Redwood City vs San Mateo

A side-by-side comparison of Redwood City and San Mateo: population, income, housing, and more.

Redwood City and San Mateo are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

San Mateo has the higher population (103,555 vs 82,423 in Redwood City). San Mateo has the higher median household income ($152,669 vs $150,840 in Redwood City). Redwood City has the higher median home value ($1,838,800 vs $1,563,200 in San Mateo).

Population, income & housing

	Redwood City	San Mateo
Population	82,423	103,555
Median age	37.5 yrs	38.0 yrs
Median household income	$150,840	$152,669
Median home value	$1,838,800	$1,563,200
Median gross rent	$2,959	$3,079
Housing units	32,334	42,431
Homeownership rate	47.7%	50.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	54.4%	57.6%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Redwood City	San Mateo
Population	85,784 → 82,423 (-3.9%)	104,333 → 103,555 (-0.7%)
Median household income	$117,123 → $150,840 (+28.8%)	$124,842 → $152,669 (+22.3%)
Median home value	$1,251,000 → $1,838,800 (+47.0%)	$1,098,400 → $1,563,200 (+42.3%)
Median gross rent	$2,355 → $2,959 (+25.6%)	$2,475 → $3,079 (+24.4%)

Redwood City

Population

85,78482,423

Median household income

$117,123$150,840

Median home value

$1,251,000$1,838,800

Median gross rent

$2,355$2,959

San Mateo

Population

104,333103,555

Median household income

$124,842$152,669

Median home value

$1,098,400$1,563,200

Median gross rent

$2,475$3,079

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Redwood City	San Mateo
Under 5	5.4%	6.0%
5 to 17	16.3%	13.7%
18 to 24	6.6%	7.2%
25 to 34	17.6%	17.2%
35 to 44	15.2%	15.1%
45 to 54	14.0%	12.8%
55 to 64	11.4%	11.7%
65 to 74	8.0%	8.6%
75 and over	5.6%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Redwood City	San Mateo
White (non-Hispanic)	38.2%	36.7%
Black or African American	2.2%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	17.8%	26.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.9%	1.6%
Some other race	0.7%	1.0%
Two or more races	4.8%	5.5%
Hispanic or Latino	35.2%	26.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Redwood City	San Mateo
No high school diploma	12.1%	9.8%
High school graduate	15.1%	12.2%
Some college or associate's	18.4%	20.4%
Bachelor's degree	27.6%	31.4%
Graduate or professional degree	26.8%	26.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Redwood City	San Mateo
Drove alone	58.2%	58.5%
Carpooled	9.1%	6.9%
Public transit	4.0%	6.1%
Walked	2.6%	2.9%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.7%
Worked from home	24.0%	22.3%
Other means	1.2%	2.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Redwood City	San Mateo
1-unit, detached	43.9%	41.2%
1-unit, attached	12.9%	9.8%
2 to 4 units	6.9%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	16.4%	15.8%
20 or more units	18.2%	26.1%
Mobile home & other	1.8%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Redwood City	San Mateo
Poverty rate	6.6%	7.9%
Average household size	2.66	2.56
Mean commute (minutes)	25	27
Median year structure built	1968	1964