Atherton, California
51 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the San Mateo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94027. The Survey maps it on the Palo Alto quadrangle. 7,188 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 59 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1897 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1897 against another survey:
On record in Atherton
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 3 records
Holbrook-Palmer Estate, "Elmwood"listed 2016- Arthur C. and Judith Mathews Houselisted 2021
- Commodore James Watkins Houselisted 2008
Population over time
2 figuresAtherton grew from 6,914 to 7,188 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6,914 | |
| 2020 | 7,188 | +274 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
22 surveys from 51 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1897 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:62500, 11 printings
- 1902 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:125000, 9 printings
- 1941 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:62500
- 1948 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1961 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1991 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1997 USGS Palo Alto quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
232 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 232 fires within 5 miles of Atherton between 1992 and 2020, burning about 102 acres in total. None started naturally. 16 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 138 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 36 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 16 |
| Smoking | 15 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 11 |
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Other causes | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.2 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | ALPINE |
| 6 September 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | PIPE |
| 5 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | not named |
| 5 September 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | not named |
| 5 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 4 September 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | S.F. WATERSHED |
| 30 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | NB HWY 280 / SAND HILL R |
| 26 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit | EMERALD |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 28 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 28 workings within 5 miles of Atherton: 12 producers, 10 past producers, 5 unknowns, 1 occurrence. 12 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Mercury, Gypsum-Anhydrite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ideal Cement Company | Limestone, General, Clay | Producer | ||
| Palo Alto Sewage Sludge | Gold, Silver, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Copper, Tin, Palladium | Occurrence | Ash | |
| Redwood City Operation | Halite | Producer | ||
| Granite Rock | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Granite Rock | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Kaiser Gypsum | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Kaiser Gypsum | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Past Producer | ||
| Redwood City Operation | Salt | Past Producer | ||
| Redwood City Plant | Salt | Producer | ||
| Challenge | Mercury | Past Producer | 1955 |
Storms near this place
7 since 2014Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Atherton in 7 storm reports between 2014 and 2020: 5 flood, 1 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2014 | Flash Flood | Atherton | $500,000 | Heavy rain caused flooding of several trailer parks in Redwood City. The combination of standing water and a local creek flooding resulted in the need for residents to be evacuated from the Le Mar Trailer Park and RC Mobile Home Park on E Bayshore in Redwood City. 50 mobile homes were evacuated and residents were sent to shelters. |
| December 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Atherton | $10,000 | A tree fell on a house in the early morning in Atherton. A pine tree fell through the roof and into a bedroom. No injuries https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/Nobody-Injured-Christmas-Morning-After-Tree-Falls-13490931.php. |
| January 2020 | Flood | Atherton | - | Roadway flooding on US-101 S and Marsh Rd off ramp. |
| January 2019 | Flood | Atherton | - | Roadway flooding at 355 Convention Way. |
| February 2017 | Flood | Atherton | - | Multiple reports of all lanes blocked on NB HWY 101 at Woodside Rd due to crash and flooding. |
| February 2017 | Flood | Atherton | - | At least two lanes flooding US 101 South near Woodside Road off ramp. |
| February 2015 | Flood | Atherton | - | Heavy rain resulted in flooding of Southbound US 101 offramp. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Park Forest | 0.3 miles | 51 | |
| Lloyden Park | 0.4 miles | 51 | |
| Felton Gables | 0.4 miles | 51 | |
| Fair Oaks | 0.9 miles | 51 | |
| North Fair Oaks | 0.9 miles | 51 | |
| Menlo Park | 1.0 miles | 51 | |
| Lindenwood | 1.1 miles | 51 | |
| Stanford Park | 1.5 miles | 51 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Atherton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2869080 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1657960. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.





















