Kirkland, WA vs. Burlingame, CA

[Vincent_Adultman]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

I would assert that Kirkland is closer to Redwood City than Burlingame as far as being upscale.

Lynnwood and Renton are not really in this conversation.

Median household income (in 2020 dollars), 2016-2020:
Burlingame, CA $138,344
Redwood City, CA $123,294
Kirkland, WA $116,595
Renton, WA $79,824
Lynnwood, WA $62,926

Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2020 dollars), 2016-2020:
Burlingame, CA $78,987
Kirkland, WA $64,268
Redwood City, CA $61,909
Renton, WA $40,594
Lynwood, WA $32,354

Persons in poverty, percent:
Burlingame, CA 3.9%
Kirkland, WA 6.4%
Redwood City, CA 7.6%
Renton, WA 8.1%
Lynnwood, CA 13.9%

I mean, I get what youre trying to say, but anywhere in the 650 area code south of the airport is going to overperform in these stats, regardless as to if some areas in a town has middle class immigrant areas that some might call grittier, which I readily own is the case in RC, but that hasnt deterred the influx of monied folks. The higher elevations of Redwood City are actually super desirable as they border Woodside(i.e. billionaires+acerage).

Anyway I think you mean Kirkland is more of the upscale American ideal, which I can totally agree with.

That's fair. I'll admit I have a hard time deciphering the landscape of a lot of those Peninsula towns. They're very upscale, but some of them have areas that feel a bit grittier and more modest in terms of housing than you'd expect. I've been to parts of Redwood City and San Mateo that felt very working-class Hispanic.

In any case, maybe Walnut Creek would have been a better comparison for the OP to make to Kirkland, although I think downtown Walnut Creek is larger than Kirkland's and Burlingame's.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by Vincent_Adultman

That's fair. I'll admit I have a hard time deciphering the landscape of a lot of those Peninsula towns. They're very upscale, but some of them have areas that feel a bit grittier and more modest in terms of housing than you'd expect. I've been to parts of Redwood City and San Mateo that felt very working-class Hispanic.

In any case, maybe Walnut Creek would have been a better comparison for the OP to make to Kirkland, although I think downtown Walnut Creek is larger than Kirkland's and Burlingame's.

Yes, in fact I have always compared Kirkland to Walnut Creek, Sammamish to Lafayette (have lived in both).

[18Montclair]

The Bay Area has a lot of areas that could compare actually. Here is an excerpt from a thread I recently posted in the CA forum.

Measure of America is a think tank that you can google, anyway they compile data for all 50 states and they create a ranking based on quality of life.

Speaking of Walnut Creek and the East Bay, in the latest ranking of 'neighborhood clusters', 3 of ths top 6 are in the East Bay, AND the San Ramon-Danville-Alamo cluster has surpassed both Palo Alto and Cupertino to rank 1st in the state, which is amazing if you know the perceived pecking order in the Bay Area. Lol.

Burlingame ranks 12th, Redwood City comes in at 16th.

Originally Posted by Measure of America 2021: 9 Million Californians Live in 62 Elite Enclaves

This is an updated version of a report that this think tank first put together 7 years ago.

They look at basic human development statistics: Life Expectancy, Educational Attainment, Health Care, Income, etc.

San Ramon-Danville has surpassed both Mt View-Palo Alto-Los Altos and Cupertino-Saratoga-Los Gatos to claim the #1 spot in the entire state.

Pacific Palisades and Piedmont-Oakland Hills have the fastest rising scores since 2015, both moving into the top 10 since 2015, and 2 of the 4 new clusters in the Top 1%.

