trying to decide where in Norcal to move and go back to school to. (San Jose: apartments, renting)

[mir86]

So like the title says, I'm having a hard time deciding.

My choices are between Rohnert Park/Petaluma area in Sonoma County or San jose area, both for school. I am leaning towards Sonoma County though just because San Jose may not be for me as i'm not a techie and am not a fan of the "live to work" society.

However, I am still open to other areas and by my research, I now wonder if I should consider Sacramento area as well.

So now that you all know that, I am a single white female, aged 23 so I need to be in an area where I can make friends with people in their 20's/30's. I like typical things like shopping, beach, relaxing with friends, but I'm also a laid back personality and I don't like too much going on around me like LA had. I'm from a medium/smallish town, Tucson, AZ and I lived in LA for a year to go fashion school and just came home a year ago. I hated LA, it was too crazy/urbanized and the people weren't the nicest. I have only been to the northern part of the bay area as far as Norcal goes; Marin/sonoma and just loooved it! however Sonoma is the cheaper of the 2 counties with more people my age and there are a few colleges in the area. I like the laid back lifestyle of Tucson, and the weather is ok, though extreme most of the summers and winters, but aside from friends and my mom (who is looking at moving back to Israel in the next few years anyways), nothing is really keeping me here.

As for school, I am looking into going into the Radiology technology program. They have a program in Santa Rosa, Los Altos Hills and Sacramento/maryville area so that is why these areas are my prospects. I plan to apply to all of those schools and just move to where I am accepted, but I have some prereqs to finish up before I can apply anyways. However, I want to go to school in a place I'd like to live for years to come (I'm soo tired of moving around so I gotta stick to one place for good!) and where not too long after I move, I can afford to live in my own apartment as the roommate situation is getting really old for me.

So there you go, how is the area for someone my age? I wouldn't want to live in downtown or midtown as I have never liked the downtowns of any city enough to live in it (too urbanized and chaotic for me). I know there's lots of outdoors stuff to do, but what else do people do? Where do most young people live where its not downtown? Is it a better area for me than say Sonoma county or is it about the same?

Sorry this is long..Thank you for the advice, in advance!

[Majin]

Originally Posted by mir86

I'm from a medium/smallish town...I hated LA, it was too crazy/urbanized... I wouldn't want to live in downtown or midtown...(too urbanized and chaotic for me)

You seem to have posted in the wrong forum.

Let me direct you to the right one

[mir86]

Thank you but I posted here to get opinions from people that live in Sacramento area, but I guess I can post the same thing there .

[mir86]

and uh..kentucky? nooooo.

[wburg]

If you're planning on attending Sacramento State, there are a lot of quiet suburban neighborhoods near the school: East Sacramento, River Park, Campus Commons, College Glen. There are many, many hospitals in that part of town too--to the north are Kaiser Morse and Kaiser Point West, to the west Mercy General and Sutter General, to the south UC Davis Medical Center, plus a gaggle of smaller medical office buildings. There really aren't any specifically "youth" neighborhoods, but a lot of students live near Sacramento State so that might be your best choice.

A recent poster on this forum was trying to decide between pursuing a nursing job in Sacramento or Sonoma County--a nurse from Sonoma responded that Sacramento had a lot more hospitals and a lot more job opportunities, I assume this would apply to radiology as well as nursing. If you really don't care for big-city life, though, Sonoma County has its advantages.

Sacramento is about the same size as Tucson, but denser and with a much larger metropolitan area. Another recent poster from Tucson expressed some interest in moving to Midtown to find a local music/art community similar to the one in his hometown. So if you consider midtown Tucson too wild for your taste, you probably wouldn't care much for midtown Sacramento either. Midtown is pretty tame compared to big-city downtowns, but it gets kind of bouncy sometimes.

And don't mind Majin. He's what we call a "troll."

[d_deathrage]

I could be wrong here, but I thought that radiology tech programs were offered more at community colleges and vocational colleges than universities. If its offered at a local community college, I would just look for housing near the campus near where you are planning on attending school. Near most of the community colleges in the area, there are neighborhoods where students move to live near campus.

If the program is offered at a vocational college like Western Career College, I would probably still look for housing near a community college. The neighborhoods surrounding the community colleges will have lots of people your age and you may have less problems finding a landlord who feels comfortable with renting to a student.

[wburg]

Good point about community colleges--admittedly I know nothing about radiology tech programs. Sacramento City College is next to the Curtis Park neighborhood, which is a bit pricey but very nice and pretty quiet, and quite walkable. It isn't quite as close to all the hospitals, but none are particularly far away either. American River College is the next closest, the apartments near there used to be really crank-infested but my information on the neighborhood is very, very old. Cosumnes River College is in southern South Sacramento, I know nothing about the neighborhood personally but South Sacramento generally has a very bad reputation.

[d_deathrage]

Aren't you the guy who tries to convince people that living in Oak Park is a good idea? If you think Oak Park is a good neighborhood, South Sacramento isn't going to be an issue.

[wburg]

Originally Posted by d_deathrage

Aren't you the guy who tries to convince people that living in Oak Park is a good idea? If you think Oak Park is a good neighborhood, South Sacramento isn't going to be an issue.

No, that would be Majin. I tell people what I know: the northern parts of Oak Park, while still not what I'd call a "good" neighborhood, are far less dangerous than they used to be, less dangerous than southern Oak Park and other neighborhoods farther south, and likely to improve over the long term. The flip side is that it's close to the central city, there are some pretty houses (often distressed and in need of repair, but priced accordingly,) rents are cheap, and given the number of students and musicians moving into the neighborhood, the neighborhood is most likely going to be the next Midtown in a decade or so. I know this because I go to Oak Park a lot, have friends who live (both owners and renters) there, and have seen the changes in the neighborhood. I don't know much about South Sacramento because I seldom have reason to go there, but what I have heard isn't good, and it lacks neighborhood features I consider desirable like transit proximity, walkability, mixed use, tree canopy and historic homes.

I also know that when I moved to Midtown 16 years ago it was a lot like Oak Park is now (and Oak Park was much, much worse.) At the time I was willing to tolerate a certain level of weirdness and risk to live in Midtown because it had many other advantages--much as Oak Park has now. For some people, safety and security is more important than vitality, culture or walkability. I wouldn't recommend that those folks live in Oak Park--or Midtown, for that matter.

I didn't recommend Oak Park because the OP doesn't seem like the sort of person who would want to live there. Despite my preference for the central city and slightly janky neighborhoods, I realize it isn't to everyone's tastes.

[Majin]

wburg, would you rather live in the bad part of Oak Park or Lincoln?