Portola Valley is a somewhat small town located in the state of California. With a population of 6,658 people and two constituent neighborhoods, Portola Valley is the 486th largest community in California.

Portola Valley is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 97.03% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Portola Valley is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Portola Valley who work in management occupations (24.46%), sales jobs (10.06%), and business and financial occupations (9.55%).

And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Portola Valley has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.

Also of interest is that Portola Valley has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Of important note, Portola Valley is also a town of artists. Portola Valley has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Portola Valley's character.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 11.78% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

In addition, Portola Valley is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates." Urban sophisticates are educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums.

Because of many things, Portola Valley is a great place for families with children to consider. First of all, many other families with children live here, making Portola Valley a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families, as well as find family-oriented services and community. The town's good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic values. With regard to real estate, Portola Valley has a high rate of owner-occupied single family homes, which tends to reflect stability in the local community. Finally, Portola Valley's overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.

As is often the case in a small town, Portola Valley doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.

Portola Valley Information and Demographics

Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Portola Valley. 80.59% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 14.96%.

The per capita income in Portola Valley in 2000 was $96,373, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $385,492 for a family of four. However, Portola Valley contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Portola Valley home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Portola Valley is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Portola Valley include English, German, European, Irish, Italian, French, Scottish, Russian, British, and Norwegian.

The most common language spoken in Portola Valley is English. Some people also speak Spanish.