san bruno · san mateo county
San Bruno Real Estate & Neighborhood Guide
San Bruno lies between South San Francisco and Millbrae, with SFO to the east, on about 5.5 square miles of land that climbs from filled bay marsh east of El Camino Real to hillside streets near Skyline Boulevard. The city's history says the town grew where Bayshore Road met the Mission Road and railroad route, filled in after the 1906 earthquake and was incorporated on December 23, 1914. In the 1940s former Mills estate land became the Mills Park Addition, and houses then spread over the western hills. County records date about four in five of the city's houses to the 1940s through the 1960s; 1970s condominium complexes, The Crossing's apartments and new buildings near the Caltrain station fill out the 16,622 housing units the 2020 census counted.
population, 2020 census
land area
zip codes
incorporated
neighborhoods
San Bruno neighborhoods
San Bruno publishes no official neighborhood map, so our seven guides follow recorded tract maps, the area names the MLS uses and the streets that divide them; every edge is approximate. West of I-280 are three hillside guides with houses built mostly from the 1950s into the 1960s: Crestmoor & Shelter Creek around Crestmoor Canyon, Rollingwood & Monte Verde north of Sneath Lane (Monte Verde is in South San Francisco Unified on Census maps), and Pacific Heights & Portola Highlands along Skyline Boulevard near Skyline College. Between I-280 and El Camino Real are Mills Park, the 1940s-50s Mills Park Addition, and Bayhill & Cherry Avenue, a district of condominiums, apartments and offices. East of El Camino Real are Huntington Park & Lomita Park, older blocks around City Park split between two elementary districts, and Downtown San Bruno & Belle Air, the original town grid around San Mateo Avenue and the streets nearest SFO. Lots are about 5,000 square feet in most tracts and smaller in the original downtown additions. San Mateo LAFCo's 2018 island map lists only two small unincorporated islands tied to San Bruno, the San Francisco jail site and a 0.2-acre parcel called 800 Walnut; Lomita Park's houses are inside the city.
Crestmoor & Shelter Creek
Late-1950s hillside streets between Skyline Boulevard and I-280, wrapped around the Crestmoor Canyon open space, plus Shelter Creek's 1,228 condominiums by San Bruno Avenue West.
Rollingwood & Monte Verde
Hillside streets between Skyline Boulevard and I-280 north of Sneath Lane: 1950s Rollingwood with its tree names, 1960s Monte Verde with golf-course names, and Merimont's 2008 houses at the city line.
Pacific Heights & Portola Highlands
San Bruno west of Skyline Boulevard: Pacific Heights from 1959 to 1963, the 1960s Portola Highlands streets off Sneath Lane, newer tracts by Skyline College, and a trail up Sweeney Ridge.
Mills Park
San Bruno's postwar grid of tree-named streets between El Camino Real and I-280, laid out in six Mills Park tract maps from 1941 to the mid-1950s, with City Hall, the library and Allen Elementary on its east edge.
Bayhill & Cherry Avenue
The condominium, apartment and office district between I-280 and El Camino Real north of San Bruno Avenue West: The Place and Cherry Avenue Villas condos, The Crossing, the Bayhill office park and Commodore Park.
Huntington Park & Lomita Park
South San Bruno's older blocks: the Huntington Park and San Bruno Park tracts of the 1910s-50s around City Park, and Lomita Park's streets east of El Camino Real at the Millbrae line, inside San Bruno's city limits.
Downtown San Bruno & Belle Air
San Bruno's original town: the San Mateo Avenue downtown and elevated Caltrain station, north to Tanforan and San Bruno BART, plus Belle Air's numbered avenues between the tracks and SFO's edge.
schools
San Bruno public schools
Elementary and middle
- San Bruno Park School District. About 89% of the city's land on Census maps, including everything east of I-280 except Lomita Park and Capuchino Village. Schools in town: Allen Elementary (875 West Angus Avenue), Belle Air Elementary (450 Third Avenue), John Muir Elementary (130 Cambridge Lane), Portola Elementary (300 Amador Avenue) and Parkside Intermediate (1801 Niles Avenue); district office at 500 Acacia Avenue.
- South San Francisco Unified School District. K-12 district for Monte Verde and the Merimont streets in the northwest, about 580 city parcels and roughly 5% of city land on Census maps. Its Monte Verde Elementary is at 2551 St. Cloud Drive in San Bruno.
- Millbrae School District. Lomita Park and Capuchino Village east of El Camino Real near the Millbrae line, about 430 city parcels on Census maps. Its Lomita Park Elementary is at 200 Santa Helena Avenue in San Bruno.
- Pacifica School District. Skyline College and the Miraluna Drive and Miraluna Way homes at the western edge, about 40 city parcels on Census maps.
High school
- San Mateo Union High School District. Serves the San Bruno Park and Millbrae elementary areas, which is nearly all of the city. Capuchino High School is in town at 1501 Magnolia Avenue.
- South San Francisco Unified School District. Monte Verde's high school district as well, since the district is K-12.
