The term “Oakland Hills” does not refer to a specific neighborhood like Rockridge or a nearby city like Piedmont. Instead, the term is generally used when talking about the neighborhoods in the residential parts of these hills. Somewhat confusing, some people also use the term to talk about the hills. So you might hear someone talk about living in the Oakland Hills, while another might talk about hiking or camping there.
Location
Oakland Hills residential neighborhoods are found along the eastern edge of Oakland, and generally on the western side of the Berkeley Hills mountain range.
In general, neighborhoods east of Highway 13 (or 580 further south, where the two merge) fall into this area.
For a time, Oakland Hills neighborhoods stretch further west than Highway 13. For example, Oakmore, Claremont, and Upper Rockridge are part of the Oakland Hills region, despite being west of Highway 13.
The hills themselves, of course, extend further east than the neighborhoods. Much of this mountainous land is within parks such as Redwood Regional Park and Robert Sibley Regional Volcanic Preserve. While Tilden Park is in the hills, it is too far north to qualify as part of the Oakland Hills.
The Caldecott Tunnel, which connects Oakland to Orinda, passes through the Oakland Hills.
It is important to remember that this term is not official and therefore there are no official limits to what qualifies as being in “The Hills” and what does not.
The Hills vs. the floors: expenses and wealth
In general, income and wealth tend to follow elevation in Oakland. In other words, Oakland’s hillside neighborhoods tend to be quite a bit richer than apartment homes. The higher you go, the richer the neighborhoods tend to be. In the higher parts of the hills, the houses tend to be quite large with wide patios, compared to the (usually) smaller houses and the lots on the floors.
Of course, these are just general rules, and there are some exceptions. Certain parts of the flats are richer than others, and some parts of the hills are more affordable than others.
The Hills vs. the floors: crime levels
In Oakland, crime levels tend to follow income / wealth levels quite predictably.
The crime rate in the Oakland Hills is consistently much lower than in the flats. The crimes that generally occur are the least violent crimes. For example, crimes in Oakland Hills tend to be robbery and robbery rather than assault, murder, or robbery. Even less violent crimes are rare in the hills.
In other words, when you hear news reports about violence and crime in Oakland, you are really hearing about the flats (like East Oakland) rather than the hills.
Signs
As mentioned above, there are quite a few lovely parks in the Oakland Hills. These include:
- Sequoia Regional Park
- Joaquin Miller Park
- Chabot regional park
- Huckleberry Regional Botanical Reserve
- Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Reserve
However, the landmarks of the area are not limited to just parks and natural scenes.
The Mountain View Cemetery, which borders Piedmont, is located just inside the Oakland Hills area.
Several schools fall within the Oakland Hills. Hillcrest Elementary School is located east of the Mountain View Cemetery. Merritt College, part of the Peralta Community College system, is located in the foothills near Redwood Regional Park. Whether Mills College is in the Oakland Hills area is debatable, but if not, it certainly borders this region.
Sequoyah Country Club, founded in 1913, is also within the Oakland Hills region. This exclusive club offers one of the East Bay’s beautiful golf courses.
