Is Los Altos a good place to live? The short answer
Four numbers sum it up. Zillow's typical home value was $4,591,005 in September 2026, up 8.4% in a year. Zillow's typical rent was $6,886 a month, up 18.2%. The Census Bureau's 2020-2024 survey puts the median household income at $250,000 or more, the highest band it reports. And the California Department of Justice recorded 11 violent crimes and 314 property crimes reported by the Los Altos Police Department in 2025, which we calculate at 0.36 and 10.2 per 1,000 residents, against 3.64 and 22.5 for Santa Clara County as a whole.
Los Altos is a city of about 30,700 people in north Santa Clara County, between Palo Alto, Mountain View, Cupertino and Los Altos Hills. It is almost entirely residential, with a small downtown and two commercial strips. Whether it suits you depends on budget, commute and how much you value a quiet, low-density place over nightlife and transit.
Pros of living in Los Altos
Pro: Los Altos public school results
On the 2025 California School Dashboard, the Los Altos School District scored 94.7 points above the state standard in English and 100.7 in math, and Los Altos High School graduated 96.9% of its students. Six of the district's seven elementary schools were in the top color for English. Our Los Altos schools guide has every school and how to check an address.
Pro: low reported crime in Los Altos
The Los Altos Police Department reported 11 violent crimes in 2025, according to California DOJ OpenJustice, including no homicides, and 314 property crimes, 62 of them burglaries. Per resident, both rates were well below the county's. See our Los Altos crime data page for the method and the yearly figures.
Pro: a walkable downtown village
Downtown Los Altos is a compact grid of shops and restaurants around Main and State streets. The civic center on San Antonio Road holds the Los Altos Library, run by the Santa Clara County Library District, and the Los Altos History Museum, which is free and open Thursday to Sunday afternoons. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has its offices downtown on Second Street.
Pro: Rancho San Antonio and open space
Rancho San Antonio, on the city's southwest edge, is a 2,180-acre open space preserve next to a 293-acre county park, with more than 25 miles of trail and Deer Hollow Farm, a working farm with animals and restored ranch buildings. Adobe, Permanente and Stevens creeks run north through the area toward the bay, and Redwood Grove is a small city nature preserve off University Avenue.
Pro: a mild, dry climate
Records from the Palo Alto weather station next door average a July high of 78.4°F and a January high of 57.4°F, with about 15.2 inches of rain a year, almost all of it between November and April. Snow is essentially unknown.
Pro: central to Silicon Valley employers
Los Altos sits between Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Cupertino, so many large employers are a short drive away. Interstate 280 runs along the southwest edge, Foothill Expressway runs through the middle and El Camino Real forms the north edge. Toyota Research Institute has its headquarters in Los Altos.
Pro: space and large lots
Detached houses make up 82% of the city's 11,781 homes, according to the Census, and only about 11% are in buildings of five or more units. That means large lots, mature trees and quiet streets in most of the city.
Pro: home values have held up
Zillow's typical value for Los Altos rose 95.0% in ten years and reached a record in September 2026. Values fell after May 2022 but have since passed that high, while nearby Mountain View was still below its 2022 peak. Past gains are no promise of future ones. See our Los Altos housing market report.
Cons of living in Los Altos
Con: buying needs a very high income or wealth
At Redfin's median sale price of $4,617,801 for the three months to September 2026, 20% down is $923,560, and principal and interest at Freddie Mac's 7.24% rate come to about $25,176 a month. Property tax adds about $4,422 a month at the local rate. Spending 30% of gross income on those two costs alone would take a household income of roughly $1.18 million.
Con: rents are high and rising
Zillow's typical Los Altos rent of $6,886 a month in September 2026 was 18.2% higher than a year earlier and about $2,300 a month above Palo Alto or Mountain View. Only about 1,988 households rent, according to the Census, so choice is thin.
Con: you will drive for most trips
Los Altos has no Caltrain station. The nearest is San Antonio in Mountain View, served by VTA Route 21. In the Census figures, 50.7% of workers drove alone and under 1% took public transit. Outside downtown, check whether the streets you will use every day have sidewalks and lighting.
Con: older houses and rebuild costs
The median Los Altos home was built in 1964. Many buyers budget for a major remodel or a rebuild, which means design review, permits and months of construction, and nearby rebuilds bring noise and trucks to quiet streets.
Con: few condos or smaller homes
With so few condos, there is little to downsize into without leaving the city. Redfin recorded only 12 condo sales in ZIP 94022 in the three months to September 2026, at a median of $1,549,954. See our Los Altos condos guide.
Con: a quiet evening scene
Downtown is small and most of it closes in the evening. For a wider choice of restaurants, cinemas and nightlife, residents usually head to neighboring cities such as Mountain View and Palo Alto.
