Is it possible to live 30 mins from the coast and have NO commute? (Los Angeles: homes)

[esya]

that's my question: I love the ocean, but hate the commuter life. Is is possible in California if you are not retired or rich? We are talking an upper middle class income here, and a nice home in Denver.

[marimari123]

Yes it's possible. If you're within 30 minutes of the coast of a large city (San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego) then it's a little harder to do because those areas have heavy traffic and expensive homes.

But along the central coast, near Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo, you can live a little bit inland and get a nice home for a decent price. The water is pretty cold in those areas...but those beaches are beautiful and perfect during summertime.

EDIT: Thank you Charles (post below). Your reply pointed out that I may have misread/misunderstood the original question. My answer above works if you have the ability to work from home or work from anywhere. But if your job is in a big city on the coast, then it's pretty hard to find neighborhoods with no commute to the big city and close to the beach. I guess it really depends on the job/company.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by esya

that's my question: I love the ocean, but hate the commuter life. Is is possible in California if you are not retired or rich? We are talking an upper middle class income here, and a nice home in Denver.

Yes. Work at home somewhere 30 minutes from the ocean.

Why do I get the feeling that is not what you are asking....So, what exactly are you asking?

Be specific. For example, what does rich mean? Salary? Cash Flow? Housing requirement? Questions like these get spray painted responses of practically no value.

[humboldtrat]

You can live within walking distance of the beach in San Francisco and take a bus or light rail streetcar downtown to a job in about 20 minutes. That's if you want to put up with the wind and fog along the coast that is very common.

[jkbatca]

In Ventura county, at least, you are probably going to have to compromise. Most homes in areas where I live are 500-600K. Jobs are getting harder to find locally. Traffic is getting worse.

Depending upon what you do for a living, you may score a job in areas such as Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, etc. so commuting would not be bad if you can avoid the 101 and you can afford a 600K home. As an alternative, if you live in Santa Clarita, for example, you would only have a 45 min. drive to the beach and still have an affordable home, but don't know what jobs are there, so commuting is probable.