Regional Contributions

Development on Stanford’s core academic campus lands, located in unincorporated Santa Clara County, is regulated by the county through a long-term land use permit known as the General Use Permit (GUP).

Since 2000, under the current GUP, the rate of Stanford’s housing construction has outpaced our campus population growth to support our campus and regional communities. Increasing the supply of housing next to jobs helps to reduce commute distances. In part because of the variety of housing options available on or adjacent to campus and the university’s robust transportation programs, the number of vehicle trips during peak hours has remained steady since 2000.

Stanford’s academic campus is in unincorporated Santa Clara County. Unlike other large employers in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, Stanford has a long history of building housing to accommodate its campus growth. We are a large contributor towards housing in the rest of Santa Clara County and have produced almost double the amount of units required by the 2000 General Use Permit.

Stanford's housing production for graduate students, faculty, staff, and the public represents 8% of all housing built in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties since 2010. Housing developed on our adjacent land within Palo Alto accounts for almost 40% of all local housing production since 2000. Stanford is proud to be the single largest contributor to Palo Alto’s state-mandated housing production requirements.

Stanford faculty and staff who own homes on land leased to them by Stanford, on or off campus, pay property taxes. Furthermore, the Stanford Research Park and Stanford Shopping Center are substantial contributors to the fiscal health of the City of Palo Alto, Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), and Santa Clara County. These two assets on Stanford land generate roughly $165 million in tax revenues annually, including roughly $25 million each to the City of Palo Alto and Palo Alto Unified School District.

Want to Learn More?

How does Stanford engage with local government partners on solutions to regional housing challenges?

Do faculty pay property taxes if they own homes on Stanford land?

Figure 5: Source Stanford University

Figure 6, 7: Source Stanford University, California Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) Progress Reports, CoStar

Figure 8: Source Stanford University