North Fair Oaks

The unincorporated area of North Fair Oaks (NFO) has a population of 16,000 that is nearly 75% Hispanic, 50% foreign-born, and has a median household income of $72,000. North Fair Oaks has 3 times as many Hispanic residents and median household incomes that are 32% lower than the County averages. NFO is a majority-minority community that serves as a sanctuary for many vulnerable and underserved residents in the Bay Area, particularly migrant Hispanic workers, low-income families, and small minority-owned businesses. As an unincorporated, low-income community bordering some of the wealthiest zip codes in the nation, NFO has suffered from racialized disinvestment. When neighboring city Atherton incorporated, this majority Latino/a community was intentionally omitted from the new city boundaries, creating the wealthiest ZIP Code in the United States and leaving North Fair Oaks unincorporated. As a result, NFO residents are forced to compete for attention and funding from the County against much wealthier municipalities.

Residents of NFO are already experiencing disproportionate impacts of climate change. NFO lacks passive stormwater treatment facilities such as bioretention areas, vegetated swales, and rain gardens. This shortage of trees and green infrastructure means higher temperatures, more flooding, and poorer air and water quality—thus degrading natural resources and increasing residents’ vulnerability to extreme weather events, from storms to heat waves. As an illustration, an analysis of extreme heat conducted in 2021 through the Stanford Future Bay Initiative (SFBI) found that parts of North Fair Oaks are 10 degrees hotter on average than in neighboring Atherton.

This Mural at 3090 Middlefield Road in North Fair Oaks is a vibrant, colorful, and detailed mural design that depicts the cultural diversity and the history of North Fair Oaks, and created by Jose Castro, who has lived in North Fair Oaks all his life.

The Climate Ready North Fair Oaks (CRNFO) team first formed in 2019 to address the disproportionate climate change impacts already impacting the community. CRNFO is a community-based collaborative that brings together representatives from key local stakeholder groups in the public, private, and social sectors to build their collective capacity for community-based research and community-led solutions to the cumulative impacts from climate change. The North Fair Oaks team is composed of core members including Canopy, El Concilio of San Mateo County, Nuestra Casa, Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula, Redwood City Police Activities League, North Fair Oaks Library, Stanford Future Bay Initiative, City Systems, and the North Fair Oaks Community Alliance.