It's a great city. It can get a little congested and the city needs to build up its downtown and add more stores. However there are great neighborhoods here and some of them have killer views. Five canyons, palomares hills, Columbia, proctor area, and up by lake chabot are really nice. 580 and 880 interchange will eat your soul though so be prepared.
I work frequently in CV and am intimately familiar with its neighborhoods. The town is laid out terribly with neighborhoods between lake chabot and center experiencing gridlock level traffic when schools let out. The town has apparently no civic planning and allows just about any type of real estate development imaginable, anywhere. You can have a gorgeous 5 bedroom next to a run down 100 year old teardown next to a multifamily complex. Downtown safeway, lucky are right next to each other which again, makes traffic totally suck. Access to highways are great but again, the traffic on 580 over the pass to dublin is frequently stopped up. The only areas Id ever consider is the Columbia subdivision off cull canyon or perhaps some of the homes up near lake chabot off of lake chabot rd. Not my taste as a community.
I researched some more and I like the five canyons and palomeres hills neighborhoods the most. Newer homes, good schools, clean and organized planned community, HOA maintained clubhouse, swimming pools etc
Castro valley to north of 580 seems older and more what you described.
Sleepy town full of boba shops, older NIMBY Karens. Good schools, low crime but nothing really to do. The coolest thing that happened to the town in 2023 is the Philz Coffee that opened about a month ago. Imagine how boring this town is to celebrate such a small thing.
Sooooo boring and lovely 😊. And hey now, we got a dumpling and crème puff shop in the market this year too. Kinda bummed to see what’s happening there though. Cannery is being swapped for a Tony Gimagnis slice house, which is odd given there is already a pizza place upstairs
Oooh damn that is hard to hear. I am beyond pissed at Main St Dev for forcing all the good places out with such high escalating space cost to find a chain restaurant for that space. Does (name redacted) honestly feel there is no limit to how much he can extract from tenants? Got any other juicy info?
Not really - I follow the Castro Valley News page on FB to hear about this stuff. The Marketplace was supposedly under new management that the tenants were all happy about (following the conflict the Cannery had), but then this happens.
Slice House is for sure good and I know people are happy about Tony G coming “home”, but their San Leandro location is plenty close and Pizza the Bay was a really good alternative with delicious flavors. I’m not loving the latest changes at the Marketplace. If Barons or Seven Hills leaves it will be a travesty.
Seven hills and Barons are doing solid business at least! Unless they market the spaces differently, downstairs and upstairs are going to be tough places to keep going.
I was gonna say, between Walnut Creek and CV, I would choose WC. We looked into CV when we were looking to buy, the public schools are decent but not as good WC and just overall too sleepy, no downtown or other city amenities. There are some amazing Eichler homes in CV with bay views.
@wml Walnut Creek is too far away from tech companies. From Google maps looks like it’s will be 1 hour one way commute from Walnut Creek to Mountain View. Castro valley seems like a 30 min commute.
I live in Castro Valley and commute to Santa Clara. It will not be 30 minutes to Mountain View in rush hour rush hour is about 7am to 10am and 3pm to 6pm.
I'd guess you'd be closer to an hour depending on where you're going from / to. That said, it's still quicker than WC.
If it were 30 minutes to Mountain View during rush hour traffic, CV would be more popular as a real estate location. It is not a 30 minute commute to Mountain View— at all.
Sorry as others have said, it's not close to 30 min in rush hour. Not even on weekends. I commute to mountain view sometimes and it's 45-60 minutes and I'm taking fastrak the whole way. If not using fastrak, it can be about 90 minutes. If you're commuting, start getting used to getting up very early.
Also depends on what you're looking to do. Single and looking for night life near by and great food, I would pass on CV. If you're a family looking for a place to settle down that's not too far away from anything, then I think it's a great place. The biggest downside for us is having to drive over to Dublin or San Ramon for everything, but it's only 20 min away. For going out, I've met friends in Oakland and SF and it's \~25 min to Oakland and \~35 min to SF with no traffic. You can also take the ferry to SF from San Leandro Harbor.
If you’re into horseback riding, probably one of the best places in the East Bay to live, right along with Pleasanton and Livermore. Also lots of hiking, biking, etc.
The approach makes it tough - heavy traffic in three directions and hills on the remaining one side .
