I Ranked Marin County's BEST Neighborhoods (Tier List)

With over a dozen towns and cities in Marin County, it can be really overwhelming trying to figure out where the right place to live is, which areas are good, which areas are bad, and which ones fit your lifestyle. After living in the Bay Area for over a decade and helping numerous clients relocate to all over Marin County, I wanted to make a video ranking once and for all the worst to the best neighborhoods in Marin, starting off with my F-list all the way to my S-list, which is my super awesome, better than A-list group of neighborhoods. And I promise this won't be like any other videos you've seen or blog posts about different areas to live in Marin. I will be brutally honest, sharing my opinions, and I'll use my lifestyle as a guidepost so you can figure out, you know, with my frame of reference, whether particular areas are a good fit for you. So let's get right to it and kick it off with my F tier, starting with the city of Novato. Now, to be clear, calling anything in Marin County an F really isn't that fair. Pretty much anywhere you're going to live in Marin County, you could lead a beautiful lifestyle. There's really no going wrong, but there are certainly areas that are better and worse than others. And certain areas that benefit certain lifestyles compared to others. And for me personally, Novato is not it for me, so it is on my F tier. It's located really far north into Marin and makes the commute to San Francisco absolutely brutal. If you live there, chances are if you're not working remotely, you do need to commute to the city. And honestly, it's just really tough of a commute. You're either gonna have to drive all the way to San Francisco or you're gonna have to drive further south into Marin to get to one of the ferry terminals in Tiburon or Larkspur or Sausalito, take the ferry over to San Francisco, and no matter what, it's just gonna take a really long time. It's going to be mentally draining, and it's not going to be cheap. So unless you work remotely and don't need to go into the city or don't really need to commute for work at all, Nevada is going to be a really tough place to live. Also, it's far from a lot of Marin's best amenities. You know, in Southern Marin, all the great shopping like in Larkspur and Mill Valley, you know, the outdoor amenities like in Tiburon or Mount Tam— Nevada is a pretty far distance from those. You're gonna have to travel outside of where you live to get to the best parts about living in Marin County. . It also gets way too hot for my taste. It can get well into the hundreds during summertime. You know, I'm from Orange County where it does get hot as well, but Novato, you know, feels like a step above that. Homes there don't really feel all that custom. They're not, you know, super historic or anything, you know, special from an architectural standpoint. And that's one of my favorite things about living in the Bay Area is the history and the architecture. There are a lot of like tract homes and development communities, a lot of townhomes with HOAs, just not, you know, something for me personally. But because of all the things that I just said, because it's so far north and kind of difficult to navigate to the more desirable parts of Marin into San Francisco, it is a lot less expensive to live in Novato, so that is a positive. It's also a lot closer to Napa and Sonoma, which is pretty nice. Now, if you want to learn more about what it's like living in Novato, the pros and cons, or what it's like living in any of the communities that I'm about to talk about, I have videos where I do a deep dive into all of them on my channel, so make sure you subscribe for more videos just like this if you want to stay informed. Next here is my D-list, and the town of Fairfax occupies that category. For similar reasons as Novato is on my F list, Fairfax is on my D list. It's simply too far north for my taste. Really far commute to San Francisco and the other more desirable parts of Marin with the best food, the best shopping, the best amenities. Downtown Fairfax is really cute, and it's also the birthplace of mountain biking. So if you're into mountain biking and you're into hiking, it is an incredible place to live. Don't get me wrong, it's just really far north, and there are other places more south where you can take advantage of all the great things of Marin and still have great outdoor amenities. great hiking, great biking, uh, without being that far north. Fairfax, just like Novato, tends to get very hot as well during the summer, a little bit too hot for my personal taste. And for the reasons that I just talked about, like Novato, Fairfax is a lot less expensive than areas that I'm about to talk about on my other tiers. All right, now let's get into the next tier, the C-list, and I think there are some on here that are going to surprise you, and I definitely want to hear what you have to say about it in the comments. And we're going to kick off the C-list with the city of San Rafael. San Rafael