> The majority of it is not Bel Air...

Menlo Park was never a "middle class" town. The 101 was always the (literal) redline.

The median household income is $210K [0] and it's the same demographic, unlike historically lower middle class but now upper middle class San Mateo [1].

A Menlo Park home address that is on the correct side of the 101 opens the same doors in the Bay that a Bel Air address does in Los Angeles or an Austin Hills address does in Austin.

Rich doesn't equal conspicuous, especially in the Bay Area - "Wealth is quiet, rich is loud, poor is flashy"

[0] - https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/menloparkcityca...

[1] - https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanmateocitycal...

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jen20 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> opens the same doors in the Bay that a Bel Air address does in Los Angeles or an Austin Hills address does in Austin.

West Lake Hills perhaps (which is not technically Austin) - Austin Hills is not remotely prestigious.

	▲	alephnerd an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> West Lake Hills perhaps Yep! That's what I meant - Rob Roy, Westlake Hills, Barton Creek around the country clubs, and Lost Creek. Those are the equivalents of much of Menlo Park and Atherton, and I know of a number of people who lived in Menlo+Atherton and moved to those areas of Austin in order to front-run taxes in the run-up of some significant exits.

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iknowstuff 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Which side is the rich side?

	▲	alephnerd 6 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		280 to El Camino is "oldish rich" (made their millions in the 1980s-2000s), the El Camino to 101 is "new rich" (made their millions in the 2000s-2010s), and 101 to Meta used to be a Samoan ghetto (literally, redlining was legal until the 60s and unofficially the norm until the 90s) until they were gentrified out. The old money (rich before tech) to the West of 280 in Woodside and Portola Valley.
	▲	pottertheotter 6 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		South of 101