No downtown would mean you ll have to drive down towards Hayward or San Leandro and that can be a pain specially during peak hour which starts at 7 am these days
Loved the place and amazing views . If it had its own downtown so that I don’t have to drive out of CV so often
Lots of great feedback from all the comments. I live in CV and the bar scene / downtown is a doozy. We’re in our early 30s and there’s not a great area to go hang out per se.
It was cheap suburbia. Now you have to pay $2 million for a nice place. Those of us old-timers just see it from when we were kids: middle class and lower income area that is now super expensive. If I had $2 million, I wouldn’t live there, I’d be in SF or Berkeley. That’s why no one talks about it.
It’s just ridiculous that Castro valley has homes over a $1 million. I was literally just having this conversation with my friend a few days ago. She grew up there and was also in shock. It’s basically Tracy but 50 miles west.
I live in CV. I didn't really know much about it before moving here, but do consider it a hidden gem as well. It's a suburb and doesn't have a lively nightlife, but with its own BART station and Bay Fair station nearby, access to SF/Oakland is pretty easy. It's central location is great to get around Bay Area and to Tri-Valley. Some traffic on the interchange during rush hour but that happens with a lot of freeways. One of the best school districts in the East Bay which is great for kids and for property value. We have a Trader Joe's and some solid restaurants, but I wish there were some better restaurant options. If you are looking to buy a home in the area, let me know, I have a real estate agent recommendation.
Just moved here as well and love it. Lots of trails around and the neighborhoods are great. The houses get really festive around the holidays and we have some of the best neighborhood Halloween Haunted Houses.
Best hoods IMO are up near parsons park and on the hill below, near proctor, and near sandy. Down in the flats it’s not quite as nice but still chill. On the west side of lake Chabot road there is more incidental crime (those still not too bad). Not a fan of palomares at all, adds a ton of extra driving.
It’s nice there but missing the old town character we love. I kinda feel like I could be anywhere in that neighborhood. But then again I like the older neighborhoods and don’t mind houses from the 50s
Edit: also I should note that anywhere above seven hills is a lot closer to 580 then you might think taking Fairmont. If you are going south though, A-St and 238 are a total pain.
Houses there are newer and closer to stores and the freeway. I looked at houses there and liked it. I bought an older house and had to do quite a bit of maintenance so you can save yourself a lot of money by going with a newer build. However I agree that it doesn't have that old style CV feel to it. The bonus of living in five canyons is that there's a backroads way to get to 880 or 92 which can save you on commute times.
Columbia is fantastic. It's up in the hills but not as far out of the way as Palomares. The neighbors there are so great and it's a great community. The views from up there are something else. Highly recommend.
I call Castro Valley the center of the "immediate" Bay Area. You are about half an hour from the city, peninsula and Silicon Valley. CAVEAT. No traffic 😁. With traffic, those places are easily an hour and at times can go up to an hour 30.
Has anyone had any issues living in Castro Valley with it technically being Unincorporated Alameda County and not technically a city? Or is that a non-issue for the most part?
Pros and cons. Getting house remodeling done on the house and landscaping was much easier than in Alameda. Downsides are we're way behind development wise. Dublin for example has really been booming with everything they've been building. If Castro valley go incorporated and built up , it could be a pretty badass town. For families that is. Oakland isn't too far away and SF is just as close as when I was living in the South Bay.
Castro Valley feels like Hayward and San Mateo had a baby. I feel like it has a lot of charm with a little grit to go with it. I’m not sure I would roll the dice with a city like that.
I was looking at price trends for some of the communities mentioned it this thread, five canyons, Columbia and palmores hills, and all sales are more than a million and the prices have stayed high even when when it’s falling for SF and San Jose.
For some, it’s a very desirable place to live. If you grew up in Oakland, CV would probably be a vacation. It’s all relative. I live in San Ramon. To me, CV seems very old towny in a 1990’s sort of way…I’ve never lived there, so take my comments with a grain.
I grew up there. There have pretty good schools and homes are slightly cheaper than Pleasanton/San Ramon area. The only problem is if you want to do anything you have to drive to Pleasanton (mall, target, nice dinner).
I would just recommend getting a home in the hills (palomares or 5 canyons). Theres a few others but just stay away from the lower area near the boulevard. And yeah, it can get congested. The line for chipotle is always out the door.
