Santa Cruz or Albany? (Oakland, Berkeley: low crime, houses, neighborhoods)

[jaynetarzana]

If you had school aged children and had to choose between living in Santa Cruz or Albany, which would it be?

[18Montclair]

Albany.

Good schools, closer to everything.

[jaynetarzana]

I guess that depends on what you consider to be everything.

[artemis78]

I don't know SC so I can't say how Albany measures up, but basically Albany is a family-oriented first-ring suburb of SF/Oakland. Most people who live there work in one of those two cities, so it is close to everything in that it's near BART, near shopping, has parks and restaurants and the like, etc. It's a fairly progressive area but a little more mellow than next-door Berkeley. Low crime rate. Much of Albany is bungalow neighborhoods, so it's small lots with small houses for the most part. I'd expect cost of living in Albany to be higher in general than SC, but there are also additional amenities that come with living in a more urban environment, like good transit, etc. Albany isn't super-diverse by Bay Area standards but certainly moreso than SC or other middle-income suburbs. Strong K-12 schools, which is a major reason people live there. BUT---if I remember, the commute you're looking at is to Monterey County, right? That won't be fun from Albany--figure at least two hours of commute time, possibly much more. Only you can determine whether that's a tradeoff that will work for your family.

[tstieber]

I think Santa Cruz is also way more expensive than Albany. Did the home prices shoot up there quite a bit when dot-commers thought it would be great to have weekend beach homes? Yeah, well they both have an appeal. Albany schools are good, there is lots to do, but then again, Santa Cruz has the beaches that are really fun for families. If you're near the water, then it can be wonderful for kids to have that as their backyard, but then living near the water is really expensive. More bang for the buck in Albany.

[fizbin]

Originally Posted by artemis78

if I remember, the commute you're looking at is to Monterey County, right?

If that is true you would be nuts to live in Albany as opposed to Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz/Capitola area is very nice, a great place to live.