What are the schools and transit like in Burlingame?
Burlingame’s school district is a consistent strength that draws families from across the Peninsula. The Burlingame Elementary School District serves K-8 with a network of campuses that have maintained strong academic performance and community engagement. Roosevelt Elementary, Franklin Elementary, Washington Elementary, and Hoover Elementary serve the city’s different residential areas, with Lincoln Elementary serving students in the eastern portions. For high school, Burlingame students attend Burlingame High School in the San Mateo Union High School District — a comprehensive campus with strong academic programming and one of the better-funded public high school environments in San Mateo County. Mills High School in Millbrae also serves portions of the area. Private school options including Notre Dame de Namur University’s preparatory programs and the range of independent schools in the peninsula are accessible within 15 to 25 minutes.
Caltrain service from the Burlingame station connects north to San Francisco’s 4th and King station (approximately 25 to 30 minutes) and south through the Peninsula to San Jose (approximately 45 minutes). For commuters who use Caltrain as their primary mode, the station’s central position within the city makes it genuinely walkable or bikeable from most Burlingame residential neighborhoods. Highway 101 and Highway 280 provide freeway options for car commuters, with 101 providing the fastest direct route to SFO and the Bay corridor. The city’s Caltrain station and Broadway commercial district are the dual civic anchors that most Burlingame residents organize their daily life around.
Broadway is Burlingame’s most significant lifestyle amenity — a commercial corridor with an unusually high density of locally owned and operated restaurants, boutiques, and service businesses that reflects the city’s affluent but community-oriented residential culture. The street is walkable, maintains a genuine neighborhood commercial character, and consistently attracts new restaurant and retail openings. For buyers evaluating Burlingame against neighboring cities — Millbrae, San Mateo, Foster City — Broadway is frequently cited as a differentiating quality-of-life attribute that tips the balance toward Burlingame for lifestyle-conscious buyers.
MarketTrends
How is the Burlingame Real Estate real estate market?
Burlingame is one of the San Francisco Peninsula’s most consistently desirable mid-tier luxury markets, with a 2026 median home price of approximately $2.85 to $2.9 million and strong year-over-year appreciation driven by its proximity to San Francisco International Airport, Caltrain connectivity, and the mature tree canopy that earned the city its longtime designation as the “City of Trees.” Individual sub-neighborhoods vary significantly in their price positioning: Burlingame Park sits at the top of the market at a $3.8 million median, Burlingame Village trades in the $2.05 to $3.2 million range for single-family homes, and Downtown Burlingame’s condo and apartment inventory creates a much lower sub-$1.5 million entry point into the city.
Market velocity in Burlingame reflects a moderating Bay Area environment following the intensity of the pandemic-era competition. Approximately 52% of homes sell above asking price — still a strong seller’s market indicator — but down from the 70-plus percent peaks of prior years. Homes are spending slightly more time on the market than during peak periods, giving buyers modestly more time to evaluate and negotiate than was possible in the most competitive years. For buyers who were shut out of Burlingame’s market during the peak, this moderation represents an improved entry window into a market with fundamentally strong long-term characteristics.
The fundamentals driving Burlingame’s sustained demand are structural: SFO proximity (under 5 minutes by car), Caltrain service to both San Francisco and San Jose from the Burlingame station, excellent schools in the Burlingame School District (consistently among San Mateo County’s highest performers), and the residential amenity of Broadway’s dining and retail corridor that gives Burlingame an active commercial identity that Hillsborough and other neighboring estate communities deliberately lack. These factors attract a broad buyer pool — technology and biotech professionals, frequent travelers, families focused on school quality, and buyers who value active commercial street life within a residential city framework.
Per-square-foot pricing in Burlingame ranges from approximately $900 to $1,400 depending on neighborhood, property condition, and lot size. The city’s tree-lined residential streets and well-maintained housing stock support consistent price performance across market cycles. Buyers who purchased Burlingame real estate in any prior decade have generally seen meaningful appreciation over holding periods of five years or longer, and the combination of limited supply and sustained demand is expected to continue supporting that long-term trend.
What is the real estate market like in Easton Addition?
- Burlingame ranks among the San Francisco Peninsula’s most consistently desirable mid-tier luxury markets, the broader context that frames Easton Addition pricing.
- Proximity to San Francisco International Airport, Caltrain connectivity, and a mature tree canopy earned the city its longtime “City of Trees” designation.
