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millbrae neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Millbrae Highlands, Millbrae Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
The late-1920s grid of sycamore-lined avenues above downtown, with City Hall, the library and Central Park, plus hillside streets that climb Hillcrest Boulevard and Vista Grande toward I-280.
Millbrae Highlands by the numbers
millbrae highlands by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Millbrae Highlands (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in millbrae highlands · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Millbrae Highlands
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Millbrae Highlands 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 (Millbrae Highlands (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Millbrae Highlands came to be
Millbrae takes its name from the Mills estate, and the early town grew up north of it. Local histories credited to the Millbrae Historical Society date the Millbrae Highlands subdivision to 1927. A sales brochure from the Millbrae Highlands Co., from about 1939, says the streets were only outlined in 1929 and were paved and lined with trees by 1937, with hundreds of new houses and a shopping district; it adds that building carried on through the Depression years and that two grammar schools served the area by the end of the decade.
That first build-out is what the city's 2040 General Plan calls the lower Highlands: houses with a strong Spanish Mission character on compact streets lined with mature sycamores, in contrast with the curving postwar streets to the north. The hillside above it filled in later. Census estimates for the tract that covers the upper streets put most of its housing units in the 1950s through the 1970s, part of what the General Plan calls the western hillside neighborhoods.
The city's civic buildings sit on the grid's east edge. City Hall at 621 Magnolia Avenue, the Millbrae Library, the Millbrae Museum, Central County Fire Station 37, Central Park and the Recreation Center form a cluster west of downtown, and the General Plan calls for turning it into a civic center district with a direct connection between the Magnolia Avenue buildings and the park. The new Recreation Center at 477 Lincoln Circle opened on June 11, 2022.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
The lower Highlands is a true grid. Hazel, Ashton, Laurel, Elder, Palm, Willow and Lewis avenues run northwest from Millbrae Avenue, and Chadbourne Avenue, Taylor Boulevard, La Cruz Avenue and Hillcrest Boulevard cross them as they climb southwest from El Camino Real, with Lansdale Avenue, Barclay Avenue and Lincoln Circle around the park. County parcel data puts the median single-family lot at about 6,000 square feet, a little above the 5,000-square-foot lot the General Plan calls typical for Millbrae.
West of the grid the streets bend with the hill. Hillcrest Boulevard climbs to I-280; Vista Grande loops up from it past short courts such as Corte Princesa, Corte Dorado, Corte Alegre, Corte del Sol and Mio Corte, and lanes such as El Bonito Way, El Paseo, Camino Alto, Minorca Way, Almenar Street, La Mancha Place, Via Canon, La Solano, Aura Vista and Colorados Drive. Morningside Drive, Berkshire Drive and the east end of Clearfield Drive sit at the upper end, near Taylor Middle School. Expect more slope, more variety in age and size, and bigger lots up here.
Multi-unit buildings are a small share: county data counts about 150 duplex, triplex and apartment parcels and about 50 condominium or townhome parcels, mostly near Magnolia Avenue, Chadbourne Avenue, Richmond Drive and Lincoln Circle. Remodels, second-story additions and accessory units are common in Millbrae, according to the General Plan, which requires design review of new houses and large second-story additions (Policy LU-3.3). The city is also writing objective residential design standards meant to keep the look of each neighborhood.
streets in millbrae highlands
- Hillcrest Boulevard
- Taylor Boulevard
- Chadbourne Avenue
- Palm Avenue
- Poplar Avenue
- Elder Avenue
- Laurel Avenue
- Hazel Avenue
- Ashton Avenue
- Willow Avenue
- Lewis Avenue
- La Cruz Avenue
- Lansdale Avenue
- Barclay Avenue
- Lincoln Circle
- Vista Grande
- El Bonito Way
- El Paseo
- Camino Alto
- Minorca Way
- Almenar Street
- Corte Princesa
- Corte Dorado
- Corte Alegre
- Colorados Drive
- Aura Vista
- Via Canon
- La Solano
- Morningside Drive
- Berkshire Drive
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Millbrae Highlands
- park
Central Park
8.1 acres at 477 Lincoln Circle, east of the Recreation Center, with an updated playground, a large playing field, picnic areas, tennis courts and restrooms. The city holds summer movie nights and concerts here.
- landmark
Civic center
City Hall (621 Magnolia Avenue), the Millbrae Library at 1 Library Avenue (part of San Mateo County Libraries), the Millbrae Museum, Fire Station 37 and the Recreation Center, which opened in June 2022, sit together at the grid's east edge.
- park
Spur Trail, Phase II
A path from Hillcrest Boulevard up to Richmond Drive that runs behind houses on an incline. The strip was first meant for a boulevard extension and was rezoned as open space in 1975, according to the city.
- park
Josephine Waugh - Soroptimist Park
A small park with a picnic area and trail on Hillcrest Boulevard, across from the second phase of the Spur Trail.
