Hercules- a good place to raise a family? (Oakland, Berkeley: low income, real estate)

[CTTOCA]

We have 3 elementary school aged children. My husband has been offered a transfer to the east-bay from CT. He will be working in Bay Point.

From searching it seems like Hercules would be an OK commute (against traffic) and the housing seems somewhat affordable for the area. We are a multiracial family so the diversity of the town is appealing.

Can anyone tell me if Hercules is a good safe family town? Are the schools OK?

Also, the yards of most homes seem to incredibly small (0.1 acre) compared to the usual (.3-.5 acres) around here. Are there plenty of nearby parks for the children to play?

[humboldtrat]

Hercules has some new housing near the bay, otherwise, I don't think much of the place. The older part of town along I-80 is nothing to write home about. There are some oil refineries in the area where tankers dock in the bay. Every 2 years or so, they have an accident at one of the refineries giving off who-knows-what fumes.
Why not live near Bay Point (Pittsburg or Antioch area) and skip the commute. I'm not familiar with the real estate in this area. BART stops in Bay Point and connects with other places in the bay area BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit District.
And yes, lots are small in the bay area (unless you want to spend a lot more money). A $700,000 house on a 50 ft x 100 ft lot is not uncommon.

[kuelli]

My best friend in high school lived in Hercules, so I spent a lot of time there. my impression of the place was that it was pretty dry, not much of a community spirit at all. it seemed to me that most people were commuters, and just came home to sleep. it's more like a collection of individuals living in the same area than a Town. actually, my best friend chose to list a fake address so she could go to Berkeley High instead, and really did spend most of her time elsewhere. there's not much going on there. I wouldn't expect to find any vibrancy or excitement in Hercules, CA.

[BerkeleyCali]

If you are interested in test scores of local schools you can go, California Department of Education and look up API scores by school or district.

Overall, Hercules is not a desirable place to live. It is rows of model homes built on a landfill, but is considered more affordable than other bay area cities.

[nooneknowsmyname]

I live in a town very close to Hercules. Hercules has a range of housing, some new tract housing that built on fill down by the water and some other new tract housing that is built on a hill looking down to the bay. There are also older sections of the town, two sections known as the Birds and Trees because all of the streets are named after birds and trees, that were built beginning in the 70s. These houses tend to be on larger lots than the recently built houses.
Although by no means a big town, Hercules recently opened a brand new state of the art library, which is part of the Contra Costa Library System, has study rooms for students and sponsors interesting activities for adults and children. In May, Hercules launched a weekly Farmers Market. There are also a number of activities sponsored by the town like cultural festivals and fairs, winter holiday celebrations. The town also has a pool.
Although Hercules is part of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, there are several elementary schools, a middle and high school located in the town that students from Hercules can attend.
The commute to Oakland-Berkeley- SF is onerous because the traffic on Route 80, is usually in gridlocked. The only way to avoid the traffic going west in the morning and heading east in the afternoons is to travel during non-commute hours. However, if one is traveling to Bay Point (east), the traffic will not be bad because most people are heading in the opposite direction.
Although I don't live in Hercules, I have lots of friends and acquaintances who do live in the town and who really are fond of the town, particularly because it is very diverse and safe, much safer that Bay Point and Pittsburg.
Let me know if you any other questions I can answer.

[scifiman]

My wife and I moved to Hercules from the south bay. Due to the bidding wars on homes that were going on @ the time we got fed up and decided to buy a new home @ a much more reasonable price. We live near the water. As far as our neighborhood is concerned we couldn't be more happier.We know most of our neighbors which is comforting and we keep an eye on each others homes.As far as crime is concerned mail theft has happened on more than one occasion, we actually caught some people in the act and called the police whom arrived within minutes to apprehend the individuals.The police department is very friendly and quick to respond to any unusual activity.The city has big plans for our community. A ferry from Hercules to SF is in the works, a train station is also in the plans and live work units are finally starting to appear.A farmers market has been open for several weeks now. We have a new library. The city hopes to compare itself to Sausilito,ca I don't think that is a realistic comparison just yet.The schools on the other hand in my opinion are quite bad! The school district was shipping kids into Hercules from other districts which seemed to cause some issues.You would be doing a reverse commute to Bay Point.Traffic on interstate 80 is always a gamble. Good luck!!!

[brandosgirl]

Pitsburgh and antioch are pretty good to by a house right now a good size one. I would check it out. Easy commute

[kng_sunny]

schools are ok but not good . crime activities on the rise just a small town no major reastaurant and nite life. they build low income houses near new development victoria by the bay all gheto from richmond , rodeo and vallejo move in there and recently i seen some drug problem as well.

[ANC]

It's not a town to expect much of a community.

What town will your husband work in and what is your expected household income? These two pieces of info will enable us to help you more.

[E14]

Originally Posted by kng_sunny

schools are ok but not good . crime activities on the rise just a small town no major reastaurant and nite life. they build low income houses near new development victoria by the bay all gheto from richmond , rodeo and vallejo move in there and recently i seen some drug problem as well.

why is the word drug often followed by the word problem?
At all times there are hundreds of different drugs in every city and suburb, and yet there are still people who would say HERCULES of all places has a drug problem