Small Town/Big City Feel in Northern California (San Jose, San Francisco: apartment complex, to rent)

[NY2California]

Hi All:

I'm looking to relocate from NY to Northern California (San Francisco area to Santa Cruz area) next year. I would like to live in a smaller city/town (population under 1 million), that is relatively safe, has a good arts/cultural scene, and good restaurants. Very important is walkability/bike-ability. I'd like to rent a small house (or an apartment in a small complex) for under $2,000 a month.

Is this impossible?

[calisnuffy]

Originally Posted by NY2California

Hi All:

I'm looking to relocate from NY to Northern California (San Francisco area to Santa Cruz area) next year. I would like to live in a smaller city/town (population under 1 million), that is relatively safe, has a good arts/cultural scene, and good restaurants. Very important is walkability/bike-ability. I'd like to rent a small house (or an apartment in a small complex) for under $2,000 a month.

Is this impossible?

What about Palo Alto,Ca it is a smallish town (70,000) but it has a hip scene and big city feel. Close to the beach, mountains, San Francisco. Can you be more specific on your ideal city? A lot of nor cal cities and towns fall into your requirement. What about career wise, are you trying to obtain employment in a specific field?

[PeixeGato]

Originally Posted by NY2California

I would like to live in a smaller city/town (population under 1 million), that is relatively safe, has a good arts/cultural scene, and good restaurants. Very important is walkability/bike-ability. I'd like to rent a small house (or an apartment in a small complex) for under $2,000 a month.

Is this impossible?

The great thing about Nor Cal is that you didn't narrow your options very much with your stated requirements

Answers to these questions should help people give you more appropriate advice: Will you be by yourself, with kids, spouse/significant other? Are schools a concern for you? Will you have a car? where will you be working? how do you prefer to commute to work? How long a commute are you willing to withstand? How close do you want to be to a major international airport? Are you particular about desired weather conditions?

Welcome to the Bay Area!

[batransplant]

Well the good news for you is there are no cities in the bay area with populations over 1MM people. The bay area is pretty much a vast network of small towns and little cities. Berkeley, SF, and Palo Alto all have arts scenes and populations well under 1M people (with SF being the largest at 750K+) but most SF neighborhoods have a small town/main street feel.

[408 GUY]

Originally Posted by batransplant

Well the good news for you is there are no cities in the bay area with populations over 1MM people. The bay area is pretty much a vast network of small towns and little cities. Berkeley, SF, and Palo Alto all have arts scenes and populations well under 1M people (with SF being the largest at 750K+) but most SF neighborhoods have a small town/main street feel.

exactly!

The small towns like palo alto, mt.view, Sunnyvale...are all connected to each other so it can seem like one giant city. there are no visible borders or boundaries. So its One shopping plaza to the next and you have all ready gone through 3 small towns. NY city has Burros or Districts , The bay Area has small towns.

If your looking for a small rural area surrounded by farm country in the bay area, No. these places are out side of the bay area but close enough to call the bay area. Places like Santa Rosa, Dublin, Concord.. they have that small town feel but you will be in one hell of a commute getting to SF or San Jose.

But the small towns in the bay area that are all connected to each other,are nice and safe and have there own little downtowns, lots of shopping,great schools, and close enough to all the hot spots and Big Citys.

The Bay Area is a great place to be, but the economy has really done its number here. Employment Opportunities are at an all time low, and I see more people talking about leaving here then coming here.

[NY2California]

Thanks for all the info!

To Calisnuffy - I'm in education, so I would like to be near, but not necessarily in a college town. I will also be looking at cultural institutions (museums, arts councils, etc) for work. Things that would make a city ideal: access to yoga studios, good variety of restaurants, as I mentioned, being able to walk and bike safely (well-lit sidewalks, not busy thoroughfares), safe parks, cultural goings-on, like jazz/blues clubs, tango, museums. I really am interested in living in a small cottage or townhouse (or small apartment complex) - too many years of living in NYC and now I need to have some space and a less harried pace. Proximity to San Francisco (30 mins or so) would be ideal, but I could also give that up for a hip little town with a nice cottage to rent.

To PeixeGato - I'm a single woman in my mid-40s, so schools are not a concern for me. I don't have a car; I will probably get one, but I don't want to rely on one for my commute, so public transportation is important for me. I'd rather have a car for day or extended trips. Right now, I'm trying to narrow down which cities I should look for. I'll have my Master's by the end of the year, and I'll start sending out resumes for higher education/cultural institution positions. I know the state of higher education is in shambles in California, so I think that it might be tough, but I may also get a research grant so that I can have some income while searching for a permanent job. I wouldn't want more than an hour commute by public transportation, preferably 30 mins. I didn't mind the weather in San Francisco when I was there in July, but someplace consistently warmer would also be nice.

[K-Luv]

A small town under 1 million people!? Where do you think we live? India?

[NY2California]

The population for NY is nearly 8.5 million. Under 1 million feels like a small town to me

[sforwt]

Have you considered moving north of SF? Try Rohnert Park which is about a 45-60 minute commute. We are definitely a small town at 40,000 but Santa Rosa (pop 150,000) borders us to the north - not NY but Santa Rosa gives us that big town feel.

RP is one of the first planned communities in the US. We boast a very nice community fitness facility, 13 neighborhood parks and two 18-hole golf courses. The streets are well maintained and clean. Its just a little town where you feel safe.

We are 20 minutes from Napa and not much farther from the coast. As you can tell, I love my little adopted town. A new hometown you might want to consider.....

Originally Posted by NY2California

Hi All:

I'm looking to relocate from NY to Northern California (San Francisco area to Santa Cruz area) next year. I would like to live in a smaller city/town (population under 1 million), that is relatively safe, has a good arts/cultural scene, and good restaurants. Very important is walkability/bike-ability. I'd like to rent a small house (or an apartment in a small complex) for under $2,000 a month.

Is this impossible?

[tstieber]

Many of these small towns mentioned are great, but they don't exactly have a big city feel. I'd say Palo Alto was the best recommendation of the bunch. But if you're looking for a place under a million people with a big city feel, then how about ...San Francisco??? Many NYC'ers think SF itself has that big city/small town feel. It's dense like NYC, but it's way more laid back. Most other parts of the Bay Area are beautiful but quite suburban.