Los Altos Hills, California

History

The earliest inhabits in the area were the Ohlone, who maintained multiple villages nearby.

The area of Los Altos Hills consisted of two large Spanish–Mexican land grants: Rancho San Antonio de Padua and Rancho La Purísima Concepción. The land for Rancho San Antonio de Padua was given in 1839 by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado to Spanish commander of Alta California, Juan Prado Mesa. When Mesa died in 1845, the land went into probate, with two claims honored.

Rancho La Purísima Concepción was given in 1840 by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado to José Gorgonio and his son José Ramon, Ohlone Native Americans. In 1844, they sold part of the land to Juana Briones de Miranda. By 1861, Juana Briones had sold 3,000 acre to Martin Murphy Jr., a cattle rancher who had previously leased the land.

Los Altos Hills the town was incorporated on January 27, 1956.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 23.4 km2, all of it land.

The town is located in a group of small hills. Both the Altamont and Monta Vista Faults pass through the town.

Los Altos Hills maintains a rural feel, similar to the neighboring Woodside and Portola Valley. There are many open space preserves, such as Rancho San Antonio and Westwind Barn.

Residential

Los Altos Hills has a ban on commercial zones, which was upheld by the California Court of Appeal (First District) in 1973. The town's two retail commercial operations are the book store on the campus of Foothill College and the gift shop on the grounds of the Immaculate Heart of the Poor Clare Colettines. The town does not have a post office or library.

The town's zoning regulations require a minimum lot size of one acre (4,000 m²), setbacks from the property boundary, and easements for public pathways. Landowners are limited to one primary dwelling per lot, which effectively bans multifamily housing; this ban and the minimum lot size were upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1974.

The town contracts with Santa Clara County for police and fire services, making it a contract city under California law.

Demographics

2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Los Altos Hills had a population of 8,489. The population density was 940.2 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of Los Altos Hills was 56.7% White, 0.3% African American, 0.1% Native American, 33.7% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 1.2% from other races, and 7.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.9% of the population.

The census reported that 99.2% of the population lived in households, 0.8% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized.

There were 2,874 households, out of which 32.5% included children under the age of 18, 76.0% were married-couple households, 3.0% were cohabiting couple households, 12.4% had a female householder with no partner present, and 8.7% had a male householder with no partner present. 10.9% of households were one person, and 7.2% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.93.

The age distribution was 19.2% under the age of 18, 7.9% aged 18 to 24, 13.7% aged 25 to 44, 31.5% aged 45 to 64, and 27.6% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 51.7years. For every 100 females, there were 96.0 males.

There were 3,098 housing units at an average density of 343.1 /mi2, of which 2,874 (92.8%) were occupied. Of these, 89.7% were owner-occupied, and 10.3% were occupied by renters.

In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that 35.7% of the population were foreign-born. Of all people aged 5 or older, 61.5% spoke only English at home, 2.9% spoke Spanish, 10.0% spoke other Indo-European languages, 21.8% spoke Asian or Pacific Islander languages, and 3.8% spoke other languages. Of those aged 25 or older, 99.2% were high school graduates and 85.6% had a bachelor's degree.

The median household income in 2023 was more than $250,000, and the per capita income was $173,837. About 2.1% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the poverty line.

2010

At the 2010 census Los Altos Hills had a population of 7,922. The population density was 900.0 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of Los Altos Hills was 5,417 (68.4%) White, 37 (0.5%) African American, 4 (0.1%) Native American, 2,109 (26.6%) Asian, 8 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 50 (0.6%) from other races, and 297 (3.7%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 213 people (2.7%).

The census reported that 99.3% of the population lived in households and 0.7% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters.

There were 2,829 households, 949 (33.5%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 2,204 (77.9%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 114 (4.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 53 (1.9%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 53 (1.9%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 19 (0.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 359 households (12.7%) were one person and 210 (7.4%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.78. There were 2,371 families (83.8% of households); the average family size was 3.02.

The age distribution was 1,811 people (22.9%) under the age of 18, 342 people (4.3%) aged 18 to 24, 1,083 people (13.7%) aged 25 to 44, 2,848 people (36.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 1,838 people (23.2%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 50.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.4 males.

There were 3,001 housing units at an average density of 341.0 per square mile, of the occupied units 2,582 (91.3%) were owner-occupied and 247 (8.7%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.2%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.2%. 7,162 people (90.4% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 707 people (8.9%) lived in rental housing units.

