Redwood City, California

Redwood City is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula in the Bay Area of Northern California, approximately south of San Francisco and northwest of San Jose. The city's population was 84,292 according to the 2020 census. The Port of Redwood City is the only deepwater port on San Francisco Bay south of San Francisco.

Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a port for lumber and other goods. The county seat of San Mateo County in the heart of Silicon Valley, Redwood City is home to several global technology companies including Oracle, Electronic Arts, Evernote, Box, and Informatica.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and , comprising 44.34%, is water. One major watercourse draining much of Redwood City is Redwood Creek, to which several significant river deltas connect, the largest of which is Westpoint Slough.

History

thumb|upright|left|The area of Redwood City was part of [[Rancho de las Pulgas, granted to Californio politician José Darío Argüello in 1795. Las Pulgas was eventually inherited by María Soledad Ortega de Argüello, who is honored with the Bust of Soledad Ortega de Argüello.]]

The earliest known inhabitants of the area that would become Redwood City were the Ohlone, who were present when the Spanish claimed the land and established missions.

Redwood City incorporated in 1867, being the first city in San Mateo County to do so; it has remained the county seat since the county's formation in 1856. The land had been part of the Rancho de las Pulgas granted to the Argüello family in 1835 by the Mexican government. Their control was challenged after the Mexican–American War when California became part of the United States. The family lawyer, Simon M. Mezes, in 1854 defended the claim somewhat successfully and was allowed to buy the part of the estate that is now Redwood City. Mezes sold some of the land to people already squatting on it along the banks of Redwood Creek and named the settlement "Mezesville". Though the city did not keep that name, Mezes Park still exists on land that Mezes had given for open space.

thumb|alt=A map of the San Francisco Bay coastline including hills, streams, and roads, and showing the communities from left to right of San Jose, Santa Clara, Alviso, Mezesville, San Francisco|1851 map of a planned railroad between San Francisco and San Jose. Note Mezesville, an earlier name for Redwood City, about midway.

In 1907, Eikichi and Sadakusi Enomoto, Japanese immigrant brothers, grew what may perhaps have been the first commercially grown chrysanthemums in the United States in Redwood City. In 1926, the chamber of commerce proclaimed the city the "Chrysanthemum Center of the World" though the internment of Japanese Americans in 1941 and other factors would contribute to the end of flower growing as a major industry in the city.

Geography

Redwood City stretches from the San Francisco Bay towards the Santa Cruz Mountains between San Carlos to the northwest and Atherton to the southeast with Woodside to the southwest. It is divided by Highway 101 and further inland El Camino Real on the northwest–southeast axis and Woodside Road on the north-northeast/south-southwest axis. Locally, the former two are regarded as north–south and the latter east/west, as 101 and El Camino connects Redwood City to San Francisco and San Jose and Woodside Road runs from San Francisco Bay to the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Neighborhoods include Bair Island to the northeast of Highway 101. The northern planned community of Redwood Shores, also to the northeast of Highway 101, is part of Redwood City, although it is not possible to travel by road from one to the other without passing through the neighboring city of San Carlos, or through Belmont via San Mateo County. Stretching along Highway 101 to the southeast of Woodside Road is Friendly Acres, further inland and still to the southeast of Woodside Road are Redwood Village and then Redwood Oaks. Most neighborhoods are to the northwest of Woodside Road and southwest of Highway 101. Centennial, Downtown, and Stambaugh Heller are adjacent to 101. Next inland are Edgewood, Mt. Carmel, Central and Palm then Canyon, Eagle Hill, Roosevelt, and Woodside Plaza. Furthest inland is Farm Hills (or Farm Hill).

Neighborhoods associated with Redwood City but not part of the incorporated city include Emerald Lake Hills and Kensington Square inland and to the north and

North Fair Oaks to the southeast. Palomar Park, just north of Emerald Hills and east of San Carlos' Crestview area, is another Redwood City neighborhood that is formally part of unincorporated San Mateo County. Although Redwood City has a large middle class, the southeastern section of Redwood City strongly resembles working-class North Fair Oaks in both demographic makeup and income level.

Downtown

thumb|The San Mateo County History Museum, formerly the San Mateo County Courthouse, was originally built in 1910.

