Stanford, California

Stanford
Stanford post office
Location in Santa Clara County and the state of California
Stanford
Stanford
Stanford
Coordinates: 37°25′21″N 122°9′55″W / 37.42250°N 122.16528°W / 37.42250; -122.16528
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountySanta Clara
Area
  Total
2.776 sq mi (7.190 km2)
  Land2.731 sq mi (7.072 km2)
  Water0.045 sq mi (0.118 km2)  1.64%
Elevation
95 ft (29 m)
Population
 (2020)
  Total
21,150
  Density7,600/sq mi (2,900/km2)
Time zoneUTC−8 (Pacific)
  Summer (DST)UTC−7 (PDT)
ZIP Codes
94305, 94309
Area code650
FIPS code06-73906
GNIS feature IDs1867061, 2409994

Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University, after which it was named. The CDP's population was 21,150 at the 2020 census. Stanford is adjacent to the city of Palo Alto, which borders it to the east, but the CDP itself remains unincorporated.

Most of the Stanford University campus and other core University-owned land is situated within the CDP of Stanford, though the Stanford University Medical Center, the Stanford Shopping Center, and the Stanford Research Park are officially part of the city of Palo Alto. Its resident population consists of the inhabitants of on-campus housing, including graduate student residences and single-family homes and condominiums owned by their faculty inhabitants but located on leased Stanford land.

The adjacent neighborhood of College Terrace, a residential neighborhood with streets named after universities and colleges, is neither part of the Stanford CDP nor owned by the university (except for a few individual houses). Instead, it is part of Palo Alto.