Fresno and San Jose (San Francisco, San Mateo: houses, job market, neighborhoods)

[AleeGee]

Can somebody please give me the 411 on Fresno? Is it as gorgeous in real life as it is in pictures? How are attitudes in and around California? Are people snarky, or are they considerate?
What is the resident satisfaction rate in Fresno and San Jose in particular, California in general? Is everybody pretty much in a positive state of mind?
My daughter will possibly be going to San Francisco or San Jose, but I want to check out Fresno.

[Perma Bear]

Originally Posted by AleeGee

Can somebody please give me the 411 on Fresno? Is it as gorgeous in real life as it is in pictures? How are attitudes in and around California? Are people snarky, or are they considerate?
What is the resident satisfaction rate in Fresno and San Jose in particular, California in general? Is everybody pretty much in a positive state of mind?
My daughter will possibly be going to San Francisco or San Jose, but I want to check out Fresno.

Fresno is San Jose minus the jobs, the good climate, and breathable air.

[the topper]

Originally Posted by Perma Bear

Fresno is San Jose minus the jobs, the good climate, and breathable air.

and a cool downtown

[Adriatica]

What will your daughter be doing? Working? School?

[AleeGee]

She wants to break into the cannabis industry, while waiting for a non-profit position to open up. Cannabis is a thriving industry now, complete with dress code at the office. Leafly anticipates 440,000 new positions by 2023. Looking over job openings, you'd swear you were looking at employment opportunities in marketing, finance, public relations, etc...
The photos I saw of Fresno were certainly alluring. I had a feeling they were re-touched.
She started her online masters program already.

[shoenberg3]

I am sorry but Fresno cannot touch San Jose and certainly not San Francisco.
SF is a world-class city in many respects. However, for living, I actually prefer San Jose.

I would be hard-pressed to live in Fresno, compared to these two.

Livings costs, on the other hand, are on a different level...

If you care less about things like weather, amenities, scenic beauty, and job opportunities, Fresno could certainly be an option for a much lesser price.

I don't know exactly what the mood is around in Fresno, but I would say on the whole SF Bay Area populace are pretty jubilant due to the tech boom and prospering job market.

[Perma Bear]

Originally Posted by shoenberg3

I am sorry but Fresno cannot touch San Jose and certainly not San Francisco.
SF is a world-class city in many respects. However, for living, I actually prefer San Jose.

I would be hard-pressed to live in Fresno, compared to these two.

Livings costs, on the other hand, are on a different level...

If you care less about things like weather, amenities, scenic beauty, and job opportunities, Fresno could certainly be an option for a much lesser price.

I don't know exactly what the mood is around in Fresno, but I would say on the whole SF Bay Area populace are pretty jubilant due to the tech boom and prospering job market.

Oh come on. San Mateo, Burlingame, Belmont, and millbrae are more “world class” than San Jose.

[Casual Dreamer]

I lived on the east coast (Virginia) as active-duty military and as a contractor in the IT field for most my adult life, before coming to Fresno a few years ago. Virginia is very green and picturesque (lived in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake). The San Joaquin valley is very dry and yellowish in color, partly due to the drought that has plagued the region for years. The heat in the summer is relentless, often triple-digits, and you can easily run up costly electric bills cooling your home. OTOH, winters are short and mild. The air is often bad enough to keep people with allergy issues indoors.

Substantial employment in Fresno comes from agriculture and it's related businesses. In addition to govt. employment (city, state and Federal, including the IRS), and healthcare-related jobs, the majority of jobs in the area come from service-based business (sales, restaurants, clerical, etc.) . If you are an IT professional, you're better off in the bay area. Because farming is the business backbone of the area, a lot of immigrants come here for the year-round field work that is available.

There is no shortage of restaurants in the area, Mexican, Chinese, Italian are plentiful, plus there are Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and also steakhouses. Plenty of chain-restaurants in the area can be found. There are numerous draft beer breweries if you enjoy suds.

In summary, Fresno is one of those places where you go to find work, not necessarily because you like the area. Fresno has a lot of sprawl, and houses continue to be built. Housing is much cheaper here than in the bay area. Nice houses in quiet neighborhoods can be found for around $300K and up. There's not a lot to look at here, and most people drive to the nearby national parks or to the coast for a weekend getaway.

One last thing, gangs are a big problem. It wasn't anything like this when I was growing up here in the 60s/70s. Gangs, shootings, drugs are fairly common here as in most large cities. Northern Fresno is considered safer then the southern part. Since I am preparing to retire, I plan to leave the area and will likely move to Northern California. I will not miss the sweltering summers here. Good Luck.

[nobodysbusiness]

I haven't been to Fresno for a long time, so maybe it is cool now, but I absolutely hated it. Horrible suburbia that goes on for miles and miles - very conservative people - scary downtown.

[nobodysbusiness]

Lots of prejudice towards a certain sect of Vietnamese people when I was there. Open racism. But it was a long time ago, so it might be groovy now.