[7] Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many high-technology companies, such as Intel, locally known as the Silicon Forest.

In addition to high-tech industry, sectors important to Hillsboro's economy are health care, retail sales, and agriculture, including grapes and wineries.

Modes of transportation include private vehicles, public buses and light rail, and aircraft using the Hillsboro Airport.

The European-American community was founded by David Hill, Isaiah Kelsey, and Richard Williams, who arrived in the Tualatin Valley in 1841, followed by six more pioneers in 1842.

[8] The locality went by two other names—East Tualatin Plains and Columbia—before it was named "Hillsborough" in February 1850 in honor of Hill, when he sold part of his land claim to the county.

[9] Hill was to be paid $200 for his land after plots had been sold for the town site,[9] but he died before this occurred, and his widow Lucinda received the funds.

[15] In January 1914, the Southern Pacific Railroad introduced its own interurban service, known as the Red Electric, on a separate line and serving different communities between Hillsboro and Portland.

[20] A drinking water and electricity distribution system added in 1892–93 gave the town three fire hydrants and minimal street lighting.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the privately owned company Tualatin Valley Buses, Inc., provided transit service connecting Hillsboro with Beaverton and Portland.

[27][28] In 1972, the Hillsboro City Council passed a Green River Ordinance banning door-to-door solicitation, but it was ruled unconstitutional by the Oregon Supreme Court in a 1988 decision.

In 2008, SolarWorld opened a facility producing solar wafers, crystals, and cells, the largest plant of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

Neighboring communities in addition to Beaverton are Aloha, Cornelius, Glencoe, North Plains, Reedville, Scholls, and West Union.

[51] The Willamette Valley in which Hillsboro lies receives the majority of its precipitation during the winter months, with the wettest period from November through March.

[74] Statistics published by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission showed a slight downward trend in the Washington County crime rate between 1991 and 2005.

These cable landings, lower energy costs, and tax breaks led to a boom of data centers being built starting about 2010.

[90] Hillsboro serves as the corporate headquarters for Rodgers Instruments, Soloflex, Norm Thompson Outfitters, and Parr Lumber, among others.

[91] Hillsboro is also home to the Laika stop-motion animation studio, creator of the Oscar-nominated feature films Coraline (2009) and Paranorman (2012).

[93] The Hatfield Government Center in Hillsboro is the western terminus of the MAX Blue Line, part of the Portland metropolitan area's light-rail system.

[98] The $55 million outdoor complex with 368,000 sq ft (34,200 m2) of retail space opened in 2004 with Meier & Frank (later Macy's) as the anchor tenant.

[118] Properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in and around Hillsboro include the Old Scotch Church, completed in 1876 north of the city.

[127] Located at Shute Park was the 25 ft (7.6 m) tall wood sculpture Chief Kno-Tah, donated to Hillsboro and dedicated in 1987 as part of Peter Wolf Toth's Trail of the Whispering Giants.

[136] As of 2025, Beach Pace was the mayor; Olivia Alcaire, Kipperlyn Sinclair, Saba Anvery, Elizabeth Case, and Rob Harris were the city councilors.

[142] In the House, Districts 24 (Ron Noble), 26 (Courtney Neron), 29 (Susan McClain) and 30 (Janeen Sollman) cover the city.

[143] Parts of county commissioner districts 1 (Nafisa Fai), 2 (Pam Treece), and 4 (Jerry Willey) overlap the city.

[66] Total enrollment as of the 2022–23 school year was 18,872 students, making it the fourth-largest district in the state (behind Portland, Salem-Keizer, and Beaverton).

[148] The four traditional public high schools are, in order of creation: Post-secondary educational opportunities include the west campus of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)[150] while Pacific University operates a satellite Health Professions Campus in downtown adjacent to Tuality Community Hospital.

Other educational opportunities are available at the Work Force Training Center (Portland Community College) and a branch of the University of Phoenix.

It was replaced in 2019 by a Hillsboro edition of the News-Times, a weekly newspaper owned by the same company and based in nearby Forest Grove.

[126] Athletes include Erik Ainge, Scott Brosius, Colt Lyerla, Ad Rutschman, Wes Schulmerich, Wally Backman, and Olympic medalists Josh Inman, Thomas Garrigus, and Jean Saubert.

Hillsboro has also been home to Peggy Y. Fowler, the former chief executive officer of Portland General Electric, producer Bryce Zabel, the "Mother Queen of Oregon" Mary Ramsey Wood, Tommy Overstreet, musician Esperanza Spalding and professional wrestler Roddy Piper.