Work & commute · Hillsborough

Work & commute in Hillsborough, CA

Most working residents leave Hillsborough for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are San Francisco (23%), San Mateo (7%) and South San Francisco (5%). Half commute less than 15 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

167 of 4,220 working residents

Typical commute

15 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

27 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

36%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 4,053 Hillsborough residents head out of town to work, 167 work right here, and 1,925 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Hillsborough.

4,053live here, work elsewhere

167live and work here

1,925work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Hillsborough goes to work

San Francisco38.7 mi away

23%979

San Mateo2.6 mi away

7%294

South San Francisco6.8 mi away

5%224

Burlingame2.3 mi away

5%200

Hillsborough (in town)right here

4%167

San Jose34.9 mi away

4%152

Menlo Park12.7 mi away

4%150

Palo Alto16.2 mi away

3%146

Redwood City8.4 mi away

3%138

Mountain View18.8 mi away

2%95

Everywhere elseother towns and states

40%1,675

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Hillsborough commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

30%

48%

11%

30%Under 10 mi

48%10–24 mi

11%25–50 mi

11%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Hillsborough is a commuter town

0.50jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.50 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Hillsborough are

2,092 jobs are based in Hillsborough. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hillsborough’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Hillsborough

2,092 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)4%

Trade, transport & utilities3%

Services (health, schools, offices…)92%

$1,250 a month or less9%

$1,251–$3,333 a month16%

Over $3,333 a month75%

Jobs Hillsborough residents hold

4,220 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities14%

Services (health, schools, offices…)75%

$1,250 a month or less8%

$1,251–$3,333 a month12%

Over $3,333 a month81%

+32%

Jobs based in Hillsborough, 2013 → 2023: 1,590 → 2,092. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.