2021 One Percent California: Human Development Score, 9.00 or Higher
Population: 906,214
Rank/Neighborhood Cluster(County)
1 San Ramon & Danville(Contra Costa)
2 Mountain View, Palo Alto & Los Altos(Santa Clara)
3 West Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Orinda & Moraga(Contra Costa)
4 Cupertino, Saratoga & Los Gatos(Santa Clara)
5 Pacific Palisades(Los Angeles)
6 Piedmont & Oakland Hills(Alameda)

2021 Elite Enclave California, Human Development Score, 7.14-8.94
Population: 8,083,082
7 Rancho Santa Margarita & Ladera Ranch(Orange)
8 Del Mar Mesa(San Diego)
9 Newport Beach, Aliso Viejo & Laguna Hills
10 Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach & Hermosa Beach(Los Angeles)
11 Encinitas & San Dieguito(San Diego)
12 North San Mateo, Burlingame & Millbrae(San Mateo)
13 South San Mateo & Half Moon Bay(San Mateo)
14 Livermore, Pleasanton & Dublin(Alameda0
15 Central Irvine(Orange)
16 Redwood City, San Carlos & Belmont(San Mateo)
17 Fremont(Alameda)
18 Sunnyvale & North San Jose(Santa Clara)
19 Northwest San Jose & Santa Clara(Santa Clara)
20 Richmond District(San Francisco)
21 Southwest San Jose: Almaden Valley(Santa Clara)
22 Culver City & City of Los Angeles: Marina del Rey & Westchester(Los Angeles)
23 West Central San Jose & Campbell(Santa Clara)
24 Palos Verdes Peninsula(Los Angeles)
25 Santa Monica(Los Angeles)
26 North Beach & Chinatown(San Francisco)
27 Milpitas & Northeast San Jose(Santa Clara)
28 Calabasas, Agoura Hills & Westlake Village(Los Angeles)
29 San Gabriel Valley Region(Los Angeles)
30 Inner Mission & Castro(San Francisco)
31 South San Rafael, Mill Valley & Sausalito(Marin)
32 North Sunset District(San Francisco)
33 Menlo Park, East Palo Alto & Atherton(San Mateo)
34 Union City, Newark & West Fremont(Alameda)
35 West Hollywood & Beverly Hills(Los Angeles)
36 Poway and San Diego: Rancho Bernardo(San Diego)
37 Cambrian Park & South Central San Jose: Branham(Santa Clara)
38 Berkeley & Albany(Alameda)
39 South of Market & Portrero(San Francisco)
40 Novato & North San Rafael(Marin)
41 South Concord, East Walnut Creek & Clayton(Contra Costa)
42 Westwood & West Los Angeles(Los Angeles)
42 Thousand Oaks(Ventura)
44 Lake Forest, North Irvine & Silverado(Orange)
45 South Sunset District(San Francisco)
46 Torrance(Los Angeles)
47 San Diego: Centra Coastal(San Diego)
48 Mission Viejo & West Rancho Santa Margarita(Orange)
49 Chula Vista East(San Diego)
50 Carlsbad(San Diego)
51 Southeast San Jose: Evergreen(Santa Clara)
52 Folsom, Orangevale & East Fair Oaks(Sacramento)
53 Arcadia, San Gabriel & Temple City(Los Angeles)
54 Pasadena(Los Angeles)
55 East Long Beach(Los Angeles)
56 San Clemente, Laguna Niguel & San Juan Capistrano(Orange)
57 Hancock Park & Mid-Wilshire(Los Angeles)
58 North Richmond, Hercules & El Cerrito(Contra Costa)
59 Northwest San Jose(Santa Clara)
60 Rocklin, Lincoln & Loomis(Placer)
61 Diamond Bar, La Habra Heights & Rowland Heighs(Los Angeles)
62 San Leandro, Alameda & Southwest Oakland(Alameda)

An excerpt on California's top 1%:

An opportunity wonderland
where the extraordinarily well educated and
affluent have access to the best the world has to
offer, One Percent California scores 9.31 on the
HDI. Residents of One Percent California enjoy
higher levels of well-being and greater access
to opportunity than people almost anywhere
else in the United States.

About the tier just below the top 1%

Elite Enclave California is made up of fifty-six
neighborhood clusters found almost entirely
in greater San Francisco, San Jose, Los
Angeles, and San Diego; in addition, one
lies in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks and two in
greater Sacramento. The roughly eight million
people—one in five state residents—who call
Elite Enclave California home have extremely
high levels of well-being. Their score of
8.15 is higher than the well-being score of
every US state and all but one of the country’s
435 congressional districts.

So I'm certain Kirkland and environs would place somewhere among this really long list of elite California locales.