Cute little town with nature all around. - 5/1/2022

I've lived many places in California. I've now lived in Grass Valley for 2 years. Grass Valley and it's sister Nevada City are adorable little towns full of history and filled with beautiful Victorian homes. Many residents also drive around in their antique cars which adds to the nostalgia. Tourists come up and walk the downtown areas and enjoy the shops and restauraunts. I think it's beautiful up here. It is pretty far from all the big, new shopping centers you find in the valley metros. The closest Wal-Mart is about 45 minutes away in Roseville but for day to day shopping, there are plenty of stores and, if you need something special, there's always Amazon. We did have a Kmart but it's in the process of becoming a Target. There's also plenty of shopping in Auburn which is about 30 minutes away. The only real complaint I have is about the forest fires, but it's a risk I'm willing to take when the alternative is to live in the valley, which is one city butted up to the next, neighborhood after neighborhood ad nauseum. No, thanks. Since housing prices have skyrocketed ridiculously high all over California, it is hard to find affordable housing in any decent town or city; hence, there are more homeless everywhere, GV and NC are no exceptions to that rule. No place is perfect, but I find Grass Valley to be a quaint and charming and I'm happy to be here.

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Expensive, high crime, no good jobs. - 12/8/2021

Grass valley has become a sad place to live. I was born and raised here and can no longer afford to raise my small family here. Look up the median annual wage and the median average home price. Currently the average wage is 33k a year and the average home sells for 550k. You can quickly see the problem. you'll find that almost anyone that hasn't retired or dosent live at home still does not work locally. If you want to afford to live here prepare to commute at least to roseville, a 45 minute drive with zero traffic. You might think that crime wouldn't be an issue in such an expensive place to live but you would be wrong. Drug abuse is rampant, especially in the younger crowd. I would say that 1 in 3 people in my age range have a drug addiction. The homeless population is rampant and to fix this issue the county has established several homeless shelters and many resources for homeless. This has had the undesirable effect of bringing even more homeless population to take advantage of our many rehab facilities and shelters. You can expect a minimum of 3 homeless caused wildfires a year and many more with other causes. This community was born of mining and logging heritage, however the industry has all but dried up due to the red tape imposed by the bay area transplant tree hugger types. And with this decline in industry so has the younger generations opportunity for success. If your retired and have at least 500k for a small home this just may be the perfect place for you, as long as you dont mind the rising crime, drugs and homelessness. We are unfortunately forced to leave this beautiful area as we will never have a hope of owning even a small home here.

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The Decline of Grass Valley - 1/16/2018

I'm 25 years old and I've lived in this town all of my life, and I'm saving every single dollar I make to leave here and never come back. It's a shame, because at one point I would say with pride I came from here, but it's become such a shadow of what it used to be that I cannot recommend it to anybody in good conscience. I try to be as objective as I possibly can, but honestly, this is steadily becoming one of the worst places to live in the state. I'll get to my reasons why, but first, let's start off with the good parts of Grass Valley. Pretty much everything I say can also be applied to its sister city, Nevada City. The Good: Lots of golf courses, lots of medical practitioners that take medicare, and some really pretty views. Sacramento is not too far away. Somewhat close to Tahoe, and some other outdoor activities. Lots of goldrush era history and museums. If nothing else, this is a very historic town. If you're a rich retiree with no kids, this might be a good fit for you. The good ends here. The Bad: Drugs are an enormous problem here. The police don't seem to realize how serious it is. Almost EVERYBODY below the age of 70 does drugs at some level. Not just weed, all around town you find meth addicts stumbling around at night, shaking their heads and yelling at themselves, looking around your house or following you at night. So many of the classmates that I went to school with that didn't leave this town ended up addicted to some drug or working retail to finance their drug addiction. Kids as young as 14 do LSD, cocaine, peyote, mushrooms, meth, whippets, DMT, ketamine, ecstasy, and everything else under the sun. While in high school, I witnessed three students get arrested for drug charges. Raising kids here is essentially sentencing them to become some sort of substance addict, and the main reason is that there just isn't anything for kids to do. The cost of living is $$insane$$. Fixer-upper home prices average in the $400k+ mark. There are never any apartments available, and there's just not enough room to build any more here. If you are lucky enough to be put on a several month-long waiting list for an apartment, $1200 for a 1 bed 1 bath is about the average. Again, at some point this town used to be fairly affordable, but bay area transplants have more or less caused real estate to skyrocket. You would think that a town with such a high cost of living would have less crime, but not here. Crime is rapidly rising because of the transient "trimmigrant" population that flock to the town to help locals cultivate and process marijuana, and these transients linger for about 3-5 months before leaving. Property theft is rampant, and there are people constantly having things stolen from their cars, lawns, and backyards. Violent crime is on the rise as well, but not as much as property crime. The job market absolutely sucks. The only jobs available here are essentially retail. You will almost never find a job that pays more than $13-$14 an hour here, certainly nowhere near close enough to keep you afloat. The construction sector might be okay, as there's constantly some roadwork or some new real estate office being built. Summary: There never was much to do in Grass Valley, but at least back then, it was nice, affordable, and relatively crime-free. Now, it's nothing more than a dirty, meth-infested, ludicrously expensive hole. As I've said before, if you're a retired senior that likes the outdoors, and a million dollars for an average-sized house seems like a fair price for you, then this might seem like an okay place to live, though you still do have to worry about the rising crime and drug use. Otherwise, ESPECIALLY if you're a young adult or looking for work, stay FAR away from Grass Valley. There's nothing left here, and this town is only going to get worse.

