Best PlacesBurlingame, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Burlingame, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Burlingame ranks 351st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Burlingame
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Burlingame
The parts of Burlingame, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Burlingame Terrace
Mills Estates
Downtown Burlingame & North Central San Francisco
Burlingame Hillls
Burlingame Gate & Burlingame Gardens
Easton Addition & Ray Park
Scores across Burlingame run from about the 65th to the 97th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Burlingame's strengths and weaknesses
Where Burlingame ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of cities
- Household income$172,430 median, better than 96% of cities
- BikingBetter than 95% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 232 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of cities
Where Burlingame ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,233 a month, better than only 1% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 10% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Burlingame
A household needs to earn about $483,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Burlingame home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $172,430, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Burlingame's effective rate of 0.57%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Burlingame
Burlingame's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Burlingame.
Who works in Burlingame, and how
Work in Burlingame centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 58%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Burlingame
Burlingame has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Burlingame and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Burlingame, month by month
Burlingame sees roughly 232 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 53° | 46° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 49° |
| July | 74° | 62° | 56° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Burlingame
San Francisco International sits about 2 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 26.5 million passengers in 2025, with 193 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Burlingame
Schools across Burlingame average an A, better than 89% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Lincoln ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- South HillsboroughA · 72% proficient
- Franklin ElementaryA · 72% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crocker MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
- Burlingame IntermediateA · 67% proficient
- Parkway Heights MiddleD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Terra Nova HighA · 75% proficient
- South San Francisco HighB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Burlingame school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Burlingame measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Burlingame against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Burlingame suits
Retirees
The weather beats 94% of cities and health care access beats 74%.
Common questions about living in Burlingame
Is Burlingame a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Burlingame ranks 351st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on population health, high incomes, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Burlingame expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,905,270. The overall cost of living runs about 84% above the national average. Set against a $172,430 median income, cost of living beats 55% of cities.
Is Burlingame safe?
Burlingame is safer than 5% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $660 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Burlingame?
July highs average about 74 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 46. That works out to about 232 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Burlingame?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Burlingame Terrace, Mills Estates, and Downtown Burlingame & North Central San Francisco. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Burlingame with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Burlingame. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Burlingame represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Burlingame detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Burlingame: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Burlingame: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Burlingame: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Burlingame: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Burlingame detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.