Best PlacesCastro Valley, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Castro Valley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Castro Valley ranks 475th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Castro Valley
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Castro Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Castro Valley ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 240 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of cities
- Household income$154,476 median, better than 92% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of cities
Where Castro Valley ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,082 a month, better than only 2% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of cities
- Short commute32.3 minutes each way, better than only 14% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Castro Valley
A household needs to earn about $284,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Castro Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $154,476, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Castro Valley's effective rate of 0.71%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Castro Valley
Castro Valley runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Castro Valley.
Who works in Castro Valley, and how
Work in Castro Valley centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Castro Valley
The coast is about 29 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Castro Valley, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Castro Valley, month by month
Castro Valley sees roughly 240 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 52° | 46° |
| April | 67° | 58° | 51° |
| July | 75° | 65° | 58° |
| October | 75° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Castro Valley
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 8 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Castro Valley
Schools across Castro Valley average an A−, better than 87% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Jensen Ranch ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- Proctor ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Palomares ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Creekside MiddleA+ · 73% proficient
- Canyon MiddleA · 66% proficient
Top high schools
- California HighA+ · 90% proficient
- Castro Valley HighA+ · 86% proficient
- James Logan HighA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Castro Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Castro Valley measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Castro Valley against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Castro Valley suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Castro Valley
Is Castro Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Castro Valley ranks 475th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, the weather, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Castro Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,100,650. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $154,476 median income, cost of living beats 70% of cities.
Is Castro Valley safe?
Castro Valley is safer than 13% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $482 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Castro Valley?
July highs average about 75 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 46. That works out to about 240 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of cities.
Is Castro Valley good for families?
Schools beat 87% of cities, crime safety beats 13%, and childcare runs $2,082 a month.
Compare Castro Valley with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Castro Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Castro Valley represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Castro Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Castro Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Castro Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Castro Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Castro Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Castro Valley detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.