California Cities (San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco: condo, low crime, townhouse)

[thomp631]

Hello there. Im looking to make a move to Cali sometime in the near future. I dont have an exact location in mind but my main reason for moving from Michigan is the nice weather. So please help me out if you know a city in Cali that fits these requirements
I prefer

• to live in a suburban town or at least a quiet area in the city (no specific city in mind yet)
• low crime rates
• to pay around 1200/mo or less for a one bedroom (aparment/house/condo/townhouse)
• warm weather
• an area with some sort of night life (doesnt have to be the popular clubs or whatever just a city that doesnt close at sundown)
• a mixed community with minimal racism and prejudice (its sad that I even need to say that)

I guess thats about it. Please help me out. I will have a job just about anywhere so long as its not an extremely rural area, its all about finding the city to relocate to.

P.S. I dont need a beach very close by and a little traffic is not a big issue.

Thanks for ANY help!

[rubyskye]

Originally Posted by thomp631

Hello there. Im looking to make a move to Cali sometime in the near future. I dont have an exact location in mind but my main reason for moving from Michigan is the nice weather. So please help me out if you know a city in Cali that fits these requirements
I prefer

• to live in a suburban town or at least a quiet area in the city (no specific city in mind yet)
• low crime rates
• to pay around 1200/mo or less for a one bedroom (aparment/house/condo/townhouse)
• warm weather
• an area with some sort of night life (doesnt have to be the popular clubs or whatever just a city that doesnt close at sundown)
• a mixed community with minimal racism and prejudice (its sad that I even need to say that)

I guess thats about it. Please help me out. I will have a job just about anywhere so long as its not an extremely rural area, its all about finding the city to relocate to.

P.S. I dont need a beach very close by and a little traffic is not a big issue.

Thanks for ANY help!

California is a huge and diverse state.
What kind of nice weather do you want? Hot?, dry?, humid?, you want rain?, never rain?, you want ocean?, mountains?, desert?, etc.?
In contemplating a move to California i'd say either depend mainly on your intuition and just "go with your gut" and take a leap or get really clear and specific and practical regarding what you're wanting.
And what is a "city" to you? How large? L.A.? San Francisco?
I'm just trying to get you to hone in on your criteria so you can get better feed-back.
Also, i don't know about anyone else but that font is really difficult to read ... at least for me but i think i need glasses.

[tangodoodles]

Well, San Diego comes to mind but if you answer rubyskye's questions I'll have a better idea.

[thomp631]

Originally Posted by rubyskye

California is a huge and diverse state.
What kind of nice weather do you want? Hot?, dry?, humid?, you want rain?, never rain?, you want ocean?, mountains?, desert?, etc.?
In contemplating a move to California i'd say either depend mainly on your intuition and just "go with your gut" and take a leap or get really clear and specific and practical regarding what you're wanting.
And what is a "city" to you? How large? L.A.? San Francisco?
I'm just trying to get you to hone in on your criteria so you can get better feed-back.
Also, i don't know about anyone else but that font is really difficult to read ... at least for me but i think i need glasses.

Sorry about the font, i dont know how to change it now Anyways, I want mild weather, not the -20 degree winters and 99 degree summers that I have to deal with in MI-and I want NO SNOW for the most part. I dont mind rain at all. I dont need to be close to an ocean but preferably within driving distance (like under an hour). Im not an adventurous person so I dont need the mountains or hiking trails although Im not opposed. I havent started any solid research yet, i figured Id get some suggestions first before i got started. Im from Detroit pop. 894,000 so I dont mind a big city (or even bigger than Detroit) but I would love the quietness of the suburbs pop 40,000 or less. It doesnt matter.

[the city]

Nipomo, Santa Maria, and Fresno are my favorites.

[tangodoodles]

Originally Posted by thomp631

Sorry about the font, i dont know how to change it now Anyways, I want mild weather, not the -20 degree winters and 99 degree summers that I have to deal with in MI-and I want NO SNOW for the most part. I dont mind rain at all. I dont need to be close to an ocean but preferably within driving distance (like under an hour). Im not an adventurous person so I dont need the mountains or hiking trails although Im not opposed. I havent started any solid research yet, i figured Id get some suggestions first before i got started. Im from Detroit pop. 894,000 so I dont mind a big city (or even bigger than Detroit) but I would love the quietness of the suburbs pop 40,000 or less. It doesnt matter.

Yeah, I think I'm going to stick with San Diego. It has a quiet, laid-back atmosphere for such a large city. Plus, being in a larger cities offers more job opportunities. Also, I think it's a good place to settle down. There are plenty of quiet, affordable (for California) neighborhoods within 30 minutes of the city.

[rubyskye]

Originally Posted by thomp631

Sorry about the font, i dont know how to change it now Anyways, I want mild weather, not the -20 degree winters and 99 degree summers that I have to deal with in MI-and I want NO SNOW for the most part. I dont mind rain at all. I dont need to be close to an ocean but preferably within driving distance (like under an hour). Im not an adventurous person so I dont need the mountains or hiking trails although Im not opposed. I havent started any solid research yet, i figured Id get some suggestions first before i got started. Im from Detroit pop. 894,000 so I dont mind a big city (or even bigger than Detroit) but I would love the quietness of the suburbs pop 40,000 or less. It doesnt matter.

Better font.
Well, you have quite a few options.
But if you don't want the heat, you're probably going to need to be close to the coast or (from my perspective ... more northern CA) in the foothills of the Sierra where it is hot as well but not blistering hot. The center of the state gets hot, hot, hot in the summer.
Even San Jose (for example) which is just over the hills from Santa Cruz (under an hour) is really hot and polluted in the summer.
And the Sierra are wonderful but you don't want the snow. And they get loads of it!
I'm in Santa Cruz. It may suit you. It has the advantage of many quiet and rural and semi-rural places to live (as well as more suburban like neighborhoods) but it's a happening place too with most everything you need within easy distance and also it's just about 2 hours (or less) south of San Francisco.
Take your time and gather all the facts and then, follow your Heart.
Good luck. Happy Trails.

[CA central coast]

San Luis Obispo, trust me.

[sav858]

San Diego pretty fits all of your criteria. Along with San Jose, it is one of the safest big cities in America and SD is actually the safest city in America with more than one million people.

Plenty of suburban areas to live in, even close to the city center. SD isn't known for being urban really.

Plenty of 1 bedrooms for $1200 or less, even within a mile of the beach. I'm 8 blocks from the ocean in Pacific Beach and a one bedroom on my street is asking $975.

SD has an ideal climate to most people, it's almost always a comfortable temperature and you can be outside year round. Along the coast it's mild, not warm, not cold, but just mild. Basically it's the 60's and 70's most of the year. If you want slightly warmer then you can head inland where it's 70's and 80's most of the year.

plenty of nightlife in certain areas.

Mixed, diverse population. Californians tend to be pretty open minded overall.

[thomp631]

Originally Posted by sav858

If you want slightly warmer then you can head inland where it's 70's and 80's most of the year.

Thanks so much for your input. First of all, where do u stay if you dont mind me asking or could you give me a few places in the area to look at? Also what is meant my "inland" Im sorry Im not familiar with the area and Im unsure if that means inland SD or other cities that are more inland.