Colma

Colma occupies fewer than two square miles at the northern edge of San Mateo County, bordered by Daly City, South San Francisco, and San Bruno. Widely known as the "City of Souls" for its extensive cemetery lands, Colma combines memorial parks, retail and auto-row businesses along Serramonte Boulevard, and a small residential population whose civic identity has been shaped by a remarkable twentieth-century agreement to relocate San Francisco's dead to Peninsula soil.

Indigenous / Early History

Ohlone peoples used the northern Peninsula's creeks and grasslands for seasonal camps and resource gathering long before European arrival. The Colma area's relatively flat terrain and proximity to San Francisco Bay made it suitable for grazing and small-scale agriculture during the Spanish and Mexican rancho periods. American-era settlement introduced dairy farming and roadhouses along the route between San Francisco and the South Bay.

Founding & Early Development

The "City of Souls" nickname reflects a civic reality: cemetery districts occupy roughly three-quarters of Colma's incorporated area. Residential and commercial zones cluster along the city's edges, creating a compact living community surrounded by memorial parkland.

Twentieth-Century Growth

While Colma's population remained small, its cemetery industry grew into a regional institution. Cypress Lawn, Holy Cross, and numerous other memorial parks serve families from San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area. Retail development along Serramonte and Junipero Serra Boulevard added auto dealerships, big-box stores, and services that employ workers from neighboring cities.

Economy & Employment

Colma's economy centers on funeral services, cemetery operations, and retail along the Serramonte corridor. Auto dealerships, home-improvement stores, and restaurants employ retail and service workers; many residents commute to jobs in San Francisco, South San Francisco's biotech sector, or airport-related industries. Property tax revenue from commercial and memorial uses supports city services for a small residential population.

Market & Housing Context

The 2020 U.S. Census recorded 1,507 residents and 526 total housing units in Colma — the smallest population of any incorporated city in San Mateo County. Census data indicate approximately 49 percent owner-occupied and 51 percent renter-occupied households. Housing consists primarily of single-family homes and small apartment buildings in the limited residential zones between cemetery lands and commercial corridors. Severe constraints on developable land shape the city's housing market.

Living in Colma

Despite its small population, Colma maintains full municipal services including police and public works. Residents often cite the city's quiet residential streets — set apart from cemetery traffic and Serramonte retail congestion — as a defining feature of daily life.

Colma's residential core offers a quiet counterpoint to the busy Serramonte retail district. Town Center Park and the Colma Community Center provide local recreation. The city maintains its own police department and civic offices on Mission Road. Students attend schools in the Jefferson Elementary School District and Jefferson Union High School District. Nearby Daly City and South San Francisco supply additional shopping, dining, and cultural amenities.

Colma Today

Geography & Environment

Colma sits on flat terrain at the northern end of the Peninsula, west of San Bruno Mountain and east of the coastal hills. The city's cemetery districts include landscaped lawns, mausoleums, and mature trees that create green open space visible from surrounding roadways. Fog and marine influence moderate temperatures year-round.

Regional agencies including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, SamTrans, and Caltrain coordinate service improvements that affect daily commuting patterns for residents employed throughout the Bay Area. City officials participate in these forums to represent local priorities on transit funding, highway maintenance, and Peninsula growth management.

Transportation & Connectivity

Interstate 280, U.S. Highway 101, and Junipero Serra Boulevard pass through or adjacent to Colma, linking the city to San Francisco, San Francisco International Airport, and Silicon Valley. The Colma BART station provides regional rail access. SamTrans bus routes serve the Serramonte area. Most residents and workers rely on automobiles and transit connections through neighboring Daly City.

Regional shoppers visit Colma's auto row and big-box retailers without necessarily encountering the city's small residential core tucked between cemetery gates and freeway interchanges.

Looking Forward

Colma's limited residential land constrains housing growth; city planning focuses on maintaining cemetery operations, managing retail corridor traffic, and preserving services for residents. Regional discussions about Serramonte area development and Peninsula transportation infrastructure affect daily life without substantially expanding the city's housing footprint.

Colma's sales tax revenue from regional retail helps fund municipal services disproportionate to its residential population, creating a fiscal model unique among San Mateo County cities.

The City's Character

Colma is unlike any other municipality in San Mateo County — a place where the living and the remembered share a civic boundary, where retail bustle meets memorial quiet, and where a tiny residential population governs a landscape shaped by San Francisco's nineteenth-century burial crisis.

“"Colma accepted San Francisco's dead and built a living city at the margins — a Peninsula community whose identity is written in stone, commerce, and an enduring civic compact with memory."

Whether passing the gates of Cypress Lawn or shopping along Serramonte, visitors encounter a city that has made peace with an unusual destiny — serving the departed while sustaining a small, engaged community at the Peninsula's northern threshold.