City safety & data profile

East Palo AltoCA

East Palo Alto, CA is a 30K-resident city in San Mateo County with a median household income of $113,493.

San Mateo County, California. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for East Palo Alto, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. East Palo Alto has a population larger than 63% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, and a median home value of $1,102,600.

Data updated 2026-09-03

30K
Population (place)
Top 37%
By size
$113,493
Median income (place)
$1,102,600
Median home (place)
10.3%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on East Palo Alto

East Palo Alto posts a median household income higher than 79% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks.

Top 21%
by median income, US cities

Where East Palo Alto income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$113,493 Top 21% higher than 79% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

East Palo Alto $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year

Largest cities in CA

Population among 482 CA places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Los Angeles is the largest CA city on this list; Alamo leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in CA

Median household income among the same 482-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Alamo posts the highest place-level median income in CA; Los Angeles is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading East Palo Alto, CA beyond the headline numbers

East Palo Alto sits inside San Mateo County, California, at roughly 37.47°N, -122.14°W. Population 29,662, $113,493 median household income. Median home value $1,102,600, median rent $2,244. Poverty rate 10.3%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

At 10.3%, poverty in East Palo Alto, CA runs below the midpoint of reporting cities -- enough to matter locally, not enough to dominate the city's profile.

The median home in East Palo Alto costs around 9.7 times what a median household earns in a year -- the most expensive quarter of reporting cities, and far enough ahead of local pay that ownership is largely closed to median earners.

14.5% of East Palo Alto workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, lack of health insurance departs furthest from its peer median: 15.5% in East Palo Alto, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for East Palo Alto from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.

Population (place)
29,662
East Palo Alto · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$113,493
+27% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$1,102,600
+167% vs avg
Median Age (place)
36.3
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (San Mateo County): East Palo Alto's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.

20132024
Population
742K+2%
Median Income
$158,855+80%
Median Home Value
$1,559,600+116%
Poverty Rate
6.7%-12%
Unemployment
4.8%-41%

Economics

Economics indicators for East Palo Alto, CA
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$2,244/mo
Poverty Rate
10.3% -17% vs avg
Unemployment 5.1%
Bachelor's Degree+ 26.8%
Work From Home 14.5%
Public Transit 1.9%

Population

White 18.5%
African American 9.5%
Asian 7.1%
Two or More Ethnicities 6.1%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Short Sleep Duration
32.9%
Obesity
30.6%
High Blood Pressure
26.5%
Physical Inactivity
26.1%
Binge Drinking
17.4%
Frequent Mental Distress
17.3%
Lack of Health Insurance
15.5%
Frequent Physical Distress
13.1%
Diabetes
10.9%
Current Smoking
10.5%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 56.5%
Annual Checkup 65.4%

Other Measures

Current Asthma
9.6%
Coronary Heart Disease
4.4%
Stroke
2.7%

What alerts and safety updates affect East Palo Alto?

No area-tagged alerts are on record for East Palo Alto right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet CA-EAST-PALO-ALTO · East Palo Alto

East Palo Alto: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.

  • FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
  • LEAD-NONE Feed idle
  • DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed

Counts reflect published articles tagged to East Palo Alto; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse California state hubs · Methodology

Read with this city profile

Frequently Asked Questions 5

What is the population of East Palo Alto, CA?
East Palo Alto, CA has a population of 29,662 people, located in San Mateo County, California.
What is the median household income in East Palo Alto?
The median household income in East Palo Alto, CA is $113,493 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 10.3%.
What is the median home value in East Palo Alto?
The median home value in East Palo Alto, CA is $1,102,600. Median rent is $2,244/month.
What are the top health concerns in East Palo Alto?
The top health indicators in East Palo Alto include Short Sleep Duration (32.9%), Obesity (30.6%), High Blood Pressure (26.5%). Data from CDC PLACES.
What is the median age in East Palo Alto?
The median age in East Palo Alto, CA is 36.3 years. 26.8% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for East Palo Alto, both outside California so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside CA (10.3% here).

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside CA ($113,493 here).

Compare East Palo Alto with another city

Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.

Quick picks:

Nearby Cities 8

Using East Palo Alto's profile

Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.

  • Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the East Palo Alto area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
  • Compare East Palo Alto against California peers on any ranking lens. Explore California

Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.

Data Sources

All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (San Mateo County) where that is the smallest published unit.

Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.