Montara vs Portola Valley

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

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

Portola Valley has the higher population (4,329 vs 2,897 in Montara). Portola Valley has the higher median household income ($250,001 vs $201,367 in Montara). Portola Valley has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,467,400 in Montara).

Population, income & housing

	Montara	Portola Valley
Population	2,897	4,329
Median age	56.0 yrs	58.0 yrs
Median household income	$201,367	$250,001
Median home value	$1,467,400	$2,000,001
Median gross rent	—	$3,501
Housing units	1,226	1,840
Homeownership rate	89.5%	83.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	62.1%	82.8%
Unemployment rate	9.5%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Montara	Portola Valley
Population	2,504 → 2,897 (+15.7%)	4,592 → 4,329 (-5.7%)
Median household income	$93,167 → $201,367 (+116.1%)	$224,554 → $250,001 (+11.3%)
Median home value	$1,012,400 → $1,467,400 (+44.9%)	$2,000,001 → $2,000,001 (+0.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,708 → $1,803 (+5.6%)	$2,986 → $3,501 (+17.2%)

Montara

Population

2,5042,897

Median household income

$93,167$201,367

Median home value

$1,012,400$1,467,400

Median gross rent

$1,708$1,803

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)

	Montara	Portola Valley
Under 5	3.2%	5.6%
5 to 17	10.0%	12.8%
18 to 24	13.8%	4.9%
25 to 34	5.6%	3.0%
35 to 44	9.5%	8.3%
45 to 54	5.7%	10.6%
55 to 64	19.0%	12.2%
65 to 74	26.0%	19.7%
75 and over	7.1%	22.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Montara	Portola Valley
White (non-Hispanic)	77.2%	75.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.8%	9.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.9%
Two or more races	3.5%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	17.5%	9.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Montara	Portola Valley
No high school diploma	6.2%	1.4%
High school graduate	8.0%	1.5%
Some college or associate's	23.8%	14.3%
Bachelor's degree	23.0%	31.1%
Graduate or professional degree	39.1%	51.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Montara	Portola Valley
Drove alone	55.9%	39.5%
Carpooled	5.9%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	5.9%
Worked from home	31.3%	51.1%
Other means	6.9%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Montara	Portola Valley
1-unit, detached	87.4%	83.4%
1-unit, attached	12.6%	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

	Montara	Portola Valley
Poverty rate	3.6%	5.3%
Average household size	2.71	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	31	28
Median year structure built	1975	1970