Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the X-100. Most of Highlands was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1959. Below: maps from 1896 on.
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Highlands is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Highlands’ 4.1 sits above most of its state (86% of California towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Highlands’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Highlands. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Highlands.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Highlands yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Highlands or San Mateo Highlands is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) in San Mateo County, California, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 2,359.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Highlands itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Highlands is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns. 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.
One place: the X-100 (listed 2016).
0.0% of Highlands’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1959.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2013