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Not a good place for families - 10/27/2017

Once upon a time this was a nice town where people talked about not locking their doors, asked their neighbor to borrow some eggs and didn't have a lot of break ins. Now we are one of the highest in the nation for car theft. Have more trimmagrants than before. The transient population is huge. You can't sleep well at night because they wake you up. They try to get in to people's cars at intersections. Punch them if their window is down at an intersection. Try to pull people out of their cars for refusing to give them money. Go to the bathroom everywhere including on people's driveway, business patios, in the post office and this is with strict hours because they were spending the night in the post office and damaging people's boxes so the post office is no longer open any time. Mail theft is through the roof, locked or not. Forget taking your kids to the park unless the police are hanging out. People shooting up in the middle of the day at parks, gas stations, public restrooms. Smoking pot in public restrooms. Some places are locking them now or if not legally necessary just having one for employees. People walking into traffic so high they don't even know what they are doing. Due to drought and bark beetles many trees are dying. So not as pretty as it used to be. Theft is very high. Lots of breakins in cars and homes. People reporting waking up to someone trying to break in to their home. A few reports of people finding men in their homes including one just sitting in someone's living room. Low pay. Few good jobs. Extremely high rent. 300 sq ft for $900 a month... And the police have a hard time doing their jobs because most people they bring in are booked and released. Not sure what will fix Grass Valley or Nevada City or how many years that would take. I am going to move away and never come back. I said that before, but this time there is nothing to keep me here as my child will be moving out of the area as well. They one day want kids, but do not want to raise them here. They say the drug problem is out of control, which it is.

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What's not to like? - 7/26/2016

The Good: Swimming, fishing, rafting, kayaking (lake or stream), hunting, local farmers markets, off roading, kids sports, some the very best schools in California, less than an hour to Tahoe or Sacramento, local history museums, gold panning, horse back riding, reasonable real estate properties (though getting higher which is good if you already own). You like rain? Lots of it here in the winter with the occasional snow that doesn't last long except on some roads that don't get winter sun. If you lead an active life or want to lead an active life there is an abundance of things to do. Also, lots of classic cars enthusiasts. The Bad: Transient population, losers hooked on whatever, lots of illegal pot growing, 3 hot, hot, hot months, lots of retirees driving up housing costs, low salaries, rednecks or hippies whichever you don't prefer....lol. Hot months can be brutal, just go to the local swimming hole and stay chillie and relax. Best places to live in the area IMO are Peardale, Cedar ridge and Chicago Park. These have easy access to I-80 and avoid 49 which can be nightmare. BTW, did I mention no traffic? Except 49 which like I said can be a nightmare.

