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Lived in Fairfax for a bit (job training program) and have worked in Santa Clara (lived in San Mateo and then San Francisco).
Santa Clara has the city of San Jose within it, which makes it far and away more urban. Fairfax's transit is better between cities in the county (thanks to the Orange and Silver DC Metro lines) but Santa Clara's bus coverage is probably better. It's just a more consistently developed area --- Fairfax is more like a bunch of separate towns connected by roads.
Santa Clara's crime rates are probably higher (while still below average especially for an urban area).
As for diversity, Santa Clara has more Asians and is one of the most Asian counties not in Hawaii (if not the most). Fairfax has more blacks. Hispanics, probably an edge to Santa Clara. Socioeconomically, Santa Clara probably has more extremes in both directions.
Fairfax is significantly more affordable. When I was looking at rents in Santa Clara, even in the shabbier, more isolated parts of east/northeast San Jose I wasn't seeing much under $2000.
Health, probably a wash. I'd guess Santa Clara has a slightly higher life expectancy just because coastal CA always does well on that, but we're talking about two counties probably in the top 5%.
Can't really speak on job market but the Bay Area is obviously the bigger tech center. But if I were starting out in tech now, I might look more towards the DC area, just because of all the Big Tech layoffs in the Bay/Seattle which has caused a huge over-supply of local job candidates in those places. I had to accept a pretty "meh" job offer in the Seattle area after I was laid off in the Bay --- who knows how long this job market'll last, though.
Location-wise, CA is better if you like national/state parks and forests, DC is better for access to other cities and anything historical. Although I maintain that SF is still a very cool place to have access to and live in/near, COVID or no COVID.
All in all, I'd probably pick Santa Clara right now, mostly because of the density and feeling less white-picket-fence-y as a whole. If I had job offers in either county, it'd be a tougher pick, because DC/Arlington is cooler than any of the places within similar distances of Santa Clara (which SF and Oakland/Berkeley are not).
Note: when I'm thinking about Santa Clara county I'm thinking of the Silicon Valley suburbs, not San Jose proper. I feel like that comparison is more apples to apples with Fairfax.
If money is no object I definitely like Santa Clara county better. I think the only thing I'd say is superior about Fairfax is that Arlington and Alexandria are better than the "downtowns" in Santa Clara county, and Fairfax definitely has easier access to DC than Santa Clara does to SF. (Santa Clara access to San Jose is okay, but.. meh).
However, Santa Clara county is just absurdly expensive. Someone with a good income can still afford a nice decently sized house in Fairfax and that is not the case at all in Santa Clara. Given that I would rather live in Fairfax personally. Life in Santa Clara would just be too cramped for my family.
As far as the criteria:
Safety - Santa Clara and Fairfax both seem super safe and suburban to me. DC and SF is kind of a tie also I guess. (DC has worse bad parts but SF has worse good parts thanks to the homeless).
Income - both are good nationally but Santa Clara county is on another level to the rest of the county here. Not even close.
Climate - Santa Clara, obviously.
Health - Not sure what this means but you would think both are fine. Santa Clara's climate is better for being active.
Diversity - Santa Clara is more ethically diverse for sure, but I find it boring how everyone works in tech. No offense but neither of these places have particularly interesting people. This is corporate (/ in Fairfax's case government bureaucracy) rat race all the way.
Location - Fairfax is a better location for city people, Santa Clara is better for outdoors people. I prefer Santa Clara's location because of the climate, but if you exclude that give me Fairfax for sure.
Job market - again, Silicon Valley is on another level than anywhere else in the USA on this front.
Last edited by whereiend; 09-04-2023 at 12:51 PM..
Santa Clara county is nice but so over priced. Fairfax offers more overall especially when price is factored in.
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