Palo Alto ( , from Spanish: palo: "stick" and alto: "high", i.e., "tall tree") is an affluent city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA. It is named after a tree called El Palo Alto. The city is located at the northern end of Silicon Valley, and includes portions of Stanford University and is headquarters to a number of high-technology companies, including Hewlett-Packard. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,598 residents.

Palo Alto, north of Oregon Expressway, is filled with older homes, including Craftsman and California Colonials, some of which date back to the 1890s but most of which were built in the first four decades of the 20th century. South of Oregon Expressway, the homes, including many Joseph Eichler-designed or Eichler-style houses, were primarily built in the first 20 years after World War II.

While the city contains homes that now cost anywhere from $800,000 to well in excess of $10 million, much of Palo Alto's housing stock is in the style of California mid-century middle-class suburbia. It has highly rated public schools (See: PALY and GUNN), a high quality of life, and a vibrant downtown. The median home sale price for all of Palo Alto was more than $1.3 Million in 2006.http://www.paloaltoonline.com/neighborhoods/ According to the Coldwell Banker® Home Price Comparison Index, Palo Alto ranks in as the 5th most expensive city in the United States, with an average home sales price of $1,677,000 as of 2007.http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070926005351&newsLang=en/ The Coldwell Banker College Home Price Comparison Index ranks Palo Alto as the most expensive college town in the United States.http://hpci.coldwellbanker.com/hpci_press.aspx