In between Sacramenton & Milpitas (San Jose, San Francisco: apartments, renting, buy)

[CYH]

My husband and I might both have a new job coming up shortly; but one will be in Sacramento and the other in Milpitas. We are thinking to find a place in the middle to live, to share the 60miles/one way driving distance for both of us. Is this a good idea? And is there any good cities to choose from in the middle? I did some rough search and found some considerable places, such as Pleasant Hill, Fairfield, or Tracy. Or if any one can suggest me any places to look for? (I think we will be renting 2 bedroom apartments, though).

[18Montclair]

If you must do that commute, there is no way to avoid traffic at all-well maybe driving to Sac in the morning until you get to Sac and then you'll deal with their traffic, which is pretty bad these days too, but evenings are hit and miss on the way back to the Bay Area except for weekends which are almost always busy. And as far as Milpitas, at least you wont be driving all the way into Santa Clara County, but traffic will be bad.

Fairfield is too far from San Jose(70 miles or so) imo traffic is very, very bad on 80, 680 and 880. To Sacramento its much easier most of the time, but 80 is never a guarantee...its not uncommon for traffic to back up at all times of the day both here and in Sacramento(a real b***h through Roseville)

Pleasant Hill traffic to San Jose is going to be a mess on 680 and then 880, but to Sac its okay for the most part except on 80 thru Fairfield and Vacaville-it can be very heavy at the Cordelia Junction and also youd have to cross a Bridge which can be very time consuming too.

Tracy traffic to Sac will be moderate but once you get to Elk Grove, traffic really bogs down-and then the drive to San Jose from Tracy over the 205, 580 and 680 freeways has been called the worst commute in the nation by the NYTimes.

How about this?
Live in Sacramento or Milpitas and the other person can take Amtrak. Buy a cheap commuter car that you can park near the station and when you get there, drive it to your job and in the evening, park it at the station and catch the train home. I did that for a while and it really worked out for me-at first I was driving from Granite Bay to Downtown San Francisco-after a while I thought I was going to lose my mind. Never again.

Just a suggestion, but Im sure others might provide better ideas!

Good Luck.

[quasi888]

If neither you nor your husband are willing to find jobs closer to each other (i.e. both in the Sacramento area or both in the South Bay area), then I like 18Montclair's idea of using Amtrak. I was doing the Amtrak commute from Roseville to Santa Clara a few times a week, for a few months (until my company shut down) and I enjoyed the ride. Pretty economical, too. Assuming your jobs will be 9-5ish, though, your days WILL be long. I was getting up at 4AM, and didn't get back till close to 8PM.

[KidBlue]

I had a friend that did the Amtrak commute from Napa to Sacramento for a couple of years and liked it too. She said the train is not very crowded so it was easy to read or do work on the way to work.

[Cellulose]

Tracy to Sacramento is actually quite pleasant if you can arrive in Sacramento after 8-8:30AM. Anything earlier and you're fighting Elk Grove traffic; you don't mention what part of Sacramento, but Elk Grove to nearly any other part of Sacramento is another 30 minutes.

Getting to the Bay Area from Tracy is ugly... Just the stretch from 205 to 680/580 (i.e. Dublin/Pleasanton) will probably take an hour in the morning. If you can leave for work after 9AM, then you have a better chance of having a low-stress, but long commute.

There are some commuter buses and trains that head out to San Jose that might make the commute tolerable. If you really wanted to live in the Tracy area, I would head out to the west-side of Livermore. That will let shorten the Milpitas commute by 30-45 minutes and only increase your Sacramento commute by about 15-20 minutes.

[DMenscha]

You could also look at Stockton or neighboring communities like Manteca. The Altamont express train runs from STK to SJ in the morning and has a stop in Fremont, not far from Milpitas. Many companies run shuttles from the train station.