Portola Valley is a very small town located in the state of California. With a population of 4,244 people and just one neighborhood, Portola Valley is the 545th largest community in California.
Portola Valley home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but Portola Valley real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Portola Valley is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 98.59% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Portola Valley is a town of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Portola Valley who work in management occupations (35.54%), healthcare (9.64%), and sales jobs (9.24%).
Of important note, Portola Valley is also a town of artists. Portola Valley has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Portola Valley’s character.
Also of interest is that Portola Valley has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
A relatively large number of people in Portola Valley telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 51.27% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
Because of many things, Portola Valley is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Portola Valley really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Portola Valley perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.
As is often the case in a small town, Portola Valley doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Portola Valley. 82.18% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%.
The per capita income in Portola Valley in 2022 was $180,793, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $723,172 for a family of four.
Portola Valley is a very ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Portola Valley home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Portola Valley residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Portola Valley also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.99% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Portola Valley include German, English, Italian, Irish, and European.
The most common language spoken in Portola Valley is English. Other important languages spoken here include Tagalog and French.
Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Portola Valley, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
People
Wealth makes most things in life easier, and a few things harder. If you are wealthy and enjoy keeping up with the Jones', this neighborhood will interest you. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout's research, the neighborhood is wealthier than 99.5% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Residents here are truly in a unique situation even when compared to other Americans, based on the sheer amount of wealth concentrated here. Even in times of economic downturn, residents of this neighborhood, as a group, suffered less and recovered more quickly. This is indeed a stand-out characteristic of this neighborhood. As one would expect in a considerably wealthy neighborhood such as this, also has one of the lowest ratings of child poverty in the nation.
In addition, if you are planning to retire in California, this neighborhood should be on your must-see list. For many reasons, may be considered a retiree's dream neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and metrics, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety from crime compared to other neighborhoods in California, while also offering a diverse range of housing options. This, along with the vibrant mix of very educated seniors and other age groups who choose to live here, makes the neighborhood more retiree-friendly than 98.9% of neighborhoods in CA. If a California retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit. In addition to being an excellent choice for active retirees, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for highly educated executives, urban sophisticates and families with school-aged children.
Also, some neighborhoods have residents that are more educated than others. But in this neighborhood there is a dramatic difference. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that 44.8% of the adults here have earned a Masters degree, medical degree, Ph.D. or law degree. This is a higher rate of people with a graduate degree than is found in 98.4% of U.S. neighborhoods, where the average American neighborhood has 13.4% of its adults with a graduate degree. If you are highly educated, you may have much in common with many of your neighbors here.
Modes of Transportation
In the neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 38.3% of residents worked from home. This may not seem like a large number, but Scout's research shows that this is a higher percentage of people working from home than 99.3% of the neighborhoods in America. Often people who work from home are engaged in the creative or technological economy, such as is found in areas around Boston, and in Silicon Valley. Other times, people may be engaged in other businesses like trading stocks from home, or running a small beauty salon.
Also, if your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 4.3% of residents in the neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 97.6% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
Occupations
Each year, fewer and fewer Americans make their living as farmers, foresters, or fishers. But the neighborhood truly stands out among U.S. neighborhoods. According to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, this neighborhood has a greater proportion of farmers, foresters, or fishers than 98.9% of all American neighborhoods. This is truly a unique cultural characteristic of this neighborhood.
Diversity
Did you know that the neighborhood has more British and Swiss ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 4.0% of this neighborhood's residents have British ancestry and 1.7% have Swiss ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 1.7% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak German/Yiddish at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 95.2% of the neighborhoods in America.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Portola Valley are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 99.5% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the neighborhood, 69.1% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 12.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in farming, forestry, or commercial fishing (9.9%), and 4.4% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
Languages
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 83.4% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Tagalog (the first language of the Philippine region).
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Portola Valley, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (18.1%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (14.3%), and residents who report Irish roots (13.8%), and some of the residents are also of Mexican ancestry (12.6%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (8.1%), among others. In addition, 18.1% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (36.5% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (49.9%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
