Blog > Palo Alto Neighborhoods Ranked by Price per Square Foot (2026)
Palo Alto has 22 neighborhood guides on our site. To see how they compare on price, we took the 285 Palo Alto houses, condos and townhomes that sold in the 180 days to October 19, 2026, placed the 233 with a map position and a living area on the map, and found the median price per square foot inside each guide’s outline. 211 of those sales landed inside at least one guide. Across the city, the median was $2,013 per square foot for all homes and $2,191 for houses.
The short answer
- Highest median price per square foot (guides with at least 10 sales): Old Palo Alto ($2,353, 21 sales), Midtown ($2,320, 25 sales) and Community Center ($2,241, 11 sales).
- Lowest: Evergreen Park ($1,024, 13 sales) and Charleston Gardens ($959, 9 sales).
- 18 of the 22 guides had 5 or more sales in the window, enough to rank here; the rest are listed below with their counts.
- Top to bottom, the highest-ranked guide sold for 2.5 times as much per square foot as the lowest-ranked one.
All homes, ranked
Guides with at least 5 sales, highest median price per square foot first. Each name opens its guide, with live listings, the last 12 months of sales and our notes on the streets and houses.
| # | Neighborhood | Sales | Median $/sq ft | Median price | Median size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old Palo Alto | 21 | $2,353 | $7.7M | 3,061 sq ft |
| 2 | Midtown | 25 | $2,320 | $3.62M | 1,657 sq ft |
| 3 | Adobe Meadow & Meadow Park | 7 | $2,301 | $3.45M | 1,552 sq ft |
| 4 | College Terrace | 9 | $2,260 | $3.13M | 1,155 sq ft |
| 5 | Community Center | 11 | $2,241 | $4.5M | 1,965 sq ft |
| 6 | Duveneck / St. Francis | 10 | $2,207 | $4.7M | 2,256 sq ft |
| 7 | Crescent Park | 16 | $2,192 | $4.8M | 2,092 sq ft |
| 8 | Greenmeadow | 8 | $2,173 | $3.75M | 1,705 sq ft |
| 9 | Fairmeadow | 5 | $2,124 | $3.42M | 1,608 sq ft |
| 10 | Leland Manor / Garland | 6 | $2,121 | $4.46M | 2,343 sq ft |
| 11 | University South | 5 | $2,013 | $4.6M | 2,385 sq ft |
| 12 | Barron Park | 18 | $1,987 | $4.33M | 1,811 sq ft |
| 13 | Ventura | 12 | $1,804 | $2.65M | 1,563 sq ft |
| 14 | Palo Verde | 5 | $1,475 | $3.79M | 2,041 sq ft |
| 15 | Downtown North | 14 | $1,398 | $2.07M | 1,462 sq ft |
| 16 | Charleston Meadows | 10 | $1,331 | $2.19M | 1,464 sq ft |
| 17 | Evergreen Park | 13 | $1,024 | $1.39M | 1,355 sq ft |
| 18 | Charleston Gardens | 9 | $959 | $1.14M | 1,212 sq ft |
Houses only
Townhomes and condos often sell for a different price per foot than houses a block away, so here are the guides with at least 5 house sales, ranked on houses alone.
| # | Neighborhood | House sales | Median $/sq ft | Median price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Downtown North | 7 | $2,426 | $2.95M |
| 2 | Crescent Park | 14 | $2,423 | $5.46M |
| 3 | Old Palo Alto | 21 | $2,353 | $7.7M |
| 4 | Midtown | 24 | $2,339 | $3.65M |
| 5 | Adobe Meadow & Meadow Park | 7 | $2,301 | $3.45M |
| 6 | College Terrace | 9 | $2,260 | $3.13M |
| 7 | Community Center | 11 | $2,241 | $4.5M |
| 8 | Greenmeadow | 7 | $2,219 | $3.75M |
| 9 | Duveneck / St. Francis | 10 | $2,207 | $4.7M |
| 10 | Fairmeadow | 5 | $2,124 | $3.42M |
| 11 | Leland Manor / Garland | 6 | $2,121 | $4.46M |
| 12 | Barron Park | 15 | $2,077 | $4.6M |
| 13 | Charleston Meadows | 5 | $2,014 | $3.26M |
| 14 | University South | 5 | $2,013 | $4.6M |
| 15 | Ventura | 10 | $1,912 | $2.75M |
Fewer than 5 sales in the window, so not ranked: Green Acres (4), Professorville (1), Southgate (2) and Triple El (0).
Reading it right
- A ranking summarizes recent sales; it isn’t a verdict on a neighborhood. Price per square foot moves with home size, age, lot, condition and the mix of homes that happened to sell, and a higher number says nothing about which neighborhood is right for you.
- Some guides sit inside others. Triple El, an Eichler tract, sits inside Leland Manor / Garland, so its sales count in both.
- Small samples swing. Each row shows its sale count; a guide with 6 sales can move a lot when one more home closes.
- Bigger homes often sell for less per foot, so compare guides with similar homes, or use the houses-only table.
Go deeper
The live Neighborhood Ranking recalculates these numbers from the MLS whenever you open it, with a shaded map and a budget finder. The Price per Sq Ft Map plots every sale, and the Palo Alto city guide links all 22 guides. To see where we’ve sold, our Palo Alto sales map shows the 34 sales since 2017 we can match to MLS records. Condos and townhomes have their own post: Palo Alto condo and townhome prices.
The Palo Alto data series: housing market by the numbers · where homes sell over asking · ten years of prices by neighborhood · condos and townhomes · house prices by bedrooms · houses under $3M · houses at $5M and up · the best month to sell · our sales map
Selling in Palo Alto?
A Property Nerd will pull the closest recent sales in your neighborhood and walk you through what they say about price. Call (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or book a strategy call. Commissions are negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what’s included.