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Los Altos Hills, California

51 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the San Jose census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94022. It stands on Purisima Creek. The Survey maps it on the Palo Alto quadrangle. 8,489 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 292 feet above sea level.

Los Altos Hills within Santa Clara County

Then and now

1897 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Los Altos Hills, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Los Altos Hills, surveyed 1897

On record in Los Altos Hills

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

4 figures

Los Altos Hills grew from 3,412 to 8,489 between 1960 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
19603,412
19807,421+4,009 (+117%)
20107,922
20208,489+567 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

22 surveys from 51 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

197 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 197 fires within 5 miles of Los Altos Hills between 1992 and 2020, burning about 139 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 15 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined100
Equipment and vehicle use35
Smoking17
Arson/incendiarism15
Power generation/transmission/distribution10
Misuse of fire by a minor10
Debris and open burning8
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2009Arson/incendiarismunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 2013Equipment and vehicle use1.2 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitALPINE
5 September 2011Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
30 September 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
30 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
28 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
26 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSanta Clara Unitnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Santa Clara County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 24 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 24 workings within 5 miles of Los Altos Hills: 13 producers, 6 past producers, 3 unknowns, 2 prospects. 13 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Calcium, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Permanente Cement PlantLimestone, General, ClayProducer
Permanente QuarryCalcium, Clay, Limestone, GeneralProducer
Permanente Cement Co.Calcium, ClayPast ProducerSedimentary
BondCalciumProspect
WinshipCalciumProspect
Adobe Creek QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Adobe Creek QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Mt. View Crushing PlantStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Patton MillStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Patton QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Santa Clara County

Storms near this place

2 since 2017

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Los Altos Hills in 2 storm reports between 2017 and 2025: 1 debris flow, 1 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2025Thunderstorm WindLos Altos Hills-The PG&E station on Black Mountain reported a gust of 75 mph.
February 2017Debris FlowLos Altos Hills-Mud/dirt/rock slide blocking south bound lanes Skyline Dr at Alpine.

Every storm recorded in Santa Clara County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Los Altos1.3 miles52
Alta Mesa1.3 miles51
Green Acres1.9 miles51
Gemello2.1 miles52
Palo Alto Orchards2.2 miles52
Monroe Park2.3 miles52
Saint Francis Acres2.3 miles52
Neal2.4 miles51

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Los Altos HillsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q868677The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1659746. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.