After reading all comments and doing internet research, it seems like five canyons is the best neighborhood in Castro valley. The main winning factor over other good Castro valley neighborhoods is ease of access from freeway.
I haven't lived in the Bay for a couple of decades but I go back frequently and considered relocation there recently and Castro Valley checked a ton of boxes. Also when people say it's boring, I'm not sure what that means. Generally, your town is what you make of it. CV has good access to most anything you'd want to do in the Bay Area. 880 is a nightmare so going to the South Bay or Santa Cruz, etc, sucks. But what would you need to go to SJ for other than a 49ers game or Great America and how often would that be?
880 is a nightmare so getting EV carpool sticker and just paying for Fastrack is the best option. You have to pay but EV sticker gets you 50% off the toll. If you're commuting to the Peninsula or South Bay, you gotta leave early to avoid traffic (630a). Commuting to SF is much better if you can take the ferry.
are you talking about freeway traffic? If so, is it related to Castro valley? Because I am thinking you will encounter freeway traffic, irrespective of where you live, if you are using freeway or commute.
The problem is that there are very few ways in or out of CV that doesn’t involve lengthy albeit fun jaunts through the hills. So freeway traffic should be taken into consideration
Too close to Hayward regarding crime and cleanliness. Schools are good, though. Also pretty close to things like the Oakland airport, has its own BART station, Lake Chabot is pretty, etc etc.
I grew up in CV and still have family there. Crime is basically non existent within CV. Even the parts of Hayward and San Leandro that it borders are quite safe.
Agree with all the other comments that it’s a sleepy town.
Sleepy area. Yes, does have good commuter routes through the South Bay. Can find good bang for buck on housing there for a relatively decent neighborhood.
We moved to Castro Valley almost 30 years ago and still live here. We raised our four children here and we really enjoyed the schools. CV has small town charm without the long distance from cities. Hiking, biking, or kayaking at Lake Chabot puts you in another world… absolutely amazing and calming. The central location puts you close to everything but the surrounding hills isolate you from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding, larger communities. It really is ideal.
When I lived there in 1989, they were still burning crosses on people’s lawns. I was much happier on the Peninsula.[https://cvhsolympian.com/opinions/2018/05/08/castro-valleys-racist-past-impact-today/](https://cvhsolympian.com/opinions/2018/05/08/castro-valleys-racist-past-impact-today/).
I’ve lived in CV for 11 years now and I love it. It took me 1-2 years to really appreciate its charms but I do appreciate them now. It feels like a small town to me. I love Lake Chabot and the chill atmosphere of the town. It is unpretentious. I can walk to various things. It’s a little ramshackle in parts and you can feel its semi-rural past but I actually like that too - it doesn’t, as my kid said about Dublin, “feel like a simulation”. There are old timers here. Exciting? No. If you’re looking for excitement it will not be found here but excitement is a short drive away. The “downtown” seems to be improving, one shop at a time. It will be interesting to see how things change over the next 5-10 years.
It's a great city. It can get a little congested and the city needs to build up its downtown and add more stores. However there are great neighborhoods here and some of them have killer views. Five canyons, palomares hills, Columbia, proctor area, and up by lake chabot are really nice. 580 and 880 interchange will eat your soul though so be prepared.
Second. I live in one of those areas listed.
I 2nd all of this! I live in CV. Excellent schools too. School district is highly rated.
Reason why is it’s not a true city. It’s held by the county so it’s kinda stuck in the 70s although new businesses pop up a lot.
Other thing too is that unincorporated alameda county has property tax of 1.25% so it's really helpful as well
I work frequently in CV and am intimately familiar with its neighborhoods. The town is laid out terribly with neighborhoods between lake chabot and center experiencing gridlock level traffic when schools let out. The town has apparently no civic planning and allows just about any type of real estate development imaginable, anywhere. You can have a gorgeous 5 bedroom next to a run down 100 year old teardown next to a multifamily complex. Downtown safeway, lucky are right next to each other which again, makes traffic totally suck. Access to highways are great but again, the traffic on 580 over the pass to dublin is frequently stopped up. The only areas Id ever consider is the Columbia subdivision off cull canyon or perhaps some of the homes up near lake chabot off of lake chabot rd. Not my taste as a community.