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(growing up in GV) - 2/17/2015

Let 's just list the pros and cons. -pro: nice mountain setting,awasome river, semi ok schools,close to Tahoe....small town if that's what you looking for. -cons:Not much to do,town shuts down at 530 besides a couple dirty bars and Mexican restaurant.Unless you work as a nurse,construction/labor,grow pot or cook meth or a beauty Solon/waitress your gana have a hard time finding any work so hopefully you have some money saved/rich parents.This town is set up for retired people like I said not much to do. When your a kid that's growing up in a town with little to do you can end up getting into trouble/drugs and there is plenty of that.The police are more likely to give out skateboarding tickets to children then try to clean up the streets.Don't get me wrong there are no crips/bloods even though 85% of the youth think they are thugs but they are just really poor white trash that are stuck in a little town that cant find ways to make life more proactive.Luckly for myself I moved very faraway after being tied up in the legal System in gv. By the grace of God I was able to escape the cold clinch of the DA!Remember this city is short funded and will do whatever they can to fine/maximize a punishment if Givin the chance(so know your rights or you could be taken for a ride).I do love the constitution and how it allows me to provide other people information regarding views and opinions.I could give many examples and names for why I have these opinions but instead just trust me.Since I've moved from gv I stopped partying,opened a company,going back to school,provide for a family,exc...if you choose to move to gv make sure you do some research and really check into it.I Myself despite growing up there having a few friends that are not in prison/dead or moved.I would consider moving back in 25 years when I'm going to be close to retirement my kids out of college and I can run for mayor so someone can really stand up for the locals that try to make gv a permanent home.I hope you appreciate My honesty best of luck.

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Are You a gGood Fit for the Road Less Traveled to - 11/20/2013

12 ques­tions to ask your­self before mak­ing your decision 1. Would only 4 golf courses be a prob­lem for you or can you warm up to unlim­ited golf­ing on a cham­pi­onship course on beau­ti­ful Lake Wild­wood for only $1050 a year? 2. Will the reg­u­lar view of two charm­ing Vic­to­rian towns, an assort­ment of wildlife, tow­er­ing trees, glo­ri­ous moun­tain views, pris­tine lakes, crys­tal clear, and blue-green rivers— all of which has been fea­tured sev­eral times in “Sun­set Mag­a­zine” improve your outlook? 3. Could easy and inex­pen­sive access to all gen­res of live music with per­for­mances this year by David Crosby and Gra­ham Nash, The Smoth­ers Broth­ers, Judy Collins, nation­ally known film fes­ti­vals, inter­na­tional bicy­cle races, Celtic and Blue Grass Fes­ti­vals and end­less oppor­tu­ni­ties for the­atre, opera, orches­tra and jazz be a lit­tle more sophis­ti­cated than you imag­ined for an his­toric Gold Rush town? 4. Could you bear your fam­ily want­ing to fol­low your move to Nevada County and tol­er­ate being about 2 hours from your Bay Area life? Would being 1.5 hours from Lake Tahoe and 45 min. from ski­ing be any advantage? 5. Will our “Blue Rib­bon” pub­lic ele­men­tary and high schools or unique char­ter schools like the “School of the Arts” or the Wal­dorf based “Yuba River Char­ter School” work for your family? 6. Can you enjoy strolling thru town and run­ning into friends or par­tic­i­pat­ing in local events like 4th of July and Mardi Gras parades, organic farm­ers mar­kets, Vic­to­rian and Cor­nish Christ­mas street fairs, Thurs. night mar­ket, art shows, BBQ cook-offs, Civil War reen­act­ments, Ital­ian Fes­ti­vals or car shows? 7. Does your bucket list include any activ­i­ties like: play­ing gui­tar and singing at an “open mic,” rid­ing your own horses on miles of trails, build­ing fur­ni­ture or restor­ing a clas­sic auto­mo­bile in your shop, grow­ing an organic veg­etable gar­den, golf­ing daily, par­tic­i­pat­ing in a triathlon, learn­ing to “clog”, being an artist in our art com­mu­nity, hik­ing, swim­ming, boat­ing, or kayak­ing on a “Wild and Scenic River?” 8. Do you feel like it’s time to “give back” and vol­un­teer for a char­ity, in a school, as a docent at a State Park, for a com­mu­nity radio sta­tion or non-profit organization? 9. Would you enjoy just relax­ing on your deck and read­ing the news­pa­per or search­ing the web under the shade of a canopy of lofty oaks and evergreens? 10. Does own­ing an afford­able prop­erty with views of a lake, snow­capped moun­tain or river, a gentleman’s ranch, your own vine­yard, a home within walk­ing dis­tance to town, a prop­erty with room for mul­ti­ple gen­er­a­tions, an his­toric home, or build­ing your own home appeal to you? 11. Do you pre­fer indi­vid­u­al­ity over cookie cut­ter? Like Carmel, nearly every home here is dif­fer­ent from the oth­ers. Fran­chises are rare in Grass Val­ley and Nevada City. Unique, artis­tic shops, cof­fee houses, art gal­leries and restau­rants reign. 12. Are you broad­minded? Many of our res­i­dents are indi­vid­u­als too. You’ll find artists, ranch­ers, Yup­pies, min­ers, New Agers, log­gers, and envi­ron­men­tal­ists, as well as, writ­ers, poets, actors, motor­cy­cle speed record hold­ers, test pilots, Emmy award win­ners, rock stars, inven­tors, and car­toon­ists, all sprin­kled in with the rest of us. Learn­ing what folks “used to do” before mov­ing here can be a pas­time in itself. Cur­rently you get a lot of bang for your buck. The median price of home sales is about $270,000 com­pared to $650,000 in San Jose. But more impor­tantly, you know you aren’t going to live for­ever. You are stand­ing where the roads diverge. Which way will you go? Take the road less trav­eled or stick where you are? If you or some­one you know are a good fit let me show you the area. I’ll help you find a safe, solid home that fits your bud­get and lifestyle. I Nevada County is the road less trav­eled and liv­ing here makes all the difference.