In an attempt to revitalize Redwood City's downtown, city officials decided to consider development. In February 1999, the San Mateo County History Museum opened inside the old San Mateo County Courthouse in downtown Redwood City. The courthouse had been built in 1910 and in the late '30s an addition was built in front of the original structure, obscuring the view. As part of the revitalization, this addition was torn down and replaced with a large courtyard flanked by water fountains on either side, leading to the main steps of the courthouse. The courthouse's glass dome is lit at night and changes colors every 11 seconds.

In August 2006, a 20-screen theater and various shops opened in a prime downtown location. The theater complex boasts restaurant and retail space at street level and a two-level underground parking structure.

Climate

Redwood City, along with most of the Bay Area, enjoys a mild warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb), with warm, dry summers and cool, relatively wet winters. The National Weather Service, which maintains both a forecast center and a cooperative office in Redwood City, reports that December is the coolest month and July is the warmest month. The record highest temperature of was recorded on three occasions, July 14 and 15, 1972, and September 6, 2022. The record lowest temperature of was recorded on January 11, 1949. Annually, there are an average of 21.6 afternoons with highs of or higher and 2.8 afternoons with highs of or higher; there are an average of 1.8 mornings with lows of or lower.

The normal annual precipitation is , although it has ranged from as little as in the "rain year" from July 1975 to June 1976, to as much as between July 1982 and June 1983. The most rainfall in one month was in February 1998. The record 24-hour rainfall of occurred on October 13, 1962. There are an average of 62.1 days with measurable precipitation. Snow flurries have been observed on rare occasions; there was some minor snow accumulation in May 1935, January 1962, and February 1976.

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Redwood City city, California – Racial and ethnic composition

!Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)

!Pop 2000

!Pop 2010

!% 2000

!% 2010

|White alone (NH)

|40,656

|33,801

|style='background: #ffffe6; |34,067

|53.92%

|44.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |40.42%

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|1,791

|1,655

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1,376

|2.38%

|2.15%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.63%

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|165

|152

|style='background: #ffffe6; |129

|0.22%

|0.20%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.15%

|Asian alone (NH)

|6,604

|8,063

|style='background: #ffffe6; |13,522

|8.76%

|10.50%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |16.04%

|Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|635

|732

|style='background: #ffffe6; |618

|0.84%

|0.95%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.73%

|Other Race alone (NH)

|163

|291

|style='background: #ffffe6; |502

|0.22%

|0.38%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.60%

|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|1,831

|2,311

|style='background: #ffffe6; |3,974

|2.43%

|3.01%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |4.71%

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|23,557

|29,810

|style='background: #ffffe6; |30,104

|31.24%

|38.81%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |35.71%

|Total

|75,402

|76,815

|style='background: #ffffe6; |84,292

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Redwood City had a population of 84,292. The population density was . The median age was 37.1 years; 20.4% of residents were under age 18 and 13.0% were age 65 or older. For every 100 females, there were 100.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.4 males.

The census reported that 97.2% of the population lived in households, 1.2% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 1.6% were institutionalized. 99.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.1% lived in rural areas.

There were 30,620 households, of which 32.2% had children under age 18 living in them. Of all households, 50.3% were married-couple households, 17.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 23.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 23.3% of households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was age 65 or older. The average household size was 2.68, and there were 20,287 families (66.3% of all households).

2010 census

The 2010 United States census reported that Redwood City had a population of 76,815. The population density was . The racial makeup of Redwood City was 46,255 (60.2%) White, 1,881 (2.4%) African American, 511 (0.7%) Native American, 8,216 (10.7%) Asian, 795 (1.0%) Pacific Islander, 14,967 (19.5%) from other races, and 4,190 (5.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 29,810 persons (38.8%). Non-Hispanic Whites number 31,982 (40.9%).

The Census reported that 75,268 people (98.0% of the population) lived in households, 408 (0.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 1,139 (1.5%) were institutionalized.

There were 27,957 households, out of which 10,045 (35.9%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 13,642 (48.8%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 3,139 (11.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,461 (5.2%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,818 (6.5%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 288 (1.0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 7,411 households (26.5%) were made up of individuals, and 2,401 (8.6%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69. There were 18,242 families (65.3% of all households); the average family size was 3.26.