- shopping
Broadway and the downtown grocery blocks
Downtown's small shops and restaurants on Broadway, and the larger stores between Taylor Boulevard and Meadow Glen Avenue, start just east of Magnolia Avenue, about 0.1 to 1.4 miles away (straight-line).
- trail
Sawyer Camp segment, Crystal Springs trail
The county's paved, two-way trail starts at the west end of Hillcrest Boulevard, across I-280, and runs south to Crystal Springs Road. It is open to bikes, walkers, runners and horses, and is wheelchair accessible.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
The Highlands is in the Millbrae School District and the San Mateo Union High School District, according to Census district maps. Taylor Middle School, which the district says serves all of its students in grades 6 through 8, is on Taylor Boulevard near Richmond Drive, next to the district office at 555 Richmond Drive. Mills High School (San Mateo Union) is just south of Millbrae Avenue on Murchison Drive. Elementary assignments follow the district's boundary map; attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with each district.
Millbrae guide: school districts · San Mateo Union High guide
Getting around
- Millbrae Station, with BART, Caltrain (zone 2) and SamTrans routes ECR, 292, 397 and 713, is about 0.2 to 1.5 miles away (straight-line); the lower grid is closest. BART connects from there to SFO.
- I-280: the Millbrae Avenue interchange at Skyline Boulevard is about 0.1 to 1.3 miles away (straight-line), and the Larkspur Drive interchange about 0.7 to 1.7 miles.
- US 101 at Millbrae Avenue is about 0.6 to 1.9 miles away (straight-line).
- The Spur Trail links the upper streets with Millbrae Avenue and downtown, and Hillcrest Boulevard leads west to the Sawyer Camp trailhead.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Millbrae Highlands: what we check
Buying here
- Check the fire map on hillside addresses. CAL FIRE's 2025 local-area map puts about 300 of the Highlands' roughly 1,525 residential parcels in High or Very High zones and about 200 more in Moderate, mostly on Vista Grande, Hillcrest Boulevard, the upper end of Millbrae Avenue, La Prenda, Clearfield Drive and Colorados Drive; the lower grid is unzoned. Ask about the disclosure and defensible-space rules for the address.
- Check slope stability. About 150 parcels, mostly on Vista Grande, Millbrae Avenue, Aura Vista, Clearfield Drive, Minorca Way and El Bonito Way, fall in the state's earthquake-induced landslide zone (Seismic Hazard Zones, Montara Mountain quadrangle). The General Plan requires erosion and drainage plans for hillside grading and geotechnical studies where a hazard is known.
- Check the airport plan. The county's map of the SFO Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan puts much of the lower grid near Millbrae Avenue (Elder, Poplar, Hazel, Palm, Chadbourne, Willow and Lewis avenues, among others) in its Inner Turning Zone or Inner Approach/Departure Zone, which can limit some new development. All of Millbrae is in the airport influence area, where an airport disclosure is part of a sale.
- Budget for the sewer lateral. Millbrae requires a video inspection of the lateral from the house to the city main before close of escrow, unless the property already has an active compliance certificate (Municipal Code 8.20.450).
- On older houses, look at foundation bolting, garage openings and cripple walls. The General Plan encourages owners to fix unbolted foundations, unreinforced garage openings and soft-story conditions, and design review applies to new houses and large second-story additions.
Selling here
- Order the sewer lateral video inspection, or find the existing compliance certificate, early; the city requires it before close of escrow.
- Have the natural hazard disclosure ready, including fire zone and landslide zone status for hillside addresses, plus the airport disclosure.
- On the lower grid, document original Mission-style details and any seismic retrofit work; on the hillside, document drainage, retaining walls and any geotechnical reports.
- Give straight-line distances to Central Park, the library, Broadway and Millbrae Station; on the lower grid they are short.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Millbrae Highlands questions, answered
What is the lower Highlands?
The grid of avenues just west of Magnolia Avenue and north of Millbrae Avenue, around Central Park and the civic center. The city's General Plan uses the name for this area and notes its Spanish Mission-style houses and sycamore-lined streets.
How old are the houses?
The subdivision dates to the late 1920s. Census estimates for the tracts that cover the Highlands put roughly a fifth to a third of housing units before 1950 and much of the rest from the 1950s through the 1980s. Check county records for a specific house.
Is the Highlands in a fire hazard zone?
The upper streets are. CAL FIRE's 2025 map rates parts of Vista Grande, Hillcrest Boulevard and nearby streets Moderate to Very High; the lower grid is unzoned. Check the exact address.
Which schools serve the Highlands?
Millbrae School District and San Mateo Union High School District. Taylor Middle School is inside the neighborhood and Mills High School is just south of it. Check the address with each district.
How far is BART?
Millbrae Station is about 0.2 to 1.5 miles away (straight-line), depending on the street. The lower grid near Magnolia Avenue is closest.
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