Possible move to California - please help a midwesterner! (San Francisco: smog, luxury)

[NewToCA]

I am glad we were all able to be of assistance to you in this decision.

When I was faced with these types of relocation decisions a couple of years ago I would have loved to have been able to post to a site like this and get personal feedback. Instead, we had to do our research from promotional material, and spent a lot of wasted time looking at things which turned out not to be viable options.

That is why I'm so inclined to post if I know anything about an area, I wish others had been able to do it for me.

"Treat others as you would like to be treated", and I am attempting my best to do so.

Best of luck, you'll love it here.

[femjll3]

I live in Stockton, California. About in the middle of both Oakland and Sacramento. Traffic is worse in Oakland than in Sacramento. Plus housing market, plus alot of other things, are waaaaaayyyyy higher priced in Oakland. The bay is beautiful, but some parts of Oakland are really bad. I almost got beat up by a black girl there before just because I am white. Nice, huh? I know Sac has bad areas too, but I'd choose Sac if I had a choice. As for jobs for you, you can check the Sacramento Bee too for jobs. Thats their local paper. Or if headed to Oakland, check the San Francisco Chronicle. Both have online sites. Best of luck to you and yours!

[NorcalMom]

I love California and would not live any where else. But....have you realistically looked at housing prices. What may look like an increase in salary may equal lower living standards, considering California home prices and gas prices are higher than those prices in the rest of the country.

[KidBlue]

Welcome to CA. You will love Sacramento. And you will develop a whole new respect for air conditioning in the summer (about 6 months of the year here). My in-laws live in south Sac and are conservative Christians. There are many--I'm sure you will have no problems fitting in.

I get irritated when people discuss education just looking at statistics for the state or major cities. There are excellent schools throughout CA and Sacramento. Although it's not always true (there are distinguished schools in Inglewood), in general, affluent areas have good schools. CA's education standards are also tougher than other states and CA tests a much higher percentage of students than most states.

[CADRMNDANES]

I would stay where you are with your kids. I'm looking at Wisc. to get my kids out of CA. and I'm in a very nice area with good schools. The school system is much better where you are. The class sizes around 32 kids per teacher here. I don't want my kids to be stuck here in CA and have to deal with this rat race. They are very excited about Wisc. We have friends there.

[lisahuffman7]

second the recommendation for living in Alameda. I lived there in the early 90's and loved it. I lived near Central and Park. Back then I think living near the base was less desirable. I was just there a month ago and they were redoing the shopping area there. The houses are very cute. It still has that town feel even in the bay area. There are places in Oakland that AREN'T safe so be careful when checking it out.

[Ultrarunner]

I'm a third generation Oakland Resident, My Grandmother was born here in 1908 and we are still here.

For the record, I have NEVER had my home broken into, I have NEVER been robbed and my car has NEVER been stolen. I can not say the same for my friends living in Berkeley, San Francisco, Hayward, Fremont and San Jose.

Oakland is a large city, both in population and in area. Anyone that thinks they "Know" Oakland from driving through on the freeway has only seen a small part of my city and we have 3 freeways running North to South.

As a large City, Oakland is very diverse in it's neighborhoods. The public schools run the gamut from the bottom to the top. Home prices generally increase with the elevation and many people are only familiar with the industrial areas.

In another post I wrote about inviting friends over from work and some were hesitant to come because of my Oakland address. All of my co-workers were pleasantly surprised, with one saying that she and her husband had NO idea Oakland had nice neighborhoods??? I replied that it is one of the Bay Area's best kept secrets.

We have great neighborhoods... Montclair, Rockridge, Piedmont Avenue, Trestle Glen, Lakeshore, Grass Valley, Keller, Leona, Claremont, Chabot Park Estates, Sheffield Village... to name a few.

Sacramento is a nice city, but, the Bay Area it isn't. It all depends on what you are looking for. Alameda is also very nice, bit I find the old homes to be quite pricey.

For climate, Oakland cannot be beat. Parade Magazine funded a study that asked if you could live anywhere in the country based on climate, where would you be living for each of the 12 months of the year. Oakland, California was the only city that was rated best climate in the country and chosen for 2 out of 12 months. The research was based on the number of cooling and heating days per years with the data sourced from utility bills throughout the country.

Good Luck on your search and Thank You for asking about Oakland...

[Hoosier]

Here is another question to throw out to all you helpful Cali people. Asthma. My four year old has chronic asthma and is on a nebulizer four times per day. My eight year old has exercise induced asthma and it seems both kids have major symptoms throughout the year. The humidity is not helping matters in the least. My wife also has chronic asthma and migraines, so wondering what the weather is like out there for asthma and allergy sufferers.

[Ultrarunner]

Many asthma and allergy sufferers have problems in the inland areas. Chronic sufferers used to move to San Francisco for relief.

I know a young lady in Stockton plagued by allergies... she moved south of San Francisco to Pacifica and she no longer needs her meds.

