Pacific Grove

Pacific Grove sits at the very tip of the Monterey Peninsula, wrapped around Point Pinos between Monterey and Pebble Beach, and it feels like a small town that time forgot in the best possible way. It is an incorporated city in Monterey County with 15,090 residents as of the 2020 Census, and it still runs on walking distance. People stroll to the post office, to Lighthouse Avenue for coffee and to the water at Lovers Point, and the pace is noticeably slower than anywhere in Silicon Valley. For a lot of the longtime homeowners and families I work with, that is the whole point.

Pacific Grove History: From Methodist Retreat to Butterfly Town

The town began in 1875, when David Jacks gave 100 acres to the Methodist Episcopal Church for a Christian seaside resort. The Pacific Grove Retreat Association held its meetings in a big tent, and the first lots were laid out at 30 by 60 feet, sized for tents rather than houses. The retreat ran under strict blue laws with no cards, no dancing and no liquor, and Pacific Grove stayed dry so long that alcohol was not sold to the public until 1969. The Southern Pacific extended rail service to town in 1889, and the city incorporated that July.

As visitors drawn by the Hotel Del Monte bought lots, the tents gave way to Victorian cottages, and many of them are still standing. Today more than 1,300 structures are on the city’s historic register. Science has deep roots here too, since Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station, founded in 1892, is the oldest marine laboratory on the Pacific Coast. The city still celebrates its incorporation each year with the Feast of Lanterns, and the Good Old Days festival fills downtown each April.

Monarchs, Lighthouses and the Pacific Grove Coast

Pacific Grove’s nickname comes from the monarch butterflies that overwinter in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary at 250 Ridge Road. They usually arrive around mid October and leave in February, with the best viewing from November through January, and the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History sends docents to the sanctuary most days in season. The sanctuary is free and has an ADA accessible gravel trail, which makes it an easy outing with grandparents. The city takes its monarchs seriously, with a children’s Butterfly Parade every October.

The coastline is the other draw. The Point Pinos Lighthouse, first lit on February 1, 1855, is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast, and it sits right beside the 18 hole Pacific Grove Golf Links. Farther south, Asilomar began in 1913 as a YWCA camp and conference ground, and architect Julia Morgan designed more than 25 buildings there, 11 of which survive. The boardwalk across the Asilomar dunes and the stretch of Ocean View Boulevard from Lovers Point to Point Pinos are two of the best level walks on the peninsula.

Senior Services and Healthcare in Pacific Grove

The heart of senior life in town is the Meals on Wheels Community Center at 700 Jewell Avenue, near Lovers Point. It grew out of the work of Sally Judd Griffin, who started cooking and delivering meals to homebound seniors in 1972, and the city donated the land for what became the Sally Griffin Senior Center in the 1980s. Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula still delivers meals from there and runs free or low cost programs for social connection, wellness and active aging on weekdays.

Healthcare is close by. Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, run by Montage Health, sits on Holman Highway just over the line in Monterey, with a 24 hour emergency department only a few minutes from most Pacific Grove homes. Monterey-Salinas Transit buses connect the city with Monterey, and MST’s RIDES paratransit and senior shuttle programs serve older residents across the Peninsula who no longer drive.

Pacific Grove Unified Schools

The city has its own small district, Pacific Grove Unified School District, with about 2,050 students. Robert Down Elementary serves homes north of Sinex Avenue and Forest Grove Elementary serves homes south of Sinex, including Pebble Beach, and both feed into Pacific Grove Middle School and Pacific Grove High School. A district this size has a real community feel, and it is a big reason families look here first on the Peninsula.

Getting Around Pacific Grove

Pacific Grove is at the end of the road, which is part of its charm. Downtown Monterey and Cannery Row are about five minutes away along Lighthouse Avenue or the coastal Recreation Trail, Highway 68 runs out Holman Highway toward Highway 1 and Salinas, and Carmel is about 15 minutes over the hill. San Jose is roughly 75 miles, around an hour and twenty minutes without traffic, so it works well for families who want to be within a day trip of kids and grandkids in the Bay Area.

Pacific Grove Neighborhoods and Housing

The oldest housing sits in and around downtown and the original retreat, where Victorian cottages and early 1900s bungalows sit on those small original lots, and some carry historic status that limits exterior changes. Moving uphill and toward the golf course you find a wider mix of mid century and newer homes, and out along Sunset Drive the Asilomar Dunes area sits right behind the beach. Water view homes are at the top of the market, while much of the city is made up of modest two and three bedroom homes that are a smart fit for downsizing without leaving the Peninsula.

If you are weighing Pacific Grove against its neighbors, I also cover Carmel-by-the-Sea and Seaside, which sit at very different price points. Longtime owners here often have a very low assessed value, so it is worth understanding how Prop 19 works before deciding whether to sell, move or pass the home to the next generation.

Is Pacific Grove a Good Fit for Downsizers?

Pacific Grove is one of the most walkable places on the Peninsula to downsize, especially near downtown or the water, where Lighthouse Avenue, the post office and the Recreation Trail are all close by. Plenty of the modest two- and three-bedroom homes are single-story, but the older Victorians often have front steps and the city climbs uphill from the bay, so it pays to walk the block before you fall for a house. For a 55+ setting, Monarch Pines near Lovers Point is a co-op mobile home park, and I cover it in my guide to senior living communities around the Bay Area.

The Meals on Wheels Community Center on Jewell Avenue and Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula are both only a few minutes from most homes. Historic status can limit exterior changes like ramps or additions, so I check that before a client plans any aging-in-place updates. If you are 55 or older and selling a longtime home elsewhere in California, my Prop 19 calculator shows roughly what your property tax bill could look like here.

The Pacific Grove Housing Market

Pacific Grove has cooled this year. In the three months ending September 2026, the median sale price was about $1.2 million, down 12.7 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to Redfin’s Pacific Grove housing market data. Homes took a median of 41 days to sell compared with 13 a year ago, sold at about 98.3 percent of list price, and only about 15 percent went over asking. Buyers have more time and more leverage right now, so preparation and pricing matter more than they did a year ago.

Frequently Asked Questions About Pacific Grove

If you have owned your Pacific Grove home for decades, you are probably sitting on a lot of equity, and the right move usually depends on taxes, timing and family as much as the market. That is the work I do every day with older adults and their families, and I am happy to talk it through with no expectation that you list anything. Book a call with me or reach me at 408-413-3087 for a straight conversation about your options.