Moving from Toronto, Canada to Los Angeles! (Santa Ana, Glendale: rent, home)

[Racer46]

Originally Posted by saibot

Oh, absolutely, but OP said there is an office in or near Irvine.

If so I would live in Irvine for sure.

[pank24]

Originally Posted by saibot

Oh, absolutely, but OP said there is an office in or near Irvine.

Correct there will be an option for Santa Monica or near Irvine.

[pank24]

Originally Posted by saybanana

Try niche. com . It does yearly rankings ratings of best school districts and schools.
I've looked over the LA and OC school districts. There are many good school districts to choose from. The more affluent, higher or more expensive an area often equates to good school districts. Though it is not always the case for different reasons. I think Pasadena city is a good example I hear. It is a nice mix of middle and upper class residents and also working class. But the school district is mediocre because the population of middle and up dont have many kids or none and likely to send them to private schools than the public school district. So the students in public are often more the working class backgrounds thus why it is more mediocre. This affects future families who desire better schools to seek elsewhere like South Pasadena, LA Canada, Arcadia or San marino cities attracts more families than childless or retirees. But these are residential suburbs cities than Pasadena which has major offices, industries along.
Burbank and Glendale cities are similar to Pasadena with tier income, but many send their kids to public than private thus their districts tend to be better rated.
Santa Monica Malibu school district has been quite popular and expensive for decades, thus working class family people have been pushed out. And thus families that can afford to live there find other students with families who share similar educational interests. Many coastal areas like Manhattan Beach city to Palos Verdes are similar. Affluent, educated family types.
Los angeles city being the big dense city lost these middle class and up families to these smaller independent cities. So the student population tends to be immigrant children or low income and education families. Richer families send kids to private school like kids from bel air. Or some are charter schools in nicer areas. Currently things are changing in LA with citywide gentrification as immisnd low income are slowly pushed out while young educated mostly childless people move in. Schools won't change overnight.
Niche com is one good site that and greatschool site, too. I think one site does breakdown things more like demographics, but not sure

Thanks @saybanana for your inputs.

[pank24]

Originally Posted by KemBro71

La Canada is great, but if you had to commute (eventually) to Santa Monica regularly you're going to REALLY hate life.

Quick google for directions gives 40 mins commute to Santa Monica. How bad will it be during rush hours? We've gotten used to 1hr commute here in Toronto, traffic here can be brutal most of the times to but LA is at whole different level I've heard.

[KemBro71]

Originally Posted by pank24

Quick google for directions gives 40 mins commute to Santa Monica. How bad will it be during rush hours? We've gotten used to 1hr commute here in Toronto, traffic here can be brutal most of the times to but LA is at whole different level I've heard.

Ignore google. Pre-COVID times could easily be 90-120 minutes, depending where in Santa Monica the destination is.

[pank24]

Originally Posted by KemBro71

Ignore google. Pre-COVID times could easily be 90-120 minutes, depending where in Santa Monica the destination is.

Oh boy! Thats a lot of time just commuting.

[Mossa]

Not to mention the environment around your office in Irvine might be much nicer and safer than around your office in Santa Monica.

[Ceece]

If your job is in Irvine then live in Irvine. It's better than SM IMO

[GoodVibesToAll]

Another area to look is the Rossmoor area (near Seal Beach and Los Alamitos) in Orange County. Excellent schools, family friendly, neighborly neighbors, and down to earth residents.

[url]//www.city-data.com/city/Rossmoor-California.html[/url]

[Toronto99]

Irvine will remind you of Markham/Richmond Hill