Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, situated on the Pacific coast along State Route 1, roughly 25 miles south of San Francisco. At the 2020 census, the city recorded a population of 11,795. It sits on a broad coastal plain between the ocean and the forested Santa Cruz Mountains, an area long known as the Coastside for its farms, beaches, and fog-cooled climate. The city's identity rests on two foundations: agriculture and the ocean. The surrounding fields and greenhouses produce flowers, pumpkins, and other crops, and this agricultural heritage is celebrated each fall at the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival, which draws more than 200,000 visitors. On the ocean side, Pillar Point Harbor shelters a commercial fishing fleet and recreational boats, and just offshore lies Mavericks, one of the most famous big-wave surf breaks in the world. During winter months, roughly November through March, storm swells there produce some of the largest surfable waves anywhere, drawing elite surfers and spectators to the coast. Public education is provided by the Cabrillo Unified School District, which operates about seven schools, including Half Moon Bay High School, and enrolls roughly 2,600 students. The city's location places it within commuting range of San Francisco, San Mateo, and the Silicon Valley via State Routes 1 and 92, while the coastside itself remains rural and relaxed. Downtown Half Moon Bay, centered on historic Main Street, preserves a small-town commercial core, while the surrounding coastside stays largely rural, with farms, nurseries, and open space separating the coastal communities. Beaches stretch south from Pillar Point Harbor toward the bluffs, and a network of trails runs along the oceanfront. For residents, Half Moon Bay offers a rare combination of working waterfront, agricultural open space, and coastal scenery, all within about an hour of one of the country's major metropolitan areas.