,001	$153,199
Median home value	$2,000,001	$1,467,000
Median gross rent	$3,501	$2,299
Housing units	2,673	4,559
Homeownership rate	87.4%	72.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	85.9%	53.2%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Atherton	Half Moon Bay
Population	7,168 → 7,021 (-2.1%)	12,834 → 11,454 (-10.8%)
Median household income	$250,001 → $250,001 (+0.0%)	$134,177 → $153,199 (+14.2%)
Median home value	$2,000,001 → $2,000,001 (+0.0%)	$999,500 → $1,467,000 (+46.8%)
Median gross rent	$3,501 → $3,501 (+0.0%)	$1,869 → $2,299 (+23.0%)

Atherton

Population

7,1687,021

Median household income

$250,001$250,001

Median home value

$2,000,001$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$3,501$3,501

Half Moon Bay

Population

12,83411,454

Median household income

$134,177$153,199

Median home value

$999,500$1,467,000

Median gross rent

$1,869$2,299

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Atherton	Half Moon Bay
Under 5	2.0%	6.4%
5 to 17	16.5%	14.5%
18 to 24	14.8%	9.1%
25 to 34	7.2%	8.6%
35 to 44	5.5%	9.6%
45 to 54	14.7%	13.4%
55 to 64	13.8%	16.4%
65 to 74	12.8%	13.4%
75 and over	12.8%	8.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Atherton	Half Moon Bay
White (non-Hispanic)	63.7%	60.7%
Black or African American	0.8%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	18.6%	4.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.0%	5.7%
Hispanic or Latino	11.7%	29.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Atherton	Half Moon Bay
No high school diploma	1.0%	8.7%
High school graduate	4.7%	12.6%
Some college or associate's	8.4%	25.5%
Bachelor's degree	30.5%	28.4%
Graduate or professional degree	55.5%	24.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Atherton	Half Moon Bay
Drove alone	47.2%	61.2%
Carpooled	6.8%	7.5%
Public transit	1.7%	0.0%
Walked	2.8%	5.6%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.9%
Worked from home	39.6%	23.0%
Other means	1.2%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Atherton	Half Moon Bay
1-unit, detached	98.0%	68.4%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	10.1%
2 to 4 units	0.3%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	6.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	4.3%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	5.2%

Poverty & households

	Atherton	Half Moon Bay
Poverty rate	3.3%	6.2%
Average household size	2.81	2.76
Mean commute (minutes)	24	31
Median year structure built	1960	1982