City · San Mateo County, California

Foster City, California

Foster City is a city in San Mateo County, California, part of the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA metro area. It has 32,792 residents. Foster City, California has a quality-of-life score of 97 out of 100 (very high), ranking #398 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within California it ranks #10 of 1,062 cities and towns. It ranks best on average weekly wage (high), adult obesity (low) and frequent mental distress (low). It ranks worst on home price to income ratio (high), students per teacher (high) and natural hazard risk (high).

97Very high

Quality-of-life score: #398 of 15,651 cities and towns
California: #10 of 1,062 in CA
Population: 32,792 (2020-2024)
Land area: 4 mi²
Density: 8,658.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 0625338

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety75#3,874/15,637
Economy95#860/15,631
Housing50#7,432/14,977
Health99#159/15,609
Healthcare98#256/15,650
Environment91#1,427/15,453
Education75#3,965/15,649
Infrastructure97#488/15,650
Community64#5,659/15,651
Leisure & amenities90#1,555/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Foster City, California ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “San Mateo County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Average weekly wage · high$4,121
100/100California $1,865United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsSan Mateo County value
Adult obesity · low17.4%
100/100California 30.4%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Frequent mental distress · low11.8%
100/100California 18.4%United States 18.6%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Public EV charging ports · high49.5 /10k
100/100California 17.4 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergySan Mateo County value
Adult smoking · low5.7%
99/100California 12.6%United States 16.1%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Comfortable days · high51.7%
99/100California 34.8%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationSan Mateo County value

Weaknesses

Home price to income ratio · high9.2×
1/100California 7.4×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Students per teacher · high19.9×
8/100California 21.7×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsSan Mateo County value
Natural hazard risk · high88.6
12/100California 87.32025Federal Emergency Management AgencySan Mateo County value
Average commute time · high29.4 min
13/100California 28.7 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Social associations · low6.2 /10k
14/100California 6.2 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSan Mateo County value
Loneliness · high34.3%
20/100California 37.8%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

New homes permittedWorsening
1.3 /1k (2021) → 0.2 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−81%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
33.7% (2015-2019) → 42.1% (2020-2024)
+8.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$158,529 (2015-2019) → $199,143 (2020-2024)
+26%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Public transit commutersWorsening
7.4% (2015-2019) → 2.9% (2020-2024)
−4.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B08301US 5.0% → 3.2%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
70.3% (2015-2019) → 73.8% (2020-2024)
+3.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
7.9× (2015-2019) → 9.2× (2020-2024)
+17%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Foster City, California improved on 2 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 5. 7 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Commute−3.9 min33.3 min → 29.4 min
Household income+26%$158,529 → $199,143

Declined5

Price / income+1.4×7.9× → 9.2×
Unemployment+1.7 points3.1% → 4.9%
Inequality+0.0340.400 → 0.434
Rent burden+8.4 points33.7% → 42.1%
Transit use−4.5 points7.4% → 2.9%

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Foster City, California between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	33.3 min2015-2019	29.4 min2020-2024	−3.9 min	Improved	85%
Bachelor's degree or higher	70.3%2015-2019	73.8%2020-2024	+3.5 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Broadband subscriptions	96.3%2015-2019	98.1%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Effective property tax rate	0.61%2015-2019	0.62%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	14%
High school diploma or higher	96.3%2015-2019	96.2%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Home price to income ratio	7.9×2015-2019	9.2×2020-2024	+1.4×	Declined	12%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4002015-2019	0.4342020-2024	+0.034	Declined	24%
Median household income	$158,5292015-2019	$199,1432020-2024	+26%	Improved	46%
Poverty rate	4.4%2015-2019	4.1%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	46%
Public transit commuters	7.4%2015-2019	2.9%2020-2024	−4.5 points	Declined	7%
Rent as share of income	24.8%2015-2019	25.5%2020-2024	+0.7 points	Within the margin of error	49%
Rent-burdened households	33.7%2015-2019	42.1%2020-2024	+8.4 points	Declined	28%
Unemployment rate	3.1%2015-2019	4.9%2020-2024	+1.7 points	Declined	19%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	2.1%2015-2019	2.4%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	42%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Foster City, California five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Foster City, California in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Foster City, California itself moved −4.9 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

32,792 residents (±53)

Men
Women

80 and over
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

12,998 households (±333)

Foster City, California
California share

Under $25k5.1%658
$25k–50k6.1%798
$50k–75k7.1%924

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

12,998 households (±333)

Foster City, California
California share

Own51%6,606
Rent49%6,392

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−6.3 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

16,647 workers (±631)

Foster City, California
California share

Drive alone52%8,630
Carpool7.5%1,253
Public transit2.9%490

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of San Mateo County, the county holding most of Foster City's residents.