Con: high property taxes on a new purchase
Under Prop 13, a buyer's tax is based on the price paid. At the 2025-26 Los Altos rate of 1.14910%, a $4.6 million purchase carries about $53,000 a year in base tax before parcel taxes, far more than a long-time neighbor pays. See our Santa Clara County property tax guide.
What living in Los Altos is like
Climate in Los Altos
The Palo Alto station's long-term averages show warm, dry summers, with highs near 78°F from July to September, and cool, wet winters, with lows around 38°F in December and January. About 15.2 inches of rain fall in an average year. Wildfire smoke from fires elsewhere in the state can affect air quality in late summer and fall.
Getting around Los Altos
Most residents drive. According to the Census, 39.4% of Los Altos workers worked from home in the 2020-2024 survey, and those who commuted averaged about 22 minutes each way. San Antonio Caltrain station is at 190 Showers Drive in Mountain View, with 199 parking spaces. About 2.3% of workers biked to work and 1.9% walked. Test the drive to your workplace and to San Jose or San Francisco airport at the hours you would travel, because Foothill Expressway, El Camino Real and Interstate 280 all slow at peak times.
Things to do in Los Altos
Hike Rancho San Antonio and visit Deer Hollow Farm, walk downtown, visit the free Los Altos History Museum, or use the main library and the Woodland Branch Library. Hidden Villa, a farm and wilderness preserve, is just over the line in Los Altos Hills. Some youth sports clubs, such as the Mountain View Los Altos Soccer Club, are shared with Mountain View.
Salary needed to live in Los Altos
The MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates what a household needs to cover basic costs in Santa Clara County, before taxes. Its figures, last updated February 15, 2026, are for the county, not Los Altos, and assume renting a modest home, so they understate what Los Altos costs.
| Household | MIT living wage, Santa Clara County |
|---|---|
| 1 adult, no children | $79,043 a year ($38.00 an hour) |
| 1 adult, 1 child | $144,399 a year |
| 2 adults, 1 working, no children | $99,540 a year |
| 2 adults both working, 2 children | $201,397 a year |
Los Altos rent alone at Zillow's typical $6,886 a month is $82,632 a year, more than the single-adult living wage. To keep rent at 30% of gross income, a renter would need about $275,000 a year. To buy at the median, see the income estimate in the cons above.
Who's moving to and from Los Altos
Los Altos is a settled city. In the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 survey, 89.1% of residents lived in the same home a year earlier. Of those who moved in during the prior year, most came from elsewhere in Santa Clara County (6.9% of residents), with 1.9% from another California county, 0.7% from another state and 1.4% from abroad. The population was estimated at 30,698, up slightly from 30,504 in the 2015-2019 survey. The median age was 45.9. Census figures do not show how many residents left. Low turnover is part of why so few homes come up for sale: owners occupy 81.7% of the city's households, and Redfin counted only 76 sales in the three months to September 2026. The same survey puts per-capita income at $149,247 and the unemployment rate at about 4.8% of the labor force. If you are relocating for work, line up housing early, because both rentals and homes for sale are scarce at any one time.
Retiring in Los Altos
Many long-time owners stay in Los Altos as they age, helped by low Prop 13 tax bases. If you are 55 or older and want to move within the state, Prop 19 can let you carry your tax base to a replacement home; see our Prop 19 guide. Single-story ranch houses are common in the city's older housing stock, though many are on large lots that need upkeep. Downtown condos with elevators are the main lock-and-leave option. Check which hospitals and medical groups your insurance covers in the neighboring cities, and how far each is from the home you are considering. Census figures put the city's median age at 45.9.
Where to live in Los Altos
Zillow's typical home value was $5,059,470 in ZIP 94022, which covers downtown, north Los Altos and part of Los Altos Hills, and $4,604,457 in ZIP 94024 in September 2026. Loyola, the one neighborhood Zillow tracks separately, was $4,963,207. If you want to walk to shops, look at downtown condos and the streets around the village. If you want trail access, look toward Rancho San Antonio. If you want a newer condo with an elevator, look at the buildings on First Street downtown and the projects approved along El Camino Real. Our Los Altos neighborhoods guide and ZIP code guide compare the areas, and our Los Altos homes guide covers buying.
Should you move to Los Altos? A checklist
- Can you afford the purchase price or rent with room for property tax, insurance and repairs?
- Have you checked the school district for the exact address, not just the city?
- Have you driven your commute at rush hour?
- Are you ready to remodel or rebuild an older house, or will you pay more for a finished one?
- Have you checked the CAL FIRE hazard zone and FEMA flood map for the address?
- Do you want a quiet, low-density place more than nightlife and transit?