gilroy · santa clara county
Gilroy Real Estate & Neighborhood Guide
Gilroy covers 16.54 square miles of land at the south end of the Santa Clara Valley, about 28 miles southeast of downtown San Jose (straight-line). The city's history page traces it to an 1850 stage and postal stop on Monterey Street; it was incorporated as the Town of Gilroy in 1868 and became a city in March 1870, a year after a rail line arrived. Grain, livestock, tobacco, vineyards, dairies and then prune, cherry and apricot orchards surrounded the town, giving way to row crops such as garlic from the early 1960s. Much of today's housing is recent: county build years put about 54% of single-family-coded homes at 1990 or later and about 6% before 1950. Detached houses dominate, with condos, townhomes and duplexes downtown and along the main roads.
population, 2020 census
land area
zip codes
incorporated
neighborhoods
Gilroy neighborhoods
Our Gilroy guides divide the city by area. In the middle, Downtown Gilroy covers the original grid around Monterey Street, from Princevalle Street to US 101 and from Tenth Street to First Street, plus the streets east of the railroad up to the north city line. North of First Street between Santa Teresa Boulevard and Monterey Street, Las Animas & Crestwood runs from late-1950s ranch tracts to 2010s streets at the city's north edge. South of First Street, Miller Avenue & Castlewood holds mostly 1960s-80s one-story tracts above Uvas Creek, and Glen Loma & Christmas Hill covers south Gilroy along the creek, from 1970s streets near Gilroy High to the 2015-2024 Glen Loma Ranch tracts and the hillside streets near Mesa Road. West of Santa Teresa Boulevard, Lions Creek & Country Estates covers the northwest side between Hecker Pass Highway and Longmeadow Drive, Sunrise Park the strip from Longmeadow Drive to Day Road, and Eagle Ridge & Hecker Pass the southwest side, including the Hecker Pass Specific Plan area south of the highway (the plan covers about 423 acres and was adopted in 2005; its part north of the highway is in Lions Creek & Country Estates). Across the city, the median single-family lot in the city's parcel data is about 6,800 sq ft; about 1,000 parcels on the western foothills are zoned RH (Residential Hillside), and about 1,560 parcels in the newer master-planned tracts are zoned ND (Neighborhood District). County land with Gilroy addresses: the 95020 ZIP reaches far past the city. West of the city line, the foothills toward Uvas Creek's canyon and Mount Madonna (Watsonville Rd, Redwood Retreat Rd, west Day Rd, Burchell Rd); east, the land toward Pacheco Pass and Coyote Lake; and south, the farmland toward the Pajaro River are all unincorporated Santa Clara County. Homes there use Gilroy addresses but fall under county planning, zoning and permits, and wells, septic systems and private roads are common. A few county pockets sit right against the city as well: the Cohansey Avenue / Orsetti Road area north of downtown and a few parcels on Luchessa Avenue are inside the city's urban service area, and an agricultural county block lies north of Mantelli Drive around north Kern Avenue, Tatum Avenue and Vickery Avenue.
Downtown Gilroy
Gilroy's original street grid around Monterey Street: the storefront blocks, Old City Hall, the Caltrain station and side streets of pre-1940 cottages, postwar houses and 1970s-80s courts east of the tracks.
Miller Avenue & Castlewood
West-central Gilroy between Santa Teresa Blvd and Princevalle St, south of First St: mostly one-story 1960s-80s tract homes around Miller Ave and El Roble Park, above the Uvas Creek parklands.
Glen Loma & Christmas Hill
South Gilroy along Uvas Creek: Christmas Hill Park and the creek preserve, 1970s-80s tracts near Gilroy High, the 2015-2024 Glen Loma Ranch streets and hillside homes near Mesa Rd.
Las Animas & Crestwood
North-central Gilroy between Santa Teresa Blvd and Monterey St, north of First St: 1950s-70s ranch tracts, 1990s-2010s two-story streets, condos on Kern Ave and 30-acre Las Animas Veterans Park.
