Families coming from the city often look at Lafayette first, and many never leave. The schools are excellent, downtown has good restaurants, and BART gets you to the Financial District in about 35 minutes. You get trees, hills, and quiet, twenty miles from the city.
By the numbers
Detached single-family homes, twelve months ending September 2026, MLS data. Figures shift month to month and vary a lot by neighborhood. If you want current numbers for a specific street, ask me.
The community
Lafayette sits in the middle of Lamorinda, the shorthand for Lafayette, Moraga, and Orinda. Downtown runs along Mt. Diablo Boulevard: a Saturday farmers market, a good bookstore, coffee, and more restaurants than you'd expect for a town of 25,000. The Lafayette Reservoir is a few minutes from downtown and the 2.7-mile loop around it is where half the town walks their dog.
The housing is mostly single-family homes on generous lots. Much of it is 1950s and 60s ranch homes, many of them remodeled or rebuilt, with newer custom homes up in the hills. The Trails is my favorite neighborhood: quiet, mature trees, tucked away. Happy Valley is the estate side of town, with more land and more privacy. Burton Valley is the classic family neighborhood, flat, bikeable, close to the elementary school. Up the hill in Reliez Valley and Upper Happy Valley you get views that make you forget you're in the suburbs.
The newer luxury condos and townhomes downtown are pulling in downsizers and professionals who want to walk to dinner and BART. That's a relatively new option for Lafayette and it fills a gap.
Lafayette School District runs the elementary and middle schools (Lafayette Elementary, Happy Valley, Burton Valley, Springhill, and Stanley Middle). High schoolers go to Acalanes High School, part of the Acalanes Union High School District, which Niche ranks the number one district in Contra Costa County and in the top 15 statewide. Many families move here for the schools alone.
Lafayette has its own BART station on the yellow line. Embarcadero is about 35 minutes door to door. Driving, you're on Highway 24 to the Caldecott Tunnel and into the city in 25 to 40 minutes depending on traffic. Walnut Creek is 10 minutes east. Oakland Airport is about 30 minutes.
Common questions
Lafayette has the largest downtown and the most going on. Orinda is more wooded and private with smaller village centers. Moraga is the quietest and most tucked away, with no BART. All three share the Acalanes high school district. Prices are similar across the three, with Lafayette and Orinda both around $2M at the median and Moraga a bit lower.
Detached homes start in the $1.3M to $1.5M range for something smaller or needing work, with most of the market between $1.7M and $2.5M. Downtown condos and townhomes run roughly $800K to $1.5M. Estate properties in Happy Valley go well past $4M.
Very. Homes go pending in about 10 days at the median and usually sell right at asking, with roughly half receiving more than one offer. Well-prepared homes in Burton Valley, The Trails, and Happy Valley move fastest.
Downtown is. Most residential neighborhoods are not, and that's part of the appeal for people who want space. Burton Valley and the neighborhoods close to downtown are the most bikeable.
More neighborhoods
Whether you're buying in or selling here, let's talk.