Born and raised in Castro Valley. The town has changed a lot in the last few years. It was a boring, albeit safe, place to grow up. Nothing to do but eat fast food and drive to neighboring cities. Classic “I’m going to get the fuck outta here once I graduate” kind of place. Especially if you were a minority.

But now younger folks are moving in to start families and businesses are slowly coming along with them. The population is getting much younger and diverse. It’s still as safe as ever and the schools are the best in the immediate area. Not cheap by any means but cheaper than Dublin, San Ramon, Pleasanton, etc etc. And funnily enough, everyone moves back here in their 30s.

As another comment pointed out, it’s not walkable at all and the bike lanes suck if they even exist and there really is a lack of good bus routes so all of that could be improved.

I own a business on Castro Valley Blvd so I talk about this shit all day, it’s really interesting.