South Hillsborough

South Hillsborough is one of the cozy K-5 schools in Hillsborough, California, one of the schools within Hillsborough City Elementary, with 244 students on its rolls from grades K through 5. That puts it 48% below the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

South Hillsborough is one of 4 schools operated by Hillsborough City Elementary, a district that teaches 1,239 students overall.

On demographics, South Hillsborough logs that the most-represented group is White (43%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder looks like 33% Asian, 14% multiracial, 9% Hispanic.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.9:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 5% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against San Mateo County (around 34%), the school's rate is south of typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), South Hillsborough tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 76.3% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 89.7%.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for San Mateo County indicate the typical household earns roughly $158,855 per year, roughly 54% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. South Hillsborough is one of 176 public schools in San Mateo County (combined enrollment of about 82,403 students).

The closest other public school is San Mateo Park Elementary, roughly 0.6 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around South Hillsborough. On composite proficiency, South Hillsborough comes 1st of 8 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 56.7%.

The campus sits in a residential setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count expanded 18%: 207 students in 2018 compared to 244 in 2025. The White share of enrollment decreased from 59% to 43% over that span. Class-load math has tightened: from 18.8:1 in 2018 to 14.9:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the feed for South Hillsborough typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.