Lions Creek & Country Estates
Northwest Gilroy between Santa Teresa Blvd and the western foothills: 1970s to 2020s tract and hillside homes off Mantelli Dr, Welburn Ave and Rancho Hills Dr, with Del Rey and Carriage Hills parks.
Sunrise Park
North Gilroy's foothill edge west of Santa Teresa Blvd: 1988 to 2017 tract homes between Longmeadow Dr and Day Rd, around 7.65-acre Sunrise Park and next to Christopher High.
Eagle Ridge & Hecker Pass
Southwest Gilroy west of Santa Teresa Blvd: the gated Eagle Ridge golf-course community south of Uvas Creek and the 2015-19 Hecker Pass Specific Plan streets north of it, with Gilroy Gardens at the west end.
schools
Gilroy public schools
Elementary and middle
- Gilroy Unified School District. TK-12 for all of Gilroy on Census school-district maps. District elementary schools in town: El Roble (930 Third St), Eliot (475 Old Gilroy St), Glen View (600 Eighth St), Las Animas (6550 Cimino St, in south Gilroy), Luigi Aprea (9225 Calle del Rey) and Rod Kelley (8755 Kern Ave); Rucker Elementary (325 Santa Clara Ave) is just north of the city line. Middle schools: Brownell (7800 Carmel St), South Valley (385 IOOF Ave) and Ascencion Solorsano (7121 Grenache Way).
High school
- Gilroy Unified School District. Gilroy High (750 W. Tenth St), Christopher High (850 Day Rd), Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy (5055 Santa Teresa Blvd, just south of the city line) and Mt. Madonna Continuation High (8750 Hirasaki Ct).
property nerd note
The district question is simple in Gilroy: Census school-district maps put the whole city in Gilroy Unified. The assigned school is the part to check. Use the School Locator linked from the district's schools page for the exact address, and check again before writing an offer, because boundaries change. Two name traps: Las Animas Elementary is in south Gilroy, not in the Las Animas neighborhood in the north, and the early college academy sits outside the city limit on Santa Teresa Blvd. Start with our Silicon Valley schools guide.
zip codes
Gilroy ZIP codes
The whole city. The Census ZIP area is much larger than the city: about 393 sq km of land, of which the city's 42.8 sq km is about 11%. The rest is unincorporated Santa Clara County in the western foothills, east toward Pacheco Pass and Coyote Lake, and south toward the Pajaro River. Homes there carry Gilroy addresses but are under county planning and permits.
getting around
Getting around Gilroy
Caltrain
Gilroy station, 7150 Monterey St (Zone 6, free parking), is the southern end of the South County Connector: four diesel round trips each weekday to San Jose Diridon, with a three-minute cross-platform transfer to electric trains there and no diesel service on holidays or modified-schedule days (Caltrain, weekday schedule effective January 31, 2026). San Martin and Morgan Hill are the next stops north.
Buses
VTA Route 68 runs every day between the Gilroy Transit Center and San Jose Diridon, mostly on Monterey Road. VTA local routes 84 (via the outlets), 85 (via west Gilroy) and 86 (to Gavilan College) start at the transit center, and Caltrain's station page also lists VTA Express 121, Rapid 568, San Benito County Transit's express and Monterey-Salinas Transit Line 59 (Salinas-Gilroy).
Highways
US 101 runs along the east side of the city, with interchanges at Leavesley Rd and Tenth St among others. Highway 152 enters from the west as Hecker Pass Highway, follows First St, Monterey St and Leavesley Rd to US 101, runs with the freeway to Tenth St and heads east from there; Highway 25 begins at US 101 just south of the city (Caltrans route data).
