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burlingame neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Burlingame Hills, Burlingame Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
The hills between Burlingame and Hillsborough: unincorporated San Mateo County streets around Canyon Road and Los Robles Drive, plus city streets such as Kenmar Way, El Quanito Way and Burlingame Manor.
Burlingame Hills by the numbers
burlingame hills by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Burlingame Hills (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in burlingame hills · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Burlingame Hills
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Burlingame Hills from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
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Listings come from MLSListings and other MLSs through IDX and show their listing brokerage; confirm details with the listing agent. The map outline is the neighborhood boundary used by our listing search (Burlingame Hills (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Burlingame Hills came to be
Burlingame Hills is the part of the hillside that never joined a city. County records divide it into a series of maps titled "Burlingame Hills", No. 2 through No. 7, and the oldest houses on them date from the 1910s and 1920s. In 1935 the county formed the Burlingame Hills Sewer Maintenance District for this unincorporated community, and it is still run by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. Today the pocket is hemmed in by the City of Burlingame and the Town of Hillsborough, but its roughly 440 parcels remain county land with Burlingame mailing addresses.
The flatter land below was always going to be Burlingame. Ansel Easton's 1913 streetcar, built to sell Easton lots, ended at Hillside Drive and Alvarado Avenue, the corner where this guide begins. In 1930 the school district opened Hoover School on Summit Drive, designed by architect W. H. Weeks; it closed in 1979 and reopened with additions in 2016, according to the city's historical sites map. After the war the city side filled in with small tracts: Burlingame Manor on Los Altos, Los Montes and Alturas drives in the late 1940s and 1950s, Burlingview Terrace and Kenmar Terrace in the early 1950s, Skyline Manor's Loma Vista Drive from around 1940, Skyview Terrace in the late 1950s, and Quanito Acres on El Quanito Way between 1958 and 1967 (county records).
Two of the five creeks the city names start in or beside these hills. On the city's creek map, Easton Creek starts near Tiptoe Lane and runs down past Canyon Road toward El Camino Real, and Mills Creek cuts Mills Canyon along the north side.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Which side of the line a house is on matters here, so this is the breakdown street by street, from the city's address layer and county parcel maps. Unincorporated county: Los Robles Drive, Valdeflores Drive, Newton Drive, Tiptoe Lane, La Strada Court, Fey Drive, Crystal Terrace, Tiara Court, Glen Aulin Lane, Howland Hill Lane, La Loma Lane, La Cuesta Road, Blackhawk Lane and nearly all of Canyon Road and Vista Lane. City of Burlingame: Kenmar Way, El Quanito Way, El Prado Road, Burlingview Drive, Hillview Court, Belvedere Court, Los Altos Drive, Cananea Avenue and Place, La Mesa Court and Lane, Margarita Avenue, Loma Vista Drive and Skyview Drive. Split between the two: Hillside Drive, Adeline Drive, Alturas Drive, Los Montes Drive, La Mesa Drive and Summit Drive.
The unincorporated streets wind along the slopes on big, irregular lots (the Burlingame Hills maps have a median of about 14,900 square feet), with houses from every decade since the 1910s. The city tracts are more regular. Burlingame Manor's lots run about 8,600 square feet with mostly one-story postwar houses; Kenmar Terrace and Quanito Acres, off Summit Drive and Canyon Road, have median lots of roughly 12,000 and 14,000 square feet and 1950s and 1960s houses. Across the whole area about 510 of 800 houses are one story, and the newer rebuilds, about 60 since 2000, are mostly two and three stories.
Rules differ by jurisdiction. City lots are zoned R-1, and about four in five of them are on the city's map of properties that need a Hillside Area Construction Permit (Skyline Manor's Loma Vista Drive is not). The unincorporated lots follow San Mateo County zoning, mostly single-family R-1 with S-9 or S-10 combining districts on the county map, and county planning and building permits.
streets in burlingame hills
- Hillside Drive
- Canyon Road
- Los Robles Drive
- Valdeflores Drive
- Adeline Drive
- Newton Drive
- Tiptoe Lane
- Glen Aulin Lane
- La Strada Court
- Fey Drive
- Crystal Terrace
- Tiara Court
- Vista Lane
- Summit Drive
- Kenmar Way
- El Quanito Way
- El Prado Road
- Burlingview Drive
- Belvedere Court
- Alturas Drive
- Los Montes Drive
- Los Altos Drive
- La Mesa Drive
- Cananea Avenue
- Margarita Avenue
- Loma Vista Drive
- Skyview Drive
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Burlingame Hills
- park
Mills Canyon Wildlife Area
The canyon along the north edge has a loop trail, entered off Adeline Drive or Arguello Drive; dogs must be leashed (city facility page).
