Palo Alto

Population & Demographics

Palo Alto, CA

Palo Alto is home to 67,237 people. Explore its demographics, housing, and economy — plus how its 30,001 resident workers commute each day.

CaliforniaCensus ACS 5-Year · LODES 2023
67,237
people
Population

67,237 residents

Median age 43.6 · U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year (2024).

Palo Alto population & demographics

Who lives in Palo Alto — population, age, housing, and income, from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Population
67,237
Median age
43.6yrs
Median household income
$231,101
Median home value
$2,000,001
Median gross rent
$3,484/mo
Bachelor’s degree or higher
82.3%
Poverty rate
6.0%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 5-Year Estimates. Values shown as “—” are suppressed or unavailable for this place.

Race & ethnicity in Palo Alto

How Palo Alto breaks down by race and ethnicity — each bar is that group’s share of the population, from the U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year (2024).

White45.0%
Asian38.1%
Hispanic or Latino7.9%
Two or more races6.5%
Black1.8%
Some other race0.4%
American Indian / Alaska Native0.2%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander0.1%

Race across Palo Alto

Each dot is a group of people, placed in their 2020 Census block and colored by race or ethnicity — the pattern shows where groups live across Palo Alto.

Palo Alto at a glance
Employed Residents
30,001
Fewer than the city’s total population
Median home–work distance
10.3mi
Straight-line, not road distance
Work Locally
16.2%
Share working within the area
Work from home
35.4%
Residents who work from home (ACS)
Top destination outside city
San Jose
Excludes local — most work in-city

These figures are for Palo Alto proper — the Census place within its city limits — not the surrounding metro area. Metro-wide totals you’ll see elsewhere are larger because they bundle in neighboring cities and suburbs.

How Palo Alto commutes

Every dot is a worker moving between home and job. Trace where the area pulls people in from — and where its residents head each day.

69
Commute Score

69 / 100

How short the typical commute is here, on an absolute 0–100 scale (higher is shorter). How it’s calculated.

Palo Alto

30,001 commutes, one dot at a time

Palo Alto

Where 30,001 workers commute

Each dot ≈ 75 workers

Where residents work

Top destinations for people who live in Palo Alto, by worker count.

1Palo Alto0.0 mi4,862
2San Jose16.8 mi2,639
3Stanford1.6 mi2,383
4San Francisco28.0 mi2,324
5Mountain View4.0 mi2,301
6Menlo Park2.8 mi1,686
7Sunnyvale7.4 mi1,570
8Santa Clara10.7 mi1,243

Who commutes in

Top origin places for workers who travel into Palo Alto.

1San Jose16.8 mi15,625
2San Francisco28.0 mi6,248
3Sunnyvale7.4 mi5,571
4Fremont11.5 mi4,976
5Palo Alto0.0 mi4,862
6Mountain View4.0 mi4,228
7Santa Clara10.7 mi3,428
8Redwood City6.5 mi2,962

Top industries

The sectors that employ Palo Alto’s workforce. Each bar is scaled to that sector’s share of all local jobs — the top sectors shown don’t add up to 100%.

Bar length = each sector’s share of all local jobs (0–100%)
HCHealth Care and Social Assistance29.5%
PTProfessional, Scientific, and Technical Services20.6%
INInformation16.1%
MFManufacturing5.0%
AFAccommodation and Food Services5.0%
FIFinance and Insurance3.9%
RTRetail Trade3.6%
MGManagement of Companies and Enterprises3.3%
EDEducational Services3.0%
Connectivity

Internet options for Palo Alto

The biggest home-internet providers in the area — tap any to compare local plans.

6 providers · 3 with fiber
Speed availabilityshare of homes a plan reaches
1 Gbps~all homes
2 Gbps100%
5 Gbps83%
8 Gbps0%
See all internet providers in Palo Alto

FindBetterInternet is a CensusFlow partner site — we link out so you can compare local plans, and CensusFlow’s Census data stays independent. Provider data is from the FCC National Broadband Map (satellite + fixed wireless excluded).