2025 Compare Cities Economy:
Fairfax, VA vs Palo Alto, CA

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Highlights
- Household income in Palo Alto, is 64% more than it is in Fairfax and is 65% above the National Average.
- Fairfax unemployment rate is 4.3%.
- Palo Alto unemployment rate is 3.5%.
 Fairfax, VAPalo Alto, CAUnited States
 Unemployment Rate  Unlock3.5%6.0%
 Recent Job Growth  Unlock2.5%1.6%
 Future Job Growth39.1%  Unlock33.5%
 Sales Taxes6.0%  Unlock6.2%
 Income Taxes  Unlock8.0%4.6%
 Income per Cap.$57,091  Unlock$37,638
 Household Income  Unlock$194,782$69,021
 Family Median Income$157,661  Unlock$85,028
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 Est. Households By Income
 Fairfax, VAPalo Alto, CAUnited States
 Income Less Than 15K  Unlock5.2%9.4%
 Income between 15K and 20K1.8%  Unlock3.8%
 Income between 20K and 30K  Unlock3.1%8.1%
 Income between 30K and 40K5.1%  Unlock8.0%
 Income between 40K and 50K  Unlock2.9%7.6%
 Income between 50K and 60K2.9%  Unlock7.2%
 Income between 60K and 75K  Unlock4.6%9.6%
 Income between 75K and 100K11.7%  Unlock12.8%
 Income between 100K and 150K  Unlock12.8%16.3%
 Income between 150K and 200K15.4%  Unlock7.8%
 Income greater than 200K  Unlock49.5%9.5%
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 Population By Occupation
 Fairfax, VAPalo Alto, CAUnited States
 Management, business, finance22.2%  Unlock16.4%
 Engineering, computers, science  Unlock29.0%6.5%
 Community, social services1.2%  Unlock1.8%
 Legal  Unlock3.7%1.2%
 Education, library9.0%  Unlock6.2%
 Arts, design, media, sports, entertainment  Unlock3.5%2.0%
 Healthcare practitioners and technology3.8%  Unlock6.2%
 Healthcare support  Unlock1.1%3.3%
 Firefighters, law enforcement2.5%  Unlock2.1%
 Food preparation, serving  Unlock1.6%5.4%
 Building maintenance3.1%  Unlock3.6%
 Personal care  Unlock2.3%2.6%
 Sales, office, administrative support15.1%  Unlock20.9%
 Farming, fishing, forestry  Unlock0.1%0.6%
 Construction, extraction, maintenance/repair3.5%  Unlock8.1%
 Production, transportation, material moving  Unlock2.5%13.1%
Reviews for Fairfax    28 Reviews

I lived in the area for 17 years through high school until I eventually became a truck driver. Having now seen most states extensively, I wanted to fairly review what  More

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Living in Fairfax, or any of the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC, means dealing with highways that are a Gordian knot of converging lanes and overpasses, making long  More

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Over 10 years ago

The Cost of living here is high. Though the standard of living is also high, unless you're making over 50,000/year, it's difficult to both live and build any sort of  More

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Reviews for Palo Alto    8 Reviews

The Bay Area in general, but Palo Alto specifically provides many of the qualities sought by many; the climate is beautiful, there is access to cultural and recreational  More

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Over 17 years ago

Very  More

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Over 18 years ago

VTA and SamsTrans and Caltrain all provide good service and most times frequency of service is  More

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