where are the nicest neighborhoods and schools? (San Jose, Fremont: real estate, homes)

[silverstar23]

Could you please tell me what neighborhoods, or sections of San Jose, are the safest and with the best schools? Thank you.

[krudmonk]

Evergreen has fine schools. When I was young, it seemed they all had that "California Distinguished School" logo plastered somewhere, which kinda devalued the honor.

Since I was a kid, heavy infill has necessitated having several new schools which now have waiting lists. Some parents have been caught bending rules to get their kids into certain ones. It seems bizarre to me as someone without children, but that's the reality.

[sonarrat]

Absolute best? Rainbow Park, around Bollinger/Miller, has Cupertino schools, and Almaden Valley around Almaden/Camden has top-flight San Jose schools. But these threads always turn into "best you can afford," because those areas can be exorbitantly expensive.

[hsw]

Really depends upon one's budget to judge best value

Hard to value a lack of safety (and risk to one's health post-assault) or a poor education for one's kids (and their lost future earnings power)

Generally, most w/bucks prefer to reside up in hills W of 280 in Los Gatos or Saratoga or Los Altos Hills or Woodside, not in SJ itself....more scenic settings further away from crime, congestion and riff-raff in the basin...the usual CA urban topographic socio-economics

Schools vary...elementary schools anywhere arguably just teach kids to color for 6yrs, so many prefer "free" public elem schools in an upscale area; for middle school and beyond, many in SV pay for private schools or use better-reputed public schools like Saratoga, Palo Alto, etc

[t_thibaud]

Best value, in terms of both financial safety and school quality, for your San Jose real estate dollar is probably in the Cambrian area of SW San Jose. We looked long and hard, wanted Los Gatos but rejected it as we didn't want to tie up nearly all of our disposable income in real estate-- and that for a fixer-upper-- and then narrowed our choice to either W San Jose/Cupertino school district or the part of Cambrian south of Hwy 85 near Leigh HS. Ultimately we chose the latter, mainly due to financial risk-aversion but also due to our concern about the rather sterile and homogeneous social environment in Cupertino, and have been happy with our choice.

Right now you can get some excellent bargains in the Noddin Elementary school district area. If you want a good cut-rate broker, I can recommend an excellent one. E mail me at y hoo if you wish. Best, t_thibaud

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Barring the truly high end places such as Los Gatos. Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Los Altos Hills, Los Altos. etc: the answer would be West SJ, and perhaps parts of S. SJ (but beware high schools in southern districts). But if you are in that price range, you might as well also check out Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Mt. View, parts of Santa Clara and depending on your commute, Belmont, San Carlos, Redwood Shores, the part of RWC that feeds into Woodside High, Foster City, Mission San Jose / Warm Springs part of Fremont, Pleasanton, et al.

[edd1e22]

Mission san Jose school district in Fremont has the highest rated public schools in California. I think it was rated 49th in the US for the high school.

Lynbrook in San Jose, Monta Vista in Cupertino, Saratoga in Saratoga, Gunn in Palo Alto are all good schools as well.

[herethereeverywhere]

Almaden Valley in San Jose is a great place to live, with excellent schools. The homes are a bit high, but it is very nice. You are up against the hills and it's beautiful, close to shopping, etc. and the schools are some of the best in San Jose.