portola valley · san mateo county
Portola Valley Real Estate & Neighborhood Guide
Portola Valley is a foothill town in southern San Mateo County: about 9.1 square miles of land and 4,456 residents in the 2020 Census, with Jasper Ridge along its northern edge and Windy Hill and the Skyline ridge to the west. The San Andreas fault runs through its valley floor. The land passed from ranchero Maximo Martinez to ranches, orchards and country estates; the first subdivision was mapped in 1912, summer-cottage tracts followed in the 1920s, and several big postwar subdivisions came from selling off the Ormondale Ranch. Residents voted to incorporate in 1964. Today the town is nearly all single-family houses: the Town's parcel data counts about 1,530, on a median lot of about one acre, roughly half of the dated ones built in the 1950s and 1960s.
population, 2020 census
land area
zip codes
incorporated
45 Buckeye Court, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 4 Beds 3 Baths 3,400 SqFt
Listed by Boyenga Team of Boyenga Team / Compass155 Grove DR, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 6 Beds 5.5 Baths 5,195 SqFt
Listed by The Dreyfus Group of Golden Gate Sotheby's International Realty
57-59 Los Trancos Woods RD, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Vacant Land 5.24 Acres
Listed by Billy McNair of Coldwell Banker Realty7 Redberry RDG, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 5 Beds 7.5 Baths 7,180 SqFt
Listed by Billy McNair of Coldwell Banker Realty138 Bolivar LN, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 6 Beds 6 Baths 4,175 SqFt
Listed by Stephanie Elkins of Coldwell Banker Realty1080 Westridge DR, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 5 Beds 4 Baths 3,425 SqFt
Listed by Josh Rubin of Compass1 Redberry RDG, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 5 Beds 7 Baths 6,620 SqFt
Listed by Hugh Cornish of Coldwell Banker Realty670 La Mesa DR, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 5 Beds 4.5 Baths 3,542 SqFt
Listed by Nadine Masarweh of Thomas James Real Estate Services, Inc,15 Naranja WAY, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 4 Beds 3 Baths 4,372 SqFt
Listed by Peter Cowperthwaite of Golden Gate Sotheby's International Realty285 Escobar RD, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 5 Beds 3.5 Baths 3,740 SqFt
Listed by DeLeon Team of Deleon Realty10 Joaquin RD, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 5 Beds 3.5 Baths 5,040 SqFt
Listed by Wen Guo RE Group of KW Advisors3343 Alpine RD, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Vacant Land 4.15 Acres
Listed by David Cauchi of Compass3343 Alpine RD, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 6 Beds 6 Baths 6,800 SqFt
Listed by David Cauchi of Compass12 Hawkview ST, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 4 Beds 3 Baths 3,770 SqFt
Listed by Shelly Roberson of Compass30 Minoca RD, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 5 Beds 2.5 Baths 2,660 SqFt
Listed by Monica & Mandy Group of Compass55 Vista Verde WAY, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 3 Beds 4 Baths 6,155 SqFt
Listed by Peter Cowperthwaite of Golden Gate Sotheby's International Realty141 Lake RD, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 4 Beds 5 Baths 3,380 SqFt
Listed by Kavanaugh Group of Coldwell Banker Realty220 Canyon DR, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 4 Beds 3 Baths 2,290 SqFt
Listed by Chris Iverson of Golden Gate Sotheby's International Realty176 Los Trancos CIR, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Multi-Family 4 Beds 4 Baths 2,960 SqFt
Listed by Tim Gilmartin of Gilmartin Group176 Los Trancos CIR, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Single Family Home 4 Beds 4 Baths 2,960 SqFt
Listed by Tim Gilmartin of Gilmartin Group
CA Portola Valley
Portola Valley
Listings
4 Beds 3 Baths 3,400 SqFt$2,998,000Active- 1/24 24
6 Beds 5.5 Baths 5,195 SqFt$14,850,000Active155 Grove DR, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Listed by The Dreyfus Group of Golden Gate Sotheby's International Realty
Single Family Home
- 1/13 13
5.24 Acres$11,500,000Active57-59 Los Trancos Woods RD, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Listed by Billy McNair of Coldwell Banker Realty
Vacant Land
neighborhoods
Portola Valley neighborhoods
Portola Valley's neighborhoods are its subdivisions, and their dates explain their lot sizes. Portola Terrace (1912) near the Nathhorst Triangle was the first. The 1920s and early 1930s brought small-lot summer-cottage tracts: Brookside Orchard and Brookside Park off Portola Road, Woodside Highlands (179 lots, 1926) and Portola Redwoods (1931). After World War II the Ormondale Ranch was sold in pieces, giving 2.5-acre Westridge (from 1947), 2-acre Oak Hills (1955) and 1-acre Arrowhead Meadows (1957-63), while Alpine Hills (1954-57) climbed the hills above Alpine Road. Portola Valley Ranch (1975-81) clustered 205 homes around shared open space, and Blue Oaks (1998) put about three dozen lots on 264 acres. The Town's data puts about a quarter of single-family lots under half an acre and about a fifth at 2.4 acres or more. Two neighborhoods with Portola Valley addresses, Ladera and Los Trancos Woods / Vista Verde, are unincorporated San Mateo County.
