Cross-country move to CA; Need help to decide b/w Palo Alto, Mountain View, SunnyVale, Menlo Park, Los Altos (Stanford: transplants)

[AmmaS101]

Hello All,

Please guide me at this junction. I've spent some time trying to understand the Silicon Valley area due to our impending move from the Mid-West. Very excited to be in sunny California before the winter!!

Here's our situation:
1. Husband's job relocation. It's south of Standford @10-15mins away.
2. Do have a preschooler --so school district etc are important.
3. Currently looking for place to rent in a desired neighborhood.

Considering the following areas: (Not in any order of preference)
1. Palo Alto
2. Mountain View
3. Menlo Park
4. SunnyVale
5. Los Altos

Amongst the above listed area, kindly share some pointers along the following desired objectives:
1. Good school district
2. Convenient commute to work (do have a car but public transport would be also desirable)
3. Safe Neighborhood; affordable --Budget @ $2000-$2500 for 2BD. Don't know the figures for 3Bedrm rental.
4. Cannot figure if there is any direct public transport to get to work, if chose to live in SunnyVale over Palo Alto


Is Palo alto area higher in rent v/s Mountain view?

Any help would be so appreciated ! Thank you for your time and willingness to help ....

[Steerpike]

Originally Posted by AmmaS101

...

Here's our situation:
1. Husband's job relocation. It's south of Standford @10-15mins away.
2. Do have a preschooler --so school district etc are important.
3. Currently looking for place to rent in a desired neighborhood.

Considering the following areas: (Not in any order of preference)
1. Palo Alto
2. Mountain View
3. Menlo Park
4. SunnyVale
5. Los Altos

Amongst the above listed area, kindly share some pointers along the following desired objectives:
1. Good school district
2. Convenient commute to work (do have a car but public transport would be also desirable)
3. Safe Neighborhood; affordable --Budget @ $2000-$2500 for 2BD. Don't know the figures for 3Bedrm rental.
4. Cannot figure if there is any direct public transport to get to work, if chose to live in SunnyVale over Palo Alto


Is Palo alto area higher in rent v/s Mountain view?
...

Is gold more expensive than plastic? Yes ...

Palo Also is one of the nicest towns in the area; fabulous downtown (walkable, great shops, great restaurants, and that's not even considering Stanford Shopping Center, which is about as good a Shopping Center as exists). PA also has a second cluster of shops at California Ave; smaller but also quite nice. PA is also full of leafy, older, quaint neighborhoods. Mountain View and Sunnyvale are 'very generic'. MV has recently (well, 20 years ) spent energy developing Castro St as a half-decent pedestrian strip, and it's not bad. Sunnyvale - never did find a 'center'... Menlo Park is ... simply ... oozing with affluence and understated charm, and has plenty of local shopping areas - not something you'd drive from out of town to, like PA, but good for the locals.

I think families would cut off their arms and legs to live in PA, for the schools; not sure about the rest. Public transit - if you are lucky enough to live and work near Caltrain stations, great - otherwise, pray for a decent bus route. Traffic is not impossible in the PA area. Going further south, the population density increases and so traffic gets worse.

If I had to choose one town in the whole of the US to live in, it would probably be Palo Alto; about 1 block off of University avenue, walking distance to 'everything'. Alas - on my meagre 6 figure salary, it is not possible!

Good Luck - I hope you love it as much as I did!

[AmmaS101]

Originally Posted by Steerpike

Is gold more expensive than plastic? Yes ...

Palo Also is one of the nicest towns in the area; fabulous downtown (walkable, great shops, great restaurants, and that's not even considering Stanford Shopping Center, which is about as good a Shopping Center as exists). PA also has a second cluster of shops at California Ave; smaller but also quite nice. PA is also full of leafy, older, quaint neighborhoods. Mountain View and Sunnyvale are 'very generic'. MV has recently (well, 20 years ) spent energy developing Castro St as a half-decent pedestrian strip, and it's not bad. Sunnyvale - never did find a 'center'... Menlo Park is ... simply ... oozing with affluence and understated charm, and has plenty of local shopping areas - not something you'd drive from out of town to, like PA, but good for the locals.

I think families would cut off their arms and legs to live in PA, for the schools; not sure about the rest. Public transit - if you are lucky enough to live and work near Caltrain stations, great - otherwise, pray for a decent bus route. Traffic is not impossible in the PA area. Going further south, the population density increases and so traffic gets worse.

If I had to choose one town in the whole of the US to live in, it would probably be Palo Alto; about 1 block off of University avenue, walking distance to 'everything'. Alas - on my meagre 6 figure salary, it is not possible!

Good Luck - I hope you love it as much as I did!

@Steerpike--thanks so much for your insightful reply. It helps to put things in perspective...PA seems to have a more downtown feel to it in terms of walkability v/s true suburban feel. We're hoping to come to PA in the next 2 weeks to see few places/ get a feel of the area.

[sonarrat]

Palo Alto and Los Altos seem to be the typical choices of transplants these days. Menlo Park (west of 101, please!!!) is great too, Menlo-Atherton High has an economically and racially diverse population yet still ranks as one of the top secondary schools in the country.