THE ATHERTON LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Bay Terraces/Lower Santa Clara Valley setting.
Atherton town has 5.02 square miles of land in San Mateo County. Its Census reference point is in Bay Terraces/Lower Santa Clara Valley, within Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains.
Oak woodland, chaparral and grassland occupy foothills and low coastal mountains around the Central Valley. Narrow agricultural valleys interrupt this landscape of dry summers and wetter winters.
Regional context: Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains ↗ · Classification at the Census reference point
Atherton and San Mateo County
Atherton is associated with San Mateo County in the Census boundary data. Start with the parcel’s tax bill to match the property to that jurisdiction, then confirm which government handles its land use.
Atherton by land and water
The Census records 0.03 square miles of water within Atherton, or 0.6% of its total area. It is 38.8 percentage points lower than the 39.5% recorded for San Mateo County. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Atherton town has 4.2 times the land area of nearby North Fair Oaks CDP (1.2 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.

