Millbrae is a city in northern San Mateo County, California, United States. To the northeast is San Francisco International Airport; San Bruno is to the northwest, and Burlingame is to the southeast. It is bordered by San Andreas Lake to the southwest. The population was 23,216 at the 2020 census. Millbrae has Sister City relationships with La Serena, Chile and Mosta, Malta, as well as a friendship city agreement with Hanyu, Japan, Taishan, China, Ramallah, and Dongguan.
In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the Pacific coast near what is today Millbrae, though the expedition did not see the Golden Gate or the San Francisco Bay, likely due to the San Francisco fog. The Ohlone people may have met this expedition as they explored the Monterey Bay, about 50 miles southeast of Millbrae.
In 1595, Philip II of Spain tasked Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho with mapping the west coast of the Americas. Soromenho set sail on Manila Galleon San Agustin on July 5, 1595, and in early November they reached land between Point St. George and Trinidad Head. The expedition followed the coast southward and on November 7 the San Agustin anchored in Drakes Bay, about 40 miles northwest of Millbrae. In late November, a storm sank the San Agustin and killed between 7 and 12 people. On December 8, 80 remaining crew members set sail on the San Buenaventura, a launch which was partially constructed en route from the Philippines. Seeking the fastest route south, the expedition failed to notice the Golden Gate, arriving at Chacala on January 17, 1596.Aker (1965)
Through the opening in the center enters an estuary of salt water without any breaking of the waves at all, and by going in one will find friendly Indians and can easily take on water and wood.On November 4, 1769, the Portolà expedition climbed Sweeney Ridge and descended southeast parallel to San Andreas Creek before camping overnight near what is today San Andreas Lake and Millbrae's western border. The Portolà expedition continued southeast along the peninsula before turning back and returning to San Diego.
Gaspar de Portolá returned to the Bay Area the following year, accompanied by Junípero Serra, who established Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo—the second Spanish mission in Alta California—in what is today Monterey on June 3, 1770. Between 1769 and 1824 a total of 21 missions were established across Alta California.
The sixth Spanish mission in Alta California, Mission San Francisco de Asís was established on October 9, 1776, in what is today San Francisco's Mission District, about 10 miles north of Millbrae. Over the next few decades, many of the Ohlone people who lived in and around what is today Millbrae relocated to Mission San Francisco de Asís, where they were baptized. Nearly all the Indigenous people of the area around what is today Millbrae were baptized between 1777 and 1783, and by 1793, the 8 village sites in what are today San Francisco and northern San Mateo county had been abandoned and most of the Indigenous people of that area had relocated to Mission San Francisco.
The missions maintained authority over much of Alta California even after Mexico's independence from Spain 1821.
The Mexican Secularization Act of 1833 opened the lands of nearby Mission Dolores to civilian settlement, and the small town of Yerba Buena, which later changed its name to San Francisco, was established that year. Settlement was slow however; in 1847 San Francisco was said to have only 459 residents. Few people lived in what is now Millbrae at this time, likely only a few Californios families. California came under American rule in 1848 following the Mexican–American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and the Mexican Cession and California became the 31st state in of the United States in 1850. The discovery of gold relatively nearby in 1848 led to massive population growth, with San Francisco's population growing 5446% in just a few years, from 459 residents in 1847 to 25,000 in 1850. San Francisco County was one of the state's 18 original counties established at California statehood in 1850,Report of Committee on Counties, January 4, 1850, revised to 27 counties on February 18, 1850 – however in 1856, the California state government divided the county. A straight line was then drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of San Bruno Mountain, and everything south of the line became the new San Mateo County while everything north of the line became the new consolidated City and County of San Francisco.
In the 1860s, Darius Ogden Mills purchased a portion of Rancho Buri Buri from José de la Cruz Sánchez to build a country estate. The San Francisco and San Jose Railroad, predecessor to Caltrain, began operations in 1863, directly connecting Millbrae and other peninsula towns to Market Street, with service extending to San Jose in 1864. In 1872, members of the Sánchez family built the original Sixteen Mile House, a historical restaurant and rest stop near the Mills estate, and direct link to Millbrae's early days. The Mills estate was bordered by what is now Skyline Boulevard, U.S. Route 101 (the Bayshore Freeway), Millbrae Avenue and Trousdale Drive. The estate became known as "Millbrae" from "Mills" and the Scottish word "brae," which means "rolling hills" or "hill slope." Millbrae grew slowly during the 19th century; according to the 1890 US Census, the town had only 243 residents.