San Mateo County has 21,569 employer establishments, 294 for every 10,000 residents (1.18× the US rate of 248; 1.12× California's), with 477,938 paid employees at an average annual pay of $183,393. The Census Bureau also counts 73,332 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 21,569; 73,332 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 294; US 248 · California 263
Paid employees: 477,938
Average annual pay: $183,393; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of San Mateo County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	1,741	23.7	1.14×About typical	24,548	$115,929	3,467
Restaurants and other eating places	1,728	23.5	1.28×More than typical	27,893	$34,526	307
Lessors of real estate	1,350	18.4	1.49×More than typical	5,790	$99,632	7,953
Specialty trade contractors	1,095	14.9	0.96×About typical	12,876	$97,659	2,128
Construction of buildings	853	11.6	1.54×More than typical	7,010	$113,273	1,808
Management, scientific and technical consulting	840	11.4	1.71×More than typical	4,960	$148,773	5,608
Full-service restaurants	801	10.9	1.42×More than typical	13,954	$39,389	110
Computer systems design and related services	775	10.6	2.44×More than typical	12,950	$199,271	1,502
Limited-service restaurants	633	8.6	1.08×About typical	9,987	$31,038	127
Services to buildings and dwellings	579	7.9	1.17×About typical	7,650	$46,438	3,932
Real estate agents and brokers	518	7.1	1.45×More than typical	1,438	$117,106	1,965
Offices of dentists	515	7	1.74×More than typical	3,283	$64,102	208

Rank places for an industry Open San Mateo County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 733,949 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $65.2M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Foster City, California: $1,988 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $65.2M; +83% vs FY2025
Per resident: $1,988; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.2%; US 30%
Single offer: 1.5%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Federal Aviation Administration$61.7M95%
Defense Logistics Agency$1.4M2.2%
Federal Acquisition Service$693.4K1.1%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration$382.6K0.6%
Department of the Navy$324.9K0.5%
National Institute of Standards and Technology$305.7K0.5%
Department of the Army$235.7K0.4%
Department of Veterans Affairs$64.9K0.1%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

5.4MFY2017
5.2MFY2018
9.6MFY2019
20.6MFY2020
33MFY2021
20.3MFY2022
26.1MFY2023
33M

Top industries (NAICS)

Electronics and appliance stores · 4431$61.4M94%
Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing · 3345$2.2M3.4%
Communications equipment manufacturing · 3342$818.8K1.3%
Other electrical equipment and component manufacturing · 3359$197.5K0.3%
Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing · 3341$183.3K0.3%
Computer systems design and related services · 5415

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Foster City, California

INCREMENTAL FUNDING$70.5M
TECHNICAL COMMUNITIES, INC.· San Mateo County, CA· Other equipment & supplies· Nov 24, 2025 – Sep 10, 2026· 6973GH26F00002
FUND NATIONAL TEST EQUIQMENT BPA$6M
TECHNICAL COMMUNITIES, INC.· San Mateo County, CA· Other equipment & supplies· Oct 18, 2023 – Mar 26, 2026· 6973GH24F00024
KEYSIGHT$923.7K
TECHNICAL COMMUNITIES, INC.· San Mateo County, CA· IT & telecom· Sep 4, 2024 – Jan 27, 2026· 1331L524F13351115
8512036067!GENERATOR,SIGNAL

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Foster City, California, so they do not add up across cities.

Foster City, California's figures are part of those of San Mateo County, CA ($833.6M in FY2026), never added to them: 7.8% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Foster City is mostly in San Mateo County.

See federal money in San Mateo County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Foster City, California is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

San Mateo County92100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA83

Other cities and towns in San Mateo County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/0625338

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends