Palo Alto vs San Jose

A side-by-side comparison of Palo Alto and San Jose: population, income, housing, and more.

Palo Alto and San Jose are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

San Jose has the higher population (990,054 vs 67,231 in Palo Alto). Palo Alto has the higher median household income ($220,408 vs $141,565 in San Jose). Palo Alto has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,187,800 in San Jose).

Population, income & housing

	Palo Alto	San Jose
Population	67,231	990,054
Median age	42.5 yrs	38.1 yrs
Median household income	$220,408	$141,565
Median home value	$2,000,001	$1,187,800
Median gross rent	$3,328	$2,617
Housing units	29,104	343,058
Homeownership rate	54.2%	55.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	82.4%	46.5%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Palo Alto	San Jose
Population	66,573 → 67,231 (+1.0%)	1,027,690 → 990,054 (-3.7%)
Median household income	$158,271 → $220,408 (+39.3%)	$109,593 → $141,565 (+29.2%)
Median home value	$2,000,001 → $2,000,001 (+0.0%)	$864,600 → $1,187,800 (+37.4%)
Median gross rent	$2,569 → $3,328 (+29.5%)	$2,107 → $2,617 (+24.2%)

Palo Alto

Population

66,57367,231

Median household income

$158,271$220,408

Median home value

$2,000,001$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,569$3,328

San Jose

Population

1,027,690990,054

Median household income

$109,593$141,565

Median home value

$864,600$1,187,800

Median gross rent

$2,107$2,617

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Palo Alto	San Jose
Under 5	5.2%	5.2%
5 to 17	17.1%	15.8%
18 to 24	6.0%	9.1%
25 to 34	11.7%	15.3%
35 to 44	12.5%	14.6%
45 to 54	15.2%	13.8%
55 to 64	12.9%	12.1%
65 to 74	9.0%	8.2%
75 and over	10.3%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Palo Alto	San Jose
White (non-Hispanic)	47.3%	23.2%
Black or African American	2.1%	2.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	36.1%	38.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.5%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	6.8%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	7.1%	31.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Palo Alto	San Jose
No high school diploma	3.0%	14.5%
High school graduate	5.1%	16.4%
Some college or associate's	9.5%	22.6%
Bachelor's degree	27.2%	26.2%
Graduate or professional degree	55.2%	20.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Palo Alto	San Jose
Drove alone	46.7%	64.6%
Carpooled	3.9%	10.5%
Public transit	3.1%	2.8%
Walked	4.3%	1.8%
Bicycle	6.9%	0.5%
Worked from home	33.3%	18.5%
Other means	1.7%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Palo Alto	San Jose
1-unit, detached	56.0%	51.3%
1-unit, attached	5.7%	11.2%
2 to 4 units	5.6%	6.4%
5 to 19 units	12.0%	9.0%
20 or more units	20.3%	18.6%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	3.5%

Poverty & households

	Palo Alto	San Jose
Poverty rate	5.4%	7.8%
Average household size	2.55	2.98
Mean commute (minutes)	23	28
Median year structure built	1963	1975