Best neighborhood for young kids to live in clovis, CA (San Jose: renting, condo)

[Lovecali28]

Hello,

My husband and I are thinking about moving to Clovis, Ca from the Bay Area (San Jose). We're looking for a safe neighborhood with great schools and some diversity as well. Our kids love sports so I would prefer a school not only good in academics but with a good sports-program also. My husband has a job offer but it only pays 52,000 /yr. I won't be working for at least 2 more years. Will this income be enough to support a family of 4 there in Clovis? We are looking at buying a home (after renting for few months maybe) in the price range of 300,000 to 350,000 max but we'll be able to put down at least 150,000 since we'll be selling our condo in San Jose. We don't have any debts or students loans and we're in our early and late 30's. We're not looking for anything fancy, we mainly care about location and great schools. (Perhaps a pool if affordable) Does it look like we can actually have a decent living in Clovis with this money?

Your advice will be much appreciated. Thank you.

[Adriatica]

There are many great neighborhoods in Clovis/Fresno for young kids (remember that some parts of Fresno are also in Clovis Unified). You might focus your search on the areas around (and that feed into) Clovis North High School as well as Buchanan High School. Sports are very big in Clovis and you'll have no problem finding options. I think that, with your income and down payment, you should have no problem living in Clovis.

You might enjoy the Harlan Ranch area, but I always found that to be a little bit far out, for my taste and for my shopping/entertainment purposes. But Harlan Ranch does have a big community pool, lots of parks and walking trails, and community activities.

[Lovecali28]

Thank you so much Adriatica por the information provided. I believe clovis will very suitable for us and our kids to live in afterall.
Have a great day!

[Moddedintegra56]

Clovis is a great area. Also neighboring areas in North Fresno as well. Which also will fall under clovis unifieid school district. Annually ranked highly with many blue ribbon schools. Your kids will also have a good option for high education in Fresno State--which if they excel in sports also has a good sports program. They recently won the Mountain West, and won a bowl game, and are regular for top ranks. Same with their other sports programs. A lot of pro athletes have come from Fresno: Paul George, Derek Carr, Bruce Bowen, Aaron Judge to name a few:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...no,_California

With your down payment it will help, but I would say you wont be comfortable until you work to provide dual income. However, making $80-100K should leave you very comfortable.

as for being safe, when it comes to violent crime, fresno is actually one of the safer big cities--meaning safer than LA, SF, Oakland, Sacramento, and a few others when it comes to violent crime. Yes you heard that right, Fresno is a SAFE CITY in comparison to other big and often more desirable cities. I just made a few post about it if OP wants to check it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/fresno/comm...ent_in_fresno/ and the comparison between big cities can be found here:
https://gddlaw.com/2016/05/12/cities...nia-dangerous/
and here:
Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site
So with that said, consider clovis to be even much safer.

Homes have went up in recent years, but generally still affordable compared to a siimilar type of city you would live in the bay area. And $100K average cheaper than homes in the sacramento area in similar type of neighborhoods as well.

[onlymike]

As long as you are in Clovis unified you will be fine as far as good to great schools.

[dontbelievehim]

Live as close to Buchanan or Clovis west as possible. Those are two good areas.

[Bill the Butcher]

Originally Posted by Moddedintegra56

A lot of pro athletes have come from Fresno: Paul George, Derek Carr, Bruce Bowen, Aaron Judge to name a few:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...no,_California

Nitpicking, but of your list, I would say only Bruce Bowen qualifies as having come from Fresno. As in playing youth or high school sports in Fresno.

Fresno State has a pretty good Athletic program. They have produced two first round QB's including a number one overall pick in David Carr. And Trent Dilfer.

I would consider being able to take in Fresno State football and basketball games a positive of living in the area.

[Adriatica]

Originally Posted by Bill the Butcher

Nitpicking, but of your list, I would say only Bruce Bowen qualifies as having come from Fresno. As in playing youth or high school sports in Fresno.

Fresno State has a pretty good Athletic program. They have produced two first round QB's including a number one overall pick in David Carr. And Trent Dilfer.

I would consider being able to take in Fresno State football and basketball games a positive of living in the area.

And Tim McDonald, who went to Edison.

And I agree about Fresno State sports--they're a lot of fun.

[Crazy4Chickens]

Clovis is a wonderful, safe area to raise a family. The schools are excellent, with an emphasis on academics and sports. I don't think you can go wrong at any of the Clovis Unified School district schools. My brother went to Clovis East and graduated and he received a quality education. I attended Clovis high and graduated there in 1996 and I also received an excellent education.

As for where to live, I would look at Great Schools and decide by using that website to determine where in Clovis you'd like to live. You should have enough money for a nice house in a good area.