- Jefferson Union High School District. Pairs with the Pacifica School District for the small Skyline College and Miraluna area.
property nerd note
District lines don't follow neighborhood names or the 94066 ZIP: on the same stretch of El Camino Real, the west side is San Bruno Park and the Lomita Park side is in the Millbrae School District, and Monte Verde streets that look like Rollingwood are South San Francisco Unified. Use each district's address lookup, compare with Census school-district maps, and get written confirmation before you write an offer; attendance boundaries change. Start with our Silicon Valley schools guide.
zip codes
San Bruno ZIP codes
Covers essentially every home in San Bruno; Census ZIP areas put about 98% of the city's land in 94066. The ZIP is larger than the city: about 89% of its land is San Bruno and about 11% is unincorporated land, mostly airport property along US-101 and open land west of the city that includes the San Francisco jail site. Census ZIP areas also show a few edge parcels in neighboring ZIPs (Spyglass Drive in 94044, the Capuchino High School campus in 94030 and a few north-end downtown parcels in 94080), so check the mailing address on any listing.
getting around
Getting around San Bruno
Caltrain
San Bruno station at 833 San Mateo Avenue sits on the grade separation that lifted the tracks over San Bruno, San Mateo and Angus avenues; trains began using the elevated structure over Memorial Day weekend 2013. The station has 178 parking spaces, bike racks and BikeLink lockers, and SamTrans routes 41, 142 and EPX stop there. Millbrae's station, just south of the city, adds BART.
BART
San Bruno BART at 1151 Huntington Avenue, next to the Tanforan shopping center, is on the SFO extension that opened June 22, 2003, with trains toward San Francisco and the East Bay and toward SFO and Millbrae.
Freeways and main roads
I-280 runs along the western hills with an interchange at San Bruno Avenue West, I-380 crosses the middle of town from I-280 to US-101 and SFO, and US-101 runs along the bay side. El Camino Real (State Route 82) is the main north-south street, and Sneath Lane and San Bruno Avenue climb west toward Skyline Boulevard.
SFO
SFO is just east of San Bruno across US-101, per the city's Housing Element; its east-west runways put arrival and departure tracks over the city's northeastern neighborhoods.
living here
Living in San Bruno
Downtown San Mateo Avenue
The city's General Plan calls San Mateo Avenue a symbolic heart of the city. The Transit Corridors Plan (adopted February 12, 2013) and Measure N (approved by voters November 4, 2014) allow mixed-use buildings up to four stories on San Mateo Avenue, five on El Camino Real and San Bruno Avenue and seven near the Caltrain station.
City Park and the Recreation and Aquatic Center
City Park at Crystal Springs Road and Oak Avenue (31 acres in the General Plan's park table) has a playground, picnic shelters, a tennis court, a football field and a walking track. Its Recreation and Aquatic Center at 251 City Park Way, with indoor and outdoor pools, a gym and a fitness room, held its grand opening on August 24, 2024. The city built it with restitution funds from PG&E after the September 9, 2010 gas transmission line rupture in Crestmoor.
Junipero Serra County Park
San Mateo County's park at 1801 Crystal Springs Road, about 108 acres per the General Plan, has the Buckeye and Live Oak Nature trails, picnic areas, El Zanjon Creek and views over SFO, the bay and San Bruno Mountain.
Crestmoor Canyon and the western hills
Crestmoor Canyon is an open-space canyon running from I-280 to Skyline Boulevard, per the General Plan. Farther west, trails in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, including Sweeney Ridge, are reached from Sneath Lane and San Bruno Avenue.
Library and City Hall
The San Bruno Public Library at 701 Angus Avenue West belongs to the Peninsula Library System; City Hall is next door at 567 El Camino Real.
Tanforan, Bayhill and El Camino Real
The Tanforan shopping center at El Camino Real and Sneath Lane, where the city is reviewing a large redevelopment, and the Bayhill Shopping Center on Cherry Avenue anchor shopping, with more along El Camino Real. Bayhill's office park holds YouTube's corporate offices, which the 2021 Bayhill Specific Plan allows to expand.
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faq
San Bruno real estate FAQ
Does San Bruno have official neighborhood boundaries?
No. The city publishes no neighborhood map. Our guides follow recorded tract maps, MLS area names and the streets between them, so treat every edge as approximate and check the tract name on the title report.
Which school district serves a San Bruno address?
Usually the San Bruno Park School District for K-8 and the San Mateo Union High School District, but Census maps put Monte Verde in South San Francisco Unified, Lomita Park and Capuchino Village in the Millbrae School District, and the Skyline College and Miraluna area in Pacifica SD with Jefferson Union High. Confirm the exact address with the district.
How does SFO affect San Bruno homes?
All of San Mateo County is in SFO's real estate disclosure area. The city's Housing Element says overflight noise mainly affects neighborhoods east of San Mateo Avenue; new homes need noise insulation in the 65-69 dB CNEL band and an airport land use override at 70 dB and above, around the BART and Caltrain stations and parts of Belle Air. SFO's insulation program covers eligible homes inside the 65 dB contour of its 2019 Noise Exposure Map.
Are there flood, earthquake or fire zones?
Yes, in different places. FEMA maps put eastern Belle Air in Zone AE and a few Lomita Park parcels in Zone AH. The state's liquefaction zones cover much of the filled land east of El Camino Real, the Housing Element places the San Andreas fault zone roughly along Skyline Boulevard, and the 2025 state fire maps include Very High zones on parts of the western hills. Check each parcel.
What projects need a vote of San Bruno residents?
Under the 1977 voter initiative in chapter 12.26 of the city code, buildings over 50 feet or three stories, density above 1974 limits, multistory parking structures and changes to the Crystal Springs Road and Sneath Lane scenic corridors need voter approval. Measure N in 2014 relaxed height, density and parking-garage limits in the Transit Corridors Plan area.
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more san bruno neighborhood guides
Neighborhood guides in San Bruno
See every guide in the Nerd Portal.