HomeCaliforniaSanta Clara CountyPalo Alto city
Palo Alto city, California: commercial real estate data.
Palo Alto city is a Census city of 67,237 people across 24.05 square miles of land, in Santa Clara County. Median household income is $231,101, 54.6 percent of occupied homes are owned, and the SBA record carries 50 7(a) approvals to borrowers here worth $35.2 m.
82 sourced place values · tier FULL · 9 sections · underlined figures are computed by MMCG Analytics, not published by the agency
Palo Alto
What Palo Alto is
- Census place typecity
- Land area24.05 sq mi
- Water area1.91 sq mi
- Population per square mile of land2,796
- County holding the largest share of its areaSanta Clara County, 100.0 percent
US Census Bureau, cartographic boundary file, places, 2024 vintage. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Palo Alto
How many people live in Palo Alto
- Population67,237
- Median age43.6
- Population under 1814,904
- Share under 1822.2 percent
- Population 65 and over13,369
- Share 65 and over19.9 percent
- Households26,021
- Family households17,628
- Share of households that are families67.7 percent
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Palo Alto
Income and work in Palo Alto
- Median household income$231,101
- Per capita income$123,939
- Civilian labor force33,951
- Employed32,617
- Unemployed1,334 plus or minus 269
- Unemployment rate3.9 percent plus or minus 0.8
- Adults 25 and over48,587
- Adults 25 and over with a high school diploma or higher96.8 percent
- Adults 25 and over with a bachelor degree or higher82.3 percent
- Adults 25 and over with a graduate degree55.0 percent
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Palo Alto
Housing in Palo Alto
- Housing units29,241
- Occupied units26,021
- Vacant units3,220
- Vacancy rate11.0 percent
- Owner occupied14,217
- Renter occupied11,804
- Ownership rate54.6 percent
- Median owner-occupied home value$2,000,001
- Median gross rent, monthly$3,484
- Annual rent as a share of median income18.1 percent
- Single family units18,626
- Share single family63.7 percent
- Units in buildings of two or more10,466
- Share in buildings of two or more35.8 percent
- Mobile homes149 plus or minus 148
- Median year structure built1963
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Palo Alto
How Palo Alto gets to work
- Workers 16 and over who commute20,872
- Commuting under 15 minutes5,880
- Share commuting under 15 minutes28.2 percent
- Commuting 30 minutes or more5,222
- Share commuting 30 minutes or more25.0 percent
- Drove alone44.2 percent
- Carpooled4.6 percent plus or minus 1.3
- Public transport2.0 percent plus or minus 0.6
- Walked4.6 percent plus or minus 1.2
- Worked from home35.4 percent
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Palo Alto
SBA loans in Palo Alto (7(a))
- Approvals50
- Gross approval$35,178,000
- Average approval$703,560
- Median approval$425,000
- Ninetieth percentile approval$2,036,700
- Largest approval$4,576,000
- Jobs supported667
- Jobs per approval13.3
- Loans with a final outcome7
- Paid in full6
- Charged off1
- Median term120 months
- Share on real estate terms of 20 years or more6.0 percent
- Share to franchises6.0 percent
- Distinct lenders26
- Distinct industries by NAICS31
A charge-off rate is not published here. only 7 resolved loans, too few to publish a rate, and a rate over that few outcomes would move several points on one loan.
US Small Business Administration, 7(a) FOIA release, FY2020 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.
Palo Alto
SBA loans in Palo Alto (504)
- Approvals30
- Gross approval$42,626,000
- Average approval$1,420,867
- Median approval$1,112,000
- Largest approval$4,976,000
- Jobs supported464
- Loans with a final outcome15
- Charged off0
- Charge-off rate over resolved loans0.0 percent
- Median term240 months
- Distinct CDCs7
US Small Business Administration, 504 FOIA release, FY2010 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.
Palo Alto
Flood risk in Palo Alto
- Listed NFIP communities1
- Of those, participating1
- Best Community Rating System classClass 6
- NFIP community number060348
- Currently effective map date05/18/09
FEMA, National Flood Insurance Program Community Status Book, Community Status Book, as retrieved.
Santa Clara County, not Palo Alto
Santa Clara County context, not Palo Alto figures
These are Santa Clara County figures. There is no place level equivalent published for any of them, so they are shown as the county backdrop and never as Palo Alto measurements.
- Establishments in Santa Clara County49,154
- Employment at those establishments, Santa Clara County1,171,397
- Covered employment, Santa Clara County1,116,581
- Average annual pay, Santa Clara County$197,043
- Average weekly wage, Santa Clara County$3,789
- Housing units permitted, Santa Clara County3,834
- Of those, single family, Santa Clara County1,926
- County product, 2024, Santa Clara County$438,483,301,000
- County product change over the prior year, Santa Clara County8.4 percent
- Average income of an arriving household, Santa Clara County$183,973
Every figure in this section is published for Santa Clara County as a whole and is not a measurement of Palo Alto. It is here because a county backdrop is what a credit committee reads a place against, and it is labelled so that it can never be quoted as the place's own.
US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages. US Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2024 annual. US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional, table CAGDP2, CAGDP2, through 2024. US Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income county migration flows, 2021 to 2022 filing years.
Coverage
What this page does not hold.
Every item below could be filled with a plausible figure. None of them is. On a page a lender may read, a number that cannot be traced is worse than an absence, so the absences are named.
- Parcel level detail, zoning and flood zone at an address are resolved in the platform, not on this page.
SBA figures count approvals to borrowers whose address is in the place. They are not approvals for projects inside the place boundary: the tape records a borrower city and a project county, and those can differ.
Common questions
Palo Alto questions, answered from the record.
How many people live in Palo Alto, California?
67,237, in 26,021 households. Palo Alto city covers 24.05 square miles of land, which is 2,796 people per square mile. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
What county is Palo Alto in?
Santa Clara County, which holds 100.0 percent of the place by area. Source: US Census Bureau, cartographic boundary file, places, 2024 vintage.
What is the median household income in Palo Alto?
$231,101. The median owner-occupied home is valued at $2,000,001. Median gross rent is $3,484 per month. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
How much SBA lending goes to Palo Alto businesses?
50 7(a) approvals totalling $35.2 m, across 26 lenders, median approval $425,000, plus 30 504 approvals worth $42.6 m. These count approvals to borrowers whose address is in Palo Alto, not projects sited inside the place boundary, and they are approvals recorded in the release rather than loans disbursed.
Do SBA loans to Palo Alto borrowers get paid back?
No rate is published for Palo Alto. only 7 resolved loans, too few to publish a rate, and a percentage over that few outcomes would move several points on a single loan. The counts are shown instead.
Is Palo Alto in the National Flood Insurance Program?
Yes. Palo Alto appears in the FEMA Community Status Book as community 060348, carrying Community Rating System class 6, which is a premium discount for exceeding the programme minimum. Whether a specific parcel sits in a mapped special flood hazard area is an address level question the platform answers.
Are the county figures on this page Palo Alto figures?
No, and they are labelled so. County Business Patterns, QCEW, the Building Permits Survey, BEA product and IRS migration are published for Santa Clara County as a whole and there is no place level equivalent. They appear in one clearly marked section as context and are never presented as measurements of Palo Alto.
Is zoning published for Palo Alto?
Not yet. The zoning layer is in build. Nothing on this page presents parcel level zoning.
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