[Tim Currie]

Originally Posted by Hoosier_guy

Yeah, we've lived in Mpls for four years and were very surprised at how high the cost of living is here. We love it a lot and it's a tough decision to move out of state, but I'm encouraging my wife that we can always come back. We don't have family here, but we love it so very much. And we go to Coon Rapids regularly...Costco, Lowes and that new Texas Roadhouse restaurant! The steaks are out of this world!!

In regards to Cali. question out there for anyone. From what I understand San Francisco's climate is much cooler than inland. What are the average summer temps in the Oakland area, and the Sacramento area?

Also, earthquakes...you had to know that question would come up. How often do they happen and how bad do they get? I know it's a subjective question about how bad they are, but from the perspective of a non-Californian, how badly are your nerves rattled?

AND, one more somewhat touchy question. We are concerned about the liberal attitude we hear so much about. We are conservative Christians and want to fit in to a new community without worrying about overtly liberal lifestyles in our faces regularly. Minnesota is a very liberal state and we've found our niche here. I guess we have also heard that there is a gay agenda that is part of the school curriculum in Cali. Is that true? We're not out to judge others, just don't want our kids learning that or other things in the schools. IMO that's part of our job as the parents.

Thanks again for everyone's helpful input! I am really hoping if this works out that my company will allow me to work cross-country from a home office. Great job, great company, and the opportunity to come back to Minnesota regularly would be a defnite plus.

Ok gonna chime in before I read the rest of the replies so I don't forget!

Weather -

Much hotter in the valley (Sac, Dixon, Davis, etc.) than in the bay area. In Oakland area your right on the Bay and it will be much cooler, foggier, etc. because of the ocean/bay.
example: I was at my Dad's yesterday in Concord (inland bay area..) and it was warm in the 80's. Drove home and was in the high 90's still. Today is supposed to be 99. All summer will be 90-105 and that's pretty normal.

Earthquakes -

If you're in the valley you'll never ever give them a thought unless you hear about it on the news....happening in the bay area. My family lives in the bay area and I don't think they ever worry about them or think about them. I mean a big one is what.... once every 75-100 years? Other things to worry about.


Liberal thing -

Yeah, uughhk. Anywhere in the valley or anywhere NOT in the bay area (or so cal) is actually usually more red/conservative/ republican or however you want to call it. So on that note, I definitely think you'd be more at home in Sacramento. There is a much better mix out here than in the bay area. Ha! My Dad just told me yesterday that the city of San Francisco recently banned plastic grocery bags! Somehow I wasn't too surprised and said they have probably made lots of stupid laws/bans.... (they voted to ban handguns for example )

Anyways, outside the bay area is definitely a LOT less Liberal and more normal. People go to church and stuff like that. Can't help you out on the school thing 'cause I don't have a clue.


One last observation...

while in the bay area for father's day, I remembered just how much I don't like the bay area. San Francisco is one thing, real cool city and very fun to visit but everything OUTSIDE of that is just bleh! There's nothing to do, it's just a huge conglomeration of suburbs and bedroom communities that are oh so boring and don't have any real city centers or nice downtowns. The only redeeming factor is they're close to the ocean and/or San Francisco itself, where EVERYONE goes to do anything 'cause that's the only place to go. And to be honest there are a few things to do around the bay area that are not right in SF but for the most part...

And secondly...

While at Safeway (grocery store) the other night I was noticing just how funny bay area people are (my Dad included). Nobody will make eye contact or smile. I caught one lady in line look at me and I smiled like usual and she gave a real quick smile while immediately looking down to break eye contact. I just laughed (on the inside). The we get to the checker and I'm watching and everyone is like robots! The checker never looks up to make eye contact or say anything (all the checkers I could see, not just ours) not the regular and obligatory "how's it going?" "find everything you need?" nothing! Not a peep from the bagger, no "hello" no offer to help out, nothing. I was amazed. I walked out thinking wow, I can't believe how different people are just from here to Sacramento! I thought people were bad in Sacramento but in comparison they are WAAAAAY friendlier, fake or not. I'm always greeted by the checker and bagger, and usually chat with them a little. Weird.

Ok, one laaast thing since I'm kinda on the subject. My sister and boyfriend live basically south of SF. They are so funny to me because they are sooo into their fanciness and sophisticatedness and whatever. You could go on to say they're a wee bit snobbish and pretentious (so is my other sister who used to live in the bay area). And I really think it's part of the culture 'cause we grew up in a small town that was anything but. So if that's your cup O tea then great. But if you're like me and you couldn't care less about uppity restaurants, how expensive the wine is, and how great "The City" is (that's what they call San Fran.....) then you'll be a lot more at home in someplace like Sacramento. Sac is a lot more casual/laid back, still has great food at great prices, more family friendly, and you can visit SF any time easily along with many other places.

ok, whew I'm done. Hopefully this helps, and hopefully I don't go to find out you've already picked