is probably the area that offers the most variety in Marin when you consider different home types and sizes. Also, it offers a ton of variety in the types of locations within San Rafael that you can live, from waterfront communities to more, you know, hillside or mountain communities to very downtown urban communities. San Rafael is also the county's oldest city, and it's where the county government actually sits. In San Rafael, sort of like San Francisco but on a smaller scale, you get a lot of the Marin cultural activities there, you know, film festivals, art museums, a ton of great food, both, you know, American food and ethnic food. And while the downtown area is one of the larger ones in Marin and has a lot of great variety, it is on the dingier side. So, you know, not as clean as, you know, like a downtown Larkspur or downtown Mill Valley is going to be. It is a walkable area, but it's not the most pretty. So, you know, not quite as desirable as those other areas. Some of my favorite neighborhoods in all of Marin are actually in San Rafael, two of them in particular, the Forbes District and the Dominican neighborhood. I love these two because it's where there's such a huge concentration of old historic homes. The Forbes neighborhood has a lot of like single-level and smaller like Spanish-style homes, which, you know, coming from Southern California, very much my vibe. Dominican is a lot more like grandiose, old-school Victorian homes, really charming, very pretty. And then there are also a ton of neighborhoods throughout San Rafael that are a lot more modern, you know, tract homes, kind of like what you would get in Orange County that were built up in like the '50s, '60s, and even later into the '90s and early 2000s. Now San Rafael is, from a commute standpoint, pretty far from San Francisco. You know, a little bit less north into Marin than Fairfax and Novato, but it is still quite a distance. Once you hit Corte Madera and get north, you are going to hit some traffic coming home from San Francisco and on the way down into San Francisco. So if you have to commute for work into the city, chances are San Rafael might not be the best fit for you unless you only have to go, you know, a couple of times a week or you're going to commute a little bit to take one of the ferries that I talked about earlier. A good thing about the commute to and from San Rafael is that you don't need to brave Sir Francis Drake traffic. You will, as I just said, need to brave some freeway traffic, but I think personally it's a lot easier to navigate than some of the pretty hellacious Surfranças Strait traffic that you have to brave, like if you're going into Fairfax or into some of the other towns that I'm going to talk about later in this video. Now, as a general matter, San Rafael is not the most walkable. The individual enclaves within San Rafael are themselves walkable, but if you want to get from one to the other, San Rafael is just so big you are going to need a car. You are going to have to drive to those places. So because it's so large, it doesn't really have as much of that Marin County charm as some of the other neighborhoods I'm about to talk about on my list. Um, and because it is pretty far north and difficult to commute to San Francisco and all the other great things that I like, uh, in Southern Marin, it is on my C-list. Next on my C-list is Cortemadera, which I think has the best array of shopping in Marin. You are really close to the Marin Country Mart in Larkspur, which is my personal favorite place to shop. Corta Madera also has the two largest malls in Marin, um, in it, uh, the Town Center and the Village, where they're both right next to each other, across the street from each other in Corta Madera. Pretty much everywhere you would live in Corta Madera is also very close to the highway, so very easy to commute to San Francisco from there, very easy to get to the ferry in Larkspur, which is the neighboring, uh, town next to Corta Madera. So very convenient place to live, and overall, compared to a lot of the areas that I'm about to talk about that are all kind of near Cortemadera or south of Cortemadera, it's the least expensive of all of them. Now, some downsides of Cortemadera. A lot of Cortemadera is built right next to the water and is technically in a flood zone. So something to think about if you're thinking about putting an offer in on a house in Cortemadera is looking at the history of any flooding in the area and checking those environmental hazards reports because a lot of the new build homes, you know, really close to the water, great views, great location, but does present a flood risk. And as I mentioned earlier, traffic on the highway does start to back up once you hit Cortemadera. So depending on where you live, it could make commuting a little bit more difficult, but nowhere near as difficult as the other places that I just talked about on my list. Generally speaking, very convenient place to live. Another reason it's on my C-list, you don't really find a lot of that, you