Where to Live When Working in Santa Clara? (San Jose, San Francisco: cheap apartment, neighborhood)

[serenity78]

Hi everyone!

I will be moving from Boston to San Francisco this September and have been applying for jobs. I am actually very close to obtaining one in Santa Clara, which is unfortunately not too close to SF. I will be visiting if the job offer actually goes through, but in the meantime, I have a couple questions:

1. How realistic is it to commute from SF to Santa Clara (job is at Intel)?

2. I don't own a car -- it is unrealistic to get to Santa Clara w/o one?

3. Are there any Silicon Valley shuttle services that would get you to the major campuses?

4. If I end up not being able to live in San Francisco, is there any fun city b/t the two that you recommend I check out? I am only 30, so suburbia isn't too appealing for me.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

[sonarrat]

When I worked in that area (north San Jose), I lived in Milpitas and commuted on 237. Very suburban, not much to do. Then my job moved up the peninsula, so I moved to South San Francisco, same deal. But if your concern is a social life, then it's really in your best interest to keep your commute as short as possible. You can still choose to go to The City if you want to, but if you live there, you don't have a choice. 101 is a terrible grind, and the Intel campus is very inconvenient to get to on public transit from SF; you would take Caltrain to Mountain View, then light-rail to Great America, then get on the ACE shuttle. San Francisco is great, but you'll have to do your penance to get there and back. I would recommend getting a cheap apartment in a suburban area close to a Caltrain station in the South Bay, perhaps Sunnyvale, and go to SF when you feel like it.

[serenity78]

^^ Thanks for your message. It's actually very helpful to know that the Intel campus is not convenient to the Caltrain stop. I had google mapped it and it said about 3.5 miles b/t the Santa Clara stop and the main Intel campus, but I hadn't thought beyond that (wasn't sure if Intel provided shuttles or something).

I really wanted to move out west to live in SF, not a suburb in Silicon Valley. Then again, the job seems really great, and my career is important to me as well. I definitely have a lot to think about!

Thanks again for your advice!

[kikiclark]

My husband works at Intel and we've lived in SF for 10 years and so it is a possibility to do the commute. Depending on your job there, Intel doesn't have a problem with telecommuting quite a bit. These days, my husband goes into the office about one day a week which makes living in SF much easier. Before this, he was driving there every day (on 280) and depending on the time of day, it wasn't too bad of a drive. However, with the cost of gas these days, I wouldn't recommend it. Although he says the drive is a lot less congested because there aren't as many cars on the road. I suspect Intel may introduce a better policy about telecommuting with this in mind. They do seem to be forward thinkers.

The pp's are right about the intel campus not being near transit. There are a few Intel people who live up here that carshare though but it's not every day. When my husband tried it for a few months, it would take about two hours door to door.

If you do decide to live in SF and own a car, be sure to chose a neighborhood that is easily accessible to the 280/101 freeways. West Portal, Sunset, Noe Valley, SOMA are all decent choices. Living on the west side (West Portal and Sunset) work well because the 280 commute seems to be less congested. If you decide to try it without a car and live in SF, SOMA is the best choice because that is where Caltrain is located.

Best of luck!

[bigdave01]

Although I have never been there, I have heard that downtown Mountain View is really cool. That could be another option.

[arfwoof]

Downtown Mountain View is a great option. I lived there for 3 years and the Caltrain was within walking distance. Some employers offer shuttle services and I believe Intel is one of them.
http://www.caltrain.com/pdf/Shuttles/SC_County/Mission_shuttle_05-09-08.pdf (broken link)