Bay Area black neighborhoods (San Jose, San Francisco: rent , work, crime)

[mdiggs1]

Can you guys name for me black neighborhoods with low to moderate crime across the whole Bay Area? Also, could you group them by county or city.

I want to do some research on these neighborhoods. I am a college freshmen (Georgia State University in Atlanta), and (some of you may think I'm crazy) I am considering the bay area as a place to move to after college.

I know about the cost of living, I read those depressing threads. One thing I notice though is that good black neighborhoods tend to be less expensive to live in than good neighborhoods of any other race. Considering the bay area would you guys say this is a true statement?

Also let me say that i'm not researching only black neighborhoods just because I don't want to live around white, asian, or hispanic people. It has nothing to do with that. It's just simple economics: trying the get the most for my money. I am a black american (I don't like the term African-American) if anybody is wondering.

Any help would be appreciated.

[humboldtrat]

East Palo Alto and east Menlo Park, south of San Francisco are black/hispanic communities.

[WannaBNorCal]

The east Bay and Oakland have more Blacks than probably most of the North bay.
Oak Park, Vallejo (watch out for the Romper Room gangs though), San Jose, Silicon Valley, Sacramento.

Good luck to you with college

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by humboldtrat

East Palo Alto and east Menlo Park, south of San Francisco are black/hispanic communities.

To be fair, he (she?) did specify low-medium crime, and EPA in particular wouldn't fit into that category... I used to live there, and while my little area wasn't soooo bad, we did have 5 murders in 2 years (just on my block). Now I'm in southeast SF, which also has a large Black population, and it's another one that isn't safe.

To the OP, I think there are some nice neighborhoods in the East Bay, somewhere in Oakland, Hayward, Concord (?), and further out near Tracy, Livermore & Stockton. San Jose is also decent, but I don't know which specific parts have higher Black populations - I'd guess the area near the University. Good luck with everything, and I hope this helps a little.

[fromthebay]

Originally Posted by WannaBNorCal

The east Bay and Oakland have more Blacks than probably most of the North bay.
Oak Park, Vallejo (watch out for the Romper Room gangs though), San Jose, Silicon Valley, Sacramento.

Good luck to you with college

hahah romper room gang has not been around for at least 10 yrs

[skatealoneskatetogether]

since when do places like livermore or concord have black neighborhoods? hah. To be honest id check out oakland, but thats all a block by block basis. black neighborhoods can be hit or miss out that way. some are family neighborhoods with neighbors who know each other on a first name basis, others are war zones.

[rah]

Originally Posted by WannaBNorCal

The east Bay and Oakland have more Blacks than probably most of the North bay.
Oak Park, Vallejo (watch out for the Romper Room gangs though), San Jose, Silicon Valley, Sacramento.

Good luck to you with college

San Jose and "silicon valley" (the south bay) has the lowest black population in the Bay Area, behind the North Bay...And Sacramento is not part of the Bay Area, though it's just beyond the edge.

[sonarrat]

Also since you asked for a categorization by county..

San Francisco - San Francisco County
East Palo Alto, Menlo Park - San Mateo County
San Jose - Santa Clara County (I don't think there are many blacks there though)
Oakland, Hayward - Alameda County
Concord, Pittsburg, Richmond - Contra Costa County
Vallejo - Solano County
Tracy, Stockton - San Joaquin County

[skatealoneskatetogether]

livermore is in alameda county and is over 80 percent white and is next to pleasanton....

[Joe_Ryder]

In Oakland, everyone is a minority. There is no majority. Blacks are the plurality with Whites, Latinos, and Asians in that order pretty equally represented. Most neighborhoods are pretty well diversified but since there are more Blacks in the city, the odds are that most neighborhoods will have a significant number of Blacks.

Assuming that a mostly Black neighborhood in Oakland is more affordable would be an error. The bottom line in the whole Bay Area is that the cheaper it is, the worse the area will be regardless of who might be the most well represented. Just like anywhere else.

The Bay Area will be a major change from what you're used to. The biggest difference is the weather. It takes some getting used to. Fortunately the Bay Area has a number of microclimates so you can enjoy cold and foggy or warm and dry. Beaches or mountains are all within easy reach. Personally I think you'd be better off deciding what sort of weather or landscape you'd prefer to live in. We don't have swamps or tundra but we have most everything else.

If you're dead set on a more Black area though, I'd recommend the Lake Merrit Area. It's fairly nice, the crime is moderate for the East Bay but it's not particularly cheap. Lake Merrit is a smallish artificial salt water lake. You can sail small boats or rent rowboats or canoes & kayaks. I wouldn't recommend swimming in it though. The area is reasonably close to downtown with excellent shopping and is close to both I-580 and I-880. If you want to work in SF, the Bay Bridge is just a few minutes away.

As a rule, Oakland isn't quite as bad as the numbers might indicate. There are of course some really bad areas but if you stay away from them you'll be fine.

To be honest the only thing I really dislike about the Bay Area, besides the traffic, and CA in general is the cold ocean water. Over in GA, the water is warm; Nearly tropical in fact while here, it's cold, cold, COLD!

If you plan to live anywhere but SF itself, you'll need a car. Here life without a car is nearly impossible outside the city.