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What type of job can be sustainable in a rural are - 2/7/2012

I want to move to a more rural environment and need to know how to support myself. What type of employment or business would be needed in Grass Valley? Thank you in advance for any reply

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Pretty place, but lack of a middle ground - 10/6/2011

Whether or not you would like Grass Valley depends on your lifestyle and priorities. It's a beautiful hilly area, with a lot of greenery compared to lower altitudes. Traffic is easy. There are a fair to good amount of events going on here for a town it's size, such as street fairs, festivals, etc. There are great health food stores if you are into a health-minded lifestyle. There are also a decent amount of opportunities for interesting events and speakers. The economy has hit this place hard as there is a lack of large scale employers. The music and nightlife scene is very limited. Winters are very wet, cloudy, and sometimes snowy. Not much to do here between October and May except go to the grocery store or KMart (unless you are into winter sports). Summers are very hot and dry, with somewhat poor air quality (high ozone) making it difficult to do outdoor activities during daytime hours. Most of the air pollution from the valley settles in at this altitude. The air quality is good during the non-summer months. The Grass Valley/Nevada City area tends to have a interesting blend of people. There is a significant population of conservative fundamentalist christians, retirees from larger Cali metro areas, mixed with a large contingent of basic liberal-hating, tea party types who drive oversized monster trucks or loud Harleys, drink a lot of alcohol, and love watching cage fighting and WWF. There is also a significant presence of hippies, younger and older, who mainly live on growing and smoking marijuana. Our experience is that they can be very judgmental and unaccepting towards you if you are not one of them. So, it may be hard to fit in otherwise. There seems to be a relative lack of what many might see as "middle of the road", working progressive, professional types who don't have to use drugs/alcohol to be social and may wait until they are older than the age of 25 to start having a planned family. Many, if not most, teenagers here are heavy drug users and unambitious, and it is a norm for many of the girls to be pregnant and having babies by age 15 or 16. This, of course, provides a less than optimal environment for parents who aspire that their children go on to get a college degree or become intellectually oriented. However, there are many choices for good schools for children (charter, public, and private). Many people might aspire to come live here when they visit as they can be lured by the cute downtowns of Grass Valley and Nevada City and the surrounding landscape, but there are other sides to actually living here.

