Atherton is located on the peninsula nestled between the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The Town begins in the flatlands then moves westward to the hills, until it reaches Highway 280. Beautiful foliage, elegant gardens and heritage trees dominate this quiet small community. The Town of Atherton desires, insofar as possible, to preserve its character as a scenic, rural, thickly-wooded, residential area, with abundant open space with streets designed primarily as scenic routes rather than for speed of travel.

Atherton is still a "plain of oaks". Native live oaks, white oaks, bay trees, redwood trees, cedars, pines and other ornamental trees cover the six square miles of land. The Town is bordered by areas of Menlo Park, Redwood City, Woodside, and unincorporated San Mateo County. There are 49 miles of roads in Atherton and approximately 2502 households with no industry or business establishment within the town limits.

With a location and a profile like this it is easy to understand why so many people have chosen to make Atherton California their home. But don’t just rely on that. To fully get the best sense of what Atherton California is all about I would suggest that you make the trip from San Francisco and see for yourself why Atherton is the best place to live in the west coast.