Cerritos or Cypress, which is safer? (Anaheim, Irvine: sales, real estate, crime rate)

[xmizi]

We recently look into buying a SFH around Cerritos or Cypress. Our budget is around 600k. Still hesitating which city to choose. By appearance Cerritos, especially that area around Shoemaker is attractive, a lot of trees, nice and clean neighborhood, has a touch of modern Irvine feeling... We have one kid and plan to have more, so the fact that both cities have good schools is also a plus

However after looking into some website about crime report:

Moderator cut: links removed

Cerritos is much worse than Cypress in that aspect, neighborhoodscout even rates Cerritos more dangerous than Norwalk!!! So I'm confused, is Cerritos that bad? Of course I know Cerritos is very mixed, east side of it is pretty bad, just next to the notorious "one-ways" of Norwalk. So if I decide on Cerritos, I'll stick to that area between Bloomfield and Camenita east-west bound, Alondra and South north-south bound. For those who are familiar with Cerritos or Cypress, would you please share your thoughts and experience on this?

[bhcompy]

Other than that one area of Cerritos and maybe down near Artesia High School there really isn't much to worry about. Cypress and Cerritos are otherwise similar, the only real difference being the sales tax between the two counties.

[BRinSM]

cerritos also has a mall and the car dealerships, which may explain some of the crime stats. i've visited both and wouldn't hesitate living in either if the need arose.

[PureHapa]

Differences?

Cerritos is served by L.A. County Sheriffs, Cypress has their own PD.
Cerritos is in L.A. County, Cypress is in the O.C.
Cerritos schools are part of the ABC USD, Cypress: Cypress Elementary SD, Anaheim Union SD, Los Alamitos USD
Cerritos has a Farmers Market and the Performing Arts Center.
Cypress' population density is higher than Cerritos.
Cerritos' population is twice as Asian as Cypress.
In USNews.com ranking of California high schools, Cypress has the Number 1 spot with Oxford Academy. Cerritos' Whitney HS is Number 6 - not too shabby either.

The school ranking is the reason both cities are magnets for Asian immigrants, who tend to want their children to go to the best schools. So, parts of Cerritos (and now Cypress) look like suburbs of Seoul. If lots of Koreans, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Indians don't bother you, then you're good to go. You might be walking by the Whitney High gymnasium on a Saturday and be surprised to see a full-on Korean table tennis tournament going on.

Cerritos is a great area to find all kinds of great ethnic restaurants and markets. (The immigrant influx also keep the real estate prices somewhat stable, although I bet many folks are up to their eyeballs in debt to live there.)

I don't think you can go wrong choosing either town.

[calipoppy]

Cerritos is preferable.

[marumut]

i dont necessarily believe the report that said that cerritos has a higher crime ranking than norwalk, but i know that crimes have gone up a lot in cerritos, especially burglaries. so for that and the added part that orange co. has lower taxes, i would personally choose cypress.

[ragnarkar]

Cypress is not a bad choice but why I'll pick Cerritos:

- You don't have to pay $100/yr to use their library (check it out for yourself.)
- Easier freeway access (You're close to 91, 5, 605, and 105 whereas you're only close to 605 in Cypress.)
- Central location in the Southland (want to switch jobs? chances are, you don't need to move.)
- Shopping and a nice park.

[marumut]

i know that cerritos has a really good library but i kinda like the oc and lac system better.

[xmizi]

Originally Posted by ragnarkar

Cypress is not a bad choice but why I'll pick Cerritos:

- You don't have to pay $100/yr to use their library (check it out for yourself.)
- Easier freeway access (You're close to 91, 5, 605, and 105 whereas you're only close to 605 in Cypress.)
- Central location in the Southland (want to switch jobs? chances are, you don't need to move.)
- Shopping and a nice park.

The "easy freeway access" part of Cerritos might be a turn-off though. Will it be too noisy and polluted to live close to the freeways? Also that might contributes to the higher crime rate in Cerritos: thugs can escape easily through freeways so areas close to freeway might be an easy target to commit crime in?

[PureHapa]

Originally Posted by xmizi

The "easy freeway access" part of Cerritos might be a turn-off though. Will it be too noisy and polluted to live close to the freeways? Also that might contributes to the higher crime rate in Cerritos: thugs can escape easily through freeways so areas close to freeway might be an easy target to commit crime in?

I've never heard freeway noise in Cerritos neighborhoods - so it would be up to you not to find a home too close to a freeway. As for "thugs" - I've never seen thugs in Cerritos.

I would not worry too much about that crime report you saw - the reporting methods by different PDs and agencies is not consistent across the agencies. (That's why you are here asking questions of people who may know the areas personally.)