My Hometown: Woodland, CA

Editor’s note: this is one in a series of "My Hometown" blog posts written by Zillow employees about the homes and towns where they grew up.

My Hometown: Woodland, CA
Zindex 10 years ago: Approximately $140,000
Current Zindex: Approximately $419,000

I grew up in Woodland, CA., which is located 20 miles northwest of Sacramento in California’s Central Valley.  It’s a small town by California standards with a population that’s currently around 52,000.  We moved several times while living there, mostly due to our family’s changing needs as my two brothers and I grew up.  My mom was the "lunch lady" at our school cafeteria and my brother and I knew this was mainly so she could keep an eye on us.  My dad was, and still is, in the Army National Guard.  Meager salaries at the time meant that one of the first houses we could afford ended up on the same block as the railroad line. It was a tiny 2 bedroom house that I remember as being less than 900 sq. ft.  It was immensely dwarfed by our neighbor’s 2 story home that served as a bed and breakfast before the owners were too old to continue the business.  We loved hearing stories of earlier town life from them, such as how long it would take them to go shopping in the next town over (2 days roundtrip by horse and wagon!). 

We moved to a 3 bedroom house after my youngest brother outgrew his crib.  Thank goodness too — can you imagine 3 boys sharing a tiny 8 x 10 ft room?  The new place even had 2 bathrooms, skylights, and glass sliding doors.  Such luxury.  This house sold shortly after we moved in the mid-90s for around $99K.  Today it has a Zestimate of $396,382.

Interesting facts from Wikipedia:
(Above, Wikipedia photo of Woodland Court House)

• In the 1950’s, Woodland had the most millionaires per capita as any city in California.
• In 2002, Woodland had the highest percentage increase in property value in the nation.