- Sub-neighborhoods vary significantly in price positioning, with Burlingame Park at the top and downtown condo inventory creating a lower entry point.
- Market velocity reflects a moderating Bay Area environment following the intensity of pandemic-era competition across Burlingame and Easton Addition.
- Homes spend slightly more time on the market than during peak periods, giving buyers modestly more room to evaluate and negotiate.
- Structural fundamentals include SFO proximity, Caltrain service to San Francisco and San Jose, excellent Burlingame School District campuses, and Broadway’s dining corridor.
- Buyers drawn to Easton Addition and greater Burlingame include technology and biotech professionals, frequent travelers, and families focused on school quality.
- Tree-lined residential streets and well-maintained housing stock support consistent price performance across market cycles throughout Burlingame and Easton Addition.
What does ‘Easton Addition’ refer to?
The Easton Addition name reflects the Easton family’s historical role as early significant landowners in the Burlingame area. Anson Burlingame, for whom the city was named, and the Easton family are among the earliest figures in the area’s transition from agricultural land to residential development. The ‘Addition’ designation reflects the historical practice of describing new residential subdivisions added to a city or town as ‘additions’ — a term that characterized early California and American city planning. The name has persisted as the neighborhood’s designation even as the area has become a fully integrated part of Burlingame’s residential fabric.
Is Easton Addition near El Camino Real?
Yes. Easton Addition’s eastern portion is close to El Camino Real, the major north-south commercial arterial that runs through most Peninsula cities. This proximity provides walking or short-drive access to grocery stores, pharmacy, fast food, and other commercial services that are available along El Camino’s commercial strip. The trade-off is that properties closest to El Camino may experience more ambient traffic noise than the more interior Burlingame residential blocks. Buyers should assess the specific level of El Camino exposure for any property under consideration by visiting during active traffic hours and evaluating interior noise levels.
How does Easton Addition pricing compare to the rest of Burlingame?
Easton Addition properties typically trade at a modest discount to comparable Burlingame homes in more western or interior residential sections of the city, reflecting the El Camino proximity and the slightly less purely residential character of the neighborhood’s eastern edge. This pricing differential creates an opportunity for buyers who want Burlingame’s school district and community quality at a more accessible price point. Renovation opportunities are also more readily available in Easton Addition’s mid-century housing stock than in the more fully renovated premium neighborhoods, allowing buyers to create value through targeted improvements.
What are the transit options from Easton Addition?
Easton Addition benefits from the Burlingame Caltrain station being accessible within a short drive, providing rail service to San Francisco and South Bay employment centers. The SamTrans bus network also serves El Camino Real with several routes that connect to BART and Caltrain stations. Highway 101 access is more direct from Easton Addition than from the city’s western neighborhoods, benefiting car commuters who use the 101 corridor. SFO is under 10 minutes by car. The neighborhood’s eastern position provides efficient access to the freeway infrastructure that connects Burlingame to the Bay Area’s broader employment geography.
Burlingame Real Estate FAQs
What makes Burlingame’s “City of Trees” designation so significant? Burlingame’s exceptional urban tree canopy — planted primarily in the early 20th century by the city’s founders along the residential street rights-of-way — creates one of the most distinctive streetscape environments in the Bay Area. The trees (primarily large deciduous and evergreen species including elm, sycamore, maple, and redwood) provide the aesthetic character that distinguishes Burlingame’s residential streets, and the city’s active Urban Forestry program maintains and replaces the canopy as trees reach end of life. The tree canopy is a genuine driver of residential premium in the neighborhoods where it is most developed.
How are Burlingame’s schools? The Burlingame School District (elementary and middle) consistently ranks among the top districts in San Mateo County, with high test scores and strong parent engagement. High school students attend Burlingame High School (San Mateo Union HSD) or Mills High School (for properties in certain southern portions of the city). Both high schools are highly regarded; the district assignment depends on which elementary school the student attends.
How far is Burlingame from SFO? San Francisco International Airport is approximately 3-5 miles from downtown Burlingame — one of the closest residential communities to SFO of any Bay Area city with a strong residential market. The SFO proximity creates the noise tradeoff that the buyer must evaluate (the flight paths over the Bay mean some neighborhoods experience more aircraft noise than others), but for the frequent business traveler, the SFO proximity is a genuine lifestyle convenience that the Burlingame address specifically delivers.
