San Mateo County, California
San Mateo County, California · Redwood City is the seat · Sacramento is the capital · the Peninsula is not San Francisco as this government · Maguire and Maple Street remain this Sheriff
Redwood City is the seat. Sacramento is the capital. San Francisco is not this hall.
San Mateo County, California, sits on the Peninsula between San Francisco County to the north and Santa Clara County to the south. The Pacific is the west wall. The bay is the east wall. Redwood City is the seat. Sacramento is the capital of California. Formed 19 April 1856. This is not the City and County of San Francisco. This is not San Jose as this hall. This is not the City of San Mateo as the county government — San Mateo the city is a city. Daly City is a city. South San Francisco is a city. The Golden Gate is a San Francisco span. Staff who paste that bridge onto this county as the hall are on the wrong map.
This page is the county as a place. The people’s Sheriff is taught at the office briefing. The 2028 oval is taught at the sheriff election briefing.
Five Supervisors at County Center. They do not sit as the State Assembly.
San Mateo is a charter county. Five Supervisors, elected by district, sit as the governing body. Official listings put Board chambers at 400 County Center, Redwood City, CA 94063 and the Board office at 500 County Center. Confirm live charter text, agendas, and districts on smcgov.org. They fund roads in unincorporated remainder, public health, the jail this Sheriff still holds, and elections work. They do not sit as the California Legislature. They do not sit as San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. They do not hire the Sheriff on the ordinary clock — the people do, in 2028. Vacancy appointment is statute, not a substitute for that hire.
Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Elections (ACRE) lists at smcacre.gov. Recorder and assessor work list at 555 County Center, First Floor. Elections work also lists a Registration & Elections door at 40 Tower Road, San Mateo. That is county elections work — not Redwood City Hall as this clerk, not Daly City Hall as this registrar.
The Pacific is an ocean. 101 is a road. Santa Clara is a different county.
US 101 runs the bayside. Interstate 280 runs the ridge. State Route 1 runs the Coastside. State Route 92 climbs from Half Moon Bay over the ridge toward the San Mateo–Hayward Bridge. Crystal Springs and the San Andreas are this map’s water and fault — not a San Francisco postcard. A wreck on 101 in unincorporated remainder is this county’s first problem. A closure on Highway 1 is this county’s first problem. A fire above Skyline is this county’s first problem. Santa Clara County is a different county. San Francisco County is a different county. Alameda is across the bridge, not this hall.
Twenty cities and towns sit inside this county. Contract law enforcement this Sheriff actually posts: Half Moon Bay, Millbrae, San Carlos, Portola Valley, Woodside, Eichler Highlands, plus Transit Police Bureau work for SamTrans and Caltrain property the office lists. City badges that are not this Sheriff: Daly City, South San Francisco, City of San Mateo, Redwood City, and the other municipal departments the cities actually keep (Atherton, Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, Colma, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Pacifica, San Bruno). Broadmoor Police Protection District is its own badge. SFO sits geographically in unincorporated San Mateo County and is not this county’s airport police — the City and County of San Francisco operates that field.
How a Peninsula public finds 330 Bradford, Maguire, Maple, and 400 County Center
County government: smcgov.org · (650) 363-4000 class of main numbers, confirm the live listing. Sheriff HQ: 330 Bradford Street, Redwood City, CA 94063 · (650) 363-4911. Maguire Correctional Facility: 300 Bradford Street · (650) 599-3000. Maple Street Correctional Center: 1300 Maple Street · (650) 599-3000. Hall of Justice (Southern Branch): 400 County Center — criminal, civil, family, probate, jury. Northern Branch: 1050 Mission Road, South San Francisco. Central Branch: 800 North Humboldt Street, San Mateo. Juvenile: 222 Paul Scannell Drive, San Mateo. 911 is emergency. Sheriff non-emergency (650) 363-4911, extension 1. Public Safety Communications lists at 501 Winslow Street, Redwood City. Inmate locator: smc-inmatelocator.org. Do not file a Maguire question at Daly City PD. Do not file a Coroner death inquiry at 330 Bradford as if this Sheriff were the Coroner.
