Mountain View

Mountain View’s Demographics

Housing Types in Mountain View

Jobs & Housing in Mountain View

Jobs: 90,169
Employed Residents per Household:  1.42
Jobs per Employed Resident: 1.82
Jobs-Housing Balance Ratio: 2.23
Source: ACS 2023 5 year estimates

Note: Jobs-Housing Balance is a measurement used by planners that assumes that a balanced community is one where people can both live and work. This ratio compares the number of jobs in a community to the number of housing units.

Jobs-Housing Fit: 3.7 low wage jobs per low-cost rental unit
Source: Jobs from LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics 2022; households from U.S. Census, ACS 2023 5 year estimates B25056, B25061

Note: Jobs-Housing Fit measures the mismatch between wages and housing affordability as the ratio of low-wage jobs (less than $3,333/month) to the number of low-cost rental units (less than $1,500/month). In Mountain View, there are almost 4 low-wage workers competing for each affordable home.

Note: Current standards measure housing cost in relation to gross household income: households spending more than 30 percent of their income, including utilities, are generally considered to be overpaying or “cost burdened.” Severe cost burden occurs when households pay 50 percent or more of their gross income for housing. The impact of high housing costs falls disproportionately on extremely low-, very low-, and low-income households, especially renters. While some higher-income households may choose to spend greater portions of their income for housing, the cost burden for lower-income households reflects choices limited by a lack of a sufficient supply of housing affordable to these households.

Homelessness in Mountain View

2022 Unhoused people: 346 people, including 206 unsheltered and 140 sheltered (-43% from 2019)

2019 Unhoused people: 606 people, including 574 unsheltered and 32 sheltered (+46% from 2017)
Source: 2019 and 2022 Homeless Point In Time Count

Overcrowding in Mountain View

Total Rental Homes: 21,383
Overcrowded Rental Homes: 1,123
Severely Overcrowded Rental Homes: 1,209
Percent of Rental Homes, Overcrowded: 10.9%
Source: ACS 2023 5 year estimates

• The U.S. Census defines an overcrowded unit as one occupied by 1.01 persons or more per room (excluding bathrooms and kitchens). Units with more than 1.5 persons per room are considered severely overcrowded.

Note: Overcrowding increases health and safety concerns and stresses the condition of the housing stock and infrastructure. Overcrowding is strongly related to household size (particularly for large and very-large households) and the availability of suitably sized housing. Overcrowding impacts both owners and renters; however, renters are generally more significantly impacted. 

2023-2031 Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) 

Every eight years, the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process is used to assign each city and county in California their “fair share” of the region’s housing need, by income level. These homes are intended to address the housing shortage, meeting the needs of existing residents and accommodating projected growth in the region. 

The RHNA process is critical because state law requires each city and county to make a specific, actionable, and measurable plan, called a Housing Element, that complies with state law and addresses housing needs. It must identify enough sites to hold the RHNA, by income level, and create programs that remove barriers to housing production and protect residents vulnerable to displacement. Local jurisdictions must also take significant steps to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH), addressing racial and economic segregation and disparities in access to resources, and meeting the unique housing needs of residents in protected groups. The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is responsible for certifying Housing Element compliance with state law.

In the past, many cities and counties have fallen far short of their RHNA targets, as the Bay Area’s housing crisis continues to grow. In this planning cycle, new laws give HCD additional tools to provide technical assistance and hold jurisdictions accountable to their plans. Each spring, jurisdictions are required to complete an Annual Progress Report on the Housing Element, including the number of homes permitted by income level, program actions taken, and outcomes achieved. The table below shows Mountain View’s target in the sixth cycle and progress to date in permitting new homes.

Permitting progress as of December 2023. HCD 2023 Housing Element Implementation and APR Data Dashboard.

2014-2022 Regional Housing Needs Allocation

The table below shows Mountain View’s final progress toward meeting the 2014-2022 RHNA.

Permitting progress as of December 2022. HCD 5th Cycle Housing Element Implementation and APR Data Dashboard.

Current Affordable Housing Stock

SOURCE:  City staff and units reported in the Housing Element Annual Performance Report that received building permits through 2023 were added to the unit counts in the previously reported 2018 Base Year table.  This methodology necessarily means that any ELI units, if any, are included in the VLI category since that is how HCD has required production data to be reported.  The RHNA data on new units relies on self-reporting by jurisdiction and can include units for which building permits were issued that never got built. The percentage of the total housing stock in the community is based on the California Department of Finance’s Table E-5.

See more information on our affordable housing assets page.

Jobs & Housing in the Development Pipeline

As of January 2022, Mountain View has 2.7 jobs in the development pipeline for every 1 housing unit in the development pipeline.

Pipeline as of January 2022. Information reported from City of Mountain View.  The employment projections are derived by applying square-footage-per-employee factors to building floor areas by four building types: 250 square feet for office/R&D; 1,500 feet for hotels; 550 feet for retail/restaurant; and 2,500 feet for manufacturing/warehouse. All are figures applied to a building’s gross square footage.

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)

ADUs and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units (JADUs) can be effective options for adding much needed housing in California, gently increasing density by adding more homes to a single lot. All California cities and counties are required to permit ADUs and JADUs according to State law. Since 2016, State ADU laws have evolved to make new development more feasible. The California Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD) provides clarity and consistency on State housing law through education, technical assistance, and enforcement. HCD’s 2025 Accessory Dwelling Unit Handbook provides the most up-to-date guidance on State ADU laws.

HCD 2023 Housing Element Implementation and APR Data Dashboard.

Affordable Housing Policies

Housing Element Policies

The Housing Element of Mountain View’s General Plan includes policies to encourage affordable housing development, including:

• City initiation of partnerships and continuing to work with developers for the development of affordable housing, especially housing affordable to extremely low-income households.
• Assessment of the feasibility of utilizing City-owned properties as subsidized housing development sites when appropriate and feasible.
• Proactive encouragement of redeveloping underutilized sites and facilitation of parcel assembly to create development sites.

Additionally, the City is:

• Reassessing residential development standards to ensure that there is flexibility under zoning regulations to permit such innovative housing types as co-housing, shared housing, and intergenerational housing.
• Initiating discussions with housing developers to review land and financial resources, development incentives, and the City’s entitlement process to promote alternative and innovative forms of residential development.

Inclusionary Housing

The City of Mountain View has an inclusionary housing policy that requires all residential developments with 7 or more units to designate 15 percent of the total units for moderate income households between 80% and 120% AMI at a weighted average of 100%. Alternatively, rowhouse and townhouse developments may provide 20% inclusionary units for households between 80% and 150% AMI, with a weighted average of 120%. Rather than providing inclusionary units as part of the development, for-sale residential projects with 3 to 7 units may pay an in-lieu fee for each unit that is equivalent to 3 percent of the sales price.  

For-rent residential developments with 7 or more units are required to designate 15 percent of the total units for low income households below 80% of the area median income. Alternately, applicants may petition the Mountain View City Council to pay an in-lieu fee or other alternative compliance method in place of providing affordable housing on-site.

All BMR units are required to be reasonably dispersed throughout the project and consistent with federal and state fair housing laws, have a distribution of units by number of bedrooms proportionate to the market-rate units, and be of comparable size based on net habitable square footage of the units, except that affordable units for seniors shall comply with applicable requirements for senior housing.

Additional Resources

• City of Mountain View 2015-2023 Housing Element
• City of Mountain View Below-Market-Rate Housing Program
• City of Mountain View Community Development Department
• City of Mountain View Housing Department