RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Santa Clara County >> Palo AltoIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
California


The Commemorative Quarter for California







Welcome to Palo Alto ...

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



While we don't have a date for the founding of Palo Alto, you might get a feel for it by knowing that during our research the earliest mention that we found (so far) was in a book dated 1895.

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>

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
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Jose
    • San Jose is located in Santa Clara County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,013,616 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for San Jose <6>
  • Fremont
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fremont
    • Fremont is located in Alameda County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 234,569 people
    • Former names for Fremont:
    • Centerville
    • Irvington
    • Mission San Jose
    • Niles
    • Warm Springs
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fremont <6>
  • Hayward
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Sunnyvale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Santa Clara
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • San Mateo
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • San Leandro
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Milpitas
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Union City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union City
    • Union City is located in Alameda County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 74,501 people
    • Former name for Union City:
    • Decoto
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Union City <6>
  • Cupertino
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)

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 we've found for Palo Alto was in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

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

For more details, 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.









 

Copyright 2024
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024