How Bad is San Mateo Pollution? See What New State Figures Say

How at risk are San Mateo city residents from pollution compared to other cities in the state?  According to the state officials, most neighborhoods are in better shape than the average California town.

Based on new state figures released this month, two of San Mateo's three zip codes are in the lower half of California zip codes in terms of being at potential for health risks stemming from pollution of all sorts. The town's 94402 ranks slightly above average in the 61 to 65 percentile of all California zip codes while 94403 fares a little worse in the 56 to 60 percentile.

But zip code 94401—the part of San Mateo closest to the bay—rated a little worse, in the 41 to 45 percentile of California zip codes.

See a map of the data for every town in the state here

The figures come from a new state report issued by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) that compiles health risks based on 11 types of pollution and factors in seven categories of population and demographic factors, including poverty and education levels.

The purpose of the report is to identify communities that are eligible for grants from the state's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, according to Sam Delson, an OEHHA spokesman. The law governing that fund mandates certain percentages be spent on disadvantaged communities, making it necessary to include economic factors in the state report.

Unfortunately for San Mateo, only cities that rank in the bottom 10 percent will qualify.

The state has a map of those communities that are eligible on the report website.

The map above shows scores from each of those categories as well as overall rankings for every zip code in California with a Patch publication. Simply click on any town to see the full report card for each zip code.

You can see a similar map showing every zip code in the state here, and see more details of the report on the state's website.

In general San Mateo fares poorly on traffic metrics as well as in the ground water and hazardous waste categories. The city did well in poverty metrics and on certain air quality metrics such as ozone pollution.

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