Santa Clara vs. Sunnyvale: Power, Trains, Eichlers and the Market

Santa Clara and Sunnyvale share a long border in Santa Clara County, about 5 miles apart center to center, and both sit on Caltrain and VTA light rail. The biggest difference is one most buyers don’t expect: who supplies the electricity. Here’s the comparison, with a live-market snapshot from our City Match-Up.

The basics

• Caltrain. Santa Clara has one station, Santa Clara. Sunnyvale has two, Sunnyvale and Lawrence.
• Light rail. VTA light rail serves both, including the Great America, Lick Mill and Old Ironsides stops in Santa Clara and seven stops in Sunnyvale from Moffett Park to Reamwood. See Homes Near VTA Light Rail.
• Electricity. Santa Clara runs its own electric utility, Silicon Valley Power, in business since 1896, with its own solar program. Sunnyvale gets power from Silicon Valley Clean Energy, delivered by PG&E. See who supplies electricity in each city.
• Campuses and employers. Santa Clara is home to Santa Clara University, Mission College and Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, and to the headquarters of NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, Applied Materials and ServiceNow. See Homes Near Tech Campuses and Homes Near Universities & Hospitals.
• Downtowns and parks. Sunnyvale’s Historic Murphy Avenue is a short walk from its Caltrain station. Central Park is in Santa Clara, and the Sunnyvale Baylands are on the bay. See Homes Near Downtown and Homes Near Parks.
• School districts. Check the district’s boundary lookup for any address.

At closing

Neither adds a city transfer tax, so a $2 million sale carries only the county’s $2,200 in either city. See our transfer tax guide.

Homes and rules

• Eichlers. Our index lists 10 Eichler tracts in Sunnyvale. Santa Clara has no single-family Eichler tract; its Eichler is Pomeroy Green, a townhouse cooperative of 16 buildings designed by Claude Oakland. See Silicon Valley Eichler tracts.
• Single-story zoning. Sunnyvale has single-story combining districts on many Eichler blocks; we found no single-story overlay in Santa Clara. See Sunnyvale’s districts.
• Victorians. Santa Clara’s Old Quad has Italianate and Greek Revival cottages, then Queen Anne and Stick/Eastlake houses, from the 1860s on. See Victorian and Edwardian homes.

The market, in a snapshot

From our City Match-Up on October 18, 2026, for houses, condos and townhomes, with sales from the previous 90 days:

• Homes for sale: 101 in Santa Clara, 98 in Sunnyvale.
• Sales in 90 days: 170 in Santa Clara, 201 in Sunnyvale.
• Median sale price: $1.58 million in Santa Clara, $1.94 million in Sunnyvale.
• Median price per square foot: $984 in Santa Clara, $1,246 in Sunnyvale.
• Median sale-to-list: 100.9% in Santa Clara, 102.4% in Sunnyvale.
• Months of supply: 1.8 in Santa Clara, 1.5 in Sunnyvale.

Medians follow the mix of homes, and these numbers change daily, so open the live City Match-Up and switch to houses only to compare like with like.

Weighing the two? Call the Boyenga Team at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606. Commissions are negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what’s included.