Work in Livermore - where to live? (San Francisco, Alameda: apartment, rentals)

[Manis]

I may be relocating my family from Melbourne (Australia) to San Francisco for work purposes. New work is in Livermore.

My wife and I plan to rent and prefer somewhere suitable for young children (3 y.o. and an infant) that will have good facilities for young children (school, parks and safe area).

We are thinking of either Pleasanton or Livermore to minimise my commute time. Any suggestions of good places to rent in either of these two places?

Any advice will be much appreciated. Anything else we need to be aware of? How is the transportation system in both of these places?

[sonarrat]

The bus system serves most anywhere within incorporated Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore, and there is a train system, BART, connecting Pleasanton to points west including San Francisco. Here's a WHEELS system map: WHEELS - Route Schedules and Maps - System Maps

As far as which town to choose, I believe Pleasanton has more rental properties to choose from. Either Pleasanton or Livermore would be excellent.

[okie333]

Both places are great areas to rase kids. There is a heavy commute from livermore to pleasanton. The backup in the morning gets heavy from vasco road to the exit to pleasanton ( forgot the name) right after the 680 interchange.

Bart can take you all over the bay area but it starts in Dublin( right next to pleasanton)
yea theres Wheels like sonarrat says. The freeways and streets in livermore are very heavy during rush hours. If it were me again living back there again i would prefer to work near home. Or live near work. Like i said ive lived in livermore for 11 years and loved every miniute of it. Great people there and pleasanton.

[Manis]

sonarrat and okie333,

Thank you for the advice and information especially re WHEELS and BART (I had been confused with some of the acronyms I read on this forum). Good to know that we cannot go wrong with choosing either Pleasanton and Livermore.

How about the costs of living between Livermore and Pleasanton? Any difference?

okiee333 - Is it safe to commute at night in Livermore? What time are most shops open until?

[CUinTN]

Hi Manis,

Welcome to CA. I work in Livermore but I live north in Brentwood. Livermore is a really nice town that has recently done a renovation of downtown. With the down turn in housing, Livermore has become a lot more affordable. Pleasanton is very nice as well but you will have a short commute. It's against traffic though so shouldn't be an issue.

Livermore schools tend to be quite good due to the national labs' (Sandia and LLNL) participation in science and math education.

The feel of both towns is pretty different. Pleasanton is bigger and more urban. Livermore is smaller with a strong agricultural element. As such, Livermore housing is tiny bit more affordable. Both areas are very safe at night with stores that stay open 'til 9pm or so.

Best of luck with your move.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by Manis

Is it safe to commute at night in Livermore? What time are most shops open until?

Livermore is fairly safe and the stores are usually open until 9pm - about 6pm on Sundays.

Livermore also has several vineyards. wentevinyards.com is one of them.

[tennis368fan]

I don't know where you are working in Livermore, but if it is near Sandia Labs or Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, you could consider Mountain House and taking a commuter bus from there, avoiding the stress of traffic. It is also much less expensive to rent a comparable home in Mountain House, which means you can rent a house/townhouse instead of an apartment, and its community school district is rated at the top of the entire county. I have also heard that there are a lot of young families, being that it is a new community with such demographics.

Livermore is inexpensive as well, but a good portion of its less expensive housing stock is located in neighborhoods that are zoned to low-performing elementary and middle schools. I am NOT saying that this is the case for all affordable rentals.

You should check Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District for a street directory of homes and respective schools. Also go to County List of Schools to check school's API index. 1000 is the highest possible score, and 800 is the proficiency level, though anything in the mid 800's is already very good for elementary schools and middle schools, and the mid 700's is acceptable for high schools if a 800 score cannot be had. Later in the year, scores out of 10 will be posted, reflecting the schools rankings compared with other schools. For example, while API 750 is below the proficiency level, for a high school, that earns a score of 7 or 8 out of 10. For an elementary school to earn a similar score, it would have to score a low to mid 800's on the API. A mid 700's API puts an elementary in the window of a 6, possibly a seven.

[okie333]

Originally Posted by Manis

sonarrat and okie333,

Thank you for the advice and information especially re WHEELS and BART (I had been confused with some of the acronyms I read on this forum). Good to know that we cannot go wrong with choosing either Pleasanton and Livermore.

How about the costs of living between Livermore and Pleasanton? Any difference?

okiee333 - Is it safe to commute at night in Livermore? What time are most shops open until?

Oh yea its extremeily safe to commute in Livermore or pleasanton at night. I do have to say that the police especially in Livermore are BIG on traffic safety ( almost annoyingly so), I would say your big chain stores close around the ususal 9:30 or 10 but there are people everyewhere at all times of night. I would even say that it is safe to walk whereever you want at night provided you have common sense ( im sure you do). It is really a normal little town ( livermore) and pleasanton is safe to.

[Luke9686]

Livermore is safe.

[Taboo2]

Originally Posted by okie333

Both places are great areas to rase kids. There is a heavy commute from livermore to pleasanton. The backup in the morning gets heavy from vasco road to the exit to pleasanton ( forgot the name) right after the 680 interchange.

Bart can take you all over the bay area but it starts in Dublin( right next to pleasanton)
yea theres Wheels like sonarrat says. The freeways and streets in livermore are very heavy during rush hours. If it were me again living back there again i would prefer to work near home. Or live near work. Like i said ive lived in livermore for 11 years and loved every miniute of it. Great people there and pleasanton.

You could take Stanley blvd to Livermore from Ptown it's not that bad.
I think Livermore is a nice town. Just pick your neighborhood carefully.