More historic than 17% of U.S. towns · #530 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Daly City was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1965. Below: maps from 1896 on and the census since 1920.
The Daly City post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Colma Station (1888), Colma (1895) and Vista Grande (1908), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 3,779 in 19202020 census: 104,901113 years
How historic is Daly City?
C−
More historic than 17% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Daly City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Daly City’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Daly City is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns, #530 of 847 in California. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Daly City’s overall grade.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Daly City ranks #351 on History.
Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Daly City’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (31% of California towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share (±1.1 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Daly City’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Archaeological evidence suggests the San Francisco Bay area has been inhabited as early as 2700 BC. People of the Ohlone language group probably occupied northern California from at least the year A.D. 500. Though their territory had been claimed by Spain since the early 16th century, they had relatively little contact with Europeans until 1769, when as part of an effort to colonize Alta California, an exploration party led by Don Gaspar de Portolá learned of the existence of San Francisco Bay. Seven years later, in 1776, an expedition led by Juan Bautista de Anza selected the site for the Presidio of San Francisco, which José Joaquín Moraga soon established. Later the same year, Franciscan missionary Francisco Palóu founded the Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores). As part of the founding, the priests claimed the land south of the mission for 16 miles for raising crops and f…
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The Daly City post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Daly City rank for history?
Daly City is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns, #530 of 847 in California. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Daly City?
9% of Daly City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1965.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2020
