City safety & data profile

Half Moon BayCA

Half Moon Bay, CA is a 13K-resident city in San Mateo County with a median household income of $157,884.

San Mateo County, California. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Half Moon Bay, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Half Moon Bay has a population larger than 16% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, and a median home value of $1,549,500.

Data updated 2026-08-21

13K
Population (place)
Bottom 17%
By size
$157,884
Median income (place)
$1,549,500
Median home (place)
5.6%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Half Moon Bay

Half Moon Bay posts a median household income higher than 94% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks.

Top 6%
by median income, US cities

Where Half Moon Bay income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$157,884 Top 6% higher than 94% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Half Moon Bay $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year

Largest cities in CA

Population among 482 CA places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Los Angeles is the largest CA city on this list; Alamo leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in CA

Median household income among the same 482-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Alamo posts the highest place-level median income in CA; Los Angeles is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading Half Moon Bay, CA beyond the headline numbers

Half Moon Bay sits inside San Mateo County, California, at roughly 37.46°N, -122.43°W. Population 12,657, $157,884 median household income. Median home value $1,549,500, median rent $2,433. Poverty rate 5.6%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

Hardship is low by national standards: 5.6% of Half Moon Bay, CA residents live below the poverty line, in the least-affected quarter of the 3,890 cities reporting a rate.

The median home in Half Moon Bay costs around 9.8 times what a median household earns in a year -- the most expensive quarter of reporting cities, and far enough ahead of local pay that ownership is largely closed to median earners.

25.6% of Half Moon Bay workers report working from home, the highest quarter of reporting cities. Where that share runs this high, local income increasingly reflects employers located somewhere else.

Among the CDC measures on this page, short sleep duration departs furthest from its peer median: 26.1% in Half Moon Bay, the lowest-prevalence quarter of the 3,852 cities reporting that measure.

At 47.4 years, Half Moon Bay's median age is in the oldest quarter of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Half Moon Bay from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.

Population (place)
12,657
Half Moon Bay · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$157,884
+77% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$1,549,500
+275% vs avg
Median Age (place)
47.4
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (San Mateo County): Half Moon Bay's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.

20132024
Population
742K+2%
Median Income
$158,855+80%
Median Home Value
$1,559,600+116%
Poverty Rate
6.7%-12%
Unemployment
4.8%-41%

Economics

Economics indicators for Half Moon Bay, CA
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$2,433/mo
Poverty Rate
5.6% -55% vs avg
Unemployment 2.4%
Bachelor's Degree+ 52.4%
Work From Home 25.6%
Public Transit 0.4%

Population

White 61.1%
African American 0.5%
Asian 6.3%
Two or More Ethnicities 3.4%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

High Blood Pressure
32.6%
Short Sleep Duration
26.1%
Obesity
25.5%
Physical Inactivity
19.5%
Binge Drinking
15.4%
Frequent Mental Distress
13.6%
Frequent Physical Distress
12.4%
Diabetes
10.7%
Current Asthma
9.5%
Current Smoking
8.5%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 70.7%
Annual Checkup 73.8%

Other Measures

Lack of Health Insurance
7.1%
Coronary Heart Disease
6.3%
Stroke
3.2%

Alerts & News - Half Moon Bay Area

No area-tagged alerts are on record for Half Moon Bay right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

Frequently Asked Questions 5

What is the population of Half Moon Bay, CA? ▼
Half Moon Bay, CA has a population of 12,657 people, located in San Mateo County, California.
What is the median household income in Half Moon Bay? ▼
The median household income in Half Moon Bay, CA is $157,884 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 5.6%.
What is the median home value in Half Moon Bay? ▼
The median home value in Half Moon Bay, CA is $1,549,500. Median rent is $2,433/month.
What are the top health concerns in Half Moon Bay? ▼
The top health indicators in Half Moon Bay include High Blood Pressure (32.6%), Short Sleep Duration (26.1%), Obesity (25.5%). Data from CDC PLACES.
What is the median age in Half Moon Bay? ▼
The median age in Half Moon Bay, CA is 47.4 years. 52.4% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Safety Context

Half Moon Bay, CA is located in San Mateo County, California. With a population of 13K and a $157,884 median household income, the community faces health challenges including high blood pressure and short sleep duration. Safety alerts for the Half Moon Bay area are monitored from federal and state agencies including FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC.

Safety Guides

How Product Recalls Work

CPSC, FDA & NHTSA recall process explained

Understanding Weather Alerts

Watch vs warning vs advisory explained

Earthquake Magnitude Explained

What the numbers mean & when to act
All safety guides →

Primary source data

EPA Outdoor Air Quality Data

Federal monitoring network, every measurement we report

AirNow - California

Real-time AQI for every monitored California location

National Weather Service

NOAA active watches, warnings, advisories

CDC Air Quality & Health

Health-impact reference for every AQI category

EPA NAAQS standards

National Ambient Air Quality Standards, the regulatory thresholds

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Half Moon Bay, both outside California so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside CA (5.6% here).

Overland Park, KS 5.6% Olathe, KS 5.6% The Woodlands, TX 5.6% Alpharetta, GA 5.6%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside CA ($157,884 here).

Bexley, OH $157,841 Northbrook, IL $157,782 Forest Hills, MI $158,005 Metuchen, NJ $158,052

Nearby Cities 8

Hillsborough, CA 11K Burlingame, CA 30K Millbrae, CA 23K San Mateo, CA 104K Pacifica, CA 39K Belmont, CA 27K San Bruno, CA 43K San Carlos, CA 30K
All cities in California → Compare Half Moon Bay vs Hillsborough → All comparisons → Browse all cities

Using Half Moon Bay's profile

Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.

  • Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Half Moon Bay area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
  • Compare Half Moon Bay against California peers on any ranking lens. Explore California

Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.

Data Sources

All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (San Mateo County) where that is the smallest published unit.

Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.