Interested techy thinking about buying in Bakersfield or other Central Valley city... (Fresno: low crime, homes)

[ragnarkar]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

With the exception of Sacramento, that's how I feel about the Central Valley. You can get the same or lower cost of living in Arizona or Nevada with better amenities.

Oregon or Texas might be more competitive than California's Central Valley but I do get where you're coming from. After having lived in California, there's no way I could live in another state unless I get a financial incentive in the form of either NO sales tax or NO income tax.

[xani]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Chimérique, although we love the Monterey area and are heavily biased toward it, I have considered moving to Auburn and surrounding areas. Why would I do that and am crazy thinking of moving from Monterey? Well, I ask myself that question as well. But the answer is similar to others like theCity who are looking for more affordability. In our case, we hate the idea of leaving Monterey but know financially it is probably in our best interest. At our current life stage with three kids getting ready to enter college we have other financial obligations to consider. So I've recently been checking out some of the properties in this NE area of Sac near the foothills.

My wife's two greatest concerns are traffic into Sac if our kids go to Sac State. Its 37 miles from Auburn and during rush hour that could be a crazy long commute.

Second, the air quality has always been a concern of ours. I know there are many threads discussing this topic already. And I don't want to beat a dead horse, really. But the air is a concern, nonetheless. I've heard the inversion layer can trap in smog from the Bay and farming chemicals causing days when it is recommended not to exercise outdoors. We are very much an outdoor family. So staying indoors when smoggy would be tough.

That being said we have several friends who have lived there and enjoyed it. So I know it can be a good quality of life. There are definitely enough positives aspects for us making it something worth considering at this stage of our lives.

And yes, that would mean leaving this. I just went paddleboarding today in Carmel:





Derek

Auburn and any of Sacto area after Monterey my good guess is going to be a shocker...

Air quality often gets worse with mild elevation gain as eastward winds push this stuff towards the foothills where it gets stuck and lingers. Commute from Auburn to the school in Sacramento isn't something I'd wish on anyone, it's a crazy road with dangerous driving even on Sunday when there's "no traffic". (after living in more peaceful conditions, without insane driving on 6 lane highways with speeding reckless drivers, one can't accept this kind of risk and stress for "commute", something is wrong and unacceptable with the kind of life requiring such "commute"). And you can see and smell the smog around there, it ain't "fog". I have asthma (from living in places like that before) and wouldn't spend any length of time there out of health concerns. Just look up American Lung Association ranking...anything you see in "Sacramento" will be up in the foothills right above. Winds blow East, and bad stuff hits the mountains and stays.

[janellen]

Auburn's air quality for 2017 was rated at 99% "good", .81% "moderate" and 00% unhealthful according to the state air quality information at Home Facts. I checked the yearly records going back to 2013 and they were all similar to the 2017 numbers. Auburn doesn't appear to have bad air.

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

Auburn, CA air quality report and information. Local air quality data for Auburn, California in Placer County.

[Chimérique]

Derek, You are not going to find a place with the kind of air quality you get in Monterey. Most moderate to large Metros have air quality issues, some worse than Sac. For example, Denver and SLC have pretty bad inversions both in the summer and winter. Phoenix has major dust storms and major allergy problems.

The air quality in LA and Inland Empire is by far worse than Sacramento.
The air quality in Fresno and Bakersfield is by far worse than Sacramento.

The Sacramento Metro is more than twice the size of the Fresno Metro and and near 3 times the size of Bakersfield, yet Sacramento’s air quality is twice as good.

So if the Fresno Metro was the same size as the Sacramento Metro, their air quality would be 4 times as bad. They would have 4 times the amount of bad air days.

[janellen]

You are spot on with the air quality stats Chimerique, however Sacramento is not twice the size of Fresno. Fresno is quite a bit larger than Sac. But, you're right, Fresno and Bakersfield have really bad air, especially during the summer inversion layer months. You're also correct about that marvelous Monterey air.

Doesn't Sac get periodic delta winds to clear/cool the air?

