Windsor, California

Windsor offers the stunning beauty of the wine country but with fewer tourists and a more relaxed vibe than the wine country cities of Napa or Sonoma. The town is most notable for its utterly charming Old Downtown which is filled with excellent restaurants, cafes and local boutiques that surround the Windsor Town Green public park - where year-round music, farmers’ markets and festivals are held. It also has plenty of local breweries and vineyards where locals and visitors hang together. You also get a wonderful farm-to-table foodie scene owning to the region’s rich agricultural output.

We could put costs down for virtually any northern California city but it’s worth noting for Windsor since you’re getting pretty far north of the tech scene for the prices for homes to be ~$850k. Windsor is less of a second home city for the wealthy, like Healdsburg or Guerneville, so the locals tend to be genuine locals and that housing price can be a tough pill to swallow. Cost of living in general is also pricey in the area but given you’re likely considering among different Marin or Sonoma county cities this will likely be no shock.

The Town Green, in the center of Old Downtown, is a big driver of the community lifestyle in Windsor. It serves as the year round center of city activities with farmers’ markets, festivals, city celebrations and most notably the Annual Summer Night on the Green Concerts. While families go about their business, going to parks and good schools, and enjoying the amazing Sonoma County outdoors, it is really the Green where the lifestyle of Windsor is most exemplified.