TURLOCK? Any insights on Turlock? (Stockton, Modesto: low crime, Home Depot, neighborhood)

[Momandboys]

Hello,

Well, I am still poking around for a decent low crime neighborhood on $150K budget within less than 2 hours (preferably) to Bay Area.

West Sac has been researched and it is on the back burner. Stockton is out, Modesto seems full of crime and Lodi seems like it will be full of crime. We will also go up and see Old town Roseville and Rocklin next week.

I noticed Turlock has a university (nice for when my boys are older) and seems low in crime. Any insights on Turlock? I want my next move with my 2 little puppies (5 and 7) to be our final move with decent schools and little crime and a place I can eventually retire. A

OFF THe TOPIC: We found the perfect town by the way...it is Belmont in North Carolina (20 minutes outside of Charlotte...the last of the "Mayberry" towns!! I did over 200 hours of research and it looks great! However, I may not be able to move out of California, but for any families I highly recommend this from my research...VERY AFFORDABLE, little crime and not far from cosmopolitan Charlotte.)

Any info on Turlock greatly appreciated!

[zen_klown]

I don't know that much about Turlock, but as I recall CSU Stanislaus was a fairly small CSU school. The smaller schools tend to offer less programs and fewer majors.

If you were planning on attending the school yourself, you might want to make sure they are offering the majors you are interested in.

[Rapidarp]

Turlock is not bad. It's roughly 70,000 in population, average (or lower) crime rate. As with any town it's crime comes in spurts. The south tip of town (HWY99/Lander Rd area) is the main gang turf. Other than that, there isn't much to worry about. They have plenty of shops and restaurants and businesses. To me, it wouldn't be "perfect" if they just had a BestBuy and a Mall.....but those are just up the freeway in Modesto.

[Carolinemoveswhere?]

Turlock isn't bad for Central Valley towns. I work at the university, so obviously, I'm biased. Students get a much better education than with many of the other schools in the CSU system. While the majors are more limited than the larger schools, students enjoy small class sizes and get one on one attention. Instructors are completely accessible to students. UC Merced is also located very close, if your children end up prefering the University of California system (more research based) The only problem is that the community has not embraced the university. It is certainly not a typical "university town." However, the university has brought in interesting speakers and entertainers, such as Bill Cosby and the Lt. Dan Band.

The public education system is also better than many of the other areas. There are a few unique options, such as a program that is taught in Spanish, for non-native speakers. It's a long term program in which students are behind the first few years, but by 6th grade are completely on par with their peers but are also fluent in Spanish. There are also two high schools, but the town seems to rally around both.

Growth seems to be well controlled, especially in comparison to other local communities. There is a vibrant downtown with an old Turlock feel, with lots of fun boutique style shops. Then, closer to the highway, is Target, Costco, Home Depot, Lowes, Borders, Kohls, Bed Bath & Beyond and other national retailers. The city did recently fight a court battle with Wal-Mart to not allow a new Supercenter and won.

Turlock also has a hospital with emergency services (I was actually born there 36 years ago!). There are many different drs, dentists, etc. in town also, including pediatricians.

It used to have a little bit of a snobbish feel, but that has certainly faded with the years.

Good luck and if you have any other questions, feel free.