East Bay Crime (Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond: low crime, homes, safe area)

[JCPTNH08]

I currently live in NH but will be moving somewhere in the East Bay later this year with my two kids. I've been researching the area and really like what I've read about the schools and safety of the Lamorinda and Walnut Creek areas. I've also seen many posts on this forum about Albany, Piedmont and Alameda being nice places for families.

Where I live now, there is virtually no crime, and I hope to live somewhere nice and safe in the East Bay. What I can't wrap my head around is how some of these towns that are so close to Richmond and Oakland stay safe. Look at Piedmont for instance...completely surrounded by Oakland, yet it is an upscale, safe area while Oakland was named the 4th most dangerous US city last year. How is there no crime spillover into Piedmont, or any of these other nearby towns? Are they really as safe as they're said to be?

[18Montclair]

Piedmont is surrounded by very upscale and wealthy districts of Oakland that like Piedmont, have very low crime rates.
rates.

I wouldnt necessarily give much creedance to that sensationalized rankings of crime-especially one that is disputed by law enforcement as unfair. That ranking has the tendency to make it seem as if that's all there is in these cities.

Sure there's crime, but the fact that places like Alameda and Piedmont have very little crime is proof that perhaps its not as bad as it seems. Oakand is a city of tremendous contrasts.

[artemis78]

The short answer is that yes, of course there is some "spillover"--generally in the form of property crime (theft, burglaries, etc.) But these are still pretty rare--and they occur in the outer Bay Area 'burbs, too. That said, violent and other crimes in places like Oakland or El Cerrito (Albany's neighbor) vary a lot depending on where you are in those cities--the neighborhoods of Oakland that border Piedmont are home to million-dollar homes and desired schools, and parts of El Cerrito adjacent to Albany are similarly up-scale.

None of these places are rural, and thus you will find occasional crime--but as small cities go, Albany, Alameda, and Piedmont are all very safe. Berkeley and Oakland are quite safe depending on where you are in them---and, yes, even Richmond has some up-scale, safe areas (Point Richmond in particular).

Piedmont is extremely expensive, but Albany and Alameda are quite reasonable as Bay Area prices go, and all three have solid schools and are very family-friendly. You might also consider Berkeley, although the elementary schools do vary a bit there and the school assignment process is not entirely neighborhood-based so you don't necessarily know what you're getting. Oakland has some great, safe neighborhoods with terrific elementary schools, but middle and high schools are not as strong as in the other East Bay cities you listed.

Lamorinda and Walnut Creek are a little further afield but also have excellent schools for the most part and are very family-friendly. The major downside to these areas in my view is that the commute can be awful if you need to drive through the Caldecott tunnel at peak hours--but there are also BART stations there!