You Won't Believe What People are Paying for Rent in Palo Alto

Between college students, young tech employees and families, rent costs vary wildly in Palo Alto.

Now you can see just how pricey it is, and how it compares neighborhood-by-neighborhood. 

A new data-based website, Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks uses U.S. census information compiled from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey to show median household income and monthly rents by census tract.

The most expensive rents are in the northeast area of Palo Alto in the neighborhoods around Greer Park. There, the median monthly rent is $1,672 in 2011 dollars, according to the Census data. Rent is also high near Page Mill Road, averaging $1,661 a month.

It's understandably cheaper near the Stanford campus, where rents run about $1,251 a month.

Rents in several Census tracts in Palo Alto weren't reported.

Are you surprised by any of the local data? Tell us in the comments section.

And don't expect it to get any cheaper to live here. An MSN Real Estate article published this spring named the 10 cities where rents will rise most this year. Nearby San Jose and San Francisco were the only California cities to make the list.

In San Jose, the effective rent at end of 2012 was $1,616, a 5.4 percent increase from 2011. The forecasted effective rent growth in 2013 is 5.3 percent, according to MSN Real Estate.

The average rent in California is $1,185 a month according to the 2007-2011 American Community Survey. Statewide middle rental-range is $996.00 to $1,193.00.

To see the data mapped out census tract by census tract, visit the Rich Block, Poor Blocks website.

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