San Francisco Bay Area Facts: (San Jose, Oakland: low crime, home, schools)

[mstnghu2]

I've been on this board for quite awhile. I've noticed that there are many threads asking the same questions over and over...and not just that. People ask the same questions over and over and use the same "terms" (such as "CALI" or "SAN FRAN") over and over and tend to display a lot of ignorant questions about the region that could easily be found with search feature. (Cali and San Fran are only terms that non-locals use BTW)

This thread is intended to give some insight to anybody (SF Bay Area resident or anybody who's considering a possible reolcation) as to the reality of this region.

I'm going to give a little bit of my expertise as a lifelong resident of the region and I welcome anybody else who has lived here for any reasonable amount of time to offer their objective (unbiased) information about the area.

I'll start...

Weather/Micro-Climates: San Francisco is typically cold and foggy throughout a large portion of the year. If you decide to visit SF in June with shorts and a tank top, you will feel stupid. If you visit from August-October though, you may find yourself with picture perfect weather and will fall in love with The City and think it has the best climate in the world. I remember a heat wave a few years back where I left San Jose for SF and it was 98 degrees in SJ and it was 101 in SF in September...SF is almost never hotter than SJ! This brings me to another issue. The SF Bay Area is loaded with micro-climates. Let's all say it together now: MICRO-CLIMATE- There are many, many posts on weather in San Francisco on this board. San Francisco is San Francisco...period. Most other locations in the Bay Area don't have SF weather...period. In the SF Bay Area, the rule typically is the further inland you go the warmer it gets in spring/summer. Further toward the coast= colder/Further inland= hotter. It can easily be 60 degrees at 3pm in July in places like western SF, Pacifica, Daly City, Half Moon Bay etc...and be 95 degrees in places like Livermore, Pleasanton, Walnut Creek. I work in southern Fremont. By the time I reach home in Newark on a typical summer day, the temperature has dropped by about 5 degrees and I live about 6 miles away! It can be sunny and warm at work and foggy and chilly at home! You'll hear lots of crazy comments on this board about "cold" Bay Area weather. I have borderline SAD and wouldn't live here if the weather was gloomy. In the winter, the Bay Area has its rainy season. It typically starts in late October and tapers off in early May. Sometimes it rains a lot. Sometimes it barely rains at all, like this past season, which is one of the driest on record since about the 1920's. In between the fall/winter/early spring rain storms, we get beautiful sunny days where temps get into the 60s and even 70s and occasionally even 80s! We actually do have seasons, although not as extreme as people in many other parts of the country get. You will find lots of sunshine in the "colder" months in the South Bay and East Bay and the eastern parts of the Peninsula.


Crime: There are high crime parts of the Bay Area, very low crime parts of the Bay Area and parts in-between. I've seen threads here where the orginal poster is considering moving here but is concerned about crime. In response to that, there are many, many places here where people don't worry about crime. Let's put things in perspective. The city of Pleasanton which has the highest median household income in the country as far as cities of its size go and has highly rated schools and has practically non-existent crime is in the same county as Oakland which is statistically one of the highest crime cities in California. And, as far as Oakland goes, yes it does have some horribly high-crime areas that I don't feel safe in during the day. It also has some gorgeous areas with very low crime areas and some of the highest median incomes in the country. San Jose is the largest city in the Bay Area by both population and land area and has one of the lowest per-capita crime rates of large cities in the entire country. The point is, there are many very safe communities throughout the entire Bay Area (often times even within the city limits of a city that's considered unsafe) where people don't really worry about being victims of serious crime.

Politics/Religion: The Bay Area has a reputation as being a cespool of liberal politics gone astray. The fact is that yes, overall, politics lean liberal. There are even people here who I'd consider liberal extremists. The reality is though that most people who live in the Bay Area are reasonably moderate and rational and don't shove their viewpoint down peoples' throats. There is a strong live and let live mentality here. If you don't try to force your viewpoint on somebody else, chances are you'll be able to get along with most people. There are even quite a few conservative Republicans here...GASP. I do feel that there is somewhat of an "enlightened" anti-religion atmosphere here, but for the most part, if you're not trying to force your religious views on somebody else, you won't have any problems. Typically you won't be given a hard time about your beliefs. In most social situations, people tend to veer away from political or religious conversations unless they know you well and feel comfortable talking to you about it.

