Los Altos (; Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census.
Most of the city's growth took place between 1950 and 1980. Originally an agricultural town with many summer cottages and apricot orchards, Los Altos is a bedroom community on the western edge of Silicon Valley, serving as a major source of commuters to other parts of Silicon Valley. Los Altos strictly limits commercial zones to the downtown area and small shopping and office parks lining Foothill Expressway and El Camino Real.
History The area was initially called the Fremont Judicial Township, which was formed in 1853. Fremont Judicial Township was later unofficially called "Banks and Braes". Paul Shoup, an executive of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and his colleagues formed the Altos Land Company in 1906 and started the development of Los Altos. The company acquired of land from Sarah Winchester. Shoup wanted to link Palo Alto and Los Gatos by making Los Altos a commuter town. It continued a train-a-day operation to and from San Francisco.
On April 19, 1908, Southern Pacific Railroad began running steam train service through Los Altos on the new Mayfield Cutoff with five trains per day. Two freight cars served as a train depot. Also, the first commercial building, Eschenbruecher's Hardware, was built in downtown. In 1913, the craftsman-style Los Altos train station was built at 288 First Street.
By 1949, many residents were dissatisfied with the zoning policy of Santa Clara County, and there was a constant threat of annexation by neighboring Palo Alto and Mountain View, so they decided to incorporate. Los Altos became the eleventh city in Santa Clara County on December 1, 1952.
Train service ceased operation in January 1964, and the train track became Foothill Expressway. Los Altos may have the first scientifically designed sound baffle in 1970. Santa Clara County undertook a seminal study to calculate the effects of alternate soundwall designs along Foothill Expressway. The resulting wall brought about the predicted reduction of seven to ten decibels in noise pollution levels experienced by adjacent homes.
In 1976, Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built the first 50 Apple I computers in Jobs's garage in Los Altos.
In 2004, landlord Judy Fusco rented her Los Altos home, later known as "Casa Facebook", to Mark Zuckerberg; there, he and a few other associates scaled Facebook from 200,000 members to 2.5 million.
On April 15, 2021, Los Altos became home to the world's first consumer flying car showroom.
Earthquakes
Los Altos is near the San Andreas Fault and therefore subject to earthquakes.
1906 San Francisco earthquake – Although Los Altos was hit extremely hard (VIII on the intensity level), the main local effort was to help rebuild nearby Santa Cruz, which was nearly destroyed. 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake – On October 17, Los Altos experienced the earthquake, but was spared major damage.
Geography
Los Altos is bordered by Los Altos Hills to the west, Palo Alto to the west and northwest, Mountain View to the northwest and northeast, Sunnyvale to the east, and Cupertino to the southeast.
Los Altos is crossed by three creeks that flow north to San Francisco Bay, Adobe Creek on its western boundary, Stevens Creek on its eastern boundary and Permanente Creek in the middle. Hale Creek is a tributary to Permanente Creek, and Permanente Creek is now largely diverted to Stevens Creek by a diversion channel. All three creeks originate on the flanks of Black Mountain.
Demographics
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Los Altos had a population of 31,625. The population density was . The median age was 46.5 years. The age distribution was 23.9% under the age of 18, 6.5% aged 18 to 24, 17.0% aged 25 to 44, 31.2% aged 45 to 64, and 21.4% who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 95.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.3 males.
The census reported that 99.0% of the population lived in households, 0.1% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0.8% were institutionalized. 100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 11,162 households in Los Altos, of which 38.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 69.9% were married-couple households, 2.6% were cohabiting couple households, 9.4% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 18.1% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 17.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81. There were 8,834 families (79.1% of all households).
There were 11,783 housing units at an average density of , of which 94.7% were occupied and 5.3% were vacant. Of occupied units, 79.1% were owner-occupied and 20.9% were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.5% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.1%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 16,958 53.6% Black or African American 188 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native 43 0.1% Asian 11,176 35.3% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 44 0.1% Some other race 458 1.4% Two or more races 2,758 8.7% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 1,538 4.9%
2023 ACS estimates In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was more than $250,000, and the per capita income was $142,907. About 2.4% of families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty line.
2010 census The 2010 United States census reported that Los Altos had a population of 28,976. The population density was people per square mile (/km2). The racial makeup of Los Altos was 20,459 (70.6%) White, 148 (0.5%) African American, 48 (0.2%) Native American, 6,815 (23.5%) Asian, 59 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 195 (0.7%) from other races, and 1,252 (4.3%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1,132 persons (3.9%).
