Two new recent surveys depict Palo Alto as one of the wealthiest and most educated cities in the nation. According to CNNMoney.com, Palo Alto was ranked as the third top earning town in the United States. With a population of over 60,000, the median family yearly income was reported to be $153,615 and the median home price was $1,180,000. Palo Alto was noted for its high-tech prosperity and proximity to Stanford.

Another study done by the Brookings Institute proclaimed that the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area, which includes Palo Alto, was ranked third in America in educational attainment. The study was based off of a 2008 survey that accounted for the amount of schooling of adults, enrollment in higher educational studies and several other factors. The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area had 43.5 percent of adults age 25 and over with a bachelor’s degree in 2008.

— Kevin Zhang