Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate in San Mateo County, CA (CASANM0URN) from Jan 1990 to Aug 2025 about San Mateo County, CA; San Francisco; CA; unemployment; rate; and USA.

View monthly updates and historical trends for San Mateo County, CA Unemployment Rate. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Track economic data with YChart…

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate in San Mateo County, CA (LAUCN060810000000003A) from 1990 to 2024 about San Mateo County, CA; San Francisco; CA; unemployment; rate; and USA.

Unemployment Rate in San Mateo County, CA was 3.60% in January of 2024, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Unemployment Rate in San Mateo County, CA reached a record high of 8.60 in January of 2009 and a record low of 2.00 in January of 1999. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Unemployment Rate in San Mateo County, CA - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on November of 2025.

San Mateo County and Other Bay Area Counties Annual Unemployment Rate (not seasonally adjusted) for years 2000-2019 Compared to Marin County, San Francisco County, Santa Clara County, and the State of California. Data is non-preliminary.

Employment and unemployment data by city for places in San Mateo County. CDP is "Census Designated Place" - a recognized community that was unincorporated at the time of the 2000 Census.

1) Data may not add due to rounding. All unemployment rates shown are calculated on unrounded data. 2) These data are not seasonally adjusted.

Methodology: Monthly city and CDP labor force data are derived by multiplying current estimates of county employment and unemployment by the employment and unemployment shares (ratios) of each city and CDP at the time of the 2000 Census. Ratios for cities of 25,000 or more persons were developed from special tabulations based on household population only from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For smaller cities and CDP, ratios were calculated from published census data.

City and CDP unrounded employment and unemployment are summed to get the labor force. The unemployment rate is calculated by dividing unemployment by the labor force. Then the labor force, employment, and unemployment are rounded.

This method assumes that the rates of change in employment and unemployment, since 2000, are exactly the same in each city and CDP as at the county level (i.e., that the shares are still accurate). If this assumption is not true for a specific city or CDP, then the estimates for that area may not represent the current economic conditions. Since this assumption is untested, caution should be employed when using these data.

Unemployment Rate in San Mateo County, CA was 4.10% in August of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Unemployment Rate in San Mateo County, CA reached a record high of 12.50 in April of 2020 and a record low of 1.50 in December of 1999. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Unemployment Rate in San Mateo County, CA - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on December of 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployed Persons in San Mateo County, CA (LAUCN060810000000004) from Jan 1990 to Aug 2025 about San Mateo County, CA; San Francisco; CA; household survey; persons; unemployment; and USA.

San Mateo County and Other Bay Area Counties Annual Unemployment Rate (not seasonally adjusted) for years 2000-2013 Compared to Marin County, San Francisco County, Santa Clara County, and the State of California. Data for years 2000-2015 is non-preliminary.

San Mateo County, CA has a A wealth grade. Median household income: $156,301. Unemployment rate: 4.5%. Income grows 6.8% yearly.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Jobs (LU2)

FULL MEASURE NAME Employment estimates by place of work

LAST UPDATED October 2019

DESCRIPTION Jobs refers to the number of employees in a given area by place of work. These estimates do not include self-employed and private household employees.

DATA SOURCE California Employment Development Department: Current Employment Statistics 1990-2018 http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/

U.S. Census Bureau: LODES Data Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program (2005-2010) http://lehd.ces.census.gov/

U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Tables S0804 (2010) and B08604 (2010-2017) https://factfinder.census.gov/

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Current Employment Statistics Table D-3: Employees on nonfarm payrolls (1990-2018) http://www.bls.gov/data/

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) The California Employment Development Department (EDD) provides estimates of employment, by place of employment, for California counties. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides estimates of employment for metropolitan areas outside of the Bay Area. Annual employment data are derived from monthly estimates and thus reflect “annual average employment.” Employment estimates outside of the Bay Area do not include farm employment. For the metropolitan area comparison, farm employment was removed from Bay Area employment totals. Both EDD and BLS data report only wage and salary jobs, not the self-employed.

