Pleasanton, California

The most popular national trend in moves is finding smaller cities, near major metros, that have suburban amenities but also walkable downtowns. If you’re looking for that then BOOM, Pleasanton is made for you. It’s the very definition of a suburban city, with tons of single-family homes, decent-sized yards (for California), plenty of biking/walking/parks/pools and outdoor activities for the kiddos, and best of all for some, a fun downtown for family meals, local events and date nights when you get a sitter. Pleasanton also has one of the best school districts in the state and country and two BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) stations so you can avoid the messy freeways if you need to commute to Oakland, Berkeley, or San Francisco.

If you check out reviews of Pleasanton, you'll see families raving about schools, safety, parks, and pools. Young professionals are likely to complain about suburbia. This means young professionals who work in or near Pleasanton must face a commute to live in Oakland or SF. Most choose the commute, although this is changing as towns like Pleasanton build out their downtowns. Housing prices average around $1.6mm, so while that's brutal, it's less expensive than many of the suburbs that line 101 in Silicon Valley, so it’s considered a good value for the area.

Pleasanton has a nice balance between outdoor play, community events, suburban downtown nightlife, and more family-friendly attractions than much bigger cities.

For outdoor play you’ve got plenty of parks, and trails for runs, walks, and bike-rides including and especially the Alameda Creek Trail, Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park, and Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area. It has plenty of golf, tennis and of course a growing number of pickleball courts.

Downtown has plenty of restaurants, cafes, boutique shopping, and a growing number of craft breweries and wine bars. It’s also the center for community events and festivals, farmers’ markets, and the First Wednesday Street Parties, held on the first Wednesday of each month, which offer live music, food vendors, and activities for all ages.

For families, you’ve got the Alameda County Fairgrounds, which has year-round rides, games, and animal exhibits. As has been noted, the parks and trails also give the kiddos an incredible variety of options for play and community pools are great for neighborhood culture and cooling off in the summer heat.

Check out the city's calendar of events to see what locals get up to for fun.

We highly recommend visiting Pleasanton and staying in the community in a VRBO rather than a hotel to get a feel for living among the locals. You can receive discounted fares on travel via our partnership with Expedia as well.

Pleasanton is a tech hub of sorts with huge software players like Workday, Oracle, and Veeva Systems. Kaiser, Safeway, and Thermo Fisher Scientific are also major employers. While Pleasanton is suburban, it is also a major company town. For those lucky enough to work and live here life is indeed pleasant. If you live here but work elsewhere (and you have to go into the office), try very hard to BART to work as the freeways are cruel and unusual with traffic.