Best-Value Neighborhoods in Santee, CA

Carlton Hills is the busy middle of Santee, the place where the San Diego River, the trolley and the city's biggest shopping center all meet. Mast Boulevard, which crosses its north side, is named for Bill Mast, the early president of the Carlton Company, whose 1958 purchase of 4,300 acres from Fanita Ranch set off a wave of building. ... See Full Page

Weekends in West Hills tend to revolve around Santee Lakes, the chain of seven fishing lakes on the north side of Santee. Around it, the neighborhood spreads across the city's northwest quarter, from quiet subdivisions near Mast Boulevard up into open hills that are still mostly empty. ... See Full Page

Town Center in Santee is a narrow strip along Mission Gorge Road, the commercial spine where the city shops for groceries and stops for breakfast. It runs from around Cuyamaca Street east past Magnolia Avenue, and for most people it is the road they drive every week rather than the street they live on. ... See Full Page

The fairways of Carlton Oaks Golf Club give Carlton Oaks its shape, filling the river bottom on the western edge of Santee where the city meets San Diego. The course is split almost evenly between the two cities, and it has been here since 1958, more than two decades before the city incorporated in 1980. ... See Full Page

Trailheads into the Mission Trails backcountry sit at one end of Sky Ranch, and a hillside subdivision with views across the valley sits at the other. In between, this long southern stretch of Santee takes in older streets off Mission Gorge Road, a run of business parks along Prospect Avenue and the slopes near the El Cajon line. ... See Full Page