Millbrae, California.
Typical home $2,054,481 (+7.4% in a year), asking rent $4,081 (+17.7%). San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$5,202 (+93%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $141,785 +7%
- $1,912,696$2,054,481 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $321,181 +19%
- $1,733,300$2,054,481 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Millbrae$10,783
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 20 years.
Typical home values in Millbrae, CA rose 7.4% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Millbrae, CA rose 17.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Millbrae runs $9,947/mo more than renting one — the widest that gap has been in this data.
That is $14,028 a month against $4,081 rent: a $10,783 mortgage payment, plus $1,045 property tax and $2,199 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Millbrae
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$14,028
- Renting$4,081
- Mortgage only$10,783
Property tax · $1,045/mo 0.61% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for San Mateo County, CA
Insurance & upkeep · $2,199/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Living in Millbrae, San Mateo County, California
Millbrae is a city of 23,216 people in San Mateo County. Half its households earn more than $163,476 a year and half less, against $158,855 across San Mateo County; 6% of its people live below the poverty line. 61% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 39% are rented. Unemployment in San Mateo County was 4.0% in August 2026, and the county had 1.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then professional services.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Millbrae is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula, home to an older population than much of the country. Household incomes run a little above the county's, and fewer residents live below the poverty line than in many places. Most homes are lived in by their owners, though both home values and rents sit well above what is typical nationally, and a large share of adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cool and mild, with January the coldest month, summers stay moderate, and September is the warmest time of year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, as well as in professional and business services, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Among the largest workplaces in Millbrae are Millbrae Care Center, Millbrae Elementary Schools and Davidson Hotel Company. Commutes are fairly typical, and many people work from home. Unemployment in San Mateo County has edged down from a year ago, though the county has fewer jobs than it did the year before.
Things to do. The closest of the better-known places is Candlestick Park, a stadium a short drive away. A longer drive brings you to Golden Gate Park, a large garden, and to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, a museum. The California Academy of Sciences, an aquarium and science museum, is also a longer drive away.
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- 8,121households
- 53%of adults have a degree
- 6%below the poverty line
- 29 mintypical commute
- 22%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. San Mateo County had 411,346 jobs in 2025, 1.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 58° and lows near 44°; warmest in September, with highs near 75° and lows near 56°. About 20 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the San Francisco International Airport weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Millbrae
- Millbrae Care CenterSkilled nursing facilities183
- Millbrae Elementary SchoolsSchool district164FTE
- Davidson Hotel CompanyHotel management services163
- Magnolia of MillbraeAssisted-living facilities without on-site nursing care facilities124
- Trader Joe's 0170 MillbraeGrocery store115
- SafewaySupermarkets and other grocery stores105
- Cogir Senior LivingAssisted-living facilities with on-site nursing facilities98
- Davidson Hotel CompanyHotel management services62
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 11 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 982 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Coastal floodingRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Millbrae’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on San Mateo County and the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA metro.
Millbrae home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Millbrae$2,054,481
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 9 Millbrae listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Millbrae21
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Millbrae12
Zip codes with a Millbrae address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Millbrae — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.