City in California, United States

Half Moon Bay

$1.5MMedian Home
240Sunny Days/yr
70°FAvg High Temp
Loading Weather
View on MapPopulation13kCenter elevation72 ft
Quick Read

Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, United States, approximately 25 miles south of San Francisco. Its population was 11,795 as of the 2020 census. Immediately north of Half Moon Bay is Pillar Point Harbor and the unincorporated community of Princeton-by-the-Sea. Half Moon Bay is known for Mavericks, a big-wave surf location. It is called Half Moon Bay because of its crescent shape.

Place

Where It Is

Location Context
Half Moon Bay, California
Latitude37.46°
Longitude-122.43°
Population13k
Center elevation72 ft

State Context

CaliforniaU.S. state

California is a U.S. state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, and Nevada and Arizona to the east; it also shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With over 39 million residents across an area of 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the largest U.S.Wikipedia

Income tax: 1.00% - 14.40%Avg sales tax: 8.85%Property tax: 0.69%Official school data available

About the Region

California

California contains multitudes in a way that makes any single characterization misleading. The Bay Area and Los Angeles operate as global city-states, with housing markets, income levels, and cultural gravity that put them in direct competition with London and Tokyo rather than with other American metros. Both have lost net domestic migrants to lower-cost states for most of the last decade — primarily to Texas, Arizona, and Nevada — though both also continue to be net draws for international migration and maintain labor markets of extraordinary depth and diversity.

But California's geography is vast. The Central Valley offers costs of living that rival the Midwest with driving distance to the Sierra Nevada; the North Coast is one of the most beautiful and least-crowded stretches of American coastline; and the smaller cities of the inland valleys represent genuinely different lifestyle profiles. For remote workers who can absorb the state income tax and housing cost, the combination of climate diversity, outdoor access, and cultural institution density remains difficult to replicate anywhere in the world.

Outdoors

Nature Access

Nature & Park Feeds

Closest protected landscapes, reserves, and big park systems surfaced from the same nearby feeds used in compare.

Distances in miles
National Park Service feed

Federal Park Sites

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OpenStreetMap feed

Local Nature & Reserves

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Sources: National Park Service and OpenStreetMap
People

City Profile

Urban Feel1,864/mi²residents
Median Age48 yrs
College Educated55%bachelor's or higher
Work From Home20%of workforce
Poverty Rate7%
Practical

Cost of Living

Housing
$4k/mo
Median rent
$1.5M
Median home price
Rent burden31% of income
Household Income
$149k
Median annual
Daily life

Livability

School Rating
5.6/10
Internet
Fiber
27%
Cable
94%
address availability
The year

Climate

Sunshine
240
sunny days per year
66% of the year
Avg High Temp
70°F
annual average
Annual precipitation
15"
inches per year
Air Quality
31
Good AQI
Watchouts

Natural Hazard Risk

Flood Risk
minimal
FEMA classification
Wildfire Risk
minimal
FEMA rating
Right now

Current Conditions

Local directory

Local Next Steps

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