Millbrae's Green Hills Country Club was built in 1929 and designed by famed golf course architect Dr. Alister MacKenzie, who also designed other noteworthy courses such as Augusta National, Cypress Point, Royal Melbourne, and Pasatiempo. The course was originally known as the Union League Golf Club of San Francisco (1930 to 1933) and Millbrae Country Club (1933 to 1945). The course provides a green belt in the center of the city that is the home of many animals, such as the Red fox, that otherwise would not be able to survive in the urban setting. It also may be the only area of the city where natural Stream still flow above ground.
In 1931, citizens organized a volunteer fire department, which remained entirely volunteer until 1938. The police and were housed together for several years at Hillcrest Boulevard and El Camino Real before the vital services moved to their permanent location in Millbrae's civic center, a few blocks west of El Camino. Millbrae used a private patrol financed by fees from merchants and residents until 1941, when the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors created the Millbrae Police District. Records of the Internal Revenue Service document the licensing of several Millbrae bars for gambling; only after incorporation were gambling laws enforced in Millbrae and not until the 1950s was gambling defeated.
In the 1940s, a hilltop was shaved away to produce landfill for the expanding San Francisco Airport, which received an "international" designation in 1954 with the completion of the Central Terminal. Spurred largely by the desire to secure the Mills estate for residential use and by the efforts of Millbrae's weekly newspaper, the Millbrae Sun, residents heatedly discussed incorporation for over a decade before voting to incorporate. Finally, on January 14, 1948, residents of Millbrae traveled to Sacramento to present their new city's charter. W.F. Leutenegger was elected mayor to represent Millbrae's nearly 8,000 residents. That year, Green Hills Elementary School opened as Millbrae's first new school in over 25 years, in anticipation of the educational needs of the post-war "Baby boomers" children. The new city's chief industries were agriculture, floriculture, dairy, and Porcelain.
In the 1950s, Millbrae residents united to resist efforts to divide the city by the planned Junipero Serra Freeway (I-280), which was later routed parallel to Junipero Serra Boulevard, then through a canyon in San Bruno up to Skyline Boulevard. The streetcar line that connected Millbrae with San Francisco and San Mateo was dismantled just after Millbrae's incorporation in 1948, leaving the Southern Pacific Railroad as the only railway linking Millbrae with surrounding areas. Millbrae's high school students rode the streetcar to attend Burlingame High School until Capuchino High School opened on September 11, 1950. The original Sixteen Mile House was located where Millbrae O'Reilly Auto Parts stands today, at the intersection of El Camino Real and Center Street. The Millbrae estate mansion burned down in June 1954. After the fire the estate was subdivided and sold, with the bulk of the land going to the Paul Trousdale Construction Company in 1953 and eventually becoming the location for Mills High School, Spring Valley Elementary School, and Peninsula Hospital.
An unsuccessful effort to save the original Sixteen Mile House in the 1970s led to the birth of the Millbrae Historical Society and eventual successful crusades to save the Millbrae train station and the historic building that has become the Millbrae Historical Museum. Such challenges, though inevitable, have only strengthened Millbrae's resolve to preserve the city's unique character and rich history.
Millbrae's population skyrocketed for decades, increasing 10728% from 195 residents in 1880 to just shy of 21,000 in 1970, however the population decreased 4.1% between 1970 and 1980, and Millbrae would not reach its 1970 peak again until after the 2000 census.
Transportation continues to be a large driver of Millbrae's growth; SFO has become one of the busiest airports in the world, Junipero Serra Freeway, El Camino Real, and the Bayshore Freeway remain major thoroughfares between San Francisco and San Jose, and since 2003 Millbrae station has been the only station served by both BART and Caltrain. Millbrae station is also the only planned California High-Speed Rail stop between San Francisco and San José. In 2023, SamTrans announced that it would move its headquarters from San Carlos to the new office building at the Gateway at Millbrae, and in 2024, Caltrain, whose headquarters was in the same San Carlos building as SamTrans, announced that they would join SamTrans in relocating to the new office building at the Gateway. Millbrae nevertheless largely remains a Commuter town whose residents commute to jobs in various industries throughout the Bay Area.
In addition to the increasing awareness that came with becoming a BART terminus in the early 2000s, the city gained notoriety in the early 2020s following spats with the California High-Speed Rail Authority and the San Mateo County government, as well as a possible hate crime targeting then councilmember Anders Fung.
