Living in Eureka on 35-40k/year? (Los Angeles, Oakland: apartments, to rent)

[EurekaPerson]

Good morning!

I will interview soon for a position in Eureka, and I was wondering if it is possible to live comfortably in the area on 35-40k/year (before state and federal income tax of course). That figure would be my salary; additional income from my fiance's work would be forthcoming, but not yet determined. We are not looking to buy, only rent (house or apartment - whatever works).

We understand that southern Eureka, and actually much of the city itself, are not ideal places to live for people who do not want to live in a part of down that is run down or dangerous. Could we live decently in the northern parts of town, or in a place like Myrtletown or Cutten, on that salary? Keep in mind that we are recently graduated, so our standards are not incredibly high - but we won't live in a run down dangerous part of town.

Ideally, we would like to rent in an area that is 1) safe to take a walk outside 2) not overrun with Eureka's famous meth heads and 3) has housing that is not moldy or old/run down in other highly unpleasant ways

Also - I have read a lot of people describing parts of the area as "old-fashioned redneck". I associate this term with racial prejudice. Is the area welcoming to people with non-white backgrounds?

Thanks!

[TheDragonslayer]

There are some nice areas of Eureka, not all of the town is crime ridden. I really have not found a part of Eureka that scares me one bit, but I lived in the heart of Oakland for a few years. Apartments go for as low as $600 to $800 a month for a 2 bedroom. Cutten and Myrtletown are nice communities adjacent to Eureka, but can be pricey. Eureka has the largest variety of architecture styles from Victorian on up. It also has a shopping mall and several shopping centers.

[EurekaPerson]

Dragonslayer - Thanks for your reply. I've read a lot of your responses and they have all been helpful.

The reviews on this site tend to be in stark contrast to the ones that I found here: Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed, link removed

I don't know what explains the huge discrepancy

Would you mind naming one or two main roads that are in some of the nicer parts of Eureka just so that I can get oriented? And is the general area near the intersection of Myrtle Ave & Redwood Hwy relatively nice compared to other areas?

Thanks again.

[TheDragonslayer]

If you are on Myrtle Ave, it runs into 4th and 5th which are part of 101. Myrtle Ave. intersect with S street and Harrison Ave., Both of those lead to Harris street and Henderson street. Henderson street takes you back to Broadway/101. Henderson is one way west from Henderson center near H street and Harris is one way east bound from Broadway to Near Henderson center. There is the Old Eureka mall on Harris that has a Winco, Staples, Michaels, Block buster video and a few other small business's. I think there is also a Rays or Safeway there too. H street is one way towards Harris and I street heads one way back to 4th and 5th/ 101. These are pretty much the important cross town streets to remember. I used to get lost every time I hit Henderson or Harris or Harrison, I would get all turned around. Harris has a large water tower painted blue that is a good landmark. We can even see it here from parts of McKinleyville which is 12 miles north. If you want to take a nice drive to Arcata, but want to avoid 101, take Myrtle to the end and it becomes Old Arcata road and goes all the way to Arcata. It is a nice 2 lane road through several small communities and farms. Hope this helps you out.

Martin

[EurekaPerson]

Thanks again for taking the time to respond. I have one more question about the area for you (or anyone else) if you don't mind. And that is...

What is with the rape statistics? Does anyone have any insight here? The rape stats blow away the national average, the average of college towns across the country, New York City, Los Angeles, and even beats out Oakland by a decent margin.

Is that kind of stuff generally confined to a certain part of town? Is the wife using the public transit system a bad idea? We know that Eureka has its issues, but the rape numbers are a serious anomaly in every way. Could it be related to the local prison?

Thanks a lot, and with that I think I've covered all my bases

[TheDragonslayer]

I do not know of the rape statistics, but I do not read about it much in the local papers. Eureka has the county jail, we do not have a prison here, the closest prison is Pelican bay prison in Crescent City and that is 69 miles north of McKinleyville. Eureka is somewhat redneck, but not as much so as Fortuna or Ferndale. I believe that anglo saxons aka white people, make up somewhere near 92 percent of the county. The largest majority of minorities here are made up of local American aborigine tribes and hispanics. There are a lot of Portuguese here too. There are a few run down areas of Eureka, but it is not really that bad. Much of Eureka is quite nice. I think it is much safer to walk about here than in some of more populated areas of California. I used to walk all over Oakland and I am about as white as you can get; red hair and freckles and I do not ever feel threatened or intimidated here. Our local transit is not that great, but it does go from one end of the Humboldt bay area to Trinidad which is 20 miles north of Eureka and Scotia which is about 30 miles south. Incidences of rape occur more often in Arcata; college town, so that kind of makes sense. Cutten and Myrtle town should be able to accommodate you with you income.