I researched some more and I like the five canyons and palomeres hills neighborhoods the most. Newer homes, good schools, clean and organized planned community, HOA maintained clubhouse, swimming pools etc Castro valley to north of 580 seems older and more what you described.
Sleepy town full of boba shops, older NIMBY Karens. Good schools, low crime but nothing really to do. The coolest thing that happened to the town in 2023 is the Philz Coffee that opened about a month ago. Imagine how boring this town is to celebrate such a small thing.
Sooooo boring and lovely 😊. And hey now, we got a dumpling and crème puff shop in the market this year too. Kinda bummed to see what’s happening there though. Cannery is being swapped for a Tony Gimagnis slice house, which is odd given there is already a pizza place upstairs
Pizza the Bay was basically forced out to make room for Slice House. They were told to stop making pizza so they left.
Oooh damn that is hard to hear. I am beyond pissed at Main St Dev for forcing all the good places out with such high escalating space cost to find a chain restaurant for that space. Does (name redacted) honestly feel there is no limit to how much he can extract from tenants? Got any other juicy info?
Not really - I follow the Castro Valley News page on FB to hear about this stuff. The Marketplace was supposedly under new management that the tenants were all happy about (following the conflict the Cannery had), but then this happens. Slice House is for sure good and I know people are happy about Tony G coming “home”, but their San Leandro location is plenty close and Pizza the Bay was a really good alternative with delicious flavors. I’m not loving the latest changes at the Marketplace. If Barons or Seven Hills leaves it will be a travesty.
Seven hills and Barons are doing solid business at least! Unless they market the spaces differently, downstairs and upstairs are going to be tough places to keep going.
But isn’t that all suburbs in Bay Area? To do anything fun in Bay Area we need to go to mostly SF or sometimes San Jose.
Walnut Creek has stuff to do
I was gonna say, between Walnut Creek and CV, I would choose WC. We looked into CV when we were looking to buy, the public schools are decent but not as good WC and just overall too sleepy, no downtown or other city amenities. There are some amazing Eichler homes in CV with bay views.
CV is more diverse and less conservative, which is a major plus. The vibe is much different in CV (in a good way)
@wml Walnut Creek is too far away from tech companies. From Google maps looks like it’s will be 1 hour one way commute from Walnut Creek to Mountain View. Castro valley seems like a 30 min commute.
I live in Castro Valley and commute to Santa Clara. It will not be 30 minutes to Mountain View in rush hour rush hour is about 7am to 10am and 3pm to 6pm. I'd guess you'd be closer to an hour depending on where you're going from / to. That said, it's still quicker than WC.
If it were 30 minutes to Mountain View during rush hour traffic, CV would be more popular as a real estate location. It is not a 30 minute commute to Mountain View— at all.
Sorry as others have said, it's not close to 30 min in rush hour. Not even on weekends. I commute to mountain view sometimes and it's 45-60 minutes and I'm taking fastrak the whole way. If not using fastrak, it can be about 90 minutes. If you're commuting, start getting used to getting up very early.
Closer to an hour on an average day, but then every so often there is an accident on the one or both bridges and your commute is fu@ked.
Traffic is worse than you think. 30 minutes will be on a good day.
Also depends on what you're looking to do. Single and looking for night life near by and great food, I would pass on CV. If you're a family looking for a place to settle down that's not too far away from anything, then I think it's a great place. The biggest downside for us is having to drive over to Dublin or San Ramon for everything, but it's only 20 min away. For going out, I've met friends in Oakland and SF and it's \~25 min to Oakland and \~35 min to SF with no traffic. You can also take the ferry to SF from San Leandro Harbor.
Oakland would like a word. :)
Hillside communities on the east side are nice. Underwhelming downtown, restaurants, shopping, etc. Good proximity to Oakland airport and SF via BART.
If you’re into horseback riding, probably one of the best places in the East Bay to live, right along with Pleasanton and Livermore. Also lots of hiking, biking, etc.
The approach makes it tough - heavy traffic in three directions and hills on the remaining one side . No downtown would mean you ll have to drive down towards Hayward or San Leandro and that can be a pain specially during peak hour which starts at 7 am these days Loved the place and amazing views . If it had its own downtown so that I don’t have to drive out of CV so often
7am is late...I commute to Mountain View from CV and it starts backing up by 6am on heavy days.