Portola Road & Town Center
The valley floor along Portola Road, from the Town Center to the Nathhorst Triangle at Alpine Road, with the 1920s Brookside streets, Willowbrook Drive and the town's everyday shops.
Westridge
Portola Valley's 2.5-acre neighborhood on the slope below Jasper Ridge: a 1947 subdivision of the old Ormondale Ranch along Westridge Drive, with its own architectural committee, plus the 2-acre Oak Hills streets.
Arrowhead Meadows & Stonegate
One-acre streets on the flat heart of the old Ormondale Ranch around Ormondale School, plus Stonegate and Grove Drive, a 1948 subdivision of the Catoctin country estate off Portola Road.
Alpine Hills
A 1950s hillside subdivision of one-acre-plus lots on Golden Oak and Bear Gulch drives above the Alpine Road and Arastradero Road corner, with the Hillbrook and Pine Ridge streets next door.
Portola Valley Ranch & Blue Oaks
A 205-home cluster development begun in 1975 and wrapped in shared open space on the San Andreas fault, plus the acre-plus Blue Oaks lots above it off Los Trancos Road.
Woodside Highlands & Hayfields
A 1920s summer-cottage subdivision of small hillside lots off Portola Road, plus the acre-plus Hayfields lots above it and the 1931 Portola Redwoods street across the road. Despite the name, it is in Portola Valley.
Ladera (unincorporated)
A planned postwar tract of about 535 homes on former Ormondale Ranch land along Alpine Road near I-280, sited by landscape architect Garrett Eckbo. Unincorporated San Mateo County with Portola Valley addresses.
Los Trancos Woods & Vista Verde (unincorporated)
Unincorporated hillside streets south of Portola Valley: a 1920s summer-cottage tract on small lots along Los Trancos Creek, and the acre-plus Vista Verde lots laid out above it from 1959.
schools
Portola Valley public schools
Elementary and middle
- Portola Valley School District. Serves every Town parcel on Census maps, plus unincorporated Los Trancos Woods and Vista Verde and part of the Town of Woodside. Both of its schools are in town: Ormondale School (TK-3, 200 Shawnee Pass) and Corte Madera School (grades 4-8, 4575 Alpine Road).
- Las Lomitas Elementary School District. Serves unincorporated Ladera, which has Portola Valley 94028 addresses but sits outside the town; its schools are outside Portola Valley.
High school
- Sequoia Union High School District. Serves Portola Valley and Ladera. Use the district's boundary lookup for the assigned campus; no high school is in town.
property nerd note
A 94028 address does not tell you the school district: most of it is Portola Valley School District, but Ladera is Las Lomitas. Look up the parcel on the Census school-district map for a quick check, then confirm with the district itself. Boundaries change, so confirm before you write an offer. Start with our Silicon Valley schools guide.
zip codes
Portola Valley ZIP codes
Covers all of the Town of Portola Valley. The same ZIP also covers unincorporated Ladera along Alpine Road near I-280, unincorporated Los Trancos Woods and Vista Verde on upper Los Trancos Road, Stanford's Jasper Ridge lands and other county and Palo Alto parkland, so a 94028 address is not proof a house is in the town. The unincorporated areas use San Mateo County planning and permits. Some streets just over the Woodside line, such as Hidden Valley Lane, are Woodside 94062.
RECENTLY SOLD LISTINGS
$1,088,000
Single Family Home
103 El Nido Road, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Discover your sanctuary in Portola Valley! Tucked away amidst the serene beauty of Los Trancos, this charming 2-bedroom,...
Listed by Compass
$2,350,000
Single Family Home
131 Gabarda Way, Portola Valley, CA 94028
Cheerful yellow door greets you as you step into this single level ranch-style home with a view to the backyard featurin...
Listed by Intero Real Estate Services
$3,055,000
Single Family Home
100 TAN OAK DR, Portola Valley, CA 94028
This Sunny 2040 sq ft 4 BR, 3 BA inviting home is on the market for the 1st time in nearly 50 years! Freshly painted int...