The median household income was $219,485 and the median family income was $224,922. Males had a median income of $152,361 versus $89,216 for females. The per capita income for the town was $118,779. About 2.2% of families and 2.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.7% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.

Politics and government

The town of Los Altos Hills has a five-member elected city council.

In the California State Legislature, Los Altos Hills is in and in .

In the United States House of Representatives, Los Altos Hills is in .

Education

Los Altos Hills is served by both the Palo Alto Unified School District (serving the northern part of the town) and the Los Altos School District (serving the southern part of the town). In 2008 the Los Altos School District reopened Gardner Bullis School, a public elementary (K-6) grade school in Los Altos Hills.

Ventana School is a private pre-school and elementary school modeled around the Reggio Emilia approach. Pinewood is a private coeducational K-12 school. The Pinewood School Upper Campus is also located in Los Altos Hills, serving students in grades 7–12.

Foothill College operated by the Foothill–De Anza Community College District is in the city. The college has the district's headquarters.

Notable residents

• Adrienne Barbeau, actress, singer and author
• Barry Bonds, baseball player
• Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google
• John T. Chambers, former executive chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems
• Jon M. Chu and his father "Chef Chu" Lawrence Chu
• Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia
• Steve Kirsch, entrepreneur
• George M. Marcus, billionaire real estate broker and founder of Marcus & Millichap
• Yuri Milner, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and physicist
• Gordon Moore, billionaire businessman
• Becky Morgan, former politician
• Andrew Ng, computer scientist and technology entrepreneur
• David Packard (1912 – 1996), co-founder of Hewlett-Packard
• Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc. and Google
• Frank Quattrone, investment banker
• Daniel Rosenbaum (born 1997), American-Israeli basketball player for Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
• Stephen Schott, real estate developer
• Wallace Stegner (1909–1993), historian and novelist
• Elizabeth Murphy Taaffe (1844–1875) rancher and early settler in Los Altos Hills, California
• Max Thieriot, actor and director
• Jerry Yang, co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo! Inc.
• Jed York, CEO of the San Francisco 49ers
• Connie Young Yu, writer, historian, and lecturer

References

References

1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau.
2. "Los Altos Hills(town) QuickFacts". [[United States Census Bureau]].
4. "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Los Altos Hills town, California".
5. "Town History".
6. Ogden Hoffman, 1862, ''Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California'', Numa Hubert, San Francisco
7. Ogden Hoffman, 1862, ''Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California'', Numa Hubert, San Francisco
8. "Juana Briones (1802–1889)". [[National Park Service]].
9. J. P. Munro-Fraser, 1881, ''History of Santa Clara County, California'', Alley, Bowen & Co, San Francisco
10. "Living in Los Altos Hills". Sotheby's International Reality.
11. ''Town of Los Altos Hills v. Adobe Creek Properties, Inc.'', [http://online.ceb.com/calcases/CA3/32CA3d488.htm 32 Cal.App.3d 488] (1973).
12. "Poor Clare Colettines of Los Altos Hills, California".
13. Peraino, Kevin. (September 4, 2000). "Gold in Them Thar Hills: Money isn't new to Los Altos. But this much new money is".
14. Lauren McSherry. (April 20, 2005). "Los Altos Hills pathways map shows trails that dead-end or don't exist". [[Los Altos Town Crier]] Archives.
15. ''Ybarra v. Town of Los Altos Hills'', 503 F.2d 250, 254 (9th Cir. 1974).
16. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov.
17. "Los Altos Hills town, California; DP1: Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics - 2020 Census of Population and Housing".
18. "Los Altos Hills town, California; P16: Household Type - 2020 Census of Population and Housing".
19. "Los Altos Hills town, California; CP02: Comparative Social Characteristics in the United States - 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates Comparison Profiles".
20. "Los Altos Hills town, California; DP03: Selected Economic Characteristics - 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates Comparison Profiles".
21. "2010 Census Interactive Population Search: CA - Los Altos Hills town". U.S. Census Bureau.
22. "Final Maps {{!}} California Citizens Redistricting Commission".
23. {{Cite GovTrack. CA. 18
24. [http://www.fhda.edu/ Foothill–De Anza Community College District website]. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
25. "George Marcus".
26. "People". Los Altos Hills California.
27. (November 11, 2015). "Taaffe family descendants recall early days of Los Altos Hills".