Moving to the Bay from Chicago as a Student w/Family? Violence? (San Francisco: middle-class, apartment complexes)

[ChicagoBay]

Ok I have two separate issues here:

1) I'm preparing to go to Pharmacy school, wherever I go I'm pretty much stuck for a good deal of time so I'm thinking of completing Pharm school in California so we can move there sooner rather than many years later (if we decide to move). I wouldn't be working a whole lot, just interning, but my wife would make about 50k-60k and we'd be renting a 3bdrm somewhere, we have 4 kids - the girls are 16 and 6 and the boys are 14 and 4. Is this even possible in the Bay Area? I was thinking of somewhere like Daly City, South S.F., etc. maybe even San Mateo or would that be too expensive? I know everyone is gonna tell me I'm crazy, stupid, or both lol.

2) I am scared that California is full of gangs and sex offenders, is it actually safe to live and travel about there? I mean LIVE there, not locked in my home but out and about. I know Chicago very well and I feel like I know how to be safe here, stay away from certain small pockets and so on, is the Bay the same way? I've visited many times but never lived there long enough to understand the situation.

[Natural510]

The suburbs of SF should be fine; by South SF I'm assuming you mean the town (which we call "South City") and not the southern part of San Francisco, which does have its gangs and violence. Money-wise, a 3BR on that budget is definitely on the low end, but I'm not familiar enough with rents in that area to say it's impossible.

[dragontales]

You could get decent value in Daly City, South SF, and San Bruno. San Mateo gets pricier. As far as leaving your doors unlock, don't! I'm surprise you are scared of California but not afraid of Chicago. Ain't homicide in Chicago high?

[jade408]

You are going to be pretty limited with living options with that budget. It is going to be a struggle for you.

Compared with Chicago, state income taxes are much higher. Rent is also much more expensive. Utilities are cheaper.

Your take home pay will be about 2700-3200 a month. There isn't much inventory in any Bay Area city for a 3 bedroom apartment for under $1500. And that would be a stretch at the level of income you are projecting. Basically, this affords you a place very far out. Or in a very dangerous area. Or in a potentially sketchy rent-to-own situation. You really need to spend at least $1800 to rent a 3 bedroom.

You should look into Sacramento, frankly, if you plan to move to California. That is a very small budget for a family of 6. For reference, to qualify for some of the low income housing in the area, many programs count $60K for a single person as low to moderate income. $80k for a family of 4.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by ChicagoBay

Ok I have two separate issues here:


2) I am scared that California is full of gangs and sex offenders, is it actually safe to live and travel about there? I mean LIVE there, not locked in my home but out and about. I know Chicago very well and I feel like I know how to be safe here, stay away from certain small pockets and so on, is the Bay the same way? I've visited many times but never lived there long enough to understand the situation.

If you don't mind me asking, what is it exactly that makes safety such a big concern about moving here? I'm really not trying to be offensive, I'm just a bit confused. I've seen quite a few posts on this forum saying the same thing. CA is bigger than many countries in the world. Landwise, it's more than three times the size of Illinois where you're coming from. There are good areas and bad areas, like anywhere else. The Bay Area as a whole has some terrible places to live, as far as safety and asthetics go, but it also has some of the safest and most beautiful places to live in the state as well.

I know gangs and sex offenders exist, but frankly they're not even on my radar and don't even remotely affect my daily life. There are plenty of nice places throughout the Bay Area where people don't worry about crime and safety.

If I were you, my biggest fear would be how to pay the bills. Your budget is pretty low and you'd have a very hard time getting by with four kids.

[jade408]

Too much TV. If you listen to the media, CA has been screwed up by the liberals.....

[sav858]

It's kind of ridiculous and an extreme exaggeration to say CA is full of "gangs and sex offenders" BUT with trying to support a family of six on $60K or less I would actually worry about crime.

The areas you would likely live in supporting a family of 6 on that are not going to be very nice. I saw on the news last night that burglaries are up quite a bit even in relatively good, low-crime places. I would not move to the Bay Area on that kind of budget at all, you won't be able to get a decent middle-class lifestyle on that. That areas that you could afford crime will likely be an issue.

[Nineties Flava]

Honestly, on your income and with the number of mouths to feed and clothe, you'd be a prime candidate for subsidized housing in California. I don't think you have a full appreciation for how high the cost of living is here.

[beb0p]

Originally Posted by ChicagoBay

Ok I have two separate issues here:


2) I am scared that California is full of gangs and sex offenders, is it actually safe to live and travel about there? I mean LIVE there, not locked in my home but out and about.

Curious why you'd think that CA is full of gangs and sex offenders. Is it because of television shows?

[ChicagoBay]

Thanks for your responses guys. Yeah I pretty much knew $$$ wise we'd be way too low, I'd pull maybe 20k while I'm a student to give us 70k-80k but you never know as a graduate student things fluctuate and so on, I just wanted to ask to make sure that closing the door on moving is the right thing to do for our family, sounds like it is.

As far as gangs and sex offenders, I don't mean any offense California is an absolutely beautiful and unique place culturally I really do love it out there. Growing up here in the city proper going to city schools and such you become very aware of gang culture and as far as that stuff goes California has the most serious gangs, high powered weapons, large numbers, connected to cartels/prison gangs etc. I've visited many times it's not like I think you can't walk down the street, I know it's not that way, but I worry about my kids going to suburban schools/high schools and just being able to be out in the neighborhood. Gangs seem to have permeated most everywhere while as over here in the suburbs you are safe barring a few apartment complexes here and there.

As far as sex offenders I think statistically Florida is the worst but California has high numbers. Those numbers come down a bit when you look per capita, but whenever Ive mapped areas Im thinking of moving to over there on a sex offender website I always come up with way more hits in California than I do here. I also seem to hear about abductions and such in California more than here, and creepy stuff like that guy who abducted a girl and had her living in his yard for 18 years or whatever it was. I've also seen programs talking about Mexican sex rings who operate in the West/Southwest. We've had some creepy stuff in the past here too but my impression is that it is less permeating of a problem. It feels like we are more oriented toward being a small midwestern town and California is still a frontier "wild west" sort of place. I understand that I could have bias, that's why I asked.

As far as fearing the violence of Chicago that's mostly the west/south side between the black gangs. But you're right you must be cautious anywhere in the city there are a lot of lower class criminal types around - which is why I don't live in the city proper anymore. My hope if I moved to the Bay one day is that the suburbs there are actually very much like here, safe, that's what I'm trying to figure out.