Modesto vs Visalia (San Francisco, Sacramento, Napa: ski resort, crime, established neighborhood)

[Ellie1979]

Hi y'all,
I've been offered two positions in California: one in Modesto and one in Visalia.

Salaries/work environments are similar, so the decision will most likely come down to quality of life outside of work.

I'm looking for a safe area with modern conveniences. School systems are not important. I enjoy road biking so proximity to bike friendly roadways/paths would be awesome.

Your thoughts and opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

[BeauCharles]

Modesto is in a much better location. Visalia is a nice valley town no doubt, but its smaller and more isolated farther down in the San Joaquin Valley. Its fairly close to King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, but Modesto is closer to Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, the Bay Area, Sacramento, the Wine Country (Napa/Sonoma). You can get from Modesto to San Francisco in 90 minutes in good traffic (like on the weekends). Again, its in a much better spot. If you want a safe area there are a couple of towns a short distance from Modesto that are pretty nice - Oakdale and Escalon. If you want to stay in the city the north side of Modesto is where you'll want to look. The La Loma area east of downtown is a pretty, well established neighborhood though.

[dontbelievehim]

Visalia is the better city, but modesto is in a better location.
I'd pick visalia if I were you. Edit: as for biking: ive been told that visalia has a lot of bike trails for a city its size. And ive heard from somewhere that visalia has plans to open a new park near that city that is supposed to be filled with trails. [Ask visalia reddit for confirmation]

Anyways, visit them both before you decide. Don't just listen to us.

[evening sun]

I agree on visiting them both & decide for yourself.

[BeauCharles]

Originally Posted by dontbelievehim

Visalia is the better city, but modesto is in a better location.
I'd pick visalia if I were you. Edit: as for biking: ive been told that visalia has a lot of bike trails for a city its size. And ive heard from somewhere that visalia has plans to open a new park near that city that is supposed to be filled with trails. [Ask visalia reddit for confirmation]

Anyways, visit them both before you decide. Don't just listen to us.

There isn't a dime's worth of difference in architecture, amenities or demographic composition between the two. Modesto just has 80,000 more people.

[Ellie1979]

Thanks for the input! Y'all are awesome.

[Moddedintegra56]

modesto is better location but visalia is better city.

Notice the talks from some people here about why modesto is better? Because it relies on other cities. should that be something to be proud of?

it can't self sustain it's own. a good population there commute to the bay area for jobs.

visalia as a city is generally happy and you dont see them saying our city is nice because its close to this city that we have to lean on for anything and everything like a lot of cities do
Visalia ranked among happiest places in the USA

modesto is close to sac, while visalia is close to fresno and bakersfield--the 5th and 9th biggest cities in ca. but you dont see them leaning on those bigger cities like modesto does saying how close they are to sac or the bay

Visalia is not just fairly close its REALLY CLOSE, to kings and sequoia. only other somewhat relevant city that you can argue that is porterville and porterville is not much. its not tahoe but they also have access to snow and ski resort in china peak which is 2 hours.

[janellen]

Since you asked about safety, according to city data, Visalia has only half the crime Modesto does.

[BeauCharles]

Originally Posted by janellen

Since you asked about safety, according to city data, Visalia has only half the crime Modesto does.

Live in Oakdale or Escalon. They have less crime than Visalia per capita. Or better still Ripon just up Hwy 99 from Modesto. It has vastly less crime per capita. All three are super easy commutes of 15-20 minutes. There are so many more options for nice small "home towns" north of Modesto than Visalia doesn't have. It one spends any time in Stanislaus County vs. Tulare County it would be an easy decision to make. Modesto area is better.

[WizardOfRadical]

I'd pick Modesto and live in Ripon/Escalon/Oakdale.

Visalia is nice, but it is deep in the Valley and isolated. Think hardcore middle of no where. If not used to it, you could find the area very boring.