Best suburbs of San Francisco?

julesyb1982
julesyb1982 Posts: 136
in Chit-Chat
My husband is an IT professional and would love to work in San Francisco. Unfortunately it appears the cost of living in the city is INSANE. We'd most definitely need to live in a suburb. Any recommendations? I'm an HR professional with 6 years experience and a PHR certification, so could probably find a job in the $50k range.

Replies

  • 1capybara
    1capybara Posts: 162 Member
    i dont know the north bay, but the east bay is cheaper, altho some parts of east bay maybe high crime. Also cheaper and a nice area is the south bay like san jose. And santa cruz and those mountains is awesome, and yes....maybe even magical. and lots of ppl commute from way inland towards sacramento. so the limitation is: how much u wanna spend, and how far do u wanna commute?
    fwiw, real estate values are highly indicial of true quality of life.
  • tonybalony01
    tonybalony01 Posts: 613 Member
    There's a nice place just east of the Golden Gate and a short ferry ride from North Beach that used to have a bunch of people that have all since moved out. Not too crowded.
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  • julesyb1982
    julesyb1982 Posts: 136
    There's a nice place just east of the Golden Gate and a short ferry ride from North Beach that used to have a bunch of people that have all since moved out. Not too crowded.
    content-img.jpg

    This place looks amazing! Great advice. I can only imagine how amazing of a place it is.
  • dimam13
    dimam13 Posts: 35 Member
    You can look into Daly City, San Mateo, San Jose. Easy Bay such as Fremont and surrounding areas are cheapest - east bay, in general. Oakland is high crime but go south a bit and it is normal. Maybe stick to the South Bay so your husband can hop on caltrain/bart and go to SF. There's more IT jobs in South Bay though...that's where 90% of the huge companies are. San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale...
  • 1capybara
    1capybara Posts: 162 Member
    Yeah, if it was me I'd get a house in Cali now that house prices are down 50%, maybe san jose or los gatos, or if i could afford it, the santa cruz mountains, or if i could tolerate the commute, santa cruz
  • dimam13
    dimam13 Posts: 35 Member
    Homes in Los Gatos average 1+ million
  • TheSlorax
    TheSlorax Posts: 2,401 Member
    There's a nice place just east of the Golden Gate and a short ferry ride from North Beach that used to have a bunch of people that have all since moved out. Not too crowded.
    content-img.jpg

    This place looks amazing! Great advice. I can only imagine how amazing of a place it is.


    HAHAHAHHAA.

    OP - unfortunately pretty much all of the suburbs within commuting distance to SF will have a nightmarish commute. BART is a good option when it's not on strike, however during peak commute times those cars are like sardine cans so keep that in mind. if you can deal with the Bay Bridge, I live in the East Bay and love it and no it's not all high crime. Oakland has a bad rap for no real reason, there are some very very nice places there for not a lot of money - I would however concede that West Oakland is very hit or miss. I also like Albany a lot if you like the suburbs. I personally live in Berkeley and love it. West and South Berkeley have some great deals and are far enough away from campus that you're not inundated by students. of course, it depends on how ok you are with city living, but for the record I moved here from a very small town in the North Bay and have not been bothered or uncomfortable once since moving here. Further than Berkeley/Albany/El Cerrito are some nice places too - you cannot beat the convenience of Pinole but it is a pretty tough commute from SF during peak hours.

    Pacifica and Daly City are foggy, but have good deals and are a short proximity to the city. I would not recommend the North Bay if he's going to be in SF, unless you guys can afford Marin (and the GG bridge toll every day). the commute is HELLISH. the South Bay can be fairly expensive but there are a lot of tech jobs there. I work in real estate by extension, so if you have any questions feel free to PM me.
  • TheSlorax
    TheSlorax Posts: 2,401 Member
    changed my mind, not worth it. if you're looking at real estate prices at all here right now you'd know what comment I was objecting to. lol.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    There's a nice place just east of the Golden Gate and a short ferry ride from North Beach that used to have a bunch of people that have all since moved out. Not too crowded.
    content-img.jpg

    This place looks amazing! Great advice. I can only imagine how amazing of a place it is.


    HAHAHAHHAA.

