Learn more about Solano County
Solano County occupies a distinctive geographic position in California’s North Bay. It’s roughly 45 minutes from Sacramento and about an hour from San Francisco. Long known as the Bay Area’s trade corridor heading north and east along I-80, the county is emerging as a location of choice for industries seeking to scale outside San Francisco, Oakland, and Silicon Valley, according to the Solano Economic Development Corporation.
The county’s relative affordability has driven steady in-migration from higher-cost neighboring regions. With median home prices around $585,000 late last year — roughly half of broader Bay Area levels — the county remains a critical market for middle-class families, according to Baker Estate Realty. More recent sales data confirms the trend: in January 2026, the countywide median sale price was $539,000, according to Redfin. The value proposition is stark when set against regional context — during the same period, the median home price for the Bay Area as a whole was just north of $1.3 million, meaning buyers can get a single-family home with a yard in Solano County for the price of a modest condo in San Francisco or San Jose.
The economic engine of Solano County runs on several overlapping tracks. Travis Air Force Base is the county’s largest employer, supporting over 26,000 residents and workers and generating significant annual economic impact for the local community.
Beyond the base, Vacaville’s expanding bio-manufacturing sector has drawn notable investment, including the arrival of Swiss firm Lonza to build on the region’s life sciences cluster. The county has also attracted national attention as the proposed site of California Forever, a Silicon Valley-backed project seeking to build a new city on farmland east of Fairfield.