Best PlacesHillsborough, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hillsborough, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hillsborough ranks 822nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hillsborough
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.
Hillsborough's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hillsborough ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 224 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Household income$242,543 median, better than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
Where Hillsborough ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,233 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hillsborough
A household needs to earn about $514,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hillsborough home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $242,543, 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 Hillsborough's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Hillsborough
Hillsborough runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hillsborough.
Who works in Hillsborough, and how
Work in Hillsborough 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 57%
- Work from home 36%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Hillsborough
The coast is about 13 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Hillsborough, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hillsborough, month by month
Hillsborough sees roughly 224 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 Hillsborough
San Francisco International sits about 4 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 Hillsborough
Schools across Hillsborough average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hoover ElementaryA+ · 77% proficient
- North HillsboroughA+ · 75% proficient
- South HillsboroughA · 72% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crocker MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
- Burlingame IntermediateA · 67% proficient
- Ingrid B. Lacy MiddleA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Terra Nova HighA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hillsborough school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hillsborough 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 Hillsborough against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hillsborough
Is Hillsborough a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hillsborough ranks 822nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, the weather, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hillsborough expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,989,909. The overall cost of living runs about 91% above the national average. Set against a $242,543 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Hillsborough safe?
Hillsborough is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $500 per resident a year.
Compare Hillsborough with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hillsborough. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hillsborough 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.
Hillsborough detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hillsborough: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hillsborough: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hillsborough: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hillsborough: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hillsborough 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.