Apple was founded in Los Altos, California, in 1976.
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne established Apple Computer Company on April 1, 1976. The founders worked from Jobs's family home in Los Altos while developing and selling the Apple I computer.
Apple later moved its corporate headquarters to nearby Cupertino, which is why people sometimes identify Cupertino rather than Los Altos with the company's origin. The distinction matters: Cupertino became Apple's long-term headquarters, but Los Altos is the city associated with its founding.
The Apple I was initially sold as a bare circuit board. The Apple II, introduced in 1977, turned the young company into a major personal-computer business. Decades later, products such as the iPhone and services such as the App Store helped make Apple one of the world's largest companies by market value.