Nicest Downtown Areas in the Bay Area (San Jose, Sacramento: condo, low crime)

[derek_u]

My wife and I are retired and we’ve been looking for a downtown area in the Bay Area (even open to Sacramento area) to move that’s walkable to groceries/stores, safe at night, and easily accessible via public transit. A place like downtown Lafayette would be ideal (several grocery stores, BART access, low crime), but just wondering if there are any other places in the Bay Area that are similar to that? It seems like most downtown areas that have convenient walkable amenities/BART/public transit also tend to be grittier, where you probably wouldn’t want to be outside when it gets later in the evening. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[roadwarrior101]

Aside from Lafayette, here are nice downtowns that aren’t too big and have public transportation access: Walnut Creek, Orinda, Burlingame, San Mateo, San Carlos, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View.

[derek_u]

Thanks for the reply. Which ones of those you listed are the safest/lowest in crime, especially at night?

[sacreole]

If you’re also considering downtown areas in the Sacramento region, I would suggest Davis and Folsom (Old Town) for convenience and walkability. The Amtrak depot is located in downtown Davis with transit connections around town and to Sacramento. Downtown Folsom is the eastern terminus of the Sacramento RT light rail Gold Line.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by derek_u

Thanks for the reply. Which ones of those you listed are the safest/lowest in crime, especially at night?

I don’t think any of them are particularly dangerous. The dangerous parts of the Bay Area tend to be in parts of the big cities (SF, Oakland, San Jose), along the 80/880 corridors and probably eastern Contra Costa county.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by derek_u

Thanks for the reply. Which ones of those you listed are the safest/lowest in crime, especially at night?

All of them. But they're expensive. What can you afford?

[derek_u]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

All of them. But they're expensive. What can you afford?

Looking for a cozy 2 bedroom condo right in a downtown area where we wouldn't need a car to get around. Price range would be around $1-1.2 million. Which of those places would work for that price?

[BayAreaResiding]

Originally Posted by derek_u

Thanks for the reply. Which ones of those you listed are the safest/lowest in crime, especially at night?

Probably Palo Alto, Redwood City, Mountain View, Los Altos, Campbell etc.

[Faithfullizhe]

Originally Posted by derek_u

Thanks for the reply. Which ones of those you listed are the safest/lowest in crime, especially at night?

Danville is beautiful and Alamo

[DeanoSF]

Originally Posted by Faithfullizhe

Danville is beautiful and Alamo

Agreed, but the public transportation/"no car needed" portion of the OP's ask tends to eliminate those. Walnut Creek seems to check all the OP's boxes better, though to me, is not as charming as your suggestions.

If you're willing to go farther afield, I'd suggest Palo Alto (and maybe a few other Peninsula towns like Burlingame, San Mateo, etc.) to the south and San Rafael to the north, though you won't find BART connecting any of these. There are other limited options for public transit that do a reasonably good job of getting people where they want to go, however.

All have very charming, vibrant downtown areas that are nonetheless, quiet, safe and big enough for what I think the OP is looking for.

A couple more come to mind--Alameda (central), Santa Cruz (far west) and Healdsburg (far North) would be worth a look for retirees looking for walkable downtowns, but their connections to public transit are not great-non existent. They do all have very nice, self-contained downtowns, though.

To the OP's note about Sacramento, the downtown/Midtown area is a fairly recent work-in-progress relative to the list of wants. COVID has thrown a wrench into a lot of its progress, so it remains to be seen. And safety should be a concern, as with any larger city.

Davis is a far better answer for the OP if the question is broad enough to include Sacramento.