Historically, Mountain View literally put the silicon in Silicon Valley. Work on the region’s first silicon devices began here in 1956, and ambitious arrivals from across the country and abroad have been drawn to the city ever since.
Mountain View looks out over San Francisco Bay and the Santa Cruz Mountains. San Jose is about fifteen minutes away, and bohemian San Francisco is roughly an hour’s drive north. Old-growth trees shade many of its streets, and a lake and the Bay sit just minutes from the centre.
Moving to and Living in San Jose
Moving to and Living in San Francisco
Cost of living in Mountain View
The cost of living in Mountain View is high, and there’s no sugar-coating it. Accommodation is the main culprit: housing here can run up to five times the national average. Essentials such as groceries, healthcare, transport, and utilities are also pricey. All told, Mountain View’s cost of living is roughly twice the national average.
Pay tends to be generous, but bear in mind that California’s income tax is among the highest in the country, and progressive taxes mean that the bite grows with your salary.
Cost of Living in San Jose
Cost of Living in San Francisco
Getting around in Mountain View
Getting around Mountain View usually means getting behind the wheel, and most households in Mountain View drive two cars. The average trip to work is short by big-city standards, just over 20 minutes, but rush-hour traffic around Highway 101 and the North Bayshore campuses can be heavy.
In terms of public transport in Mountain View, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) runs the buses and light rail. Caltrain’s electric trains link Mountain View to San Jose and San Francisco.
MVgo operates free shuttles that connect commuters to the Mountain View Transit Center, where trains and buses carry on the journey. These run on weekday mornings and evenings, at the peak commute times. The city also runs a separate free Community Shuttle seven days a week; it covers errands like the library, the shops, the hospital, and the parks.
Living car-free is most realistic close to downtown and the Transit Center. Cyclists are well catered for here, and there are plentiful bike lanes.
Useful links
- Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)
- Caltrain
- MVgo Shuttle
- Mountain View Community Shuttle
Healthcare in Mountain View
Healthcare in Mountain View is excellent, but it’s best to make sure you have solid insurance. The vast majority of residents carry health insurance, and most get it through an employer. If you’re moving here for work, you can generally expect much the same.
The area’s flagship hospital is El Camino Health in Mountain View, an independent nonprofit that has racked up national rankings and top patient safety grades. It runs urgent care and a women’s and maternity hospital on the same campus. Large regional networks such as Sutter Health also operate clinics nearby, so you won’t be short of options.
Understanding Health Insurance in the USA
Useful links
Schools in Mountain View
There are plenty of public and private schools in Mountain View and the surrounding area. Several of these schools are highly ranked, so you’ll have worthwhile options to consider if you’re moving here with children.
Notable options nearby include Castilleja School, an all-girls private school in Palo Alto, and Silicon Valley International School, which offers bilingual programmes and teaches the International Baccalaureate.
Two public districts cover the city: Mountain View Whisman runs the elementary and middle schools, and the Mountain View–Los Altos Union High School District runs Grades 9 to 12.
Catchment zones can be fiddly here, and they often decide where families end up living, so it’s worth checking which schools a given address feeds into.
International Schools in San Francisco
Useful links
- Mountain View Whisman School District
- Mountain View–Los Altos Union High School District
- Castilleja School
- Silicon Valley International School
Weather in Mountain View
The weather in Mountain View is mild and pleasant year-round. The sun is out for more than two-thirds of the year, especially across the summer months from June to August. Fog drifts in on summer mornings now and then. Winters, from December to February, are characterised by light rain but no snow.
Temperatures vacillate in a narrow band, generally from the mid-40s to the mid-70s°F (about 7 to 24°C). That mildness means the outdoors is open the whole year.
Working in Mountain View
Working in Mountain View usually means working in tech, and there’s no shortage of it at the centre of Silicon Valley. Google and Intuit are both headquartered here, where they grew from small offices into campuses that sprawl across the city. Microsoft and LinkedIn also run large operations in the area.
Apart from technology, other major industries in Mountain View include management, finance, architecture, engineering, sales, administration, and education.
Work culture here tends to be progressive, and the offices are quite international. More than two in five residents were born outside the US, so you’ll be working alongside people from all over. The pay is among the highest anywhere, but hours can run long, and the stakes are higher for those on work visas.
The professional scene is well connected, and it’s relatively easy to plug into your field through meetups, alumni circles, startup events, and industry conferences.
Accommodation in Mountain View
Accommodation in Mountain View comes at a price, but the standard is high. It’s best to get a real estate agent who knows the local market. The market runs from luxury apartments to well-appointed single-family homes, so there’s something for most tastes, provided your budget has room to breathe.
It’s wise to book a short-term stay first while you get the lay of the land, and to view places in person before you commit. When you’ve put in a lease application, the landlord will run references and a credit check. You’ll pay the first month’s rent and a deposit up front, and since 2024, California has capped that deposit at one month’s rent for most rentals. Utilities will usually need to be paid on top of the rent.
Lifestyle in Mountain View
The lifestyle in Mountain View is a big part of the draw. There are ample opportunities to shop, dine, catch a show, or just enjoy the great outdoors.
Tech lovers are spoilt for choice. Landmarks include the Googleplex, the NASA Ames Research Center, the Computer History Museum, and the sidewalk plaza that marks the old Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, where the region’s first silicon devices were made.
Artsy types can scan the schedules at the Shoreline Amphitheatre and the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. For a film, the city’s cinemas now include a dine-in theatre at San Antonio Center. The downtown public library, ringed by tall trees and lawns, makes a pleasant stop.
For coffee, brunch, a drink with friends, or an evening out, Castro Street is where to go. There are bars, restaurants, cafés, coffee shops, and pubs lining the street, and there’s something for every palate. Kitchens here turn out food from across the world, and Asian cooking is especially well represented. Down at the Caltrain station, a short walk away, a farmers’ market runs every Sunday, year-round.
For outdoor activities, Shoreline at Mountain View has a sailing lake, long stretches of Bay Trail, wide picnic lawns, and some of the best birdwatching on the peninsula.