Palo Alto, California

Palo Alto
City
City of Palo Alto
Baylands Nature Preserve, Ramona Street Architectural District, Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto History Museum, Palo Alto Circle
Flag Seal Logo
Etymology: from Spanish palo alto 'tall stick'
Location in Santa Clara County and California
Palo Alto Show map of San Francisco Bay Area Palo Alto Show map of California Palo Alto Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 37°25′45″N 122°8′17″W / 37.42917°N 122.13806°W / 37.42917; -122.13806
Country	United States
State	California
County	Santa Clara
Incorporated	April 23, 1894[1]
Named for	El Palo Alto
Government
• Type	Council-Manager
• Body	City council members:[2] Mayor Greer Stone Vice Mayor Ed Lauing Pat Burt Greg Tanaka Vicki Veenker Lydia Kou Julie Lythcott-Haims
• Mayor	Greer Stone
Area [3]
• Total	26.00 sq mi (67.35 km2)
• Land	24.10 sq mi (62.41 km2)
• Water	1.91 sq mi (4.94 km2)  7.38%
Elevation [4]	30 ft (9 m)
Population  (2020)[5]
• Total	68,572
• Density	2,871.52/sq mi (1,047.35/km2)
Time zone	UTC−8 (Pacific)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−7 (PDT)
ZIP Codes	94301, 94303, 94304, 94306
Area code	650
FIPS code	06-55282
GNIS feature IDs	277572, 2411362
Website	cityofpaloalto.org

Palo Alto (/ˌpæloʊ ˈæltoʊ/ PAL-oh AL-toh; Spanish for 'tall stick') is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.

The city of Palo Alto was established in 1894 by the American industrialist Leland Stanford when he founded Stanford University in memory of his son, Leland Stanford Jr. Palo Alto later expanded and now borders East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. At the 2020 census, the population was 68,572.^[5] Palo Alto is one of the most expensive cities in the United States in which to live,^[6][7] and its residents are among the most educated in the country. However, it also has a youth suicide rate four times higher than the national average, often attributed to academic pressure.^[8]

As one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto is home to the headquarters of multiple tech companies, including HP, Space Systems/Loral, VMware, and PARC. Palo Alto has also served as headquarters or the founding location of several other tech companies, including Apple,^[9] Google,^[10] Facebook, Logitech,^[11] Tesla,^[12] Intuit, IDEO, Pinterest, and PayPal. Ford Motor Company and Lockheed Martin each additionally maintain major research and technology facilities within Palo Alto.^[13][14]