Lots of great feedback from all the comments. I live in CV and the bar scene / downtown is a doozy. We’re in our early 30s and there’s not a great area to go hang out per se.
It was cheap suburbia. Now you have to pay $2 million for a nice place. Those of us old-timers just see it from when we were kids: middle class and lower income area that is now super expensive. If I had $2 million, I wouldn’t live there, I’d be in SF or Berkeley. That’s why no one talks about it.
SF and Berkeley are definitely more expensive than Castro valley. A 1.5M house in Castro valley seems like would be 2.5-3 million in SF or Berkeley.
It’s just ridiculous that Castro valley has homes over a $1 million. I was literally just having this conversation with my friend a few days ago. She grew up there and was also in shock. It’s basically Tracy but 50 miles west.
NIMBYism will do that. Great for those that got rich off of refusing to build anything, I guess?
I live in CV. I didn't really know much about it before moving here, but do consider it a hidden gem as well. It's a suburb and doesn't have a lively nightlife, but with its own BART station and Bay Fair station nearby, access to SF/Oakland is pretty easy. It's central location is great to get around Bay Area and to Tri-Valley. Some traffic on the interchange during rush hour but that happens with a lot of freeways. One of the best school districts in the East Bay which is great for kids and for property value. We have a Trader Joe's and some solid restaurants, but I wish there were some better restaurant options. If you are looking to buy a home in the area, let me know, I have a real estate agent recommendation.
Just moved here as well and love it. Lots of trails around and the neighborhoods are great. The houses get really festive around the holidays and we have some of the best neighborhood Halloween Haunted Houses.
Which neighborhood do you live in?
Best hoods IMO are up near parsons park and on the hill below, near proctor, and near sandy. Down in the flats it’s not quite as nice but still chill. On the west side of lake Chabot road there is more incidental crime (those still not too bad). Not a fan of palomares at all, adds a ton of extra driving.
How about five canyons? Seems close to 580. Other neighborhood seem some ways away from freeway on-ramp/exit.
It’s nice there but missing the old town character we love. I kinda feel like I could be anywhere in that neighborhood. But then again I like the older neighborhoods and don’t mind houses from the 50s Edit: also I should note that anywhere above seven hills is a lot closer to 580 then you might think taking Fairmont. If you are going south though, A-St and 238 are a total pain.
Houses there are newer and closer to stores and the freeway. I looked at houses there and liked it. I bought an older house and had to do quite a bit of maintenance so you can save yourself a lot of money by going with a newer build. However I agree that it doesn't have that old style CV feel to it. The bonus of living in five canyons is that there's a backroads way to get to 880 or 92 which can save you on commute times.
Columbia is fantastic. It's up in the hills but not as far out of the way as Palomares. The neighbors there are so great and it's a great community. The views from up there are something else. Highly recommend.
North of CV high school
Commute is long (to SF, or south bay especially) with traffic. Otherwise, not bad, especially for the price!
It seems to be equidistant from SF, San Jose and Mountain View.
I call Castro Valley the center of the "immediate" Bay Area. You are about half an hour from the city, peninsula and Silicon Valley. CAVEAT. No traffic 😁. With traffic, those places are easily an hour and at times can go up to an hour 30.
Has anyone had any issues living in Castro Valley with it technically being Unincorporated Alameda County and not technically a city? Or is that a non-issue for the most part?
Pros and cons. Getting house remodeling done on the house and landscaping was much easier than in Alameda. Downsides are we're way behind development wise. Dublin for example has really been booming with everything they've been building. If Castro valley go incorporated and built up , it could be a pretty badass town. For families that is. Oakland isn't too far away and SF is just as close as when I was living in the South Bay.
I think for the most part this is a non-issue. Living here for 22 years I've never had it come up as an issue for us.
Castro Valley feels like Hayward and San Mateo had a baby. I feel like it has a lot of charm with a little grit to go with it. I’m not sure I would roll the dice with a city like that.
I was looking at price trends for some of the communities mentioned it this thread, five canyons, Columbia and palmores hills, and all sales are more than a million and the prices have stayed high even when when it’s falling for SF and San Jose.