The Census reported that 28,749 people (99.2% of the population) lived in households, 34 (0.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 193 (0.7%) were institutionalized.
There were 10,745 households, out of which 4,067 (37.9%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 7,476 (69.6%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 599 (5.6%) had a female householder with no husband present, 228 (2.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 199 (1.9%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 55 (0.5%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 2,086 households (19.4%) were made up of individuals, and 1,228 (11.4%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68. There were 8,303 families (77.3% of all households); the average family size was 3.08.
The age distribution of the population consisted of 7,560 people (26.1%) under the age of 18, 1,006 people (3.5%) aged 18 to 24, 5,273 people (18.2%) aged 25 to 44, 9,353 people (32.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 5,784 people (20.0%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.9 males.
There were 11,204 housing units at an average density of per square mile (/km2), of which 9,002 (83.8%) were owner-occupied, and 1,743 (16.2%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.7%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.0%. 24,669 people (85.1% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 4,080 people (14.1%) lived in rental housing units.
2010s economic data The median household income of Los Altos for 2013–2017 was $208,309. The average home listing price in 2014 was $1.96 million. In 2017, Forbes ranked Los Altos (94022 and 94024) as the 3rd and 48th most expensive ZIP codes in the United States with median home prices of $7,755,000 and $3,431,615, respectively. In 2018, data from the American Community Survey revealed that Los Altos was the fifth wealthiest city in the United States.
1930 Approximately 2,900 people would have considered themselves a resident of Los Altos.
Housing costs Los Altos strives to maintain a semi-rural atmosphere. Los Altos has few sidewalks except in commercial zones and along arterial roads. The minimum lot size for most residential housing is one-quarter of an acre. Most streets have broad dirt shoulders and no street lighting. The civic center sits in the middle of an orchard, a remnant of those that once covered the area. The downtown is a triangle with arterials and collector streets on all sides that enable most through traffic to bypass Main Street.
As of today, many Los Altos homes fetch $4 million and higher. The city is placed (along with neighboring Los Altos Hills, with which it shares ZIP codes) at numbers 24 and 28 on Forbes' "Most Expensive ZIP Codes in America" list in 2007. In 2015, Forbes placed Los Altos (ZIP codes 94022 and 94024) as the 11th and 57th most expensive ZIP codes in the United States, behind such cities as Atherton, California and Sagaponack, New York. For the 94022 ZIP code, which includes parts of Los Altos Hills, California the median home price is $4.9 million with an average of 120 days on the market. For the 94024 ZIP code, the median home price is $2.8 million with an average of 36 days on the market. Economy
Since the mid-1990s, downtown Los Altos has experienced mild economic difficulties due to competition from nearby shopping centers and chain stores, as well as its lack of a hotel or movie theater. Revitalizing downtown is a major issue in city politics.
Top employers
According to the City's 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:
+Top employers in Los Altos # Employer # of Employees1Los Altos School District4592Los Altos Sub-Acute & Rehabilitation Center2413Whole Foods Market2334Los Altos High School2125Toyota Research Institute1876Compass, Inc. (Alain Pinel Realtors)1667David and Lucile Packard Foundation1318City of Los Altos1209Adobe Animal Hospital12010Palo Alto Medical Foundation110
Government In the California State Legislature, Los Altos is in , and in .
In the United States House of Representatives, Los Altos is in .
Education
Public Most of Los Altos is in the Los Altos Elementary School District and the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District. A portion of it is in the Cupertino Union Elementary School District and the Fremont Union High School District. - Text list The Los Altos School District has one of the highest average API scores in California and includes seven elementary schools in the Los Altos–Mountain View area.
Los Altos has the Bullis Charter School, a K-8 charter school.
all of the public schools are highly regarded, and many graduates of Los Altos-area high schools continue their education at well-known universities.
Private Los Altos is also served by highly regarded private and religious schools. St. Nicholas School, St. Simon School, Miramonte Elementary School, (JrK–8th) Canterbury Christian School (Pre-K–8th), the Lower and Middle Campuses (K–6th) of Pinewood School, The School for Independent Learners, and the lower school campus of the Waldorf School of the PeninsulaWaldorf School of the Peninsula are located within city limits. Others nearby include St. Francis High School (Mountain View), Mountain View Academy, and The King's Academy (Sunnyvale). Other schools farther away with students from Los Altos include Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton, Mitty High School, Menlo School, Woodside Priory School, Castilleja School, The Harker School, and Bellarmine College Preparatory.
Public libraries