East Palo Alto (abbreviated E.P.A.) is a city in
San Mateo County,
California,
United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of East Palo Alto was 28,155. It is situated on the
San Francisco Peninsula, roughly halfway between the cities of
San Francisco and
San Jose. To the north and east is the
San Francisco Bay, to the west is the city of
Menlo Park, and to the south the city of
Palo Alto. Despite being called "East" Palo Alto, this is a misnomer, as the city is precisely due north of Palo Alto. While often incorrectly assumed to be part of the city of
Palo Alto, East Palo Alto has always been a separate entity since its founding as an unincorporated community. It is also in
San Mateo County, while Palo Alto is in
Santa Clara County. The two cities are separated only by
San Francisquito Creek and, largely, the
Bayshore Freeway (the vast majority of East Palo Alto is northeast of the freeway, while all of the residential part of Palo Alto is southwest of the freeway). The revitalization projects in 2000, and high income high-tech professionals moving into new developments, including employees from Google and Facebook, have begun to eliminate the cultural and economic differences between the two cities. East Palo Alto and Palo Alto share both telephone area codes and postal
ZIP codes.