For measuring jobs below the county level, Vital Signs assigns collections of incorporated cities and towns to sub-county areas. For example, the cities of East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Redwood City and Woodside are considered South San Mateo County. Because Bay Area counties differ in footprint, the number of sub-county city groupings varies from one (San Francisco and San Jose counties) to four (Santa Clara County). Estimates for sub-county areas are the sums of city-level estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey (ACS) 2010-2017.

The following incorporated cities and towns are included in each sub-county area: North Alameda County – Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont East Alameda County - Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton South Alameda County - Fremont, Hayward, Newark, San Leandro, Union City Central Contra Costa County - Clayton, Concord, Danville, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, San Ramon, Walnut Creek East Contra Costa County - Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Pittsburg West Contra Costa County - El Cerrito, Hercules, Pinole, Richmond, San Pablo Marin – all incorporated cities and towns Napa – all incorporated cities and towns San Francisco – San Francisco North San Mateo - Brisbane, Colma, Daly City, Millbrae, Pacifica, San Bruno, South San Francisco Central San Mateo - Belmont, Burlingame, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, San Carlos, San Mateo South San Mateo - East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Redwood City, Woodside North Santa Clara - Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale San Jose – San Jose Southwest Santa Clara - Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga South Santa Clara - Gilroy, Morgan Hill East Solano - Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville South Solano - Benicia, Vallejo North Sonoma - Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Windsor South Sonoma - Cotati, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma

Healthy Economy data for Get Healthy San Mateo County's Healthy Cities SMC: http://www.gethealthysmc.org/healthy-cities-smc

Percentage of unemployed residents by census tract in San Mateo County for 2000. Source provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/lau/tables.htm

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Jobs by Industry (EC1)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Employment by place of work by industry sector

LAST UPDATED
December 2022

DESCRIPTION
Jobs by industry refers to both the change in employment levels by industry and the proportional mix of jobs by economic sector. This measure reflects the changing industry trends that affect our region’s workers.

DATA SOURCE
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) - https://www.bls.gov/cew/downloadable-data-files.htm
1990-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) employment data is reported by the place of work and represent the number of covered workers who worked during, or received pay for, the pay period that included the 12th day of the month. Covered employees in the private-sector and in the state and local government include most corporate officials, all executives, all supervisory personnel, all professionals, all clerical workers, many farmworkers, all wage earners, all piece workers and all part-time workers. Workers on paid sick leave, paid holiday, paid vacation and the like are also covered.

Besides excluding the aforementioned national security agencies, QCEW excludes proprietors, the unincorporated self-employed, unpaid family members, certain farm and domestic workers exempted from having to report employment data and railroad workers covered by the railroad unemployment insurance system. Excluded as well are workers who earned no wages during the entire applicable pay period because of work stoppages, temporary layoffs, illness or unpaid vacations.

The location quotient (LQ) is used to evaluate level of concentration or clustering of an industry within the Bay Area and within each county of the region. A location quotient greater than 1 means there is a strong concentration for of jobs in an industry sector. For the Bay Area, the LQ is calculated as the share of the region’s employment in a particular sector divided by the share of California's employment in that same sector. For each county, the LQ is calculated as the share of the county’s employment in a particular sector divided by the share of the region’s employment in that same sector.

Data is mainly pulled from aggregation level 73, which is county-level summarized at the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) supersector level (12 sectors). This aggregation level exhibits the least loss due to data suppression, in the magnitude of 1-2 percent for regional employment, and is therefore preferred. However, the supersectors group together NAICS 11 Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting; NAICS 21 Mining and NAICS 23 Construction. To provide a separate tally of Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting, the aggregation level 74 data was used for NAICS codes 11, 21 and 23.

QCEW reports on employment in Public Administration as NAICS 92. However, many government activities are reported with an industry specific code - such as transportation or utilities even if those may be public governmental entities. In 2021 for the Bay Area, the largest industry groupings under public ownership are Education and health services (58%); Public administration (29%) and Trade, transportation, and utilities (29%). With the exception of Education and health services, all other public activities were coded as government/public administration, regardless of industry group.

