Los Gatos

Roughly bounded by State Route 85 to the north, Santa Clara to the south and Saratoga to the west, Los Gatos is a wealthy neighborhood surrounded by other wealthy neighborhoods. It sits on the southwest corner of San Jose and is located among the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Although it has a bit of a small town feel to it, it spans 11 square miles of suburban terrain and hosts about 30,000 residents. Many of these residents are typecast as the 1%, or the .1% and maintains a largely democratic political slant. For perspective residents, you’ll be living amongst varying degrees of old, million to multi-million dollar ranch homes and bungalows.

While part of Santa Clara County, Los Gatos’ residential quarters are firmly upper middle-class, mostly because of its significant ties to nearby Silicon Valley. It has a wide range of home styles and property aesthetics, but mostly consist of pristine suburban neighborhoods, densely green street sides and clean-cut yards. For perspective home buyers, the median house prices are estimated just below $1 million. But what you see driving around the neighborhood, you’d expect that estimate to be on the low end. In fact, some homes in the upper reaches of the Santa Cruz Mountains are large, multi-million dollar estates. Statistically speaking, the average resident is white (80% white, according to the 2010 US Census) and rakes in about $120,000/year.

Los Gatos’ downtown area has a classy, sophisticated and small-town feel to it. In many ways it has retained its historical image, maintaining Victorian-era buildings and boutique stores throughout half centuries. On some major intersections, you’ll see some medium sized, pedestrian-friendly shopping centers which provide convenient, upscale dining and a couple antique stores. As a whole, the city is home to more than 3,000 businesses. If you don’t work in Los Gatos, State Route 17 crosses the neighborhood and connects residents to the greater Santa Clara County and major job hubs of San Francisco and nearby San Jose. Along it, you’ll come across Vasona Reservoir, which shines as the city’s popular outdoor recreation spot.

With a ton of wealth to pump into their school system, Los Gatos has a couple top notch schools within the city’s limits. For young families, it provides a handful of elementary schools, one middle school and the popular Los Gatos High School which lies in the heart of Los Gatos. The city is also served by nearby Mission Oaks Hospital. In fact, it is the city’s predominate employer, creating jobs for over 2,000 people.

Los Gatos is an affluent community to the southwest of San Jose. About a third of the homes here are priced over $1 million. The median home for sale in the area is probably around $775K. Only about a quarter of homes in the area—even in this market—drop below $500 K. Generally speaking the homes become more expensive as you head up into the hills.

The schools in Los Gatos are excellent, which is one of the big draws of the neighborhood. There is also a mix of older and newer homes, the newer ones tending to be quite beautiful. The area also has a sort of rural, bucolic feel with lanes without sidewalks and leafy hills that make one feel a million miles away from big cities, even though you are right on the edge of the tenth largest city in the United States.

This is not where you go for the nightlife. But if you are married and want to find a nice quiet spot where you can raise your kids in peace and quiet but still be close enough to avoid the worst of the commute into your Silicon Valley job—then you have definitely found home.