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The Commemorative
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The Commemorative Quarter for California





Welcome to Palo Alto ...

The coastal city of Palo Alto is located in Santa Clara County<1>.

When the people of Palo Alto refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Palo Altan<2>

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Palo Alto has a population of 67,621 people<3> (see below for details).

Palo Alto is 150 feet [46 m] above sea level.<4>.

Time Zone: Palo Alto lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time

Palo Alto lies within the (650) area code.

The ZIP codes for Palo Alto: 94301-94304, 94306-94308, 94309-94310<5>

While we don't have a date for the founding of Palo Alto, you might get a feel for its founding by knowing that they incorporated April 23, 1894.

Websites for Palo Alto ...

Official Website:   www.cityofpaloalto.org/

Junior League:   www.thejuniorleague.org/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Palo Alto had an population of 67,621 people. This is an increase of 5% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 15.4% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Palo Alto had a population of 64,403 people. This makes Palo Alto the county's 6th most populous community.

The population of Palo Alto represents 0.17% of the population of California (which has 37,253,956 people), making it the state's 126th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 64,403 people, the population of Palo Alto increased 9.91% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 58,598 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Palo Alto.

Communities Also Named Palo Alto ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 10 communities that are also named Palo Alto - they are located in Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania (2), Texas and Virginia.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Palo Alto.

Communities near Palo Alto ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Palo Alto.

  • San Jose
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Jose
    • San Jose lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<6> to the southeast of Palo Alto.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,013,616 people
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on San Jose
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for San Jose<7>
  • Fremont
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fremont
    • Fremont lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<6> to the northeast of Palo Alto.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 234,569 people
    • Former names for Fremont:
    • Centerville
    • Irvington
    • Mission San Jose
    • Niles
    • Warm Springs
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Fremont
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fremont<7>
  • Hayward
  • Sunnyvale
  • Santa Clara
  • San Mateo
  • San Leandro
  • Milpitas
  • Union City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union City
    • Union City lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<6> to the northeast of Palo Alto.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 74,501 people
    • Former name for Union City:
    • Decoto
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Union City
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Union City<7>
  • Cupertino

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Palo Alto. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Palo Alto.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Palo Alto. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Palo Alto.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Palo Alto. Our list includes 38 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Palo Alto.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Palo Alto ...

Looking for more information about Palo Alto? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Palo Alto, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Palo Alto.

Adding Palo Alto to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Palo Alto in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention that we've found for Palo Alto was the Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

We also found Palo Alto on a map titled Map of the Lincoln Highway (1924).

For more details about the above, see References and Mentions for Palo Alto.

The official website for Palo Alto: www.cityofpaloalto.org/

The official website for Santa Clara County: www.sccgov.org/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of California's counties, including Santa Clara, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Palo Alto refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a city's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Palo Alto may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<3>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Palo Alto.
<4>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Palo Alto - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<5>ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a city (such as Palo Alto). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Palo Alto or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Our list of ZIP Codes for Palo Alto includes: 94301, 94302, 94303, 94306, 94307, 94309 & 94310.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Palo Alto) to Point B.If you need the driving distance, we recommend that you use one of the Mapping Services listed on our Map Page for Palo Alto. Since we usually use Google Maps for our own planning, we've provided the following link: Google Map and Driving Directions starting from Palo AltoOur distance measurements begin at a specific point in Palo Alto. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4422, Longitude: -122.1432    
<7>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.




 

 

 

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This page was last modified/updated: 23 Mar 2023