For the county data there were some industries that reported 0 jobs or did not report jobs at the desired aggregation/NAICS level for the following counties/years:

Farm:
(aggregation level: 74, NAICS code: 11) - Contra Costa: 2008-2010 - Marin: 1990-2006, 2008-2010, 2014-2020 - Napa: 1990-2004, 2013-2021 - San Francisco: 2019-2020 - San Mateo: 2013

Information:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS code: 51) - Solano: 2001

Financial Activities:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS codes: 52, 53) - Solano: 2001

Unclassified:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS code: 99) - All nine Bay Area counties: 1990-2000 - Marin, Napa, San Mateo, and Solano: 2020 - Napa: 2019 - Solano: 2001

The County Vulnerability Index is a tool used to illustrate community vulnerability in the County based on a number of indicators. These indicators include, education, employment status, housing affordability, and poverty level.

This data represents the CVI for Census Designated Places in San Mateo County. More information about Census Designated Places can be found on the US Census site: https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/gtc/gtc_place.html

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Jobs by Industry (EC1)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Employment by place of work by industry sector

LAST UPDATED
December 2022

DESCRIPTION
Jobs by industry refers to both the change in employment levels by industry and the proportional mix of jobs by economic sector. This measure reflects the changing industry trends that affect our region’s workers.

DATA SOURCE
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) - https://www.bls.gov/cew/downloadable-data-files.htm
1990-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) employment data is reported by the place of work and represent the number of covered workers who worked during, or received pay for, the pay period that included the 12th day of the month. Covered employees in the private-sector and in the state and local government include most corporate officials, all executives, all supervisory personnel, all professionals, all clerical workers, many farmworkers, all wage earners, all piece workers and all part-time workers. Workers on paid sick leave, paid holiday, paid vacation and the like are also covered.

Besides excluding the aforementioned national security agencies, QCEW excludes proprietors, the unincorporated self-employed, unpaid family members, certain farm and domestic workers exempted from having to report employment data and railroad workers covered by the railroad unemployment insurance system. Excluded as well are workers who earned no wages during the entire applicable pay period because of work stoppages, temporary layoffs, illness or unpaid vacations.

The location quotient (LQ) is used to evaluate level of concentration or clustering of an industry within the Bay Area and within each county of the region. A location quotient greater than 1 means there is a strong concentration for of jobs in an industry sector. For the Bay Area, the LQ is calculated as the share of the region’s employment in a particular sector divided by the share of California's employment in that same sector. For each county, the LQ is calculated as the share of the county’s employment in a particular sector divided by the share of the region’s employment in that same sector.

Data is mainly pulled from aggregation level 73, which is county-level summarized at the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) supersector level (12 sectors). This aggregation level exhibits the least loss due to data suppression, in the magnitude of 1-2 percent for regional employment, and is therefore preferred. However, the supersectors group together NAICS 11 Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting; NAICS 21 Mining and NAICS 23 Construction. To provide a separate tally of Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting, the aggregation level 74 data was used for NAICS codes 11, 21 and 23.

QCEW reports on employment in Public Administration as NAICS 92. However, many government activities are reported with an industry specific code - such as transportation or utilities even if those may be public governmental entities. In 2021 for the Bay Area, the largest industry groupings under public ownership are Education and health services (58%); Public administration (29%) and Trade, transportation, and utilities (29%). With the exception of Education and health services, all other public activities were coded as government/public administration, regardless of industry group.

For the county data there were some industries that reported 0 jobs or did not report jobs at the desired aggregation/NAICS level for the following counties/years:

Farm:
(aggregation level: 74, NAICS code: 11) - Contra Costa: 2008-2010 - Marin: 1990-2006, 2008-2010, 2014-2020 - Napa: 1990-2004, 2013-2021 - San Francisco: 2019-2020 - San Mateo: 2013

Information:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS code: 51) - Solano: 2001

Financial Activities:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS codes: 52, 53) - Solano: 2001

Unclassified:
(aggregation level: 73, NAICS code: 99) - All nine Bay Area counties: 1990-2000 - Marin, Napa, San Mateo, and Solano: 2020 - Napa: 2019 - Solano: 2001