Safe Bay Area cities for a single, young-professional female to live? (San Jose: apartments, crime rate)

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by sustainovation

Also, Oakland is by no stretch of the imagination safe.

Translation: "I have never been to Oakland and don't know what I'm talking about."

And I'm sure living in San Jose without a car is fine if you never want to leave the downtown core. Berkeley, Oakland and SF are just a lot denser overall than SJ and have a lot more things to do that are more accessible without a car.

[gnomatic]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

San Jose blows, the downtown is ok but outside of it it's endless suburban sprawl.

Is that really necessary? There are other areas outside of downtown San Jose that are nice (Japantown, Campbell, Rose Garden), just as there are nice areas in Oakland (which you tout in every post).

It IS possible to live in SJ without a car, I did so in North SJ for nearly 10 years as a single professional female. You can get around easily with a bike too. How convenient or walkable it is depends largely on what you are used to and where you work.

[jade408]

OP: I have serveral friends who live in Berkeley and Oakland who are both car-less and license-less. Several neighbors of mine as well. (I live in the Piedmont Ave area of Oakland) They get around fine. After SF, Berkeley and Oakland are the best bets. The places that aren't accessible via frequent transit are generally largely residential areas way up in the hills. You have no reason to visit unless it is one of your friends. And those hills are really steep. (Like 18Montclair's neighborhood. )

Now that there is a transit accessible Target in Oakland/Emeryville, things are complete.

As for San Jose, being car-less isn't a good alternative. Since the job centers are generally suburban and far from transit, you'd have a limited number of places you can work. Downtown San Jose, and some Peninsula towns have office parks near transit, but generally this isn't the case. Downtown SJ isn't a totally complete neighborhood yet, and it is hard to navigate much of the city without a car.

[sustainovation]

She has said that she plans to work from home.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by sustainovation

She has said that she plans to work from home.

These days, I take nothing for granted about a job. Just because you work from home today doesn't mean that will change, so I believe in maximum options.

[mayorhaggar]

At some point you have to leave the house, even if you have an hsw-level zombie tech job that keeps you working all the time. I'm sure downtown SJ is ok for some but you'd feel confined after a while by not being to get out as easily as you would in SF or Oakland or Berkeley.

Again though I would get a bike if you were in Berkeley or Oakland. If you're near a walkable area like I am then it's ok but both cities are spread out enough that having a bike is really useful so you don't have to walk really long distances or wait around for buses to go anywhere outside of your zone. And it's nicer to bike in Oakland/Berkeley than SF, the streets are more spread out and the drivers don't push you off the road, and it's flatter and less windy.

[tanglenet]

Part Feline, where are you currently staying in the Bay Area?

[sustainovation]

Oakland and Berkeley may be better suited for some, but based on the criteria that the original poster laid down (young professional, grad students, and, most of all, to not be near bad neighborhoods) and her self-professed love for warmer weather and hot summers, downtown San Jose seems like her best bet.

But, Part Feline, you should do some research on your own because any opinion on here will be heavily biased to one's own favorite city.

[mayorhaggar]

Rockridge in Oakland is probably safer than downtown SJ, there aren't bands of frat boys and vatos locos wandering around getting in fights at night like in downtown SJ for one thing.

[sustainovation]

Sure.