Relocating to Mountain View from Maryland (San Jose, Oakland: budget, apartment, income)

[sapph]

I'm married. Wife doesn't work. Gross income will likely be between 60-70K. Currently make 52K and current rent is about 800 - one bedroom. Job is in Mountain View 'off of 101'. Would prefer a short commute, but currently commute about 60 minutes, so I can handle it.

Long story short, can I expect to find a decent one bedroom apartment within 60 minutes of Mountain View for under 1K?

[sonarrat]

Under 1K?

s.f. bayarea craigslist > apts/housing for rent: search

There's a lot to choose from.. but much of it less than desirable, either really far away (Oakland, Richmond, Concord) or in Section 8-heavy areas that will give you nothing but problems. Or both. Mountain View is actually one of the less expensive towns in the South Bay, but it can be problematic.. there are a lot of sources of noise, like Caltrain, the freeways, the Shoreline amphitheatre, and of course other tenants.

[sapph]

Are there any cities/towns/localities/neighborhoods I should avoid?

[sonarrat]

East San Jose. Anything near McLaughlin or King, between Alum Rock & Tully = lock your doors and drive away as fast as you possibly can (it improves quite a bit in the hills). Some parts of Fremont or Hayward. East Palo Alto, Menlo Park east of 101 or Redwood City east of El Camino Real. Other than that, just scope out the neighborhood beforehand. Take a good look, at different times of the day or night. Even if you're desperate, that isn't enough reason to choose somewhere you're not going to like.

I might have not portrayed it in the best light, but Mountain View is one of the better choices for someone on a budget. My sister lives there with her husband and loves it. Check it out - you might really like it!

[sapph]

Based on the above recommendations, I made this map: GoogleMap to display bad areas. Anything I missed?

[sonarrat]

Pretty much spot-on as far as SJ is concerned. I'd also include North Fair Oaks and generally Redwood City between Middlefield and the water.

[sapph]

Edited to add those areas. It looks like Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Cuppertino, Los Altos are all fully acceptable, with large chunks Menlo Park and Palo Alto being okay too.

[sonarrat]

There are no bad neighborhoods in Cupertino, Los Altos or Palo Alto. But there are no cheap ones either.

Santa Clara, Campbell and Sunnyvale are variable. I confess to not having any real knowledge of what it's like to be in that area for extended periods of time..

[Luke9686]

I would just live right in Mountain View. You should be able to find something in your price, and it would make life a heck of a lot easier.

[sapph]

So just to be clear: there are no bad neighborhoods in Mountain View?