Moving to Bay Area from Chicago (San Jose, Fremont: rental, houses, neighborhood)

[gaya77]

Hello,

We will be relocating to the Bay Area in July as my husband will be working in Cupertino. I was wondering what suburbs in the Bay Area have good school districts, and are comparable to the Northshore suburbs in Chicago. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Some preliminary google searches are making us lean towards Palo Alto/Los Altos - the school districts there seem quite similar to the northern suburbs in Chicago. Would love to get a local's perspective!

Thank you!

GK

[StandingRoomOnly]

If you are able to swing $3500+ for rent or 1.5 million+ for a house (average size/ older house), Palo Alto or Los Altos would be great places to live with excellent schools. If your budget is quite a bit lower you will have to lower your expectations, but if you're already leaning towards those areas I imagine you already know approximate housing costs.

Other good schools would be in Saratoga or Los Gatos or Almaden in San Jose for a "more affordable" alternative than the places mentioned.

[gaya77]

Originally Posted by StandingRoomOnly

If you are able to swing $3500+ for rent or 1.5 million+ for a house (average size/ older house), Palo Alto or Los Altos would be great places to live with excellent schools. If your budget is quite a bit lower you will have to lower your expectations, but if you're already leaning towards those areas I imagine you already know approximate housing costs.

Other good schools would be in Saratoga or Los Gatos or Almaden in San Jose for a "more affordable" alternative than the places mentioned.

Definitely cannot afford buying - leaning towards renting, which is also going to be tight, but wasn't too sure what my options were. Thanks for the recommendation for Saratoga etc - will check them out for sure.

I have friends who live in Willow Glen - is that a neighborhood or city? Would you have any information about it?

Thanks again!!!!

[StandingRoomOnly]

Willow glen is a neighborhood--houses / neighborhood are nice, schools are mediocre from my understanding

[gaya77]

thanks...would you have any info on private schools in the area? would it be better to live in a cheaper neighborhood and shell out $$ for private schools, or pay higher housing costs in a school district?

[StandingRoomOnly]

I suppose it depends on how many kids you need to put through private school...

What is your rental / purchase budget? Almaden area in San Jose is more budget friendly than Los gatos and Saratoga and still has excellent schools.

I don't know anything about the private schools in the Willow Glen area.

[OrangeSunset]

This is a good starting point to narrow down good school districts GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community. It will be hard to find anything affordable in a good school district in the south bay/peninsula. Take a look at Fremont.

[marcopolo666]

The commute from Fremont to Cupertino will NOT be enjoyable (and that's quite an understatement).

[gaya77]

thanks everyone for all your valuable input! I have a better understanding of what to look for and where!