Technology on this map is the official portal, not a gadget essay. Online crime reporting the Sheriff hosts covers unincorporated remainder and the contract cities the office lists — never a 911 substitute, never a San Francisco form as this county.
Maguire and Maple still jail. Redwood City PD does not. CDCR does not.
San Mateo County’s adult jails are this Sheriff’s Corrections Division. Maguire is the main jail at 300 Bradford. Maple Street at 1300 Maple houses men and women and lists transitional and alternative-sentencing work. Official doors did not show a separate county Department of Corrections taking those buildings — do not invent a jailer split. Redwood City PD does not hold Maguire. The City of San Mateo PD does not hold Maple Street. CDCR is state. A family looking for a booking uses this Sheriff’s locator and the jail numbers above.
The Coroner is independent — a four-year elected desk, next regular 2026, not this Sheriff. Confirm smcgov.org/coroner. Death inquiry is not a Maguire lobby question as if the offices were fused.
Care without inventing a Golden Gate postcard as this county government
Welfare, public health, and disaster comfort run through this county’s health and human-services doors — confirm on smcgov.org — not through a bridge photograph. Inside Maguire and Maple Street, religious services are listed through the Sheriff’s partnership with Service League of San Mateo County. Do not invent a church. Do not invent San Francisco as this social-services desk. Unincorporated Coastside remainder still reaches this county when the ridge is the problem, not Half Moon Bay City Hall as the whole map.
What San Mateo County actually watches
Court calendar at 400 County Center. A wreck on 101. Fog and slide risk on Highway 1. Wind on 92. Fire in the skyline oak and eucalyptus. A Caltrain platform this Transit Bureau actually covers. Coordination with city PDs, CHP, San Francisco, and Santa Clara without becoming those departments. Tech campuses on the bayside are work and tax base, not Santa Clara County as this oval. Pumpkins on the coast are a season, not the hall. Office of Emergency Services this county lists is the disaster desk before the state desk.
Intelligence here is situational: jail count at Maguire and Maple, the Superior Court docket, road closures on 1 and 101, Coastside weather, whether a contract city is this Sheriff tonight. It is not spy fiction. It is not SFO tower as this dispatch.
San Mateo civic snapshot (verify official sources)
- State: California · County: San Mateo · Seat: Redwood City · Capital of California: Sacramento
- Map: Peninsula · Coastside · bayside · US 101 · I-280 · SR 1 · SR 92
- Not San Francisco as the hall · Not San Jose · Not Autauga-with-a-bridge
- Board: five Supervisors · charter county · chambers 400 County Center
- Sheriff clock: not 2026 · last regular 2022 · next regular 2028 presidential primary · six-year bridge from AB 759
- Jail: Maguire, 300 Bradford and Maple Street, 1300 Maple — this Sheriff still holds both
- Elections: ACRE / smcacre.gov — not Redwood City Hall as this clerk
- Coroner: separate elected desk · 2026 on that oval · not this Sheriff
Orientation adapted from the California Constitution Article XI, Elections Code § 1300, Government Code §§ 24000, 24200, 25304, and 26600, San Mateo County official pages (smcgov.org, smcsheriff.com, smcacre.gov), and the Secretary of State for education. The Sheriff of record is whatever those sources say today. Confirm HQ versus court versus jail, and city PD versus this badge, on official pages before you travel.
What Redwood City is not, as this county
- Not the capital of California. Sacramento is.
- Not Daly City / South San Francisco / City of San Mateo as the county government.
- Not San Francisco County. Not Santa Clara County. Not San Jose as this oval.
- Not Redwood City Police as this oval. Not CHP. Not CDCR as this jailer. Not SFO as this dispatch.
- Not Autauga-with-a-bridge. Not a Golden Gate postcard.
- Not the Governor (that desk is 2026 in Sacramento).
- Not a campaign flyer.