know, old school, charming, large-scale Marin County homes that you do in some of the towns that I'm about to talk about. Most of the homes are a lot smaller. They're on smaller lots, you know, much more of a, you know, starter home area compared to some of these other areas. So for me personally, you know, not somewhere I would live. Like if I was giving up my place in the city, Corte Madera is not where I personally would choose to live, but it is still a great neighborhood with a lot of things to do. Next on my list is Greenbrae, and part of Greenbrae is technically in the city of Larkspur, and part of Greenbrae is technically unincorporated Marin County, so it's technically county territory. From like a day-to-day living perspective, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. But, you know, let's say you were going to go do some renovations to your home, you know, where you sit within Greenbrae is going to make a difference because it's going to impact, you know, which governmental authority you are dealing with to, you know, get those renovations permitted and finalized. It also makes a difference in terms of who's responsible for like maintaining public streets. Is it Larkspur or is it the county? But by and large, unless you're, you know, doing any substantial like renovation to your home, day-to-day living, not going to be impacted at all. Just a technicality that you're either going be in Larkspur or unincorporated Marin if you're living in Greenbrae. And just like Cortemadera, Greenbrae, which is, you know, very close to Larkspur, is next to the Larkspur Ferry. It's next to the Marin Country Mart, which has, you know, my favorite food and shopping in all of Marin. It's a very short drive to the town center and the village in Cortemadera, short drive to like downtown San Rafael, but also a short drive to like downtown Mill Valley, which is a little bit further south, or Sausalito, and very easy to get to San Francisco from. So A good chunk of Greenbrae is also on relatively flat land. There are some portions of Greenbrae that are into the hillsides, but not as inconvenient of a location to drive up to. The roads are a lot less narrow and a lot less windy compared to some of the other places that I'm about to talk about on my list. So from an ease of navigation standpoint, Greenbrae is pretty straightforward, pretty convenient. It's on my C-list and not higher on my list just because One, it's a little bit farther north than I would personally prefer, and also, you know, kind of like Cortemadera, the homes just aren't really that spectacular. There's, you know, a lot of mid-century modern there, which isn't necessarily my style. A lot of homes that were built between like 1950 and like 1970, not necessarily mid-century modern style, but just, you know, very kind of plain Jane homes on relatively small lots by Marin standards, just not my, you know, style personally. A benefit of living in those homes though is, you know, whether you're in the flats of Greenbrae or up in the hills, you do get some great water views and you get some great views of Mount Tam. So by no means do I mean to imply that like these are terrible places to live. They are awesome places to live, very convenient, tons to do around there. You would lead a very happy life there, but in my opinion, not as great as the areas I'm about to talk about. So let's head right into the B-list. First one on my B-list is Sausalito, which is the closest city in Marin to San San Francisco. It's right on the water, so has very similar weather to San Francisco weather, which a lot of people moving to Marin don't prefer. One of the reasons it's on my B-list and not higher. It is a very convenient place to live if you have to commute to San Francisco, not only because it's so close to the Golden Gate Bridge, but because it does also have its own ferry stop. So very easy to commute by ferry. You know, you can ditch the bridge toll, you don't have to pay for parking when you get to the city, you just go to the ferry and it's a very short commute across the bay. Now Sausalito is largely built into hillsides, so you get a lot of vertical living, which Me personally, I am not a huge fan of vertical living, you know, don't really want more than 2 stories. 1 story personally for me is ideal, but 2 is okay. With Sausalito, sometimes you get 3, 4-story homes with just a couple rooms on each level because they're built kind of staggered into hillsides. And also because they're on hillsides, none of the lots are really that expansive. You get, you know, lot sizes that are similar to what you would get in like Corte Madera and Greenbrae, than you would in some of the other places I'm about to talk about on my A-list. Now, a big plus of Sausalito aside from the convenience is its downtown. A lot of great food, a lot of cute boutique shops, great parks all along the water. The views are absolutely stunning, but it does get super touristy, super busy on weekends, a ton of people walking and biking there. So kind of a bit annoying