Palo Alto vs Sunnyvale

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

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

Sunnyvale has the higher population (153,455 vs 67,231 in Palo Alto). Palo Alto has the higher median household income ($220,408 vs $181,862 in Sunnyvale). Palo Alto has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,816,600 in Sunnyvale).

Population, income & housing

	Palo Alto	Sunnyvale
Population	67,231	153,455
Median age	42.5 yrs	35.1 yrs
Median household income	$220,408	$181,862
Median home value	$2,000,001	$1,816,600
Median gross rent	$3,328	$3,065
Housing units	29,104	61,808
Homeownership rate	54.2%	43.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	82.4%	69.2%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Palo Alto	Sunnyvale
Population	66,573 → 67,231 (+1.0%)	152,770 → 153,455 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$158,271 → $220,408 (+39.3%)	$140,631 → $181,862 (+29.3%)
Median home value	$2,000,001 → $2,000,001 (+0.0%)	$1,223,600 → $1,816,600 (+48.5%)
Median gross rent	$2,569 → $3,328 (+29.5%)	$2,508 → $3,065 (+22.2%)

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

Sunnyvale

Population

152,770153,455

Median household income

$140,631$181,862

Median home value

$1,223,600$1,816,600

Median gross rent

$2,508$3,065

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Palo Alto	Sunnyvale
Under 5	5.2%	6.8%
5 to 17	17.1%	13.4%
18 to 24	6.0%	6.5%
25 to 34	11.7%	23.0%
35 to 44	12.5%	16.0%
45 to 54	15.2%	11.3%
55 to 64	12.9%	10.6%
65 to 74	9.0%	6.7%
75 and over	10.3%	5.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Palo Alto	Sunnyvale
White (non-Hispanic)	47.3%	27.5%
Black or African American	2.1%	1.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	36.1%	49.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	6.8%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	7.1%	16.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Palo Alto	Sunnyvale
No high school diploma	3.0%	5.5%
High school graduate	5.1%	9.4%
Some college or associate's	9.5%	16.0%
Bachelor's degree	27.2%	30.3%
Graduate or professional degree	55.2%	38.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Palo Alto	Sunnyvale
Drove alone	46.7%	55.4%
Carpooled	3.9%	8.7%
Public transit	3.1%	4.3%
Walked	4.3%	1.4%
Bicycle	6.9%	1.5%
Worked from home	33.3%	27.0%
Other means	1.7%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Palo Alto	Sunnyvale
1-unit, detached	56.0%	36.5%
1-unit, attached	5.7%	10.1%
2 to 4 units	5.6%	10.0%
5 to 19 units	12.0%	14.6%
20 or more units	20.3%	23.3%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	5.6%

Poverty & households

	Palo Alto	Sunnyvale
Poverty rate	5.4%	5.6%
Average household size	2.55	2.59
Mean commute (minutes)	23	23
Median year structure built	1963	1975