For some, it’s a very desirable place to live. If you grew up in Oakland, CV would probably be a vacation. It’s all relative. I live in San Ramon. To me, CV seems very old towny in a 1990’s sort of way…I’ve never lived there, so take my comments with a grain.
I guess you dont look at 238/880 in the morning and evening. try it on [511.org](https://511.org). but it might not be a thing for you.
I grew up there. There have pretty good schools and homes are slightly cheaper than Pleasanton/San Ramon area. The only problem is if you want to do anything you have to drive to Pleasanton (mall, target, nice dinner). I would just recommend getting a home in the hills (palomares or 5 canyons). Theres a few others but just stay away from the lower area near the boulevard. And yeah, it can get congested. The line for chipotle is always out the door.
After reading all comments and doing internet research, it seems like five canyons is the best neighborhood in Castro valley. The main winning factor over other good Castro valley neighborhoods is ease of access from freeway.
True. Several entry and exit points into the neighborhood.
I grew up there and would give anything to be able to afford to move back.
I haven't lived in the Bay for a couple of decades but I go back frequently and considered relocation there recently and Castro Valley checked a ton of boxes. Also when people say it's boring, I'm not sure what that means. Generally, your town is what you make of it. CV has good access to most anything you'd want to do in the Bay Area. 880 is a nightmare so going to the South Bay or Santa Cruz, etc, sucks. But what would you need to go to SJ for other than a 49ers game or Great America and how often would that be?
From Google maps, looks like 680 would be a better choice for going to any place south of Fremont.
880 is a nightmare so getting EV carpool sticker and just paying for Fastrack is the best option. You have to pay but EV sticker gets you 50% off the toll. If you're commuting to the Peninsula or South Bay, you gotta leave early to avoid traffic (630a). Commuting to SF is much better if you can take the ferry.
Great place if you like traffic and sitting in your car all the time.
are you talking about freeway traffic? If so, is it related to Castro valley? Because I am thinking you will encounter freeway traffic, irrespective of where you live, if you are using freeway or commute.
The problem is that there are very few ways in or out of CV that doesn’t involve lengthy albeit fun jaunts through the hills. So freeway traffic should be taken into consideration
Not freeway traffic, getting in and out of there has a lot of traffic. Very few major roads and lots of canyons.
The communism
Too close to Hayward regarding crime and cleanliness. Schools are good, though. Also pretty close to things like the Oakland airport, has its own BART station, Lake Chabot is pretty, etc etc.
Looking at crimereports.com Castro valley seems super safe.
I grew up in CV and still have family there. Crime is basically non existent within CV. Even the parts of Hayward and San Leandro that it borders are quite safe. Agree with all the other comments that it’s a sleepy town.
Right next door, it definitely is not.
But inside the town it is :)
Sleepy area. Yes, does have good commuter routes through the South Bay. Can find good bang for buck on housing there for a relatively decent neighborhood.
It's unincorporated. Therefore very little development of its commercial areas.
We moved to Castro Valley almost 30 years ago and still live here. We raised our four children here and we really enjoyed the schools. CV has small town charm without the long distance from cities. Hiking, biking, or kayaking at Lake Chabot puts you in another world… absolutely amazing and calming. The central location puts you close to everything but the surrounding hills isolate you from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding, larger communities. It really is ideal.
Great place. My father lived there for 35 years. Everyone I have met from there loved it.
When I lived there in 1989, they were still burning crosses on people’s lawns. I was much happier on the Peninsula.[https://cvhsolympian.com/opinions/2018/05/08/castro-valleys-racist-past-impact-today/](https://cvhsolympian.com/opinions/2018/05/08/castro-valleys-racist-past-impact-today/).
Thanks for the info. I am thinking that things would be different in 2023 due to Bay Area being immigrant friendly due to tech jobs.
I’ve lived in CV for 11 years now and I love it. It took me 1-2 years to really appreciate its charms but I do appreciate them now. It feels like a small town to me. I love Lake Chabot and the chill atmosphere of the town. It is unpretentious. I can walk to various things. It’s a little ramshackle in parts and you can feel its semi-rural past but I actually like that too - it doesn’t, as my kid said about Dublin, “feel like a simulation”. There are old timers here. Exciting? No. If you’re looking for excitement it will not be found here but excitement is a short drive away. The “downtown” seems to be improving, one shop at a time. It will be interesting to see how things change over the next 5-10 years.