Pleasant Hill , California

Accomplished-Eye8211
10d ago
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I live in Pleasant Hill. I like it here. I moved here 25 years ago. I'm retired now. No place is perfect.

The city park is great. There's access to good theater. San Francisco is a 35-minute drive at non-commute times for Opera, Broadway shows, Symphony, and museums. Easy transit on BART.

My neighbors say the schools are excellent. They go hiking, biking, etc.

There are good options for shopping. The ethnic dining options are fantastic. When I want something more likely to be found in a bigger city, i drive 15-20 minutes to Berkeley or Oakland. Like a spice shop. Or a great Ethiopian restaurant.

In many ways, living in Pleasant Hill is like living in the hub of Martinez - Concord - Walnut Creek - Lafayette. Aka Diablo Valley. (OK, Lafayette isn't DV.) I'm in those places all the time, and because I live in Central PH, none are more than 5 minutes.

I wouldn't move anywhere permanently initially. I'd try to spend a few days in my target area and then try to rent for six months or a year before I buy. Particularly in the current uncertain times.

Vast-Source1656
10d ago
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We moved to pleasant hill 3 years ago from Oakland. It’s been an adjustment but overall a positive one. Our kids are 7 and 2, and the move was driven by a desire to give them more space, better education options and better kid focused activities.

My kids both love it. Pools, sports, parks are miles better. It’s clean and safe (although to be fair we never felt unsafe in Oakland). Our main concern was lack of diversity, but our kids schools/daycares are very diverse it turns out. People are friendly, access to outdoors activities is better.

As an adult I miss living in Oakland. I also miss living in SF before we had any kids… but life changes and priorities change with it. Mostly I miss being 29…

MyNameIsKlay
10d ago
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I was born and raised in Pleasant Hill and lived 20 of my 35 years here. The school ratings have gotten a bit better over time in the last decade, but just marginally. Growing up, Walnut Creek friends and family always went to better schools, with nicer houses too and it was always a treat to visit downtown WC, Heather Farms, etc on the weekends. The same holds even more true today.

Walnut Creek and Lafayette will always be better in terms of academic rating, and Concord and Martinez have always been slightly below our school ratings. Overall, the grass is always greener and there's always a "next level", but in my opinion, Pleasant Hill is a very safe place to raise your kids with the convenience of highway 24 and 680. If you like walking or biking, you can easily access the Contra Costa Canal Trail and Iron Horse Trail. You also have Briones Regional Park, which is a peaceful space to hike on weekends by yourself or with family.

Historically, I can tell you that Pleasant Hill has always been more desirable due to the ease of commute and distance to San Francisco. If you compare it to Livermore, Pleasant Hill has not been as overpriced due the overflow of the South Bay tech industry. You can see this is evident in the south of the East Bay with tech money flowing into home prices in Fremont => Dublin/Pleasanton => Livermore prices over the years.

Pleasant Hill is a great an affordable, safe place to live. When you look at those 800k homes you mentioned from years ago, those homes are maybe 1M - 1.1M today here, while Livermore's 800k homes are now 1.2M - 1.5M. All of the Bay Area's real estate prices will be directly tied to the tech industry now, but you'll find a lot more financial/banking job workers that commute from out here to the city (or possibly WFH).

What's It Like Living in Pleasant Hill?