Work in Santa Rosa... But where should I live? I'm 30 years old (San Francisco: camping, taxi)

[aaronski12]

Hello. I have a job interview in Santa Rosa that looks very promising... I like good food and wine and hiking and camping and the ocean... so I'm excited about this job. Also I like the fact that Santa Rosa is within striking distance of San Fran. The problem is it looks like Santa Rosa is a bit boring. I'm 30 years old and I want to meet new friends and go out on the town once and a while. Where would you recommend I live? I'm willing to commute 45 minutes by car. Do you think it's feasible to live in San Fran and commute to Santa Rosa for work? Thanks.

[PeixeGato]

You are right in thinking you'd be bored to death as a young single person (i.e no girlfriend/boyfriend either) living in Santa Rosa. I'd probably say the same for just about anywhere in Sonoma and maybe even Marin counties. If you lived in SF, you'd be doing the reverse commute, so you wouldn't have to worry about traffic. Any traffic you deal with will be while you are in SF proper.

But commuting every day from SF to Santa Rosa would be a decent amount of miles on your car each and every day. So you'd be paying a lot in gas AND a premium for living in the city (the flip side of going against traffic). Its a tough decision because it will be difficult to meet other young single people if you live in Santa Rosa. And while you could huff it down to SF to go out at night, the late night drive would get to be a real drag really quickly. And how are you going to go out in SF and meet someone and say, "oh, I live up in Santa Rosa". I know I wouldn't want to start dating someone who lives 45-60 mins away from me.

Anyway, its a tough choice, but either way, you'll be living n a beautiful area, so life could definitely be worse, lol. Best of luck and welcome to the Bay Area!

[charbo]

Check out Petaluma - it has a more active nightlife than Santa Rosa.

[Courtneyclox]

I know its not AS far, but we live in Alameda and my husband commutes to Novato. We are like you, 30 and we didn't want to be BORED in Marin County.

The commute is not bad at all for my husband, he's going the opposite direction of traffic and it takes him about 32 minutes to get there.

Maybe you can look in Berkeley? Or Oakland? There are some great areas in Oakland I would live in a heartbeat. You'd be that much closer to the North Bay too. We're really only in Alameda because we live in military housing until we get a feel for the area and decide if we want to move or not.

The downside, $25 in tolls a week. But its worth it to not live in Novato for us. If you live in the east bay you could always have BART as an option to get to the city and then drive your car to work.

[roadwarrior101]

Seriously, a commute from SF to Santa Rosa (despite being reverse) would be hellish. That is like 60 miles each way. You'd be better off finding a town that you enjoy living in within 20 miles or so and going down to the city to party on weekends.

[thecooler]

I would also recommend Petaluma, its got a charming downtown, some nightlife, and of course is closer to SF. I wouldn't recommend going really any further away then that, it might be better now, but I know in the past I had a friend who commuted from Santa Rosa to Petaluma and that drive alone took 45 minutes with traffic, however a lane has been added to the hwy since then. 15 years ago I used to commute from SF to Petaluma and that drive alone took 50 minutes.

[aaronski12]

Thank you everyone for your input. I will check out Petaluma... it looks like the commute wouldn't be too bad and it puts me closer to the city... plus it's near some beautiful hiking trails.

[joeschmeaux]

Santa Rosa is pretty nice. So is Petaluma, but probably not worth the daily commute over the Cotati grade. There is some nightlife in Petaluma, though not much more than in Santa Rosa. Petaluma's nightlife is mostly contained in one walkable area in downtown Petaluma, so it feels a little closer to a city scene. Santa Rosa's nightlife is a little more spread out, yet there are still plenty of places which are open at night and are within walking distance of each other. Needless to say, cops all over Marin and Sonoma Counties are tough on drunk drivers, so if you want to bar hop, take a taxi!

If you want a real city nightlife scene, you have to go to San Francisco, as there just isn't one closer to Santa Rosa. However, San Francisco is far and traffic can be congested in both directions on 101 during commute hours, so don't count on an easy commute. If you have a job you can't be late for, you'll have to leave two hours in advance, just to be safe. You'll spend so much time commuting, you'll feel like you have no life -- and you'll be right, as long commutes suck the life out of you! You'll also put a lot of exhaust and rubber dust into the air, put a lot of wear and tear on your body, and risk death playing American Roulette on the highway. The more miles you drive, the more likely you are to get into an accident. Cars can be replaced, but people can't.

I live in Berkeley but sometimes I work in Santa Rosa. The drive kills me! I lose a lot of time and energy driving back and forth every day. The job and commute take over my life and all I can do is come home, sleep, get up and do it again. There are only 24 hours in a day. If I had a year around job in Santa Rosa, I'd happily live there.

Have you been to downtown Santa Rosa at night? It isn't SF, but there are plenty of decent bars and restaurants, some with live music (including the great Russian River Brewery, which sometimes has free live music, and is always packed to the gills with diners and drinkers). There are plenty of people your age among the 165,000+ residents of Santa Rosa. It's very beautiful. It's relatively safe -- you gotta figure in at least one car break in per year, living in many parts of SF. Santa Rosa is close enough to SF for a day and/or evening, wineries, the beach, parks, the Russian River, and it has some of the best taco trucks in Northern California, to boot. Try it for a while. You might like it.

Good luck!

[joeschmeaux]

I kid you not! Ask anybody who lives there, or drives through there.

[nikiawimb]

clearlake is near