Palo Alto, CA versus Bellevue, WA? Which wealthy suburb would you rate live in? (compared, place)
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I always see people compare San Jose or San Francisco with Seattle, but I never actually have witnessed anybody compare the two wealthy within the area (except on Reddit). Atherton and Menlo Park will be included into this comparison since they are also wealthy cities that share borders with Palo Alto, and they practically feel like one city. Anyways:
Weather-Palo Alto wins this one quite easily, and this is pretty much a no-brainer.
Crime rate-Bellevue actually isn't a safe city, so Palo Alto wins this one as well as it's a pretty safe city (if you exclude East Palo Alto). There is some questionable activity that goes on in the downtown area, however.
Jobs-If there is one city that makes Bellevue's unemployment rate look bad, it's actually Palo Alto's. The average salary might be higher as well, but you could actually get more bang for your buck in Bellevue, Washington. Palo Alto still wins, however.
Dining-Palo Alto is surprisingly filled with a ton of restaurants, with an extremely diverse selection in the downtown. I could easily say the same thing about Bellevue, however, so it's close enough for me to label it as a tie.
Transit-Both have solid public transportation, with Palo Alto having the Caltrain. In contrast, Bellevue is closer to a major airport than the first one is. I'd probably have to give this one to Bellevue.
Cost of living-Bellevue, Washington is extremely cheap compared to Palo Alto, so it obviously wins here.
Entertainment-In terms of entertainment, Palo Alto in it of itself doesn't actually have that much (besides a lot of shopping areas). Bellevue at least has some other stuff to do, like Parlor Live, so it wins there.
Schools-To do a comparison for colleges/universities and school districts-
Colleges/universities:
Bellevue-It does have Bellevue Community college, which is a decent school. You would have easy access to University of Washington as well, along with a couple of other schools. I'll say that it's a solid college town.
Palo Alto-I get that not everybody who lives there isn't going to be going to Stanford, but it has to be considered as it is a top college that most people dream of heading to. There are also plenty of other community colleges within driving distance that are decent, along with 2-3 universities (SFSU and SJSU).
Census: Obviously Palo Alto wins there.
Now for school districts:
Both have school districts that are top-tier, with the teaching being exceptional as well. I'd have to label this one as a tie.
Overall: Palo Alto wins here.
Downtown: Downtown Bellevue easily wins here.
Airports: Palo Alto wins here due to the close proximity to the San Francisco airport.
Overall: Due to me preferring the Seattle area, I'll go with Bellevue. Both cities do have their strengths and weaknesses, however.
Bellevue is a very very safe city. Palo Alto has a lower crime rate because it is even more exclusive and Bellevue has become a real city with towers, malls, night life, etc.
Palo Alto average house value is $2.6M....I just checked houses for sale in Palo Alto and it looks like the house I'm in now would cost me around $7M in Palo Alto. This has become an enclave exclusively for the rich and Bellevue still has some areas of upper middle class.
Palo wins on a much better climate, even better jobs and career opportunity if in tech and access to one of the world's premier university (for the very few who could be admitted there), Bellevue is prettier, costs much less, and has more available as a significantly larger city.
If my net worth was above about $15M, I would choose Palo Alto, otherwise I would choose Bellevue.
Sure, but Bellevue residents already commute by transit more than twice as much as Palo Alto residents per capita.
Actually I want to know what this means:
Means of Transportation to Work:
Palo Alto:
Drive Alone 64.1% Some other means 12.3%??<<
Worked from Home 8.9%
Carpool 5.9%
Public Transit 5.0%
Walked 3.8%
Bellevue:
Drive Alone: 64.7%
Public Transit 11.1%
Carpool 9.4%
Worked from Home 8.1%
Walked 5.5%
1 Bellevue still has more folks driving alone despite having twice as many transit users
2 'Some other means'?? Bicycle commuters at Stanford? Uber/Lyft? Airplanes? Helicopters? Corporate buses?
I work in Palo Alto and know of people who do all of the above. I myself will either take Lyft or a car service when I go down there...to drive between Oakland and Palo Alto daily and back would drive me bonkers. I used to do it and after a while I felt like a zombie so I bit the bullet and let someone else drive.
Great comparison. Here's a question, could a new Stanford Professor afford to buy a house there? No freakin way.
I will say that houses in Bellevue often go for well over list so that $1.8M might actually sell for over $2M....don't know if that's also the case in Palo Alto.
I'll stand by my comment that my decision favoring Bellevue would only change if my wealth exceeded about $15M.
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