There were 18,193 people (23.7%) under the age of 18, 5,981 people (7.8%) aged 18 to 24, 24,819 people (32.3%) aged 25 to 44, 19,710 people (25.7%) aged 45 to 64, and 8,112 people (10.6%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.1 males.

There were 29,167 housing units at an average density of , of which 14,160 (50.6%) were owner-occupied, and 13,797 (49.4%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3%; the rental vacancy rate was 3.9%. Further, 37,757 people (49.2% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 37,511 people (48.8%) lived in rental housing units.

Government

thumb|upright=1.25|City Hall

Redwood City's charter provides for a councilor-manager form of government. The City Council appoints the City Manager and adopts policies, which the City Manager is expected to implement. The City Manager appoints and manages most of Redwood City's department heads (the City Clerk and City Attorney being notable exceptions).

The City Council seats are currently held by Mayor Elmer Martínez Saballos (District 4), Vice Mayor Kaia Eakin (District 5), Isabella Chu (District 3), Jeff Gee (District 1), Diane Howard (District 6), Marcella Padilla (District 7), and Chris Sturken (District 2). The current City Manager is Patrick Heisinger.

In the California State Legislature, Redwood City is in , and in .

In the United States House of Representatives, Redwood City is in .

According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2025, Redwood City has 45,008 registered voters. Of those, 25,507 (56.67%) are registered Democrats, 6,399 (14.2%) are registered Republicans, and 10,523 (23.38%) have declined to state a political party.

Religion

The city's main Catholic church, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, was founded in 1887 with Fr. Daniel O'Sullivan as its first pastor.

Landmarks

Union Cemetery, State Historical Landmark #816
Fox Theatre
Lathrop House
Sequoia High School

Parks

Preserves include Bair Island Ecological Preserve (State) and the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge on the shoreline. Edgewood County Park known for its wildflowers is towards the Santa Cruz Mountains with entrances off Edgewood Road and Cañada Road.

City parks include:

Andrew Spinas Park () – 2nd Ave./Bay Rd. Established in 1966 and named for Andrew L. Spinas, a longtime Redwood City teacher and school superintendent who served on the Parks and Recreation Commission from 1938 to 1953.
Hawes Park () – Hudson St./Roosevelt Ave. Built in 1934 and named for Horace Hawes, state assemblyman, who in 1864 donated land and money to the city for a new school.
Hoover Park () – Woodside Rd./Spring St.
Jardin de Niños () – Middlefield Rd./Chestnut St.
Linden Park () – Linden St./Park St.
Maddux Park () – Maddux Dr./Kensington Rd.
Mariner Park () – Tiller Lane/Bridge Parkway
Marlin Park () – Neptune Dr./Cringle Dr.
Mezes Park () – Warren St./Standish St. Named for Simon Mezes, who donated the land in 1856.
Palm Park () – Hudson St./Palm Ave.
Preserve Park () – 99 Shearwater Parkway
Red Morton Community Park () – 1120 Roosevelt Ave.
Sandpiper Park () – Redwood Shores Parkway and Egret Ln.
Shannon Park () – Davit Lane/Shannon Way
Shore Dogs Park () – 1300 Block Radio Rd.
Shorebird Park () – Marine Parkway/Island Dr.
Stafford Park () – King St./Hopkins Ave. Established in 1946 and named for donor Daniel R. Stafford (1870–1948), who had been a Redwood City grocer, city clerk, and mayor. The community of Redwood Shores is served by the Belmont - Redwood Shores School District and Carlmont High School.

The Redwood City Public Library, a member of the Peninsula Library System, has a Downtown Library and two neighborhood branch locations: Redwood Shores and Schaberg. The city's first library opened in 1865 and in 1900 the city passed a special tax to support a free public library. In 1904, Andrew Carnegie gave $10,000 for a new library; he gave another $6,000 to rebuild it after it was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In 1959, the Schaberg Branch Library opened, funded by a bequest in the will of Hannah Schaberg, widow of former County Clerk Herman W. Schaberg. The Redwood Shores Branch Library was completed and opened to the public in 2008. and local bus service is provided by SamTrans.

