Where to live as a single male in his mid-20s? (San Jose: neighborhood, quality of life)

[wmc1117]

I have recently accepted an offer to relocate internally to our office just outside San Jose and am now determining the best locations to live.

Through discussions with a few friends out there I was recommended either Campbell or Mountainview to live for the young professional scene. I was hoping to open this question up to the forums to get some input from those who have experience living in either location or want to recommend somewhere else based on these criteria:

Young-Professional demographic

nightlife/bar scene

Social active activities

Overall things to do


Any input would be great!

[Wry_Martini]

Between Campbell and Mountainview, I'd prefer Mountainview.

The bar/social scene isn't the greatest in the south bay, but SF isn't far.

I'd also make sure to consider length/time of commute when you're trying to decide where to live -- it really affects your quality of life.

In terms of 'overall things to do' - what kind of stuff in particular do you like to do? That's kind of a vague description.

[wmc1117]

I am big into outdoor activities, looking for social leagues of various sports (kickball, baseball, softball, hockey, etc.). I would like a location with a nice downtown with good restaurants bars, preferably a pedestrian friendly downtown with a lot to see and fun to walk around in.

I hope this a bit more of an elaboration.

[Local123]

Downtown Campbell. There are tons of young professionals here..the streets are packed on weekends and many week nights. It just hit its stride and is so fun now. Plus it has trails, huge outdoor basketball courts, big bike scene etc.

[tilz]

I like Campbell and Mountain view but as suggested choose what is a close/easy commute as the traffic can suck ... lol

[zitsky]

I lived in Mountain View for 12 years and had friends in Campbell. I was very happy with MV but couldn't see what all the fuss was about in Campbell. MV has a great downtown, tons of restaurants, a performing arts center, several bars/nightclubs geared towards the younger crowd. Plus one advantage is we have a ton of folks from Google and other startups living in town. You might get to meet some of them and possibly network.

If you want to be outside, you can bike almost anywhere, on one of the bike trails or bike lanes. You can be in Santa Cruz in 45 minutes on a good day. The weather means you can be outside most of the year.

[ccm123]

Mountain View, or Palo Alto, which has a great downtown area.

[bobby_guz_man]

Santana Row in San Jose, Downtown San Jose itself, or Willow Glen neighborhood between Santana Row and SJ downtown.

[gone down south]

All the above suggestions are great if you want 6-block long suburban Main Streets. If you want a real, vibrant, urban environment you have downtown San Jose, downtown Oakland and SF. Of all of those, only SF has the critical mass to really make you feel you're in a big city.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by gone down south

All the above suggestions are great if you want 6-block long suburban Main Streets. If you want a real, vibrant, urban environment you have downtown San Jose, downtown Oakland and SF. Of all of those, only SF has the critical mass to really make you feel you're in a big city.

That is true.

But then it begs the question, if only SF has the critical mass to make you feel like you're in a big city, then the entire US has only 2 "big cities"? NYC and SF?

If that's the case then Austin is not a big city. San Antonio is not a big city. LA and SD are not big cities. On and on and on.

I would say that between the 3 cities of the Bay Area, Oakland would be the one whose density in the urban core is most similar to that of all of US's "big cities" outside of the Bay Area. The only exception would be NYC.

I always find the Bay Area a very interesting place. It is probably the only 3-cities super-metropolitan area in the US, if not the world, that are located within an hour's drive from one another, in a triangular geography.

We have super dense, tiny-sized SF. We have normally dense, good-sized Oakland. And we have less dense, titanic-sized SJ. Between the three cities, you could pretty much have the models for cities of the entire world!