Sell Your Commercial Property In San Mateo County, CA

Who rents in San Mateo County

Renters head 109,812 of the 264,419 occupied households in San Mateo County, a 41.5% share, per the 2020-2024 ACS. Owners hold the remaining 154,607 households. Units in 5+ unit buildings total 82,445, or 28.7% of the county's 287,184 housing units, up from 75,096 in the 2015-2019 survey.

That apartment stock concentrates in a handful of San Mateo County cities. San Mateo, Redwood City and Burlingame each post renter shares above 50% in the city table below. East Palo Alto and Menlo Park add dense renter pools near the Dumbarton corridor, while Pacifica and San Carlos lean more toward owners. Median household income across San Mateo County reached $158,855 in the same survey.

Rents, growth and affordability

Median gross rent in San Mateo County climbed 26.2%, from $2,316 to $2,922, between the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 ACS surveys. Renter households grew more slowly, up 4.6% to 109,812. Population fell 3.3% to 742,340 residents over the same span, and employment dropped 5.1% to 393,458.

Supply grew faster than renter demand. Units in 5+ unit buildings rose 9.8%, adding 7,349 units across San Mateo County. Rent burden still runs high: 48.4% of renters paid 30% or more of income on gross rent in the 2020-2024 ACS.

HUD's FY2027 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent for the San Francisco, CA HUD Metro FMR Area, which covers San Mateo County, is $3,697, effective October 1, 2026. That benchmark runs $775 above the county's $2,922 median gross rent, and the one-bedroom FMR reaches $3,003.

City-by-city comparison

Foster City and Menlo Park post the highest median gross rents in San Mateo County, each above $3,200. Burlingame pairs a 51.8% renter share with 43.5% of its units in 5+ unit buildings, the densest mix in the table.

Vacancy swings widely across San Mateo County. Daly City reaches 13.9%, while Foster City and San Mateo sit near 6.4%. East Palo Alto combines a 50.9% renter share with 11.4% vacancy, a softer market than Burlingame's 10.3% at a higher rent.

San Carlos shows the lowest renter share at 32.2%, closer to an owner-occupied suburb than a rental market. Redwood City and South San Francisco both post renter shares above 40%, with vacancy under 9%.

Property taxes and assessment in San Mateo County

San Mateo County assesses apartment buildings at full cash value when a property changes hands, then caps increases at 2% a year under Proposition 13 until the next sale, per the County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder's office. The base levy runs 1% of assessed value, plus voter-approved bond and district rates that vary by tax rate area.

San Mateo County's documentary transfer tax is $0.55 per $500 of consideration. Only the City of San Mateo layers its own added city conveyance tax on top of that county rate; no other San Mateo County city does. A sale resets the assessed value for the next owner, so San Mateo County's property tax reform question, really a reassessment question, depends on your closing price.

What this means if you sell in San Mateo County

When you sell commercial property in San Mateo County, CA, you sell into a county where renters hold 41.5% of households and median gross rent has climbed 26.2% in five years. That growth outpaces the county's 9.8% gain in 5+ unit stock, so buyers will test your rent roll against each city's own vacancy rate, from Foster City's 6.4% to Daly City's 13.9%.

Taxes follow the sale price. A San Mateo County buyer underwrites the post-sale Prop 13 reassessment, not your current bill, since the county assessor resets value at the new purchase price. California's statewide just-cause rules under Civil Code Section 1946.2 also apply once a tenancy passes 12 months, which shapes how a buyer plans turnover.

As a multifamily buyer active in San Mateo County, we review 5+ unit buildings from San Mateo to East Palo Alto as they stand today. Send a current rent roll, a T-12 and your latest tax bill, and we will price a sale in San Mateo County on those numbers.