Trails and bikes
The Dennis Debell Uvas Creek Park Preserve has over 2 miles of walking and bike trails along Uvas Creek from Santa Teresa Blvd to W. Luchessa Ave, past Christmas Hill Park, and Gateway Park at Santa Teresa Blvd and Hecker Pass Highway connects to the Hecker Pass Pedestrian and Bicycle Trail (city park pages).
living here
Living in Gilroy
Downtown Monterey Street
The 1850 stage stop grew into the storefront blocks of Monterey Street, which the city now plans under the Downtown Gilroy Specific Plan (approved 2005). Old City Hall (7410 Monterey St, 1905, by Samuel Newsom), the 1909-10 Gilroy Free Library building that now holds the Gilroy Museum (195 Fifth St) and the Southern Pacific depot (7250 Monterey St) are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Christmas Hill Park and Uvas Creek
Christmas Hill Park (45.73 acres, 7050 Miller Ave) and its ranch site (29.16 acres) sit on Uvas Creek next to the 77.78-acre Dennis Debell Uvas Creek Park Preserve, with ball fields, group picnic areas and creekside trails (city park pages). Valley Water rebuilt about a mile of the creek's levee from Miller Ave to the Gilroy Sports Park in 2018-19.
City parks
Las Animas Veterans Park (30.80 acres, 400 Mantelli Dr) has courts, a skate area and trails; San Ysidro Park (9.14 acres, 7700 Murray Ave), Sunrise Park (7.65 acres) and more than a dozen smaller neighborhood parks fill in the city, and Gilroy Sports Park (79 acres, 5925 Monterey Frontage Rd) has ball and soccer fields just outside the city line (city park pages).
Library and civic center
City Hall is at 7351 Rosanna St and the Gilroy Library, a Santa Clara County Library District branch, is at 350 W. Sixth St; the city's Wheeler Center (250 W. Sixth St) is close by in the same downtown blocks.
County parks
Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park (10840 Coyote Reservoir Rd, a Gilroy address, about 7,550 acres on county maps) lies to the east, Mount Madonna County Park (7850 Pole Line Rd, about 4,600 acres) to the west, and the small Chitactac-Adams County Park (10001 Watsonville Rd, about 4.5 acres) west of town.
Festival, theme park and outlets
The Gilroy Garlic Festival, which its organizer dates to 1979, is a late-July event; the organizer's site lists the 2026 festival at the Hecker Pass Outdoor Events Center and July 23-25, 2027 as the next dates. Gilroy Gardens, a theme park at 3050 Hecker Pass Highway, sits on the west side of town, and the outlet center is east of US 101 near Leavesley Rd.
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faq
Gilroy real estate FAQ
When was Gilroy incorporated?
The city's history page says the village was incorporated as the Town of Gilroy in 1868 and became a city by an act of the state legislature in March 1870.
What school district serves Gilroy?
Gilroy Unified School District (TK-12) serves the whole city on Census school-district maps. Assigned schools depend on the address and boundaries change, so use the district's School Locator and confirm with the district.
Can you commute to San Jose by train from Gilroy?
Yes, on weekdays. Caltrain's South County Connector runs four round trips each weekday between Gilroy and San Jose Diridon, with a cross-platform transfer to electric trains there. VTA Route 68 runs between the Gilroy Transit Center and San Jose every day.
What should buyers know about hazard maps in Gilroy?
Flood: in the city's parcel data, about 67% of residential parcels are in FEMA's shaded Zone X (0.2% annual chance), about 21% in Zone D (hazard not determined, mostly in the south and southwest) and under 1% in Zone AH. Fire: the city adopted the state's 2025 fire hazard severity zone maps by Ordinance 2025-05 in June 2025, with Moderate and High zones on the hillside edges. Earthquake: the state has not evaluated the Gilroy quadrangle for liquefaction or landslide zones, and no city parcel falls in an Alquist-Priolo fault zone (the mapped zones for the Calaveras fault lie east of the city and for the Sargent fault to the southwest). Check every map for the specific address.
Is every Gilroy address inside the city?
No. The 95020 ZIP covers about nine times the city's land, including county land in the western foothills, east toward Pacheco Pass and south toward the Pajaro River. Gilroy voters also approved Measure H, a citizen initiative that set an urban growth boundary, in 2016. Check a parcel's jurisdiction before planning permits.
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