Mill Valley or Petaluma? (Berkeley, Richmond: rental, low crime, home)

[tlmg21]

We are relocating to the area and are interested in Mill Valley, but have also noticed several people recommending Petaluma. We have never been to either, so I would like some insight from those who have.

We have noticed that rental prices are lower in Petaluma, but it is farther from work than Mill Valley. My husband will be commuting daily to Emeryville. Does anyone know how his commute would be from either of these cities? Googlemaps says around 20 minutes from Mill Valley, 40 from Petaluma.

The most important things to us when choosing a place to live are excellent public schools (Mill Valley is excellent according to what I have found online, and Petaluma seems to be more of a mix of good and bad), a quiet family oriented community/neighborhood, LOW crime/safe city (Mill Valley has lower crime than Petaluma according to what I have found online).

Give me your honest opinions on the two please! What are the pros? Cons? Thanks so much!

[Stacy From Cali]

I'll tell you right now that if your husband's commute is during regular commute hours these time estimates from Google maps are way way off. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Petaluma to San Rafael during rush hour, so add about another 30-40 minutes to get to Emeryville. At least. Unfortunately Emeryville is placed at one of the most congested points on the entire Bay Area freeway grid (lovingly known as "the maze") and traffic around there is usually at a crawl. On a good day.

[tlmg21]

Wow, that makes a huge difference. Thanks for letting me know! My husband would like to keep his commute under one hour including traffic.

[G Grasshopper]

I agree. Really - don't even think of moving to Petaluma in your situation. Your rent may be lower, but your quality of life, considering that commute, would be lower, too. Mill Valley is a good place to live.

[AndrewSoss]

I used to live in Petaluma and loved it, but the commute would be horrible unless he was on the road before 6:30 and not coming home until after 6:30 or before 3pm.

MV will be more expensive, but the commute will be much better.

[sonarrat]

The 101 commute in Marin County has been markedly improved ever since they opened the new extension to the carpool lane. I've heard that commutes that normally took an hour are now 40 minutes.

[tlmg21]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions on the commute from Petaluma. We have decided not to look there, and instead focus on Mill Valley. My husband would be commuting during normal rush hours and he definitely doesn't want to be spending more than a hour on the road each way!

[bellalunatic]

Morning rush hour from Mill Valley to the Richmond Bridge in San Rafael (to get over to the East Bay) is more than likely going to take you longer than 20 minutes as well...sorry to say...and then you've got to get through the hideous 580 to 80 merge in Richmond and through Berkeley before the maze at Emeryville....yikes all the way around.
Have you considered the East Bay, like Albany (great school system) for instance?

[18Montclair]

Mill Valley is one of the more posh suburbs of the Bay Area. Its wealthy, upscale but has a small town feel to it. Petaluma is more middle class and further up the 101. Traffic on that freeway is very bad.

Say, Is there a particular reason why you are looking at those areas? If you can afford Mill Valley then you can afford Orinda or Albany. Orinda being a more family oriented version of Mill Valley and Albany being MUCH closer to Emeryville but still is very nice and retains a small town feel.

[artemis78]

What they said. The place you're looking for is Albany, I think. Great commute to Emeryville, great schools, pleasant environment, and cheaper than Mill Valley by a long shot. The only big distinction is that there are places in MV that feel quite rural/remote (though you pay for the privilege) whereas those don't really exist in Albany. If that's important and part of why you chose to look there, you'll want to weigh that against the commute time. (Again, though, you might find rural or quasi-rural in Lamorinda, Piedmont, or other East Bay areas with good schools that are a bit closer in, too. All will be more expensive than Albany, though.)

The other thing to consider is that Emeryville has its own shuttle system, the Emery-Go-Round, that runs regularly from BART to the major office areas. This can be a really good option if you want to commute by BART instead---saves a lot of headache, because it really can't be stressed enough that the maze is HORRIBLE during rush hour and there are regularly delays all along the I-80 corridor up to the 580 split. People learn how to come around curves and check for brake lights in time to spin around and take the access roads instead, etc. Albany's biggest advantage, I think, is that you can get from there to Emeryville via surface roads in a pinch.

Good luck!