Los Altos is a city at the southern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is in Santa Clara County, California, United States.

Most of the city was developed between the 1950s and 1970s. As a formerly agricultural town, Los Altos has several unique features, many of which were the opposite of what was developed in other suburbs during that time. Commercial zones are strictly limited to the downtown area (referred to by local merchants as Los Altos Village) and a few shopping centers and office parks lining Foothill Expressway and El Camino Real. The town is considered one of the premier areas of the Bay Area due to its low crime rate, excellent schools and fantastic weather. The adjacent town of Los Altos Hills has no commercial zones, post office, or public library, and is dependent upon Los Altos for such services.

As of the census of 2000, there were 27,693 people, 10,462 households, and 8,024 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,683.8/km² (4,360.7/mi²). There were 10,727 housing units at an average density of 652.2/km² (1,689.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 80.35% White, 0.47% African American, 0.17% Native American, 15.42% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 0.66% from other races, and 2.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.97% of the population.

There were 10,462 households out of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.4% were married couples living together, 5.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.3% were non-families. 18.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 3.5% from 18 to 24, 24.5% from 25 to 44, 29.1% from 45 to 64, and 19.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $126,740, and the median income for a family was $148,201. Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $67,332 for females. The per capita income for the city was $66,776. About 1.1% of families and 2.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.2% of those under age 18 and 1.5% of those age 65 or over.


Information courtesy of US Census Bureau and wikipedia.org