What is Menlo Park Light?? Unincorporated Menlo Park has a lot of differences from the incorporated portion. For starters, the County Sheriffs are the primary police force and the building codes fall under San Mateo County and not Menlo Park. Those could either be pros or cons depending on your point of view.

Hi for the most part and having lived personally in both Incorporated and unincorporated areas of Menlo Park I would say that the only real concern is public services. Unincorporated areas are served by San Mateo County Fire and The San Mateo county sheriffs department. Instead of Menlo Fire and Police Department.
For the most part the service is seamless - however occasionally the response time can be a bit slower in the unincorporated areas.
Additionally unincorporated areas usually do not have street lights or sidewalks.
Generally speaking Menlo Park is a great place to live in either area.
Please feel free to email me personally for additional information on any specific areas that you may be considering.
Maury O'Hearn & Premier Property Group have a 40+ year knowledge of living and working in the Menlo-Atherton Area!

Chi,
There are several areas of Menlo Park that are unincorporated. In general, services and schools for these areas are provided by entities other than the City of Menlo Park. Things like water garbage, and police are provided by San Mateo County and other private companies. There is one unincorporated area west of the Alameda which is part of the Las Lomitas School District which is a wonderful school system. Many of the lots are smaller than the average city of Menlo Park lot so the houses can be more affordable. the other area that is unincorporated is the Fair Oaks neighborhood where the numbered streets are located. This area feeds into Redwood City Schools. It has a wonderful neighborhood feel and is often more affordable than other parts of Menlo Park. Here is a link to a blog post I wrote about some great things in Menlo Park.
http://interoreblog.com/category/market-area/menlo-park/
Marcy