Overview
About Hillsborough
Hillsborough covers 30.3 acres, the ninth largest of the fifty Aliso Viejo communities on this site, and holds 146 addresses across 159 mapped parcels. Four streets run inside it, all named for what grows on a dry hillside: Bearberry, Elderwood, Sagebrush and Timberland. The city zones 17.8 acres Residential Low Density, where the municipal code allows up to eight units to the gross acre, and gives a further 6.7 acres the Open Space Preservation designation, the sixth largest such holding of the fifty. At five addresses to the acre the measured density is the seventh lowest here.
Canyon View Park stands 400 feet from the boundary, 23.8 acres kept by the Aliso Viejo Community Association with sand volleyball, a tot lot, picnic tables, hiking trails and walkways. Acorn Park at three acres is 1,358 feet off. Capistrano Unified's own address locator assigns this ground to Don Juan Avila Elementary for TK through grade 5, then Don Juan Avila Middle and Aliso Niguel High, and both Don Juan Avila campuses sit 0.39 miles from the boundary.
View available homes in HillsboroughHistory
How Hillsborough was built
The name is borrowed from the wealthy town on the San Francisco Peninsula, but the four streets are pure Southern California chaparral: Bearberry, Sagebrush, Elderwood and Timberland. Chaparral is the hard leaved evergreen shrubland of California and northern Baja, built out of scrub oak, the ceanothus wild lilacs, toyon, sugar bush and coffeeberry, and it is exactly what covers the hills this community looks out over.
Hillsborough was first built in 1995, three to five bedroom houses of 2,000 to 2,521 square feet with vaulted ceilings, three car garages and pool sized back yards, 146 of them spread across 30.3 acres. Some of them look out over the valley.
By the Numbers
Hillsborough by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Hillsborough lifestyle
Schools
Schools serving Hillsborough
Capistrano Unified serves Hillsborough, and the district's own address locator returns one set of campuses across the boundary: Don Juan Avila Elementary for TK through grade 5, then Don Juan Avila Middle and Aliso Niguel High. Oak Grove Elementary is marginally nearer at 0.37 miles and is not the assignment. The tiles below carry federal enrollment counts and distances measured from the city's published boundary. Confirm the campus for a specific address with the district before it matters to an offer.
9-12 · 2,563 students
6-8 · 863 students
6-8 · 803 students
K-5 · 569 students
K-5 · 672 students
K-5 · 533 students
FAQs
Common questions about Hillsborough
How big is Hillsborough, and how many homes are there?
Measured against the boundary the City of Aliso Viejo publishes, Hillsborough covers 30.3 acres, the ninth largest of the fifty Aliso Viejo communities on this site. The city's address layer records 146 addresses inside it, across 159 mapped parcels.
How much of it is open space?
The city's general plan layer gives 6.7 of the 30.3 acres inside the boundary the Open Space Preservation designation, the sixth largest such holding of the fifty communities here, with 17.8 acres zoned Residential Low Density. The city's landscape maintenance layer records a further 1.1 acres filed as slopes.
Which schools serve Hillsborough?
Capistrano Unified's own address locator returns Don Juan Avila Elementary for TK through grade 5, then Don Juan Avila Middle and Aliso Niguel High, and it returns the same three at every interior point across the boundary. Both Don Juan Avila campuses are 0.39 miles from the boundary, the elementary with 672 students and the middle school with 863 on the 2024-25 federal count. Aliso Niguel High is 1.72 miles off with 2,563.
When was Hillsborough subdivided?
Eight maps cover it, recorded between 10 May 1994 and 24 April 1997. Van Dell and Associates engineered all eight. Only Pacific Ridge, with fourteen, carries more among the fifty communities here, and only Carmel carries as many. A recorded map dates the subdivision rather than the buildings on it.
How dense is it, and what does the code allow?
At 146 addresses over 30.3 acres the measured density is five to the acre, the seventh lowest of the fifty communities here. The 17.8 acres zoned Residential Low Density carry a municipal code ceiling of eight units to the gross acre, which the code describes as low density neighborhoods of single-family detached or attached residences.