Sunnyvale is most notably a great suburb. It’s quiet and filled with families, many of whom work in tech. Everyone is pretty focused on raising their kids and making it all work in an extremely expensive area. Expect well-educated neighbors, very safe streets, good public schools, lots of access to amazing outdoors and pretty proximity to San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland if you’re bored at home. 

You pay an awful lot for a home or apartment in Sunnyvale just to live a quiet existence. Most people understand why you have to pay the price for living in SF or NYC but dang, the they hit you up for a pretty penny here as well. The homes are nice but it feels a bit like you should get a bigger and spicier downtown in exchange for those big bucks. 




It’s The ‘Burbs

LookyLOO Review of Sunnyvale?

First, you probably want to avoid Sunnyvale if you’re young and single and want a jumping social life right in your city proper. It ain’t happening here. Assuming singles have moved on let’s talk about the family lifestyle of Sunnyvale. Most of the city is suburban housing with good homes, small-ish yards and sidewalks for the kiddos to ride their bikes. The weather is nice all year round so expect to be able to get outside to walk, hike, bike, visit parks, go to the ocean or head down to San Jose or up to San Francisco for a more active scene. You are right in the center of an amazing area for staying active with the kiddos so enjoy!

If you want to see what's happening in Sunnyvale check out the [calendar of events](https://www.eventbrite.com/d/ca--sunnyvale/events/).

We highly recommend visiting Sunnyvale and staying in the community in a [VRBO](https://vrbo.com/affiliate/p4JS4ZC) rather than a hotel to get a feel for what it's like to live among the locals. You can receive discounted fares on travel via our [partnership with Expedia](expedia.com/affiliate/9NZ8LBQ) as well.

Lifestyle 

The borders of the various ‘burbs around here are nondescript and not important to your work life so expect to move between Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Cupertino, Santa Clara and the rest on a daily basis. Each are filled with different tech businesses and lots of insane traffic if you need to get on a freeway to get to Apple or Google or Cisco or wherever you’re working. The workforce is extremely educated and ambitious about rising in their respective corporations and while the vibe is very chill there is a more quiet competitiveness to the culture than you’d expect given you’re in “Cali”. Salaries are very high in the area but stupidly expensive homes come along with those salaries so don’t expect to convert that compensation into a mega-home - at least in the short term. 


Worklife 

If you’re in the tech biz, have a family, and want year round pleasant temperatures in an extremely chill suburb then check out Sunnyvale. 

Sunny & Pleasant Tech

Why You Should Move Here Now?

**todudeornote**
1y ago
🦉🦉🦉

The weather is amazing. This is a great place to live if you like to go outside. Today will be bright and sunny and 70 without a cloud in the sky - which is what the weather will be most of the spring. In the summer the weather changes - usually it is bright and sunny and 80 without a cloud in the sky. We will have 2 weeks of weather in the 90s - but even then, humidity will be close to 0. The winters are our rainy season. So, lots of cloudy days with a spot of rain.

Sunnyvale itself is a suburban sprawl with a new downtown. Not a lot of nightlife, but lots of restaurants and a few bars. The area is older - not a lot of young, single people. Though the summers see a lot of interns coming in.

Sunnyvale is between Mt View and Cupertino - the towns blend together.

The Bay area is surrounded by mountains with great hiking, world class bike routes and redwood forests (though not a lot of old growth huge trees left). We are an hour from the beautiful CA coastline - think dramatic cliffs leading down to quiet beaches. We are an hour from San Francisco - one of America's great cities with a great music scene, great bars, theater... And you can take a train to and from.

For more reviews of what living in Sunnyvale is like from locals check out: [**The Reviews**](https://lookyloomove.com/locations/sunnyvale/reviews)

Reviews of Sunnyvale from Locals

While we wouldn’t advocate Sunnyvale for young professionals given the small downtown scene we also recognize that long commutes in the area are the worst. So, if you work in Sunnyvale or close by and want to live a short drive from work then check out the apartments in the downtown area. There are some decent restaurants and pubs a short walk from the living options and you’re not far from bigger cities with much bigger social scenes so it can work. 
- Downtown


Young Professionals

Downtown

The whole city is built for families so there are a lot of neighborhood options. Start with the Heritage District, it has a richer culture and a downtown area of its own. It has a strong sense of community with plenty of weekly and annual events like Saturday Farmer’s Market and Art and Wine Festivals that pull everyone together. There are also two great parks, with ballfields, and general play areas for the kiddos, young and old. The school districts are excellent and the homes, originally very modest but nice single-story houses are mixed now with bigger homes and condo and townhomes for smaller families and couples. 

Birdland is another cool option for families. Named for the colorful, bird-names of the streets, Peacock, Quail, Parrot among them. The neighborhood is close to the upscale Santana Row shopping and restaurant area, as well as the big rebuilt Westfield Shopping Mall so you don’t have to hit any traffic to shop or play. The homes are bigger here as well as the yards and the school district is excellent, so of course pulling in lots of families eager to educate their kiddos. 
- Heritage District
- Birdland
- Cumberland
- Sunnyvale West


Families

Heritage District

Sunnyvale

_Bon_Vivant_
1y ago
🦉🦉🦉🦉 

The culture is very diverse. I was born (1960s) and raised here and the demographic was mainly whites and Hispanics, but since the late 80s tech boom there has been an explosion of Asians (Chinese mostly) and South Asians (Indian mostly), so there are some cool festivals and such throughout the year. You can find a immense variety of ethnic restaurants and groceries in the area. The food scene in general in the bay area is some of the best in the world. I'm not young anymore, so I can't really tell you about the club scene, but there is some nightlife in San Jose, and San Francisco is less than an hour away.

There's a lot to see and do in the area. Redwoods, the beach, Monterey bay. The Sierra Nevada mountains are about 3-4 hours away with some world class skiing. Lake Tahoe and Reno have casinos near the slopes.

**todudeornote**
1y ago
🦉🦉🦉

The weather is amazing. This is a great place to live if you like to go outside. Today will be bright and sunny and 70 without a cloud in the sky - which is what the weather will be most of the spring. In the summer the weather changes - usually it is bright and sunny and 80 without a cloud in the sky. We will have 2 weeks of weather in the 90s - but even then, humidity will be close to 0. The winters are our rainy season. So, lots of cloudy days with a spot of rain.

Sunnyvale itself is a suburban sprawl with a new downtown. Not a lot of nightlife, but lots of restaurants and a few bars.

The area is older - not a lot of young, single people. Though the summers see a lot of interns coming in.

Sunnyvale is between Mt View and Cupertino - the towns blend together.

The Bay area is surrounded by mountains with great hiking, world class bike routes and redwood forests (though not a lot of old growth huge trees left).

We are an hour from the beautiful CA coastline - think dramatic cliffs leading down to quiet beaches.

We are an hour from San Francisco - one of America's great cities with a great music scene, great bars, theater... And you can take a train to and from.

**MarkGarcia2008**
1y ago
🦉🦉🦉🦉

Great weather compared to the Midwest. Summers will be warm (t-shirt and shorts weather, but bring a sweater for the evenings). I’d say there is no majority race or culture. You can find almost any type of food you want. The downtown has concerts on Fridays in the summer. Caltrain can take you to SF, Palo Alto, Mtn View or San Jose for more fun.

It’s a little overwhelming compared to a small town but you’ll love it.

Sunnyvale, California

Pong

Looklyloo Score: 91

Reviews

What's it like to live in Sunnyvale?