    OP - unfortunately pretty much all of the suburbs within commuting distance to SF will have a nightmarish commute. BART is a good option when it's not on strike, however during peak commute times those cars are like sardine cans so keep that in mind. if you can deal with the Bay Bridge, I live in the East Bay and love it and no it's not all high crime. Oakland has a bad rap for no real reason, there are some very very nice places there for not a lot of money - I would however concede that West Oakland is very hit or miss. I also like Albany a lot if you like the suburbs. I personally live in Berkeley and love it. West and South Berkeley have some great deals and are far enough away from campus that you're not inundated by students. of course, it depends on how ok you are with city living, but for the record I moved here from a very small town in the North Bay and have not been bothered or uncomfortable once since moving here. Further than Berkeley/Albany/El Cerrito are some nice places too - you cannot beat the convenience of Pinole but it is a pretty tough commute from SF during peak hours.

    Pacifica and Daly City are foggy, but have good deals and are a short proximity to the city. I would not recommend the North Bay if he's going to be in SF, unless you guys can afford Marin (and the GG bridge toll every day). the commute is HELLISH. the South Bay can be fairly expensive but there are a lot of tech jobs there. I work in real estate by extension, so if you have any questions feel free to PM me.

    Sounds lovely
  • TheSlorax
    TheSlorax Posts: 2,401 Member
    lol.... I am sadly not exaggerating on the traffic or the prices, but it is a cool place to live.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    The cost of living is ridiculous here in the bay area.

    The peninsula is way more expensive so you'd be better off looking at the East Bay (as much I hate living here right now, originally from San Mateo).
  • capnrus789
    capnrus789 Posts: 2,736 Member
    My dad used to commute to SFO every day from Vacaville. I thought it was a great place to live, only about an hours drive. But that was 20 years ago.
  • megsi474
    megsi474 Posts: 370 Member
    I grew up in the South Bay and have some friends who stayed near the area and managed to find affordable homes (at least to California standards) in San Jose. Most of them work closer to home so they don't trade family time for a hellish commute time. My dad drove from Cupertino to San Francisco for work 30 years ago and it was doable then but I wouldn't dream of it now. If I had a job in the city I would want to live in the city and not have to take the bridges out or deal with peak traffic times on the freeways.
  • suziepoo1984
    suziepoo1984 Posts: 915 Member
    Pretty much all the places are expensive. But yes, Fremont is decent costwise, there is also South San Jose, Milpitas..pretty much all suburbs cost the same i would guess. But weather is awesome, thats the only plus i see here :D
  • crista_b
    crista_b Posts: 1,192 Member
    Bumping this for my topics because I want to move out there someday (once I can convince my boyfriend). My bf also works in IT... no degree, but 3 or 4 years experience at this point.
  • TheSlorax
    TheSlorax Posts: 2,401 Member
    south bay is good if you work in San Jose but it is 50 miles to SF. I think caltrain is an hour + ride from SJ to SF if I remember correctly.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    My husband is an IT professional and would love to work in San Francisco. Unfortunately it appears the cost of living in the city is INSANE. We'd most definitely need to live in a suburb. Any recommendations? I'm an HR professional with 6 years experience and a PHR certification, so could probably find a job in the $50k range.

    So call me elitist, but I think if you're working in SF, you need to live there.

    Housing isn't that expensive to purchase, comparatively. However, I do have friends living in Oakland, Daly City, Berzerkeley, Dublin, Redwood City, Palo Alto and Marin, all work in the city.

    I'd say Marin has the nod for me as best all around. Oakland for cost + access to restuarants and ease of access to SF.

    Dublin boy says the bart ride isn't too bad, and I know it's not bad from Fremont. My friends in Daly City hate it. PA is a hike, and Redwood City sucks.

    If you like surfing and have a car, Pacifica is a mix of cheap and sandy.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    FWIW, we're looking at going back, and I'm either going to buy in my old hood of the Inner Sunset, or buy in Marin. 9th and Judah ftw.
  • trojanbb
    trojanbb Posts: 1,297 Member
    Yeah, if it was me I'd get a house in Cali now that house prices are down 50%, maybe san jose or los gatos, or if i could afford it, the santa cruz mountains, or if i could tolerate the commute, santa cruz


    home prices in the bay area are not down much.

    fyi, any decent non east bay home will be 1million plus. if thats too much or you prefer not to live in the ghettos of the peninsula, your options are east bay or remote parts of San Jose
  • TheSlorax
    TheSlorax Posts: 2,401 Member
    the sunset has some great prices for the city.... just did a deal there and our clients got a really nice house for what seemed like an unbelievable deal. I work in Marin and the real estate market is tough in the same way as the city (not a lot of inventory and high competition) but still some nice houses to be had.


    eta: clients were in the outer sunset, but still. :)

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