San Francisco: Only San Francisco is the city of San Francisco, also known as "The City". Every remaining county of the nine county region (San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Marin,) is the "Bay Area". One way to easily identify somebody who's not from here is if they refer to any other city in the Bay Area as "San Francisco" when they're not actually referring to the city of SF itself. In many parts of the country people typically refer to the largest city that they live closest to as the city they're from when speaking with people who aren't from the area. The Bay Area is different. San Francisco is the historical cultural/population center, but it's no longer the center of the region. The region is anchored by San Francisco, San Jose (actually the largest city by population and land area) and Oakland (larger than SF by land area, but actually smaller than Fremont by land area and only slightly larger than Hayward by land area). Many Bay Area residents actually find it to be a "peeve" when San Francisco is used to describe other parts of the Bay Area. I remember about a year ago standing in line at a Subway restaurant overhearing somebody on the phone telling the person on the other end that he was in San Francisco...this was in Fremont No, You're in the BAY AREA!

SFO: The San Francisco International Airport...which is run by the city of San Francisco but is not actually in the city of San Francisco. SFO is surrounded by the San Francisco Bay and the cities of Burlingame, Millbrae, San Bruno and South San Francisco. SFO does not refer to the city of San Francisco, only the airport. There are numerous posts on this board talking about people who are moving to SFO. No, you're not moving to SFO. I don't know anybody who moves to an airport


Anyways...this thread was intended for anybody else with knowledgeable insight about the Bay Area to feel free to hijack and offer their input for the benefit of others.

[gone down south]

Guarantee you that someone is going to ask all those questions while this post is still on the first page.

[fashionguy]

The post is very comprehensive, but it doesn't actually say much. One point is Bay area is diverse in terms of climate and crime, which doesn't offer specific advice. The other point is meaningless name issues. Does it matter if someone says he's in San Francisco when he is actually in Fremont? Does it matter if people use SFO to refer to San Francisco? I don't think so. They don't block communication and should be perfectly fine.

Originally Posted by gone down south

Guarantee you that someone is going to ask all those questions while this post is still on the first page.

[redhotoliveoil]

Originally Posted by gone down south

Guarantee you that someone is going to ask all those questions while this post is still on the first page.

That is hilarious!!!

[Gentoo]

Now that this post has been made and some like myself agree with it. Let's wait for someone to come in and tell us why what we say doesn't matter in 3...2...wait...too late!

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by mstnghu2

SFO: The San Francisco International Airport...which is run by the city of San Francisco but is not actually in the city of San Francisco.

Actually, SFO is in the city of San Francisco. It may not be part of the contiguous city, but it has been annexed by SF (it is not part of South SFO, San Bruno or Millbrae). This is much like how Alaska is part of the US, not Canada (even though it borders Canada, not the rest of the US). Look it up on a map.

[rimmerama]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Actually, SFO is in the city of San Francisco. It may not be part of the contiguous city, but it has been annexed by SF (it is not part of South SFO, San Bruno or Millbrae). This is much like how Alaska is part of the US, not Canada (even though it borders Canada, not the rest of the US). Look it up on a map.

Now that's an interesting question: can a city occupy two different counties?

According to wikipedia, the airport is in unincorporated San Mateo county and run by a corporation created by the S.F airport commission; it does not sound like the city/county of S.F annexed it - several S.F jails are also in San Mateo county.

[Isebiel]

So, can I inquire about additional facts? Like, what is the proper pronunciation of Gough? The bus says "Gah" which is kind of amusing, but I'm not sure if I trust it.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by rimmerama

Now that's an interesting question: can a city occupy two different counties?

According to wikipedia, the airport is in unincorporated San Mateo county and run by a corporation created by the S.F airport commission; it does not sound like the city/county of S.F annexed it - several S.F jails are also in San Mateo county.

New York City occupies five.

[Glenview94602]

What are more questions we are always asked?