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Scenic, but with a price - 12/28/2009

This little town is nestled in thick green forests of Gold Country. The weather is warm most of the year, with only light rain in winter. Some snow, but very little ice. For shopping there is almost nothing (unless you love KMart), requiring a trip down the hill to Auburn (about 15 miles) and the restaraunts are just average (in quality, the prices are sky high). Grass Valley and next door Nevada City are very historic, with lots of architecture and relics from California's gold rush. Unfortunately, the negatives mostly outweigh the positives for this area. Cost of living is ridiculous; homes less than fifty years old are almost all well over $300 K. That's why you'll see tons of little shacks on tiny plots all over town (even on main street). Traffic is bad because it's California, and also the roads are old, small, worn out and badly designed (get used to cars backed up through three or four stoplights). The whole town seems carved out of the hilly forests, so everything is squeezed in (many houses and places of business have their front doors less than ten feet from the street). The surrounding forests are also a haven for the criminal element. Anti-government survivalist types waiting for the apocolypse and druggies cooking meth are pretty common. Residents seem either very wealthy (to afford the ridiculous homes) or very poor (who live in the shacks). Also, young people between the ages of 18-28 seem an endangered species; mostly its families with young children or retirement aged. Sacramento is only an hour to the west, Reno 90 minutes to the east. If you don't mind paying for the beauty and suffocating in the crowds and traveling long distance for shopping and entertainment, then maybe you can handle Grass Valley.

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No place is perfect but - 9/12/2007

It is a great place. It is beautiful. Crime reports in the newspaper usually consist of something like this...caller reported someone going door to door, selling meat (actually I've been buying meat from him for about a year), or, 2:35 a.m., a woman called to say she was locked out of her car...police responded and called roadside service, or a person refused to leave a driveway and stop blowing leaves. I also have a great bus story. At night there is/ was only one small half bus which runs between 2 towns, Grass Valley and Nevada City. I needed to pick up my car on the regular bus route and found out that they didn't travel that route at night only the hiway. I wasn't going to walk it is quite a hill and a hike. I figured I'd just go back home and try the next day but the driver said well, let's see what I can do.... On the way back he asked everyone if they minded and drove me right to my car but that is not all, as we were going down a hill a guy on a bicycle passed us going pretty fast, he sped right through the intersection and hit a car that was just driving normally, the guy flew and crunched his bicycle and scraped his chin pretty bad. We stopped the bus helped him up loaded his bicycle and dropped him at the hospital and then stopped and dropped off some lady at her car in a parking lot just because it was on the way. In fact you call the bus company at night and tell them where you are and they pretty much come and get you, or did anyway, we've grown a bit since then. Carol

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Eureka! - 5/30/2007

We love theater and music. We are amazed at the professional standard and variety of productions at both the Foothill Theater in Nevada City and the Center for the Performing Arts in Grass Valley. I would like to attend productions this good in San Francisco!

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A Gem... - 5/18/2007

I was suprised to learn how well known in Southern California and the Bay Area are the reputations of Grass Valley and Nevada City as places to enjoy a stimulating life. It's true. Even though I commute every day to Sacramento, I can't wait to arrive home in these foothills.

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A retirement town - 2/2/2007

There is very little to do in this town, especially if you have kids. Just dining out can cost you 60.00 for 2 adults and 1 kid, at a mediocre restaurant. I can't wait to move.

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Grass Valley/Nevada City Growth - 6/25/2006

What happened to my home? The little town where I grew up in and raised my family has turned into an overcrowded, dysfunctional mess. Real estate prices are such that my kids can't even consider owning a home (median price $450K), the roads are overcrowded and deteriorating, you can't build a home without it costing tens of thousands just to begin, and the political climate is swinging to the left along with the influx of Bay Area retirees. No hard feelings or regrets. To city dwellers, this place probably seems like heaven. But,in five more years, Grass Valley will no longer be a "small town" or have that same feeling. It's just time for us to go.

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