Mountain View, CA, sits between San Francisco Bay and the Santa Cruz Mountains. One look at the nearby peaks and it's clear how the city got its name. It's a progressive, mostly residential community in sunny Santa Clara County. Mountain View began as a stagecoach stop in the 1800s. The city was incorporated in 1902, and its population took off in the 1950s along with huge leaps in technology. Living here costs more than average, homes especially, but incomes are above average too.
Mountain View is consistently ranked among the best places to live in America. Some of Silicon Valley's best-known names are based here. Google's headquarters, the Googleplex, and LinkedIn's headquarters are both in Mountain View, close to San Francisco Bay. The first Apple computers were sold from Mountain View, too, so it's fitting that the Computer History Museum is here.