The census reported that 99.1% of the population lived in households, 0.5% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0.3% were institutionalized.
There were 8,272 households, out of which 33.0% included children under the age of 18, 58.4% were married-couple households, 4.5% were cohabitation couple households, 23.5% had a female householder with no partner present, and 13.6% had a male householder with no partner present. 20.5% of households were one person, and 11.7% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.78. There were 6,053 families (73.2% of all households).
The age distribution was 19.5% under the age of 18, 7.0% aged 18 to 24, 25.8% aged 25 to 44, 27.8% aged 45 to 64, and 20.0% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 43.3years. For every 100 females, there were 95.3 males.
There were 8,679 housing units at an average density of , of which 8,272 (95.3%) were occupied. Of these, 60.4% were owner-occupied, and 39.6% were occupied by renters.
In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that 40.4% of the population were foreign-born. Of all people aged 5 or older, 51.2% spoke only English at home, 7.9% spoke Spanish language, 5.7% spoke other Indo-European languages, 33.5% spoke Asian or Pacific Islander languages, and 1.7% spoke other languages. Of those aged 25 or older, 93.2% were high school graduates and 50.5% had a bachelor's degree.
The median household income in 2023 was $157,567, and the per capita income was $76,277. About 3.4% of families and 6.1% of the population were below the poverty line.
The census reported that 21,217 people (98.5% of the population) lived in households, 58 (0.3%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 257 (1.2%) were institutionalized.
There were 7,994 households, 2,593 (32.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 4,543 (56.8%) were marriage living together, 868 (10.9%) had a female householder with no husband present, 315 (3.9%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 268 (3.4%) POSSLQ, and 40 (0.5%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 1,883 households (23.6%) were one person and 1,059 (13.2%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.65. There were 5,726 families (71.6% of households); the average family size was 3.15.
The age distribution was 4,337 people (20.1%) under the age of 18, 1,523 people (7.1%) aged 18 to 24, 4,960 people (23.0%) aged 25 to 44, 6,476 people (30.1%) aged 45 to 64, and 4,236 people (19.7%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 44.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.7 males.
There were 8,372 housing units at an average density of 2,569.5 per square mile, of the occupied units 5,076 (63.5%) were owner-occupied and 2,918 (36.5%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.7%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.8%. 13,968 people (64.9% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 7,249 people (33.7%) lived in rental housing units.
In the United States House of Representatives, Millbrae is in .
According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, Millbrae has 12,850 registered voters. Of those, 5,733 (44.6%) are registered Democrats, 2,049 (16%) are registered Republicans, and 4,584 (35.7%) have declined to state a political party.
Millbrae has 5 city council members, one of which is the mayor, and another the vice mayor. City council members serve 4 year terms; the mayor and vice mayor are elected by the council and serve 1 year terms. Prior to 2022, residents of the city voted for city council members at-large, however in 2022 Millbrae switched from at-large to district city council elections.
The city has generally allowed each city council member to serve as mayor and vice mayor, and the city council has generally chosen for the vice mayor to succeed the mayor, however a council member other than the vice mayor has been chosen as mayor several times since 2015. In 2023, the city council initiated plans to codify its procedure for mayoral succession, following the contentious mayoral elections of 2022 and 2023 which saw Gina Papan, sister of aforementioned Diane Papan, be skipped in line for mayoral succession. Despite the Millbrae municipal code stipulating that "no one may serve in the office of mayor for two consecutive terms," the city council selected Anders Fung as mayor for the second consecutive year on December 10, 2024.
The city is served by the Millbrae Public Library of the San Mateo County Libraries, a member of the Peninsula Library System.
Millbrae has one private school at Saint Dunstan's, a Catholic church.
On December 29, 2014, the City of Millbrae combined services with Central County Fire which provides fire services to the cities of Millbrae and Burlingame and the town of Hillsborough. Millbrae has two fire stations within its city limits.
2010
Government
Education
Police and fire
Transportation
Roads
Public transport
Air transport
Economy
Top employers
1 Millbrae School District 246 2 San Francisco 231 3 Westin Hotel 144 4 Magnolia of Millbrae 122 5 Mills High School 114 6 A & C Health Care 113 7 Cadence Living Milbrae 110 8 City of Millbrae 109 9 Safeway 106 10 Best Western 97
Sister cities & Friendship cities
Notable residents
See also
Footnotes
External links
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