Semi-rural areas in California

[semispherical]

The foothills area between Auburn and Sacramento (Auburn/Lincoln/Newcastle/Loomis/Rocklin) meets most of your criteria except the < $200K for housing. That's going to be tough to find in most locations that you would find desirable. To get in that range you will have to forego the acreage or move up the hill to Meadow Vista or Colfax, but the schools tend not to be so good. You might also look at El Dorado County and the Elk Grove area south of Sac -- check the Sacramento forum for more info.

[Hawk J]

There are many rural roads & homes in Prunedale...

[DCMann2]

If you don't mind hot (hot!) summers, check out the Antelope Valley (Palmdale/Lancaster). It's desert and an exurb of Los Angeles. Affordable, you can live far out in the sticks if you choose, and easily commutable to LA. I grew up there and while it's personally not my cup of tea it does have some advantages and it's fairly well populated (~300-500k) on its own without feeling super cramped.

[dexter14]

Originally Posted by tupen

I've been considering moving to California for a while (three hours) now. I've lived in the east my entire life, and am tired of freezing winters and 6 hour commutes to the ocean (or anywhere interesting for that matter). California seems like the best bet; however, it's expensive as hell (from what I've seen), and anything over 1000 feet of land is even more so. I'm an outdoors type of person, and along with having 3 cats and 2 dogs, moving to a city/suburb just isn't feasible; however, I'd still like to be within a half hour (give or take) of the nearest well populated city (San Diego, etc.). Here's what I want:

1. Good schools

2. Affordable (<200k) housing

3. Some land (a few acres, nothing too crazy)

4. Less than a 3.5 hour's drive to the beach


Property like this may not exist, however, I'd like to make sure before I scratch California off my list. Thanks

Good luck with that in Southern California. You'll have to look at Central and Northern California for all that.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by mbell75

Good luck with that in Southern California. You'll have to look at Central and Northern California for all that.

It's for questions like this, and we get them fairly often, that we need a rolling-on-the-floor-laughing emoticon.