Palo Alto is a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, a U.S. state in Santa Clara County. It is part of the Silicon Valley and home to Stanford University and several successful computer industries. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,598. Palo Alto is home to the headquarters of Hewlett-Packard.
Palo Alto's sister city in Sweden is Linköping.
A good description of high-tech life in Palo Alto around 1995 is found in the novel by Douglas Coupland, Microserfs. One visible trend at the time was people moving to live in San Francisco, but driving down Route 280 to work in the valley.
Geography
Palo Alto is located at 37°25'45" North, 122°8'17" West (37.429289, -122.138162)1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 66.4 km² (25.6 mi²). 61.3 km² (23.7 mi²) of it is land and 5.1 km² (2.0 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 7.65% water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 58,598 people, 25,216 households, and 14,600 families residing in the city. The population density is 955.8/km² (2,475.3/mi²). There are 26,048 housing units at an average density of 424.9/km² (1,100.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 75.76% White, 2.02% African American, 0.21% Native American, 17.22% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 1.41% from other races, and 3.24% from two or more races. 4.65% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 25,216 households out of which 27.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% are married couples living together, 7.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% are non-families. 32.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.30 and the average family size is 2.95.
In the city the population is spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 25.9% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 40 years. For every 100 females there are 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 93.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $90,377, and the median income for a family is $117,574. Males have a median income of $91,051 versus $60,202 for females. The per capita income for the city is $56,257. 4.8% of the population and 3.2% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 4.0% are under the age of 18 and 5.0% are 65 or older.
