Sustainable San Mateo County Launches Expanded Sustainability Dashboard to Drive Targeted Equity & Climate Action

New city-level reports for each of the 20 cities and unincorporated San Mateo County help local governments and nonprofits prioritize resources and support vulnerable communities.

 

SAN MATEO, CA — Sustainable San Mateo County (SSMC) today announced the major expansion of its free interactive Sustainability Dashboard. Designed to help local governments, nonprofits, community leaders and residents track progress and pinpoint hyper-local vulnerabilities, the newly expanded dashboard provides city-specific reports for all 20 cities and unincorporated San Mateo County. SSMC will be hosting a free webinar on August 26, 2026 from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. to demonstrate how the new reports can be used to accelerate the region’s sustainability work. 

For over 30 years, SSMC has advocated for a balanced, holistic approach to sustainability that addresses environmental health, social equity and economic vitality. The expanded dashboard integrates critical metrics across six core categories:

  • Demographics
  • Housing
  • Economic & Food Security
  • Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation

The new city reports equip decision-makers and funders with the data to prioritize resources, address equity gaps and meet municipal Climate Action Plans (CAPs) and Environmental Justice (EJ) Elements.

“We are proud to offer this free, newly expanded resource to help our local governments and communities know where to prioritize resources, and where to help communities in the most need,” said Sarah Hubbard, Executive Director of SSMC. “For the first time, communities can easily compare conditions across their jurisdictions for multiple metrics that determine the health and sustainability of their neighborhoods. And, it’s all in one place.”

New Equity Insight Reports Prioritize Action

  • Tree Canopy in Context: Assembles demographic, health and neighborhood data for census-tracts across a city to identify areas with low canopy coverage and high vulnerability. Helps cities and nonprofits target tree-planting programs, apply for urban forestry grants and present data-backed proposals to city councils and residents.
  • Climate Vulnerability Sheet: Consolidates key environmental and emissions metrics for census tracts across a city, which can streamline progress reviews for sustainability commissions, staff reporting and city council updates.

Highlighting Disparities Across San Mateo County

The dashboard illustrates stark contrasts in resource access and vulnerability. For example:

Unincorporated San Mateo County

    • Lower risk: All 10 census tracts with Median Household Income above $250k have at least 26% tree canopy coverage (8 tracts exceed 30%).
  • Higher risk:
    • The Northwestern area of the North Fair Oaks neighborhood (Tract Z*) has a 7% tree canopy, the lowest median income ($87k), and the highest SNAP participation (41%).
    • The Avalon neighborhood in Northern San Mateo County (Tract H*) faces the highest social vulnerability score (85) and heat wave risk score (61).

South San Francisco

    • Lower risk: The Northwestern area of SSF (Tract A*) holds the highest median household income ($187k) and highest canopy (14%). It also has the lowest % of housing being rental units (12%).
  • Higher risk:
    • The West Downtown neighborhood (Tract J*) records the lowest canopy (2.8%), highest population density (+27,000/sq. mi.) and 83% of housing being rental units.
    • The Downtown/Old Town neighborhood (Tract K*) shows a 3% canopy with 30% non-college-bound youth for ages 16–19 (avg. is 3% for SSF), 69% multi-family housing units and 79% renter units.

*Match tract letters to census tracts in the location-specific reports in the Sustainability Dashboard.