Maybe comparing apples and pears... San Mateo vs Walnut Creek (Oakland: rental market, houses)

[Scilly]

Hello everone!

I wrote in this forum before moving to California and now we landed in the Bay and in a busy house hunting!

We are a family with 2 kids of 5 and 6 years old (so Eligible for Elementary school)

the rental market is apparently quite tight and crazy at the moment but we saw some nice properties in San Mateo (and Burlingame) and Walnut Creek (and Lafayette)

We like these 2 places so far cause they have a nice walkable downtown with shops and restaurants and the schools rating is pretty good. Housing here is in our budget.

I know that could be difficult to compare these 2 places but I would like to know your opinion about it from a family's point of view!

Thank you!!!

[jade408]

They are pretty similar. Different weather and ethnic mix. Commuting depends on where you need to go. WC is sort of more upscale.

[clongirl]

Walnut Creek has a newer feel..upscale, cleaner, tidier safe suburb feel. Weather gets hotter and it's probably not quite as diverse overall. There's a very nice outdoor mall and a nice tree lined downtown with more independent shops.

San Mateo seems more established, seemingly fewer families (more singles), less upscale (but now days probably even more wealthy due to the proximity to tech industry), and has better ethnic restaurant choices, imo.. Cute walkable downtown. Weather is better..less hot in the summer but occasionally gets the fog.

They are both similar and dissimilar at the same time. Both are nice.

Your choice really needs to come down to where your jobs are located. I wouldn't live in Walnut Creek if your job is located on the Peninsula. I wouldn't live in San Mateo if your job is in Oakland or Emeryville.

[Scilly]

Thank you!

Job is in San Leadro

[sav858]

You can avoid a bridge toll by living in Walnut Creek. Also I feel WC is better connected to SF with BART as its is more frequent than Caltrain and has more/better located stops in the city.

[jade408]

No question, live in Walnut Creek...compared to San Mateo.

Also look at San Ramon, shorter commute to San Leandro.

WC is a bit of a pain to get to San Leandro.

[sav858]

If having a nice, walkable downtown is important then San Ramon wouldn't be a good place to live. Commute would be easier though to SL.

[Scilly]

Yes walkable nice downtown is a must.

The commute can be a bit longer if the place to live has a nice city and good schools

[HockeyMac18]

I personally really like where I live in San Mateo (downtown) and think it's a great town, and I also really like Walnut Creek. For your particular job situation, I would recommend Walnut Creek to you.

Walnut Creek and San Mateo are quite similar, but WC is actually a bit closer to Palo Alto in terms of "upscale" shopping (I personally could care less about overpriced fashion stores, so this isn't really an issue for me). The difference there, though, is that Palo Alto is way more expensive than both San Mateo and Walnut Creek. San Mateo has a great downtown, but it's much less shopping-oriented, and more food oriented (some great restaurants there).

If your job was on the peninsula, San Mateo would be at the top of the places I'd recommend to you, but since it's in San Leandro, Walnut Creek is my recommendation. There's no reason to make you cross a bridge...It's always best to avoid cross a bridge to get to work, when possible.

[Scilly]

An Agent brought us today to Danville and the houses were really nice... but not sure about the location.
Any experience?

And going north... anyone from Piedmont that can share a feedback?

Thank you! We are very new to the area which is huge... so trying to select the ones that match our priorities
(walkable downtown, high score
on elementary district, Bart close by)