to live in, you know, almost like a tourist trap, but you do get the benefit of living next to all that great food and shopping. Schools also are not as great in Sausalito compared to other parts of Marin.. So, you know, if you have a family, might not be as desirable of a location, especially with young school-aged children, to go to Sausalito than it would be to go to some of the other areas that I'm about to talk about. Next on the B-list is Mill Valley, which I think has one of Marin's best downtowns. It is completely surrounded by gorgeous redwood trees. There's really great food there, little cute boutique shops, wine shops, and home goods stores, interior design stores. Some of my favorites are in downtown Mill Valley. It is incredibly charming. They have like live music and other events in the outdoor space where all the shops kind of surround. There's up big giant courtyard or center area. It's a really peaceful setting with all the trees. It's also very south in Marin, which makes commuting to San Francisco or to the other parts of Marin that I like to go to very easy. Not all neighborhoods are super easy to navigate. A lot of Mill Valley is built like into the forest and into the hillside. So very narrow streets, like one-way roads that are used as two-way roads. You have to pull over to let people pass. It's kind of annoying to live in. Yeah. But there are other areas like Sycamore Park and Homestead Valley where, you know, they're relatively flat, larger lots, larger streets, a lot easier to navigate and drive on and walk on than some of these hillside, you know, forest roads. So if you live in one of those like hillside Mill Valley homes and you're having a party and have guests over, like, where are they going to park? Chances are, you know, Mill Valley has a lot of really small lots, not a lot of like very expansive, massive driveways except in a few locations.. So if you're gonna have 10 people over, they're gonna have a lot of trouble finding street parking anywhere in the vicinity. It's gonna have to be, you know, a long trek to get to your house. You're gonna have to drive to go get them. Not the most convenient place to live if you like to entertain. Another downside of Mill Valley is that it tends to have weather that more closely mirrors San Francisco and Sausalito than other parts of Marin. Uh, it is right next to, uh, some of the mountainsides in Marin, and you get a lot of cold fronts coming over the mountain. Into Mill Valley, so it tends to be colder and foggier than other parts of Marin, but definitely better weather, in my opinion, than Sausalito and San Francisco as a general matter. Next on my B-list is San Anselmo, which is really far north, but the houses there and the neighborhoods there are so pretty. They're so cute. The lots are so expansive that it warrants being on my B-list and not farther down on my tiers. It's got a really cute downtown. It's also a very short drive to Ross, which I'm going to talk about in a few minutes. It also has super easy access to Larkspur, to San Rafael, and a ton of other great areas in Marin County. So if, you know, what you need is not in San Anselmo itself, relatively easy to get to these other places with a lot of desirable amenities. Some of my favorite enclaves in all of Marin are in San Anselmo. Number 1, the Seminary neighborhood, which is pretty far south in San Anselmo. So probably the most convenient place to live in San Anselmo for commuting purposes, whether to get to SF or to other parts of Marin. Homes there are on very peaceful, beautifully landscaped lots, relatively open streets compared to other parts of Marin, like Mill Valley, for example. You also have Sleepy Hollow, which is on the northern end of San Anselmo, but the lots there are absolutely insane. Huge lots, like standard lot sizes there, easily a third of an acre, if not more. And the homes there are super private, beautiful landscaping, very expansive homes, 3, 4, 5,000 square feet. Just a very pretty area, unlike a lot of other places in Marin County. So even though it is not the most convenient place to live, the homes there and the lots there more than make up for it. And its location relative to other parts of Marin that I personally love and that I go to all the time warrants putting it on my B-list. And now we're getting toward the end. We have arrived at the A-list. And first up on my A-list is Belvedere. Belvedere is one of the richest cities in Marin. Almost every single year, the most expensive place to live in Marin. You got numerous basketball players and billionaires and CEOs that all live in Belvedere. Absolutely gorgeous, enormous homes in some parts of Belvedere and the best views you're going to get in all of Marin County. Most of the properties in Belvedere are either waterfront or at least have water views. So you get beautiful views of the San Francisco Bay, the San Francisco skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge, or even other parts of Belvedere or Marin. It's absolutely stunning. Beautiful. It's also