Matheny, CA

Matheny is a Tulare County census-designated place two miles south of Tulare in the southern San Joaquin Valley. Its 2020 Census population was 1,125, packed into about 0.43 square miles at an elevation of 269 feet. The tract grew as a farmworker community beside the city, with homes, a local store, and agricultural land around it. Palo Verde Union Elementary and Tulare Joint Union High School districts serve its students, so education follows the wider Tulare area even though Matheny is outside city limits.

The community's most consequential local story has been water. Pratt Mutual Water Company once supplied Matheny Tract through wells, and arsenic problems pushed residents, the water company, Tulare, and state agencies toward a new arrangement. In 2016, the tract connected to Tulare's water system and the old wells were closed. County planning documents have also proposed a sewer connection to Tulare's treatment system. Matheny remains a distinct settlement on Tulare's southern edge: its streets and homes form a compact neighborhood, and the surrounding fields and city services make the boundary between rural tract and growing city visible in everyday routines.