Atherton, California.
Typical home $8,632,097 (+16.2% in a year), asking rent $16,000 . San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$24,212 (+115%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $1,202,024 +16%
- $7,430,074$8,632,097 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $1,650,394 +24%
- $6,981,703$8,632,097 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Atherton$45,308
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 16 years.
Typical home values in Atherton, CA rose 16.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Atherton, San Mateo County, California
Atherton is a town of 7,188 people in San Mateo County. 88% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 12% are rented. Unemployment in San Mateo County was 4.0% in August 2026, and the county had 1.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in professional services, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 24 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Atherton is a small town where almost everyone owns the home they live in, and the typical home value is among the highest anywhere. Residents are older than in most places, and nearly all adults have a four-year degree. Winters are mild, with little or no snow, and summers are warm without being hot, with modest rain through the year.
Work. Many residents work in professional and business services, in schools, hospitals and social care, or in banks, insurance and property. A large share work from home, and the typical commute is short. Across San Mateo County, some of the largest workplaces are Genentech, Zoox and Equinix, and the county has lost a small share of its jobs over the past year.
Things to do. Stanford Stadium, a stadium, is in or beside town, and the Computer History Museum is a short drive away. Golden Gate Park, a garden in San Francisco, is a longer drive away, as is the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
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- 2,227households
- 83%of adults have a degree
- 5%below the poverty line
- 23 mintypical commute
- 41%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. San Mateo County had 411,346 jobs in 2025, 1.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 59° and lows near 40°; warmest in July, with highs near 81° and lows near 57°. About 19 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Redwood City weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in San Mateo County
- United Continental Holdings Inc SFO12,939
- Genentech SSFCommercial physical and biological research10,773
- ChildCare CareersHelp supply services3,784
- ZooxCab services2,476
- City & County of San Francisco/Passenger air transportation, scheduled1,821
- EquinixLessors of other real estate property; data centers1,794
- Alaska AirlinesScheduled air passenger transportation1,654
- Mills Peninsula Medical CenterGeneral hospital1,438FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 505 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 104,142 people in all across the county; Atherton has one of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- EarthquakesVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Atherton’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on San Mateo County and the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA metro.
Atherton home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Atherton$8,632,097
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Atherton7
Zip codes with a Atherton address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Atherton — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.