The Leland Stanford Junior University , often called Stanford University ( or simply Stanford ) , is a private university next to Palo Alto in California , in the middle of Silicon Valley , about 37 miles ( 60 kilometers ) southeast of San Francisco and about 20 miles northwest of San JosÃ , in Santa Clara County . The Leland Stanford Junior University , commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford , is a private research university on an 8180 a campus located near Palo Alto , California . It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula , approximately 20 m northwest of San Jose and 37 m southeast of San Francisco .