Willard Griffin House and Carriage House · Photo: Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Los Altos Hills earn more than in almost any other U.S. town
7.3% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.0% across California. Measured by household income, Los Altos Hills is among the highest-earning towns in the country. For jobs and income Los Altos Hills is better than 90% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Los Altos Hills, in a few figures
A lot of Los Altos Hills works from home
44% of Los Altos Hills workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Most jobs here, and most residents’ jobs, pay over $40,000
84% of Los Altos Hills’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data, and so do 80% of the jobs based in Los Altos Hills. The jobs ↓
Nearly all the work in Los Altos Hills is services
93% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 5% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How Los Altos Hills earns its Jobs & income grade
Household income is its strongest input ($250,000+, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
The Census reports Los Altos Hills’ median household income as $250,000+, the top of its scale; the grade ranks it as tied with the 111 other graded places at that ceiling.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Los Altos Hills could be anywhere from A− to A+.
From Los Altos Hills, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Los Altos Hills workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,973 commuters (the 44% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
1,810 jobs are based in Los Altos Hills.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Los Altos Hills, 2014 → 2024: 1,825 → 1,810. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Los Altos Hills’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Los Altos Hills on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,918 residents head out to work, 95 work right here, and 1,715 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,200 people are in Los Altos Hills on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.60 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
11% of working residents work in San Jose
Where Los Altos Hills clocks in
11% of workers
9% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Miles to work from Los Altos Hills
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Los Altos Hills, most people drive to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,542 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 2% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 2% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 79% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.1% of Los Altos Hills households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Los Altos Hills’ commuters take a bus or train.
Los Altos Hills places 425th of 2,981 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 5,900 to 11,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 423 | Cohasset MA | 8,461 | $199K | 3.0% | 4.6% | 10% | A |
| 424 | Bushkill Township PA | 8,739 | $121K | 4.1% | 3.1% | 5% | A |
| 425 | Los Altos Hills CA | 8,419 | $250K | 7.3% | 3.5% | 3% | A |
| 426 | Hightstown NJ | 6,007 | $109K | 2.1% | 4.5% | 9% | A |
| 427 | Pompton Lakes NJ | 11,246 | $124K | 8.4% | 3.1% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,981 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Los Altos Hills, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Next door to Los Altos Hills
The biggest share goes to Palo Alto (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Los Altos Hills workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Altos Hills | – | A | B+ | 29 min | $250,000+ |
| Los Altos | under 4% | A | A+ | 22 min | $250,000+ |
| Loyola | under 4% | A | C | 28 min | $250,000+ |
| Palo Alto | 9% | A | A+ | 21 min | $231,101 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Los Altos Hills’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- A ceiling on income. The Census stops at $250,000+, so the true median may be higher.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Los Altos Hills: questions
What is the median household income in Los Altos Hills?
$250,000+ (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Los Altos Hills?
7.3%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Los Altos Hills?
29 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 44% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Los Altos Hills work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Jose (11%, 18 mi), Palo Alto (9%, 2 mi), San Francisco (9%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Los Altos Hills walkable?
Los Altos Hills is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Los Altos Hills without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 2% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Los Altos Hills, from the people who make the trip.
More of Los Altos Hills
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.