not super far north into Marin, so the commute isn't that bad. Belvedere is made up of two islands, Belvedere Island and Corinthian Island, with a lagoon in the middle. It is one-way in, one-way out street to get to Belvedere, not quite that convenient, but it's not super far north into Marin, so relatively easy from a commute perspective. It's also really close to another area on my A-list, Tiburon, which has its own ferry stop. So if you need to commute to the city, for example, or to other parts of Marin, whether south or north. Its relative central location makes it a pretty convenient place to live. Another downside of living here, aside from the one-way in, one-way out nature of getting here, is if you live on Belvedere Island or Corinthian Island, for example, the streets are insanely narrow, insanely difficult to navigate, very windy, hairpin turns, blind turns. Not, you know, something that I desire, you know, for my forever home. I want you know, the ease of just backing out without fear that I'm, you know, going to hit a pedestrian or something like that. So, you know, very tricky navigating those areas. But on the flip side, you know, you do get a lot of privacy living in those areas. A lot of the homes, you know, you enter at the driveway and then the homes are built down onto the hillside. So, you know, you don't see a whole lot of the homes. You know, if you're walking on the street, they are very private. Now, a plus of living in Belvedere is that even though it's right on the water, the weather is absolutely incredible. The view behind me is of Belvedere, and look at the weather right now. It is absolutely stunning. And with that incredible weather and the waterfront, you get incredible outdoor amenities. There are, you know, paved trails all along the water. It is a great place for families, walking dogs, just hanging out, having a picnic, lounging around. It's gorgeous. It's also really close to other outdoor amenities in other areas of Marin. Like I said, you know, downtown Tiburon, and it's not far to get to places like Larkspur or Ross, for example. Next on my A-list is Tiburon, which is a little bit similar to Belvedere, but a lot larger than Belvedere. And there's more of a variety of homes in Tiburon than there is in Belvedere. Belvedere is, you know, a mix of like mid-century modern and like ultra, ultra luxury. Tiburon is kind of a mix of every possible home type. And then you have, you know, flat areas of Tiburon, you have hillside areas of Tiburon, you have ones that are in the middle. It's just a much larger area and a larger scope of living than you get in Belvedere. So depending on where you live, you might, you know, have a very small, like 3-bed, 3-bath 3-bath, you know, 2,000-square-foot home. And I'd say small, relatively speaking. Or there are places in Tiburon that have like 6 to 8-bedroom homes, 6 to 8,000 square feet on like acre lots with beautiful, you know, water views. So Tiburon really does run the gamut. Um, also Tiburon has a very cute downtown. It is really, really small. It's literally like 1, 2 streets wide, but it is really, really cute. And there's actually a lot of new you know, very high-end and good food coming into Tiburon. Next on my A-list is Larkspur, which has my personal favorite downtown in all of Marin, a very cute historic downtown area. It also has the Marin Country Mart, which is my favorite place, you know, to eat and shop in Marin. Has a great mix of high-end home goods stores, clothing stores, and great food. It's also a couple of minutes away from the village and town center in Corte Madera. So, you know, if you can't get what you're looking for in Larkspur itself, chances are you'll be able to find it in nearby Corte Madera. And generally speaking, Larkspur is in central Marin, so it's really easy to get to all the best neighborhoods surrounding Larkspur, like Mill Valley to the south, Sausalito to the south, Corte Madera and Greenbrae, which are right next to it, Kenfield and Ross immediately kind of north of Larkspur. The homes in Larkspur also, I think, best embody what it's like to live in quintessential Marin. You're surrounded by beautiful redwood forests. You do have some hillside homes, but for the most part, Larkspur homes are built on relatively flat land, some of the best streets like Williams Avenue and Baltimore Avenue and homes off Magnolia and Madrone, really close to downtown. Absolutely gorgeous homes, very cute, very charming, very peaceful. And when you get into Madrone and you go up into the hills a little bit, you do get some of that classic, you know, difficult to navigate Marin living. But for the most part, you know, living in Larkspur, not really super hard to get around. And like I said, it's in a relatively central, convenient location, easy to get to other places. And because Larkspur itself has so many great amenities within it and easy access to all the amenities around it,— it's on my A-list. Last on my A-list is Kentfield, another unincorporated area in Marin County. It's just north of