[Chimérique]

janellen,

Sacramento Metro Area - 2,567,451
Fresno Metro Area - 1,134,612

The land area of the city limits of Fresno covers more square miles than Sacramento (and Oakland, and Long Beach) and that is why Fresno's city limits population is larger, but the County and Metro population size of Fresno is much SMALLER as you can see above.

Yes, Sacramento sits in the direct path of ocean cooling from the Sacramento Delta-SF Bay so it is significant cooler and more comfortable summers weather than Fresno and Bakersfield.

[janellen]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

janellen,

Sacramento Metro Area - 2,567,451
Fresno Metro Area - 1,134,612

The land area of the city limits of Fresno covers more square miles than Sacramento (and Oakland, and Long Beach) and that is why Fresno's city limits population is larger, but the County and Metro population size of Fresno is much SMALLER as you can see above.

Yes, Sacramento sits in the direct path of ocean cooling from the Sacramento Delta-SF Bay so it is significant cooler and more comfortable summers weather than Fresno and Bakersfield.

Ah, I understand. Thanks for the correction. So where does it start getting so hot in the Central Valley.....Lodi, Modesto, Merced? How far south from Sac do you go before you hit all the 100 degree day summers?

I live snuggled up in the Sierra foothills in Porterville and I've noticed that we're about 2 degrees cooler here than in Bakersfield. Some summers are gawd awful and some are not bad at all. Just depends on the year. I'm pretty sick of the summers here and I could never afford the coast, so I've been checking out Sierra Vista, Arizona. Summers in the mid 80's and winters might have a light snow once in awhile, but it's usually gone in a day or two. High elevation bordering a national forest. Pretty area with decent amenities, low crime.

[Moddedintegra56]

if we are talking city vs city population fresno is in fact bigger than sacramento. Fresno is the 5th biggest city in CA while sac is 6th. But metro area sac is bigger

[dontbelievehim]

Sac is cooler than bakerafield and Fresno, but there are other valley cities that cool down about as much(stockton, lodi, merced, los banos, tracy, etc.). Marine layer isn't exclusive to sac. Also, even tho sac is cooler at night, it doesn't mean Fresno has a lot of hot nights.

For a typical Fresno summer, there's 5-10 really hot nights and the rest of the summer nights are nice to adequate. 5-10 nights where you can b**** about heat at night isn't a whole lot. Fresno at night is much cooler than Vegas, Tucson, and phx. Its even slightly cooler than redding and Bakersfield. (30 year average for August is 67 degrees.

August 30 year average
67 in Fresno
65 Boston, Massachusetts
65 los Angeles
67 in San diego!!
75 in Austin, texas

2017 was the summer from hell, there was more than 10 bad nights in Fresno, but I'm ignoring it until I see a trend. BTW, some scientists are predicting an earth cooldown(mini ice age) for the next few years

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by janellen

Ah, I understand. Thanks for the correction. So where does it start getting so hot in the Central Valley.....Lodi, Modesto, Merced? How far south from Sac do you go before you hit all the 100 degree day summers?

I live snuggled up in the Sierra foothills in Porterville and I've noticed that we're about 2 degrees cooler here than in Bakersfield. Some summers are gawd awful and some are not bad at all. Just depends on the year. I'm pretty sick of the summers here and I could never afford the coast, so I've been checking out Sierra Vista, Arizona. Summers in the mid 80's and winters might have a light snow once in awhile, but it's usually gone in a day or two. High elevation bordering a national forest. Pretty area with decent amenities, low crime.

There is nowhere in the Central Valley that is cool. It's actually the hottest in Redding, which is way up north. The heat gets stuck in the valley surrounded by mountains.

As far as finding areas in CA better than other states - that's easy. Just do your research. There are many reasons to stay in CA instead of moving to other states.

Just remember that any state that has any resources, must pay for them somehow. So, maybe they don't have an income tax or sales tax, but you can be sure there's a tax in there somewhere to pay for any amenities. And if there really aren't any taxes - then there won't be any amenities. You'll have to decide what you can live without.

There are a lot of other options within CA besides those that have been discussed so far.