Is Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles better than Palo Alto, Santa Clara in California? NorCal vs SoCal (San Francisco: living, oil refinery)

[ccm123]

Tough call - some of the best neighborhoods in the state.

For me, it would be Palo Alto, as I work in the tech industry. Years ago, I lived in Redondo Beach, which is the adjacent city to Manhattan Beach. Great neighborhood - safe, great weather, nice nightlife scene (Hermosa Beach bars, Manhattan Beach Downtown etc) and a great place to workout (I like to ride bikes and run.)

As others have mentioned, the only possible downside to Manhattan Beach is that potential employment centers (Downtown LA, Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley, etc.) are a long commute away.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

Before posters begin singing the praises of Manhattan Beach, which they always do, you should probably know that the city experiences cool or cold weather about 335 days per year, and that might even be a lowball estimate.

That is why people pay the big bucks to live there! If they want to suffer with heat they can get a big house in Rancho Cucamonga for a much lower price.

[ExoticLocales]

The COL is more expensive in Palo Alto. Does the amenities and QOL in Palo Alto go hand-in-hand with COL?

[NW4me]

Manhattan Beach is next door to an oil refinery.
I'd choose Redondo Beach or (better still) Palos Verdes.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by ExoticLocales

The COL is more expensive in Palo Alto. Does the amenities and QOL in Palo Alto go hand-in-hand with COL?

Palo Alto has arguably the highest quality of life in the entire state, if not country.

There is a nonprofit called Measure of America, and they came out with a list of California subgeographic areas based on quality of life measures like health, education, income, general well being.

Anyhow, the average score for the US was 5.07 out of 10, and here are their scores for the Top Areas in California:

One Percent California consists of the two neighborhood clusters that score 9 or above out of 10 on the HD Index; these neighborhoods are home to just under one in every one hundred Californians

Neighborhood clusters that score between 7 and 8.99 on the Index are Elite Enclave California; 15 percent of Californians are part of this group.


You will notice that the "Beach Cities" are also exceptionally high at 5th place and tops in SoCal-like I said earlier these areas are top tier regardless.

California's 1%
Rank/ Score/ Location
1 9.26 Palo Alto-Los Altos-Mountain View
2 9.26 Cupertino-Saratoga-Los Gatos

California's Elite Enclaves
Rank/ Score/ Location
3 8.96 San Ramon-Danville-Alamo
4 8.96 Walnut Creek-Lafayette-Orinda-Moraga
5 8.61 Redondo Beach-Manhattan Beach-Hermosa Beach
6 8.49 Calabasas-Agoura Hills-Malibu-Westlake Village
7 8.49 San Diego(Northwest-Del Mar Mesa)
8 8.42 Newport Beach-Aliso Viejo-Laguna Hills
9 8.38 Rancho Santa Margarita
10 8.24 Los Angeles(Pacific Palisades)
11 8.24 Palos Verdes Peninsula
12 8.18 Sunnyvale-San Jose(North)
13 8.13 Oakland(Hills) & Piedmont
14 8.10 Irvine City
15 8.03 San Mateo(South)-Half Moon Bay
16 7.99 San Diego(Northwest/San Dieguito) & Encinitas
17 7.97 San Diego(Northeast/Rancho Bernardo) & Poway
18 7.90 San Rafael-Mill Valley-Sausalito
19 7.75 Fremont City
20 7.75 Redwood City-San Carlos-Belmont
21 7.73 Santa Monica City
22 7.70 San Jose(Southwest-Almaden Valley)
23 7.69 San Francisco(Inner Sunset-Castro)
24 7.69 Livermore, Pleasanton & Dublin
25 7.58 San Gabriel Valley Region(North)
26 7.57 Los Angeles(Southwest/Marina Del Rey & Westchester) & Culver City
27 7.51 San Francisco(Sunset District)
28 7.51 San Francisco(North Beach/Chinatown)
29 7.50 Concord(South)-Walnut Creek(East) & Clayton
30 7.48 Berkeley-Albany
31 7.47 San Jose(Northwest) & Santa Clara
32 7.39 San Francisco(Richmond District)
33 7.36 West Hollywood-Beverly Hills
34 7.34 Carlsbad City
35 7.29 Thousand Oaks City
36 7.25 San Jose(West Central) & Campbell
37 7.23 Los Angeles(West Central/Westwood/West LA)
38 7.21 Mission Viejo & Rancho Santa Margarita
39 7.07 Long Beach(East)

This is from 2015 by the way, but I doubt much has changed although an update would be nice.
https://measureofamerica.org/california2014-15/

and yes it is very expensive, Los Altos Hills, right next to Palo Alto, had the nation's first $100 Million home sale way back in 2012, when a Russian tech billiionaire named Yuri Milner laid down US roots there.

High tech is king on the Peninsula and Palo Alto is the center of it, as a result, the immediate Palo Alto area is home to about 30 billionaires including Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin etc., and tens of thousands of millionaires, all jockeying for little ranch style houses.

And that might sound impressive to out-of-state, but Manhattan Beach is also very very expensive and has it's own list of rich residents.

As far as amenities, Palo Alto has one of the world's top universities, one of the nation's top hospitals, a long list of excellent restaurants, a vibrant downtown area, excellent schools(and I mean par excellence) including many of the best privates in the country, one of the top shopping malls in the state with boutiques like Hermes and Cartier, the area has a ton of outdoor recreation nearby, and has really really nice weather.

Again, this is all a matter of personal taste.

[ccm123]

There’s a report called “A Portrait of California” which studied human development in the state and quantified this by designating numerical scores using the HDI (Human Development Index), which essentially measures well being in the state (education levels, life expectancy, per capita income.)

Palo Alto (and surrounding neighborhoods) was at the top, and edged out Manhattan Beach only slightly. No knock against Manhattan Beach, it’s a city with high HDI and QOL. HDI is closely related to QOL.

See page 24::

http://ssrc-static.s3.amazonaws.com/...ifornia_vF.pdf

[TimTheEnchanter]

Manhattan Beach has better surfing. I will give Palo Alto the edge in education. Stanfurd is a little bit better than Mira Costa High School.

[Howest2008]

Palo Alto is not on the ocean.....

[saybanana]

Jobs are spread out in LA, but many high paid jobs in aerospace are were located in nearby El Segundo and others
Companies, Rocketdyne, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, SpaceX, . Many top engineers likely lived in the south bay like Manhattan Beach. But these days, it attracts just anyone that can afford $2+ million homes. A lot of professional athletes live there. But not really the Hollywood A crowd.

I thought maybe Bel Air Westwood UCLA and Palo Alto is a better comparison. Both upscale university areas and surroundings , not at the beach.

[TimTheEnchanter]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Palo Alto has arguably the highest quality of life in the entire state, if not country. There is a nonprofit called Measure of America, and they
California's 1%
Rank/ Score/ Location
1 9.26 Palo Alto-Los Altos-Mountain View
2 9.26 Cupertino-Saratoga-Los Gatos

California's Elite Enclaves

8 8.42 Newport Beach-Aliso Viejo-Laguna Hills;

There is a nonprofit called Measure of America, and they.... are clearly idiots. Only someone sitting in an office in Brooklyn NY would lump Newport Beach with Aliso Viejo and Laguna Hills as an "Elite Enclave". A more realistic area would isolate inland areas from coastal areas. The geography matters, especially the coastal hills.