Emerald Lake Hills vs Portola Valley

A side-by-side comparison of Emerald Lake Hills and Portola Valley: population, income, housing, and more.

Emerald Lake Hills and Portola Valley are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Emerald Lake Hills has the higher population (4,396 vs 4,329 in Portola Valley). Both have a median household income of $250,001. Both have a median home value of $2,000,001.

Population, income & housing

	Emerald Lake Hills	Portola Valley
Population	4,396	4,329
Median age	45.8 yrs	58.0 yrs
Median household income	$250,001	$250,001
Median home value	$2,000,001	$2,000,001
Median gross rent	$3,501	$3,501
Housing units	1,634	1,840
Homeownership rate	92.2%	83.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	75.6%	82.8%
Unemployment rate	2.5%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Emerald Lake Hills	Portola Valley
Population	4,721 → 4,396 (-6.9%)	4,592 → 4,329 (-5.7%)
Median household income	$229,167 → $250,001 (+9.1%)	$224,554 → $250,001 (+11.3%)
Median home value	$1,989,200 → $2,000,001 (+0.5%)	$2,000,001 → $2,000,001 (+0.0%)
Median gross rent	$3,182 → $3,501 (+10.0%)	$2,986 → $3,501 (+17.2%)

Emerald Lake Hills

Population

4,7214,396

Median household income

$229,167$250,001

Median home value

$1,989,200$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$3,182$3,501

Portola Valley

Population

4,5924,329

Median household income

$224,554$250,001

Median home value

$2,000,001$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,986$3,501

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Emerald Lake Hills	Portola Valley
Under 5	6.1%	5.6%
5 to 17	16.7%	12.8%
18 to 24	3.3%	4.9%
25 to 34	9.2%	3.0%
35 to 44	13.4%	8.3%
45 to 54	15.2%	10.6%
55 to 64	16.5%	12.2%
65 to 74	14.5%	19.7%
75 and over	5.2%	22.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Emerald Lake Hills	Portola Valley
White (non-Hispanic)	70.6%	75.5%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	9.8%	9.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.9%
Two or more races	7.0%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	12.3%	9.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Emerald Lake Hills	Portola Valley
No high school diploma	0.4%	1.4%
High school graduate	6.5%	1.5%
Some college or associate's	17.5%	14.3%
Bachelor's degree	33.6%	31.1%
Graduate or professional degree	42.0%	51.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Emerald Lake Hills	Portola Valley
Drove alone	50.3%	39.5%
Carpooled	2.1%	0.0%
Public transit	1.7%	0.0%
Walked	4.4%	2.6%
Bicycle	1.1%	5.9%
Worked from home	37.6%	51.1%
Other means	2.7%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Emerald Lake Hills	Portola Valley
1-unit, detached	99.4%	83.4%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	1.6%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.9%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	13.2%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Emerald Lake Hills	Portola Valley
Poverty rate	1.1%	5.3%
Average household size	2.72	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	26	28
Median year structure built	1983	1970