2026-11-10 · 6 min read · East Bay Area
Five Minutes Closer to Highway 4: What It Really Does to a Brentwood Home Price
The Short Answer Is That There Is No Single Number
People in Brentwood ask this question all the time, and it is a fair one. At The Mashore Group, we hear it from sellers on the north side of town. We also hear it from buyers comparing a home near Lone Tree Way with one out past Balfour Road. The honest answer is that nobody has published a figure for what five minutes is worth in Brentwood. Anyone who quotes one without a source is guessing. We can explain what creates the gap, why it sometimes runs the other way, and how to measure it for a specific house.
A clean number does not exist because "closer to Highway 4" covers two things that pull against each other. The first is access, and buyers pay for access. The second is exposure to the road itself, including noise and traffic, and buyers often pay less for that.
Why Brentwood's Freeway Map Changed the Math
Brentwood did not always have a freeway to be close to. According to cahighways.org, Route 4 once ran through town on Main Street and Brentwood Boulevard. AARoads' history of State Route 4 says the bypass runs 12.4 miles from Antioch to Brentwood. It reports that the stretch from Lone Tree Way to Balfour Road was finished in April 2002 and the last stretch south to Vasco Road opened in fall 2008.
The interchanges have kept changing since then. The Contra Costa Transportation Authority describes the Balfour Road interchange project as replacing a signalized intersection that backed up at peak commute times. The agency calls it the final phase of bypass construction. The City of Brentwood held a ribbon cutting for the Sand Creek Road extension on January 28, 2025. The Antioch Herald reported that the extension connects Deer Valley and Heidorn Ranch Roads to Highway 4.
Each of those projects changed which streets count as close to the freeway. A home that felt tucked away years ago may now be a short drive from a ramp. A home that once had easy access may now share that ramp with much more traffic. That is why old ideas about which parts of Brentwood are convenient need a fresh look before you price a house or make an offer.
Five Minutes to Where? Direction Matters More Than Distance
Highway 4 is not one destination. A driver heading west toward Antioch, Pittsburg and Concord cares about the northern interchanges. Wikipedia's entry on the Antioch BART station places it in the Highway 4 median at Hillcrest Avenue. Tri Delta Transit runs Route 373 between that station and the Brentwood Park and Ride. If you ride BART, the number that matters is your time to Hillcrest, not your time to the nearest on-ramp.
A drive south over the hills works differently. Vasco Road connects Brentwood with Livermore, and NBC Bay Area described it in 2015 as a 17.7 mile commute. For that trip, the southern end of the bypass matters far more than Lone Tree Way does. Two houses can be the same distance from Highway 4 and still sit on opposite ends of that trade.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that crashes routinely turn 45 minute commutes in the area into trips of two or three hours. It also reported that Brentwood leaders have no current plans for a BART station in town. When bad days get that bad, five minutes on a map can matter less than how many other routes a house has.
Where Being Closer Can Cost You
Easy access comes with a downside. Homes that back onto the freeway or sit beside a busy ramp hear the traffic, and noise shows up in price. Yahoo reported on a study of nearly 600,000 Florida homes co-authored by UC Berkeley economist Enrico Moretti. The study found that values rose nearly 1% for every decibel of traffic noise that new sound barriers removed. The study itself found that homes within about 100 meters, roughly 330 feet, of a new barrier saw an immediate and largely permanent price rise of about 6.8%.
That research comes from Florida, so it cannot tell you what a Brentwood house is worth. It does show what the trade looks like. The location most buyers want is close enough to reach a ramp quickly and far enough away that the yard stays quiet. Being one street back from the freeway can matter more than being one interchange closer to it.
How to Measure It for One Specific House
An average for the whole city will not answer the question for your street. These checks will tell you more:
- Drive it at the hour that matters. Leave the driveway when you would actually commute, and time the trip to the ramp, to the Hillcrest station, or to Vasco Road, whichever you would use.
- Count the signals. Two homes the same distance from Highway 4 can have very different numbers of traffic lights before the ramp, and the lights are where most of the minutes go.
- Stand in the backyard. Listen in the morning and again in the evening, because freeway noise can carry differently at different times of day.
- Check what is planned. Road projects like the Sand Creek extension can make a street busier or quieter. The city and the transportation authority post project pages that are worth reading before you commit.
- Compare like with like. Look at recent sales of similar homes at different distances from the freeway, and do not rely on a single citywide figure.
That last check is where local knowledge earns its keep. Our Brentwood area guide covers the city in more depth. If you are also looking at homes closer to the BART station, our guides to Antioch and Oakley are good places to start.
What This Means If You Are Selling in Brentwood
If your home is near an interchange, describe that convenience plainly. Real drive times work better than vague promises like "easy commute access." If your home is farther out, its quiet and its distance from traffic are selling points too. Neither location is a weakness on its own, and a good listing is honest about which trade the house offers.
If your home backs onto the freeway, bring it up early when you discuss price. Buyers will notice it at the first showing, and a price that ignores it usually means a longer wait for an offer. Anything that cuts the noise you can hear inside or in the yard is worth pointing out, because buyers will be listening for it.
Pricing a specific location is part of how we prepare every listing. Our process page explains how that work fits into getting a home ready for market.
Get a Street-Level Read Before You Decide
A map of distances only tells you part of the story. What matters is how buyers in Brentwood have actually priced homes like yours at different distances from Highway 4. We can go through recent sales with you street by street, whether you are thinking about selling or comparing homes to buy. You can also browse our current listings to see how different locations are priced right now. When you are ready to talk it through, contact The Mashore Group, and we will start with your street.