Hillsborough

Hillsborough Real Estate & Homes For Sale

Hillsborough is one of the wealthiest communities in America and has the highest income of places in the United States with populations of at least 10,000. It is located 17 miles south of San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsula, bordered by Burlingame to the north, San Mateo to the east, Highlands-Baywood Park to the south, and Interstate 280 to the west. Hillsborough’s landscape is dominated by large homes; the town zoning and subdivision ordinances require a 2,500-square-foot minimum house size and minimum lot size of 0.5 acres.  As a result, there are no apartments, condominiums or townhouses in the city limits; however, it is not unusual for the homes along the eastern edge of Hillsborough to face condominiums in neighboring Burlingame, sharing the ZIP code 94010. The town has no commercial zoning and thus no businesses within the town limits; the only non-residential properties are the town’s four public and three private schools, town and county government facilities, a golf course, and a small park.

Hillsborough is located on the Rancho San Mateo Mexican Land Grant which was purchased by William Davis Merry Howard, son of a wealthy Hillsborough, New Hampshire, shipping magnate, in 1846. Howard settled his family in this area, which attracted wealthy San Franciscans. Hillsborough is near Burlingame. In 1910, Hillsborough residents voted to incorporate. Two prominent streams drain the mostly wooded slopes of Hillsborough: San Mateo Creek and Cherry Creek. In both cases the upper watersheds are closed-canopy California oak woodlands, with dominant trees of Coast Live Oak, Pacific Madrone and California Bay.

Hillsborough has its own highly regarded and -ranked public elementary and middle school system, but no public high school. High school-aged children can attend one of several schools in the San Mateo Union High School District, generally assigned by residential address. The town is also home to a small number of independent schools. The Hillsborough school district is ranked as the #1 school district in California and one of the top ten school districts in the country.

December is the coolest month with an average high of 60 degrees, and September is the warmest month with an average high of 78 degrees. Hillsborough has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa), with the vast majority of the precipitation from the months of November to April. On average, Hillsborough receives 17 inches (430 mm) of rain. With coastal mountains to the west of Hillsborough, it is blocked in the winter from much of the rainfall over Half Moon Bay, and in the summer it is blocked from virtually all the fog of the coast. Hillsborough receives an average of 307 days of sunshine annually, with 52 days of recordable precipitation per year.