Larkspur and shares a lot of characteristics with Larkspur in terms of charm, but the homes in Kentfield and the lots in Kentfield are on a whole nother level compared to Larkspur, which is why it is on my A-list. Not as much to do as the town of Larkspur, doesn't have that big really cute downtown area, it's not quite as walkable as, you know, Larkspur is, but the homes and the lots there are just absolutely bonkers that it warrants being on my A-list. Super flat, huge lots, very peaceful. There are some hillside areas of Kentfield, but as you get up into those hills, you get incredible water views, mountain views. It's really picturesque, beautiful place to live. The Kent Woodlands area off Woodland Road and the homes off Laurel Grove are like my two favorite areas to live in in Kentfield. Really, really large-scale homes, very private living. Downside though, you do have to navigate a little bit of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard depending on where you might live in Kentfield, so you are going to get a little bit of traffic and it makes the commute a little bit more difficult. But it's not like you're living in San Anselmo or in Fairfax where you have to go really far down Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and really brave that traffic to get to and from your home. So overall, much easier of a commute than those places and the homes there just on a whole nother level, which is why Kentfield is on my A-list. Now, before we get to the best place to live in all of Marin County, go to the description and check out my insider's guide to relocating in Marin County. It'll tell you everything you need to know about different places to live and help you figure out which area is the great fit for you. If you're curious at all about living in Marin County, definitely worth checking out. And make sure to subscribe to my channel as well because I make a lot of videos about all things living in Marin. And now back to my all-time favorite place to live in Marin County: Ross. The town of Ross is about 25 to 35 minutes from San Francisco, so relatively central location, relatively easy to commute to, very close to Larkspur if you want to commute by ferry instead of driving to the Golden Gate Bridge. It's also relatively short distance to Tiburon, San Rafael, San Anselmo. So central location, really easy to get to pretty much anywhere you'd want to go in Marin if you're living in Ross. And while most of southern and central Marin has a lot of hillside living, Ross is not like that much at all. There are some hillside lots, but for the most part, uh, everything is big, everything's open, everything's flat on a whole nother scale compared to even places like Kenfield, which itself has these huge open lots. Ross has really strict building standards. You can only build on 15% of your lot. So the lot-to-house ratio is different in Ross than a lot of areas in Marin where you can build up to 35% or even 50% of your lot. So you get these really big lots, you know, really big expansive flat roads, really easy to navigate, no stress at all driving around Ross compared to places like Mill Valley or Sausalito, for example. And the homes there, I really can't do them justice. They are a lot more like Hamptons-style homes than they are like Hollywood Hills-style homes, which is definitely much more my vibe. Even though I'm from Southern California, I much prefer the Hamptons style. Like old classic historic architecture that's just been tastefully updated but preserved, that is what Ross is all about. And the downtown, very similar to like downtown San Anselmo, very cute, very charming, just a couple streets large, cute boutique shops and restaurants, very small town feel, very peaceful, very tranquil. And it's right next to a beautiful park in downtown, and it's also across the street from my favorite place in all of Marin to have a picnic, the Marin Art and Garden Center. So there's just so much about living in Ross that checks every box for me personally in terms of ease of commute and the type of day-to-day living, it just has to be at the very top of my list. No question about it. But, you know, obviously I want to know what you think. Let me know what your favorite neighborhoods are and least favorite neighborhoods are in the comments and what you think I got wrong and why. If you want to learn more about what it's like to live in Ross, I have a whole video about that as well. I'll link it in the description. Go check it out. You can really see in more detail why I think it is the absolute best place to live in Marin. And if you made it this far into the video, chances are you're thinking about relocating to Marin County. If you want more information about different neighborhoods, or about the market, definitely reach out to me. I've helped numerous people relocate and I would be happy to help you as well. Call me, email me, text me. I will personally answer every message and I would love to be your resource. Hope you enjoyed the video and I'll see you in the next one.