Slogan

thumb|The western arch with the city slogan below

Redwood City's slogan, emblazoned on arches across Broadway at the east and west entrances to downtown, is "Climate Best By Government Test". This is based on a climatological survey conducted by the United States and German governments prior to World War I. The area centered on Redwood City tied for the world's best climate with the Canary Islands and North Africa's Mediterranean Coast. The local paper had a contest for a city slogan to attract new residents and Wilbur Doxsee entered "By Government Test, Our Climate is Best" which won the $10 prize money in 1925.

Independence Day parade

Redwood City's Independence Day parade sponsored by the Peninsula Celebration Association, held continuously since 1939, has been billed variously as 'The largest Independence Day Parade in California', 'West of the Mississippi', or 'in North America', claims which may or may not be accurate. The first verifiable written records of celebrations date to 1861, and 1887 for a parade.

Media

Games

The 3rd person Action Adventure Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics is based in Redwood City.

Media companies

Ampex Corporation, a pioneer and major developer of the audio recording, video recording, and data storage industries, headquartered management, engineering, and manufacturing in Redwood City for decades.
Several DreamWorks animated films (e.g., Antz (1998), Shrek (2001), Shrek 2 (2004), and Madagascar (2005)) were made by PDI/DreamWorks (the Northern California branch of DreamWorks Animation), which moved to Redwood City from nearby Palo Alto (Park Drive) in October 2002.
Video game publisher Electronic Arts is based in the Redwood Shores neighborhood of Redwood City.
The North American subsidiaries of Konami and Sega were formerly both based in Redwood City until they relocated to Hawthorne and Irvine, respectively.
ABS-CBN International, a subsidiary of Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation, was headquartered at 150 Shoreline Drive until relocating its headquarters to Daly City.

Economy

BroadVision, DPR Construction, Electronic Arts, GoFundMe, Informatica, iPass, Openwave, Shutterfly, Evernote, Equinix, and YuMe among others are based in Redwood City.

Before its acquisition by Apple in 1997, NeXT was also located there.

In addition to large tech companies, there is also a vibrant small business community in the town.

Cargill salt ponds

Cargill has operated salt ponds in Redwood City, and has proposed development of the ponds, resulting in demands for restoration of some of the land. The plans are currently stalled.

Top employers

, the top employers in the city were:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! #

! Employer

! # of Employees

|Oracle Corporation

|4,952

|Stanford Hospital and Clinics

|2,700

|County of San Mateo

|2,659

|Box Inc.

|1,760

|Guardant Health

|1,654

|Electronic Arts

|1,600

|Genomic Health

|861

|Auris Surgical Robotics

|833

|Google

|731

|10

|Informatica

|695

Sister cities

Zhuhai, Guangdong, China, became a sister city in 1993.

Notable people

Politicians

Karl W. Hofmann, diplomat, ambassador and president of Population Services International
Jon Huntsman Jr., American politician and diplomat
Corrin Rankin, chair of the California Republican Party (2025-present)
William Royer, mayor of Redwood City (1956–1960)

Sports

Davante Adams, National Football League (NFL) wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams
Daniel Aguirre, Liga MX midfielder for club Guadalajara
Kevin Bass, Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder for the Houston Astros and the San Francisco Giants
Joe Biagini, MLB player for the Toronto Blue Jays
Alexis Blokhina, tennis player
Geoff Blum, MLB infielder and broadcaster
Eric Byrnes, MLB outfielder
Greg Camarillo, NFL wide receiver
Chris Carter, MLB first baseman
Jeff Clark, big wave surfer
Daniel Descalso, MLB infielder
Julian Edelman, NFL wide receiver, three-time Super Bowl champion, and the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of Super Bowl LIII
Daniel Nava, MLB outfielder
James Outman, MLB outfielder
Brian Shima, professional inline skater
Regan Smith, Olympic swimmer, record holder in 200m backstroke and 100m backstroke
Jenise Spiteri, Olympic snowboarder
Zach Test, rugby union player
Matangi Tonga, American football linebacker
Roy Williams, five-time NFL Pro Bowler
Lily Zhang, Olympic table tennis player

Entertainment

Cedric Bixler-Zavala, musician
Michael Shrieve, musician, producer
Linda Cardellini, actress
Bela Lugosi, actor
Joyce MacKenzie, actress
Ross Malinger, actor
Lydia Pense, musician and singer
Chris Roberts, developer of Wing Commander
Chelsi Smith (1973–2018), Miss Universe 1995