Palo Alto, California is a city.
Palo Alto ( [ ˌpæloʊ_ˈæltoʊ ] ; [ ˈpalo ˈalto ] ; from palo , literally `` stick '' , colloquially `` tree '' , and alto `` tall '' ; meaning : `` tall tree '' ) is a charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County , California , in the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States . The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto , Mountain View , Los Altos , Los Altos Hills , Stanford , Portola Valley , and Menlo Park . The city includes portions of Stanford and is headquarters to a number of high-technology companies , including Hewlett-Packard ( HP ) , Space Systems/Loral , VMware , Tesla Motors , Ford Research and Innovation Center , PARC , IDEO , Skype , Palantir Technologies , and Houzz . As of the 2010 census , the city 's total resident population is 64,403 . Palo Alto is one of the most expensive cities in the United States and its residents are amongst the highest educated in the country .