Listed by Janet Davis of Hometown Realty A Janet Pepe Davis Agency
MARKET TRENDS
listing detail
getting around
Getting around Portola Valley
Freeways
Alpine Road runs northeast from the Nathhorst Triangle through Ladera to I-280, about 2.6 miles straight-line; Portola Road runs north through Woodside to Sand Hill Road and I-280, about 2.8 miles straight-line from the Town Center. Arastradero Road leaves Alpine Road at the Alpine Inn corner for Palo Alto.
Caltrain
No rail in town. Palo Alto station is about 5.5 miles and Menlo Park station about 5.7 miles straight-line from the Town Center; from the Westridge Drive end of Alpine Road, Palo Alto and California Avenue stations are about 3.7 miles.
Buses
SamTrans service has been limited to school-oriented trips, cut back in 2022; check current schedules before counting on transit.
Trails
The Town's Portola Road Corridor Plan treats Portola Road and its parallel trail as one greenway, Midpen's Windy Hill trails start on Portola Road, and older subdivisions such as Westridge reserved bridle-path easements between lots.
living here
Living in Portola Valley
Town Center
765 Portola Road: the San Mateo County Libraries branch, Town Hall and a community hall on an 11-acre site with fields, courts and a playground. The Town rebuilt it after a 2002 study found the old buildings in a fault rupture zone; it reopened in September 2008 and was certified LEED Platinum in 2009. The old Portola Valley School next door, at 775 Portola Road, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Shops
The Nathhorst Triangle at Portola and Alpine roads has the grocery, hardware store, gas station and deli, and Village Square (884 Portola Road) sits across from the Town Center. Ladera Shopping Center, just outside town at 3130 Alpine Road, fills in the rest.
Windy Hill Open Space Preserve
1,414 acres of Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District land rising from Portola Road to Skyline Boulevard. The lower parking area is on Portola Road about 0.4 mile south of the Town Center, with the 1.6-mile Sausal Pond Loop.
Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve
Stanford's 1,193-acre preserve on the ridge that forms the town's northern border. Its trails are open to the public only on docent-led tours by appointment.
Alpine Inn (Casa de Tableta)
3915 Alpine Road at Arastradero Road: California Historical Landmark No. 825, a roadhouse built in the 1850s by Felix Buelna per the state listing and still serving.
Pearson-Arastradero Preserve
Just east of town in Palo Alto, off Arastradero Road: 10.25 miles of trails open to hikers, cyclists and riders, with dogs allowed on leash.
your portola valley team
Buy or sell in Portola Valley with the Boyenga Team
Eric and Janelle Boyenga and the Property Nerds® at Compass have sold more than 2,520 Silicon Valley homes, $2.6+ billion in all, since 1996. We know Portola Valley block by block, from pricing and prep to the off-market homes most buyers never see.
Search Portola Valley homes Get my home value (408) 373-1660 (650) 383-8606
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faq
Portola Valley real estate FAQ
What ZIP code is Portola Valley?
94028. The same ZIP covers unincorporated Ladera and Los Trancos Woods / Vista Verde, so check the parcel's jurisdiction; those areas use county planning and permits.
Which school districts serve Portola Valley?
Portola Valley School District (Ormondale for TK-3, Corte Madera for grades 4-8) for the whole town, and Sequoia Union High School District. Unincorporated Ladera is Las Lomitas Elementary School District. Check the exact address with each district.
Does the San Andreas fault run through Portola Valley?
Yes, along the valley floor. The Town's parcel data puts about 360 of its roughly 1,530 single-family parcels inside the state's Alquist-Priolo earthquake fault zone, including Willowbrook Drive, Wyndham Drive, Stonegate Road, much of Portola Valley Ranch and Blue Oaks. New occupied buildings must stay off an active trace, generally about 50 feet back, and sellers must disclose the zone.
How big are lots in Portola Valley?
The median single-family lot is about one acre in the Town's parcel data. Zoning names tell you the minimum: R-E/1A is one acre, R-E/2.5 in Westridge is 2.5 acres and R-E/3.5A is 3.5 acres, with slope-density rules that reduce what steep land allows. The 1920s cottage tracts have much smaller lots.
What should a buyer check first?
The parcel's fault-zone status, its rating on the Town's Ground Movement Potential Map, the current state fire hazard severity map, sewer or septic, and any private design rules, such as Westridge's architectural committee or a homeowners association where one exists.
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more portola valley neighborhood guides
Neighborhood guides in Portola Valley
See every guide in the Nerd Portal.
Eric & Janelle Boyenga
homes@boyenga.com