Family/Dog Friendly and Walkable South SF (Oakland, Berkeley: safe neighborhoods, school districts)

[flopflip]

Hello everybody-

My wife already works from home, and shortly I will be doing the same at my job which will free us up to live anywhere in the country. Heard lots of great things about the SF area but the enrollment policy gamble in the public school system has us looking outside the unified school district (we have a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old).

Can anyone recommend some safe neighborhoods with young families and good schools where the admission is based solely on your residence?

Those are the only absolute requirements- the wish list includes an area that is walkable (not too suburban), dog friendly, and has decent access to public transportation.

I’d prefer not to focus on housing costs even if it’s one of the biggest factors. I really just want to hear your opinions on the different neighborhoods, I can decide from there what is feasible and what isn’t.

Thanks so much for taking the time to help us out

[twins4lynn]

Originally Posted by flopflip

Hello everybody-

My wife already works from home, and shortly I will be doing the same at my job which will free us up to live anywhere in the country. Heard lots of great things about the SF area but the enrollment policy gamble in the public school system has us looking outside the unified school district (we have a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old).

Can anyone recommend some safe neighborhoods with young families and good schools where the admission is based solely on your residence?
Those are the only absolute requirements- the wish list includes an area that is walkable (not too suburban), dog friendly, and has decent access to public transportation.

I’d prefer not to focus on housing costs even if it’s one of the biggest factors. I really just want to hear your opinions on the different neighborhoods, I can decide from there what is feasible and what isn’t.

Thanks so much for taking the time to help us out

There are many good school districts on the peninsula (Millbrae, Burlingame, Belmont, San Carlos) however assignment to your local district school will be based upon space availability. Once enrollment in a particular grade exceeds capacity, students are assigned to another district school (which, for the above school districts, would also be an excellent school....just not the school down the street). San Carlos also has a lottery system for kindy enrollment (best to look at their website for info).

[mayorhaggar]

Not sure what you mean by "South SF." I don't think there is anywhere that is super walkable that has good schools, generally anywhere fairly urban like SF, Oakland or Berkeley have largely iffy or bad schools. Many Peninsula towns have good schools but are pretty suburban and you'll need a car, but generally they have a small downtown area that is walkable and has several shops and restaurants in a central location. Check out the BART and Caltrain map for if you want to ride public transit to SF, BART is more convenient but only goes as far south as Millbrae.

The East Bay has towns that would fit your bill too, places like Lafayette/Moraga/Orinda and the Walnut Creek area but again they're suburban, but BART is a lot more extensive in the East Bay than on the Peninsula. Albany comes to mind as a fairly dense, older suburb with a good school district, it's not super walkable but does have a small downtown and is next to Berkeley. Alameda could work too but the schools don't have as good a reputation as Albany.

[flopflip]

thanks for the replies!