San Mateo High

As a big high school in San Mateo, California, San Mateo High hosts 1,557 students from grades 9 through 12, overseen by San Mateo Union High. That puts it 86% larger than the typical public school in California, which averages around 838 students.

Within San Mateo Union High, which oversees 8 schools and 8,736 students, San Mateo High is one campus in the system.

In terms of who attends, San Mateo High shows that 47% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder consists of 26% Asian, 16% White, 8% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 25% Hispanic, putting the school's mix noticeably more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, On paper, San Mateo High has 80 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 19.5:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 18.2:1 average. Around 38% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

After controlling for student poverty, San Mateo High performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 56.8%, the actual is 54.7%, a residual of -2.2 points.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for San Mateo County indicate median household income runs about $158,855, roughly 54% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, San Mateo County runs 176 public schools (combined enrollment of about 82,403 students), of which San Mateo High is one.

The Bridge Academy is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, San Mateo High comes 6th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 61.4%.

The campus sits in an urban setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 6%: 1,665 students in 2018 compared to 1,557 in 2025.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.