The most wooded of the Lamorinda towns. Orinda is the first stop on the other side of the Caldecott Tunnel, which means you can be at Embarcadero in half an hour and still come home to oak trees, deer in the yard, and no streetlights. People who want privacy and a short commute end up here.
By the numbers
Three months ending August 2026, Redfin. About 44% of homes sold over asking. Figures shift month to month and vary by neighborhood. If you want current numbers for a specific street, ask me.
The community
Orinda has two small downtowns split by Highway 24: Orinda Village on the north side and Theatre Square on the south, named for the 1941 Orinda Theatre, which still shows first-run movies and is the town's landmark. Both are walkable, both are small. Saturday morning is the farmers market, coffee, and running into everyone you know.
The lots are generous and hilly. Most homes are 1950s and 60s ranchers and mid-century houses on a half acre or more, many remodeled, with a good number of larger custom homes. Sleepy Hollow is the one families ask about first: flat-ish streets, its own swim and tennis club, and Lake Cascade. Glorietta and Orinda Downs are close to the Village and BART. Orinda Woods and the Country Club area sit higher with views. Wilder, on the west edge of town near the tunnel, is the one pocket of new construction, built mostly since 2012 with a modern community center and sports fields.
Orinda is quieter than Lafayette. Fewer restaurants, less going on downtown, more trees. For many people that's exactly the point.
Orinda Union School District covers K through 8 (Del Rey, Glorietta, Sleepy Hollow, and Wagner Ranch elementaries, and Orinda Intermediate). High school is Miramonte, part of the Acalanes district, which Niche ranks among the top 50 public high schools in California and gives an A+. The schools are a primary reason families choose Orinda over closer-in options.
Orinda BART is right at the Village and it's the shortest ride into the city from Lamorinda: Embarcadero in about 25 minutes. By car you're through the tunnel in five minutes and in San Francisco in 20 to 35 depending on traffic. Berkeley is 15 minutes over the hill on Highway 24 or through Tilden on Wildcat Canyon Road.
Common questions
Orinda is five to ten minutes closer to the city, more private, and quieter. Lafayette has the bigger downtown and more to do within walking distance. Prices are close at the median, with Orinda a bit lower per square foot because lots and homes tend to be larger. Both feed the Acalanes high school district.
Smaller or dated homes start around $1.4M to $1.6M. Most of the market is between $1.8M and $2.6M. Sleepy Hollow, Orinda Downs, and view properties in the Country Club area go higher. There are very few condos or townhomes in Orinda; Wilder has some of the only newer attached homes.
It comes up on almost every purchase in the Lamorinda hills, and it's worth asking about early. Some carriers have pulled back from wooded areas, premiums have gone up, and the California FAIR Plan is the fallback when private coverage isn't available. I'll help you get insurance quotes on a specific property during your contingency period so there are no surprises, and I'll point out defensible-space and hardening work that's already been done.
The two downtowns are. Almost nothing else is, by design. Most streets have no sidewalks and the hills are real. If walkability matters to you, look at Glorietta, Orinda Downs, and the few streets within a mile of the Village.
More neighborhoods
Whether you're buying in or selling here, let's talk.