Atherton is a town in San Mateo County, California, United States. It is one of the wealthiest cities in the United States.

As of the census of 2000, there were 7,194 people, 2,413 households, and 1,983 families residing in the town. The population density was 566.9/km² (1,467.6/mi²). There were 2,505 housing units at an average density of 197.4/km² (511.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 85.36% White, 0.70% African American, 0.17% Native American, 9.79% Asian, 0.42% Pacific Islander, 1.00% from other races, and 2.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.78% of the population.

There were 2,413 households out of which 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 75.6% were married couples living together, 4.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.8% were non-families. 12.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.85 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the town the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 18.7% from 25 to 44, 30.3% from 45 to 64, and 20.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 93.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was in excess of $200,000, as is the median income for a family. Males had a median income of over $100,000 versus $68,393 for females. The per capita income for the town was $112,408. About 0.8% of families and 1.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.6% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over.

The median home value was at $1,000,001 at 2000. In 2005, Atherton's 94027 zip code was identified by Forbes magazine as the most affluent ZIP in the U.S.

Notable residents
Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google
Charles R. Schwab, Founder and CEO of the Charles Schwab Corp.
Thomas F. Stephenson, Venture Capitalist, Sequoia Capital
Steve Westly, State Controller of California
John Freidenrich, Venture Capitalist, Bay Partners
Jerry Rice, NFL Player
Willie Mays, Baseball Hall-of-Famer



Information courtesy of US Census Bureau and wikipedia.org