Chico? (Fresno, Sacramento, Stockton: HOA fees, crime, houses)

[Morning coffee1]

Can anyone tell me about Chico? Is it mostly blue-collar, like Fresno in a smaller scale? Are there family friendly neighborhoods with good schools? (We have two school aged children). Any areas we need to avoid? Is day trip to Sacramento on weekends and during summer breaks a easy undertake or no? Thanks in advance!

[NextStage]

I've never lived in Chico but have family that lived near there for many many years. And one nephew and his family have been in Chico for many years.

Chico is a nice little town. It used to be primarily a college town driven by CSU Chico but it seems to be adding a lot of different types of businesses in the past decade or so. It feels more weighted to College/White Collar/Blue Collar to me rather than Blue Collar being the main focus.

Chico to Sacramento is a very easy day trip. I've known people who commute daily for work for a brief period. Chico to San Franciso or the east bay is also fairly easy. It's about 3 hours drive (depending on traffic).

[BeauCharles]

I live 20 miles from Chico in the same county. Its not blue collar in the same way Fresno is. Its a "classic" college town and CSU Chico is the focal point and main employer. There are a number of other industries - mainly service. Its one of the main medical centers for the Northern Sacramento Valley, plus there are a number of technology related companies.

As far as schools go they're quite good. They city in general is very family friendly. About the only area I can think of that's kind of sketchy are the avenues NW of the university, Rancheria Drive, North Cedar (they're all kind of the same area). Still, the worst neighborhood in Chico is just pretty average for many places.

Sacramento is one and a half to two hours depending on where you're going. Easy for a day trip.

[Morning coffee1]

It is nice to hear Chico is a medical center. That means good hospitals and higher educated parents... I heard Chico has crime/homeless issues, so we want to be very careful about choosing where to live. Are there a lot of gated communities? Which part of town do the doctors and university professors live? We are from CA, so house price won't be much of problem...

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by Morning coffee1

Can anyone tell me about Chico? Is it mostly blue-collar, like Fresno in a smaller scale? Are there family friendly neighborhoods with good schools? (We have two school aged children). Any areas we need to avoid? Is day trip to Sacramento on weekends and during summer breaks a easy undertake or no? Thanks in advance!

You can get some general information here.

//www.city-data.com/city/Chico-California.html

[coginthewheel]

Chico was a well planned city in the 1800s, what is nice about this town is Bidwell Park runs through the heart of the town for over 5 miles.

My wife and I were married in the park and had our reception at La Salles restaurant.

You will love it, and it is nothing like Fresno.

[Radaghast]

Originally Posted by Morning coffee1

Can anyone tell me about Chico? Is it mostly blue-collar, like Fresno in a smaller scale? Are there family friendly neighborhoods with good schools? (We have two school aged children). Any areas we need to avoid? Is day trip to Sacramento on weekends and during summer breaks a easy undertake or no? Thanks in advance!

I've never really felt that the town leans heavily one direction or the other (blue collar vs. white collar), but then, I was raised by a teacher which tends to be a profession in between each of those so maybe that's shaded my perception. It's a place that's friendly to both blue- and white-collar people in my experience.

There's a lot of great neighborhoods, only ones I would caution against are the ones that have a lot of college students in them but that's only because of rowdiness and the kind of shenanigans that come from that. There aren't many though. Just about all of the university students live within 1-2 miles of campus, so the further out you go from there, the quieter the neighborhood will be.

Most of the schools are good. There's quite a few elementary schools (12 public schools - not counting charter schools - and a private Catholic K-8 school), four middle schools (counting the aforementioned Catholic school), and two high schools.

People make day trips to Sacramento all the time, it's not a big deal. I don't even think twice if someone asks for a ride to the airport, and when I had friends down in Citrus Heights I would visit them no problem. Maybe some folks feel differently about that but it's never been a problem for me.

Originally Posted by Morning coffee1

It is nice to hear Chico is a medical center. That means good hospitals and higher educated parents... I heard Chico has crime/homeless issues, so we want to be very careful about choosing where to live. Are there a lot of gated communities? Which part of town do the doctors and university professors live? We are from CA, so house price won't be much of problem...

Crime isn't terrible. Our biggest issues, as you might imagine, tend to trace to the university with crimes ranging from bike theft to sexual assault. Both of those are major issues but the majority of them are focused in and around the college community. That doesn't make it better, but it gives you an idea of how these things can be separated from the general Chico community. The city's not perfect, but it's not Stockton, either.

Homelessness is another issue. It's manageable, but there are still a substantial number of homeless here. You can almost be guaranteed to see a panhandler in the Target or Home Depot parking lots. Just recently actually I had a woman quite aggressively beg me for some food I had just bought for lunch over by the mall. I obliged but I was kind of taken aback by how presumptuous she was. Downtown groups of homeless tend to also hang around by the 7-11 downtown and in the plaza. Overall, it's not a cataclysmic issue. The shelters do what they can and the police work really hard to keep things under control and prevent hostile situations.

There are a couple gated communities, both are on the east side of town. You might like the California Park neighborhood, there are small annual HOA fees, but it's on the east side of town and I know a lot of doctor and professor types who live there. It's a nice place. All of the houses were built from roughly the late 80s onward.

[boiselover]

I worked in chico for a bit and used to visit as a kid from the yuba city area where I grew up its a nice town overall kinda wish I was still there weather there is quite nice

[CAGringo]

Do a google search for "Chico homeless problem"... Chico was awesome, but I feel it has slipped in past 10-15 years.

[evening sun]

Originally Posted by CAGringo

Do a google search for "Chico homeless problem"... Chico was awesome, but I feel it has slipped in past 10-15 years.

Chico is a nice town.

I think many places have homeless people.