Preferable areas(Bay Area) to live to commute to SFO daily (San Francisco: apartment, safe area)

[pritishde]

Hello everyone,

I would need your advise. I would be relocating to CA from NJ end of this month, as my new job location is designated to be in SFO downtown.

I am looking for preferable/affordable/safe areas to live around SFO. My family consists of 2 ( Me and my wife), no kids, no pets. We have shortlisted some areas ( Richmond, Oakland, Sunnyvale). I have a car but i heard that daily drive to SFO would turn out to be a big hassle and an expensive proposition. So i think commuting through train would be a neat deal.

Less commute time and safety are also factors we are pondering upon. Would appreciate your advise, as it will help us in zeroing down the area.

Thanks,
Z

[silverkris]

Just a quick note - "SFO" generally refers to the three-letter code for San Francisco International Airport, like LAX, rather than the city itself. I take it you are looking for downtown SF, rather than an airport job at SFO

Do you have a budget? Any community preferences - more urban, more suburban?

[TheCityTheBridge]

Originally Posted by pritishde

Hello everyone,

I would need your advise. I would be relocating to CA from NJ end of this month, as my new job location is designated to be in SFO downtown.

I am looking for preferable/affordable/safe areas to live around SFO. My family consists of 2 ( Me and my wife), no kids, no pets. We have shortlisted some areas ( Richmond, Oakland, Sunnyvale). I have a car but i heard that daily drive to SFO would turn out to be a big hassle and an expensive proposition. So i think commuting through train would be a neat deal.

Less commute time and safety are also factors we are pondering upon. Would appreciate your advise, as it will help us in zeroing down the area.

Thanks,
Z

The drive from Sunnyvale to SF at rush hour is pretty painful. It is better if you take 280, but still time-consuming and frustrating. Commuting by transit is a good idea, and the three areas you are looking at all have options. Sunnyvale & Caltrain will be the longest, and you would want to live close to Caltrain in order to shorten your commute time. Express trains take ~45 minutes, limited trains ~1 hour, and local trains ~1.5 hours, and you would have to take Muni (SF's transit system) in order to get to your job from the SF Caltrain station. It's time consuming and rather expensive (take a look at Caltrain.com for schedules and fares). There is a small free lot in Sunnyvale that fills up early, and a pay lot that usually has spaces available.

Richmond and Oakland are both quick commutes via BART if you live close to a BART station. Both cities have nice areas and not-so-nice areas. I'm no expert, but you should probably ask more specifically about the neighborhoods you are interested in to learn whether they meet your standards for safety.

It would also be helpful to know if your wife works and where her job is/would be located. Budget, as noted above, is also necessary information. There are also relatively affordable parts of SF itself, like the Outer Sunset, Outer Richmond, Outer Mission, and others that are served by local transit.

You might also look at Daly City and South San Francisco (near the Caltrain station).

[jade408]

The most important question is what sort of neighborhood do you want to live in. The second question is around weather preferences, weather can vary significantly. Particularly in the summer.

[2sleepy]

Concord, Pleasant Hill, Martinez or Walnut Creek. None are 'cheap' but most are decent places to live with good access to BART

[pritishde]

Thanks folks for responding in:

To answer to your specific questions:

a) No, my wife is not working as of now.
b) Yes, my office would be in Sanfrancisco Downtown area.
c) Choiceof area: Safe, clean and and areas with good apartment communities,and closer to SFO in terms of commute. Also, a place with a Indian Diaspora would work.

Budget: I know those areas are expensive. We are looking specifically for 1BR, 1Bath as of now. Preferable budget: 1500-1600$

@TheCityTheBridge: Would prefer to commute through BART now, as you have advised.

[04kL4nD]

If your office is in downtown SF, stop calling it SFO! SFO is the airport!

[wooliemonster]

Other than walking, BART is the only sane way to reach downtown SF. There are many great East Bay neighborhoods with direct BART access -- in Oakland, check out Rockridge, Temescal, Jack London Square, and Uptown; for a slightly longer walk, Piedmont Ave and Grand Lake are great areas. Berkeley is fun if you have certain tolerances; Alameda is great if you're looking for something quieter. These neighborhoods span price points from $1500 to $3000 for a nice one bedroom.

[04kL4nD]

I would add Adams Point to that list too. Closer to BART and cheaper than Grand Lake.

[jade408]

Those are all good areas. Walkable urban areas. If you want something more suburban and feel like being by lots and lots of Indian people, try Fremont. But that is also car-oriented. You'd need to drive to everything including BART.

If you want something suburban with walkable patches, try Walnut Creek, but it doesn't have that many indian people.

***
The Bay Area has a pretty diverse set of people in the Indian diaspora. Depending on your preferences. Places like Fremont are heavily Indian, about 25-30% of the population is indian, perhaps more. There is a megaplex in Fremont that only shows indian movies. Other places, like Sunnyvale are super Indian too. There are many places with a small indian population, but high compared to most anywhere else in the US.

The east bay doesn't have a ton of indian people, but enough that the megaplex in Emeryville is always showing at least one new indian flick a week.....if that gives you any ideas. You won't feel like the majority in the east bay, but there are plenty of other people. Also, Hayward has lots of Indians form Fiji.