- park
Cuernavaca Park
About 0.2 to 1 mile away (straight-line) at 3051 Alcazar Drive, with a ball field, playground, basketball court, dog park and restrooms.
- park
Skyline Park
A small passive city park at 1675 Skyline Boulevard with a walking loop and a fenced off-leash dog area.
- landmark
Hoover Elementary
The 1930 school on Summit Drive, designed by W. H. Weeks, closed in 1979 and reopened with additions in 2016 (city historical sites map).
- landmark
Fire Station 35
Central County Fire Department's Station 35 is on Hillside Drive, inside the area.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Census district maps put both the city streets and the unincorporated streets here in the Burlingame School District for TK-8 and the San Mateo Union High School District; Hillsborough addresses next door are in the Hillsborough City School District. Hoover Elementary (2220 Summit Drive) is inside the area, and Roosevelt Elementary and Burlingame Intermediate School are in the neighborhoods below. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with each district.
Burlingame School District guide · San Mateo Union High guide · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- I-280 at Trousdale Drive is about 0.5 to 1.3 miles away (straight-line), reached by Hillside Drive and Skyline Boulevard.
- Millbrae station, with Caltrain and BART, is about 1.2 to 2.2 miles away (straight-line); Broadway Caltrain is a similar distance but weekends only.
- SamTrans ECR runs on El Camino Real, about 0.8 to 1.9 miles away (straight-line).
- US 101 at Broadway is about 1.3 to 2.3 miles away (straight-line).
- Hillside Drive and Canyon Road are the through streets; the rest are short drives, courts and lanes off them (public maps).
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Burlingame Hills: what we check
Buying here
- Confirm the jurisdiction first. If the parcel is unincorporated, San Mateo County handles planning, building permits and zoning (R-1 with S-9, S-10 and other combining districts on the county map), not the City of Burlingame.
- Sewer: the unincorporated community is served by the county's Burlingame Hills Sewer Maintenance District (formed 1935), which maintains the mains and bills a sewer service charge on the property tax bill; the lateral to the house is the owner's. Confirm the connection for the address and ask whether any older house was ever on septic.
- Roads: the county's road layer lists many streets here as county-maintained, but Newton Drive, La Strada Court, Blackhawk Lane, Loma Vista Lane and Alberta Glen are not. Ask who maintains the road and whether there is a recorded agreement.
- Fire and slope: CAL FIRE's 2025 map rates Burlingame Manor's streets and Loma Vista and Skyview drives High or Very High, much of the unincorporated core Moderate, and lots west of Skyline High or Very High in the state area. About 170 lots, many on Canyon Road, Adeline Drive, Tiptoe Lane and Los Robles Drive, are in the state's earthquake-induced landslide zone. Read the natural hazard disclosure and ask for geotechnical reports.
- Check the city on every listing: ZIP 94010 covers Burlingame, unincorporated Burlingame Hills and Hillsborough, and all three meet on Summit Drive.
Selling here
- State the jurisdiction plainly in the listing (City of Burlingame or unincorporated San Mateo County) and have the permit history from the right agency.
- Gather sewer district or lateral records, road maintenance agreements and any geotechnical or drainage reports before listing.
- Lead with the lot: the median here is about 11,500 square feet, nearly twice the 6,000 square feet typical of the Easton Addition grid below.
- Order the natural hazard disclosure early; fire-zone and landslide-zone status varies lot by lot.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Burlingame Hills questions, answered
Is Burlingame Hills part of the City of Burlingame?
Not the core. Streets such as Los Robles Drive, Valdeflores Drive, Newton Drive and nearly all of Canyon Road are unincorporated San Mateo County with Burlingame addresses. Kenmar Way, El Quanito Way, Burlingview Drive and the Burlingame Manor streets are in the city.
Who issues building permits?
San Mateo County for unincorporated parcels; the City of Burlingame for city parcels. Check the parcel's jurisdiction first.
Is there sewer, or septic?
The county's Burlingame Hills Sewer Maintenance District, formed in 1935, serves the unincorporated community. Confirm the connection for any specific house.
Which schools serve it?
Census maps place it in the Burlingame School District and the San Mateo Union High School District. Hoover Elementary is on Summit Drive. Check the exact address with each district.
Is it in a fire hazard zone?
Parts are. CAL FIRE's 2025 map puts the Burlingame Manor streets and Loma Vista and Skyview drives in High or Very High zones and much of the unincorporated core in Moderate. Check the address.
Is it the same as Hillsborough?
No. Hillsborough borders it on the south and east and shares ZIP 94010, but it is a separate town.
talk to a property nerd
Thinking about Burlingame Hills? Let's run your numbers.
Eric, Janelle and the Boyenga Team have sold more than 2,520 Silicon Valley homes, $2.6+ billion in all, since 1996. Get a value, a plan, or a straight answer about a street.
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