Moving to Southern California help (San Diego, Riverside: rent, crime, house)

[ibiza_girl25]

So my husband and I want to move to Southern California from Illinois. We have 2 kids, currently 2yrs and 6mos, but we probably won't make this move for about 1.5 - 2 years...

We love San Diego but know how expensive it is to live there...where else in Southern California is a great place to live, affordable, safe and has good schools? We would like to be some what close to San Diego - so we can drive easily for day trips and such....

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by ibiza_girl25

So my husband and I want to move to Southern California from Illinois. We have 2 kids, currently 2yrs and 6mos, but we probably won't make this move for about 1.5 - 2 years...

We love San Diego but know how expensive it is to live there...where else in Southern California is a great place to live, affordable, safe and has good schools? We would like to be some what close to San Diego - so we can drive easily for day trips and such....

"Great place to live" is too subjective for anyone to tell you where

"safe and has good schools" generally go together but are typically not

"affordable", which is also subjective

Meeting all of those requirements is just about impossible in coastal SoCal so many people go way inland to get affordability, safety, and good schools, but then spend half their life commuting in heavy traffic to work. Not sure if that qualifies as a great place to live then.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by ibiza_girl25

So my husband and I want to move to Southern California from Illinois. We have 2 kids, currently 2yrs and 6mos, but we probably won't make this move for about 1.5 - 2 years...

We love San Diego but know how expensive it is to live there...where else in Southern California is a great place to live, affordable, safe and has good schools? We would like to be some what close to San Diego - so we can drive easily for day trips and such....

Depends on where you jobs are.

[ibiza_girl25]

ok...

Affordable for us - a 3 bedroom place under $1800 a month would be affordable.

Safe and good schools - good schools are more important - we currently live in Chicago and the schools here are...well...awful, high teacher/student ratio, low funds alotted per student, passing rates low, and a lot of crime going on in the schools - so a good school would be well the opposite of those.
Safety - I just want to make sure that where we decide to live is a good place to raise children - our direct neighborhood would need to be a place where being out late at night or early morning would be fine....

Coming from Chicago - we need to be somewhere that is lively and will have a lot of culture to offer our kids as they grow up which is why we would like to be near San Diego, to be able to take in what the city has to offer...

Hope this helps more...

[Ceece]

It's really too early to be pinning down places to live. There are lots of good places to live. When you know where you will be working you can go from there. If you plan to move first/find jobs second then it won't matter anyway since you will no doubt rent something on a temporary basis while looking for work. Much can happen in a couple years.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by ibiza_girl25

ok...

Affordable for us - a 3 bedroom place under $1800 a month would be affordable.

Safe and good schools - good schools are more important - we currently live in Chicago and the schools here are...well...awful, high teacher/student ratio, low funds alotted per student, passing rates low, and a lot of crime going on in the schools - so a good school would be well the opposite of those.
Safety - I just want to make sure that where we decide to live is a good place to raise children - our direct neighborhood would need to be a place where being out late at night or early morning would be fine....

Coming from Chicago - we need to be somewhere that is lively and will have a lot of culture to offer our kids as they grow up which is why we would like to be near San Diego, to be able to take in what the city has to offer...

Hope this helps more...

Well, for San Diego County as well as most of the nicer coastal areas of SoCal $1800/mo won't go very far. As you move east prices go down. But unfortunately schools go down somewhat as well. Since you are looking at this far in advance I would start by looking for a decent school district in a relatively affordable area.

Look here first: California School Performance Maps

We have family in the East SD. Some parts a nicer than others. I would start looking in places like Rancho Bernardo, Carmel Mountain, inland Carlsbad near Ocean Hills (but not Vista), possibly San Carlos, etc...

Ultimately you may need to increase your budget. It depends if you think you are going to buy a house for that $$ vs. rent. Check out craigslist to get a more realistic idea of rents for 3 BR homes in the nicer neighborhoods.

For more affordable living bordering SD County with still decent schools there is Temecula. It's Riverside County. And it is a real bedroom community further removed from job centers and everything else. But many have moved there in search of affordability. The schools are much better in general than parts of East SD County like El Cajon (which is cheaper living as well).

Lastly if you are focused on San Diego I would post a question on the SD forum and here form the locals there as well. There are nice areas in LA and OC Counties. But it depends on where you prefer. Have you visited CA much?

Derek