Help - Where to live in California - Scottish Family (San Jose: apartment, rental)

[Scotland2USA]

Hi People

Im looking for advice on where in California is affordable and safe (safe meaning no gangs). I have a wife and 2 daughters, aged 10 and 5. We have just arrived in California from Scotland, and are currently living in North Hollywood - temporarily. This is not the place we will be staying long term. Gangs frighten us terribly, as we come from a society where gangs are nowhere near the extent they are here in the US. I work in Office Administration and my wife in Customer Services. We dont like major cities, so we are looking for somewhere thats quite small scale. Any siuggestions will be hugely appreciated as now that we are here, its very daunting!

Cheers

[EscapeCalifornia]

There's probably no where you can completely escape their presence. Suburbs will usually have much less gang activity than the more urban parts of a city. There's other factors too but speaking of such things isn't politically correct and would probably get the post removed. Finding a job is much harder than finding a relatively safe place to live. One you know where work is, you can find some place to live.

[user_id]

Try the Conejo Valley, its around 20 miles north (on the 101) from Hollywood.

[Scotland2USA]

thanks for your replies guys.

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by Scotland2USA

Hi People

Im looking for advice on where in California is affordable and safe (safe meaning no gangs). I have a wife and 2 daughters, aged 10 and 5. We have just arrived in California from Scotland, and are currently living in North Hollywood - temporarily. This is not the place we will be staying long term. Gangs frighten us terribly, as we come from a society where gangs are nowhere near the extent they are here in the US. I work in Office Administration and my wife in Customer Services. We dont like major cities, so we are looking for somewhere thats quite small scale. Any siuggestions will be hugely appreciated as now that we are here, its very daunting!

Cheers

Being that you're from Scotland you may appreciate (and not mind too much the rain and relative lack of sun although i shouldn't assume) the far northern coastal communities of California.
It is less expensive than the rest of coastal California although jobs are scarce.
But consider communities in Humboldt county.
Perhaps Arcata (Humboldt State University is there) would be a town to consider.
If Santa Cruz county weren't so darned expensive i'd recommend it as there are a number of semi rural and rural options in the county but it's not as isolated as Humboldt county and is in close proximity to San Jose and is relatively close to San Francisco.
Bonny Doon and Ben Lomond in S.C. county come to mind.
You haven't mentioned what your rental budget is.
Aside from employment, that's a key issue.

Humboldt County, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Santa Cruz County, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Scotland2USA]

@ jaijai

the way im going to do this is, find somewhere affordable and safe fist of all, then target jobs in that area and even the surrounding areas as i dont mind commuting if thats what it takes. as for a budget, im starting out here from scratch, and I would be hoping to fetch a salary of somewhere in the region of $40-$60. I dont know what my wife can earn here, but my salary is going to be the main. I think my family are going to return to Scotland until I find permanent work and an apartment to start with. Rural communities are great and we would not mind living somewhere like this, as long as its not totally isolated. We dont need to live in Southern California, as we are willing to relocate anywhere in the state, providing it is a nice enough place for raising a family and free og gangs. Isnt San Jose full of gangs? And where is SC? Santa Clarita?

[jaijai]

Click on those links that i provided.
You'll see where both Santa Cruz and Humboldt county are.
San Jose is on the other (eastern) side of the Santa Cruz mountains and many people from S.C. county commute to San Jose and beyond on a daily basis.
It's a relatively short commute to San Jose when not during commuter times (35 minutes give or take).
During commuter times it's a brutal commute although people do it in droves every day as living on the coast and commuting is worth it to them.
In my opinion it's a bit insane. I couldn't do it.
Santa Cruz proper and a few other areas of the county have some crime but most of the county is quite safe and removed from gang activity.
If you're gang phobic you're going to have some problems if you want to live in the populated areas of California.
I'd relax that fear. Find a community that you like and that has good schools for your children and don't get hyper crazy about gangs and crime.
But, as i said, it's extremely expensive to live in the Santa Cruz area.
Until you get to quite a bit north of San Francisco, coastal California is extremely expensive.
If you don't want to live on the coast of California i'd pose the question, "Why California?" as there are many options in the U.S. that are much less expensive and less plagued with social issues, ie; safer, better schools, lower cost of living, etc..

[EscapeCalifornia]

SC County = Sana Cruz, south of San Jose.

[Majin]

Stockton, CA

[Scotland2USA]

@EscapeCalifornia, thanks.

@jaijai, we dont want to live on the coast. we arent beach people at all, so living on the coast isnt even on our radar. Santa Cruz is going to be way too expensive. Someone told me that the further you go out from major cities, the cheaper the rents are and lower gang activity. I honestly dont mind commuting in my car, even if i need to commute for an hour each way, if it means getting somewhere affordable to live, with no gang activity.