San Jose vs Irvine - your views (Santa Ana, Huntington Beach: real estate, apartment)

[NewInAtlanta]

Hi
My husband has 2 job offers, one in Irvine and another in San Jose. So it would be nice to get a comparison of the two places in terms of: housing, traffic, people. We have a 15 month old son as well, so we would prefer a place where we can spend more time with him. Any inputs on the differences b/w Irvine and San Jose's life would be very helpful in getting an idea about the 2 places.
Thanks

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by NewInAtlanta

Hi
My husband has 2 job offers, one in Irvine and another in San Jose. So it would be nice to get a comparison of the two places in terms of: housing, traffic, people. We have a 15 month old son as well, so we would prefer a place where we can spend more time with him. Any inputs on the differences b/w Irvine and San Jose's life would be very helpful in getting an idea about the 2 places.
Thanks

My general impression is that both are expensive and have lots of traffice. The high cost of both areas means neither place is very family friendly. I live in San Jose so I can't give the specifics on Irvine. But Coastal California metro areas are similar in terms of the high cost, traffic, & lack of family friendliness.

[jaypee]

Personally, I like to be closer to the beach so I'd choose to work in Irvine and live in Huntington Beach or Costa Mesa. Plus, you'd get more for your rental $ in Irvine than you would in San Jose.
You might also want to check on whether OCUSD schools are better than SJUSD ... I believe they are but not 100% certain.

[eclipxe]

I've lived in both.

Irvine has more master planned neighborhoods, and newer housing stock (almost all > 1970).

San Jose has a handful of master planned neighborhoods, but not nearly as much as Irvine.

Irvine is a bit cheaper rent/house wise.

San Jose has more to do, especially with Downtown. There aren't a whole lot of city-entertainment options in Irvine.

San Jose has SF for major city, Irvine has LA. SF is an infinitely better "city" than LA.

Irvine has Newport/Laguna Beach right down the street. Good beach, warm water.
San Jose has Santa Cruz, Capitola, Aptos about 45 minutes away. The drive is a trek, beaches are okay. Water is cold, but the beaches are pretty nice.

San Jose has way more industry/jobs. Irvine has a bit of tech, a lot of real estate/mortgage, some law, entertainment, healthcare, but no core industry. LA/OC has aerospace, San Jose/Bay Area has tech.

Is the job in tech? If so, San Jose.

Traffic is about the same for both cities.

San Jose has some bad schools, some good schools. Irvine has excellent schools. I'd compare Cupertino to Irvine in terms of education.

In terms of food - Irvine has better mexican, San Jose better Asian and Indian.

[TheGreatCurve]

Irvine is newer, cleaner, cheaper, safer, warmer, and the roads are in much better condition than San Jose. Almost all of Irvine is very nice, whereas only some parts of San Jose I would classify as "very nice". Housing is also more expensive in San Jose than in Irvine. Frankly, I'm not really sure where all the good jobs in Irvine come from to support such a nice residential area.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by jaypee

Personally, I like to be closer to the beach so I'd choose to work in Irvine and live in Huntington Beach or Costa Mesa.

^^^This. Besides the right wing political bent around Irvine, some of it also gets overrun with UC Irvine students, which can get irritating for families. Huntington would be a great place to live if you worked in Irvine - massive beaches with bonfires and waves.

[eclipxe]

Originally Posted by TheGreatCurve

Irvine is newer, cleaner, cheaper, safer, warmer, and the roads are in much better condition than San Jose. Almost all of Irvine is very nice, whereas only some parts of San Jose I would classify as "very nice". Housing is also more expensive in San Jose than in Irvine. Frankly, I'm not really sure where all the good jobs in Irvine come from to support such a nice residential area.

Ehh...you have to look at the entire region. San Jose is 5x the size of Irvine, so of course there will be more diversity in housing, crime, etc. Irvine is right next to Santa Ana, which is pretty much equivalent to East San Jose. On the flip side, San Jose is right next to Cupertino, Los Gatos, Sunnyvale, etc which is pretty much just as nice if not nicer than South OC as a whole.

I think the main concern is the job industry. If it is tech, San Jose is probably a better long term option.

I'm a big fan of Irvine and South OC, but I also think San Jose has a lot to offer as a whole. (I actually even live in an Irvine company apartment in San Jose!).

With all that being siad, San Jose and Irvine are a lot more alike than a lot of other places in the country. You have master planned tracts, large swaths of office buildings, traffic, lots of asian food, pretty good weather, good schools. You couldn't go wrong in either city IMHO.

[TheGreatCurve]

Originally Posted by eclipxe

Ehh...you have to look at the entire region. San Jose is 5x the size of Irvine, so of course there will be more diversity in housing, crime, etc. Irvine is right next to Santa Ana, which is pretty much equivalent to East San Jose. On the flip side, San Jose is right next to Cupertino, Los Gatos, Sunnyvale, etc which is pretty much just as nice if not nicer than South OC as a whole.

I think the main concern is the job industry. If it is tech, San Jose is probably a better long term option.

I'm a big fan of Irvine and South OC, but I also think San Jose has a lot to offer as a whole. (I actually even live in an Irvine company apartment in San Jose!).

With all that being siad, San Jose and Irvine are a lot more alike than a lot of other places in the country. You have master planned tracts, large swaths of office buildings, traffic, lots of asian food, pretty good weather, good schools. You couldn't go wrong in either city IMHO.

The ENTIRE city of Irvine is master planned. San Jose is not, not even close - it's a mis-mash and sometimes it's hard to tell where San Jose ends and Campbell, Cupertino, Milpitas, Santa Clara, etc. starts because the borders are all over the place. The roads go in every which direction and the neighborhoods are all over the place and can be very different from one another.

And San Jose does not have good public schools in general. They are few and far between. That's why many families will pay much higher housing prices to live in Cupertino, Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Saratoga, etc.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by TheGreatCurve

And San Jose does not have good public schools in general. They are few and far between. That's why many families will pay much higher housing prices to live in Cupertino, Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Saratoga, etc.

Yes, but like someone else said, you can't really compare a city of 200k vs one of 1 million people. SJ is the dominant city in Santa Clara county, whereas there is no dominant city in Orange County. It is just a mishmash of many communities in the 150k-300k population range. Of course a city over over 1 million is going to have more sketchy areas.

In general, San Jose is not the elite city of the Silicon Valley, where Irvine is on the elite side. I think the analogy of Irvine to Cupertino is a very good one. You really have to compare the entire Santa Clara County area to Orange County, rather than comparing SJ to Irvine.

[TheGreatCurve]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Yes, but like someone else said, you can't really compare a city of 200k vs one of 1 million people. SJ is the dominant city in Santa Clara county, whereas there is no dominant city in Orange County. It is just a mishmash of many communities in the 150k-300k population range. Of course a city over over 1 million is going to have more sketchy areas.

In general, San Jose is not the elite city of the Silicon Valley, where Irvine is on the elite side. I think the analogy of Irvine to Cupertino is a very good one. You really have to compare the entire Santa Clara County area to Orange County, rather than comparing SJ to Irvine.

But Cupertino only has a population of 58K, whereas, Irvine has 212K.

Besides, the OP's question was to compare San Jose with Irvine.