Work & commute · Portola Valley

Work & commute in Portola Valley, CA

Most working residents leave Portola Valley for work: only 5% work in town. The top destinations are Palo Alto (9%), San Francisco (9%) and Menlo Park (7%). Half commute less than 13 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

71 of 1,519 working residents

Typical commute

13 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

49%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,448 Portola Valley residents head out of town to work, 71 work right here, and 1,120 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Portola Valley.

1,448live here, work elsewhere

71live and work here

1,120work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Portola Valley goes to work

Palo Alto5.4 mi away

9%130

San Francisco50.4 mi away

9%130

Menlo Park9.2 mi away

7%108

San Jose23.5 mi away

7%100

Stanford5.6 mi away

7%99

Mountain View8.8 mi away

6%84

Portola Valley (in town)right here

5%71

Redwood City10.4 mi away

4%62

Sunnyvale11.4 mi away

3%45

Santa Clara14.6 mi away

3%44

Everywhere elseother towns and states

43%646

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

How far

How far Portola Valley commutes

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

43%

27%

16%

14%

43%Under 10 mi

27%10–24 mi

16%25–50 mi

14%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Portola Valley is balanced between jobs and homes

0.78jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.78 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Portola Valley are

1,191 jobs are based in Portola Valley. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Portola Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Portola Valley

1,191 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)3%

Trade, transport & utilities3%

Services (health, schools, offices…)94%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month14%

Over $3,333 a month75%

Jobs Portola Valley residents hold

1,519 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities8%

Services (health, schools, offices…)79%

$1,250 a month or less6%

$1,251–$3,333 a month10%

Over $3,333 a month84%

+17%

Jobs based in Portola Valley, 2013 → 2023: 1,020 → 1,191. 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.