Byron

Tiny Byron with barely one thousand in population is at the far southeastern reaches of Contra Costa County. It is really more closely associated with Livermore and that area than with places like Concord or Pittsburg.

This is mostly a farming community, and pretty much looks the part. You might miss that it is even a town as you drive through it--though few people who don’t already live around here would have any reason to do that.

But given the growth of both Livermore and Brentwood, it is not hard to imagine that soon you will be getting a lot of development out here in Byron as well, and that they too will see the same kind of explosive growth.

Property prices here, as you might expect, are relatively low, with a median non-farm home going for around $250K as far as I can tell.

One thing that will probably slow things down for them (and this might be a good thing if you don’t like to see property prices soar) is the transportation situation. From Byron it will currently take you an hour to make it barely past Pittsburg on the north and Livermore on the south. Some people might be willing to do that to live on the water on Discovery Bay, but I can’t think of anyone who wants to live in Byron and make that kind of commute.

So, for now Byron is safe from that kind of growth. But who knows, what will happen as nearby public transportation improves.