Where to Live - Family of 5 working in Campbell (Cambria: schools, relocation)

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

But consider the last thread that talked of affordability the op only made half as much income as stated here. 200k vs 100k is a big difference.

Yeah...but 100k is the median household income for the area, so at least half of the people who live here in households are making that much or less, right? So people are doing it. A lot of those people are probably renting, but renting is still living here.

[BRinSM]

Minus the newborn, I made a very similar move 2 years ago to Campbell with my family and we couldn’t be happier. Your budget is in line with homes in the area and Campbell checks all the boxes on your list. We are at Forest Hill for the kids school and it has also been great thus far. Needless to say, I’d highly recommend sticking with Campbell.

[jdhpa]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Yeah...but 100k is the median household income for the area, so at least half of the people who live here in households are making that much or less, right? So people are doing it. A lot of those people are probably renting, but renting is still living here.

It can be done, of course, the question is quality of life. A family can live very comfortably in most places on $100k per year, they can at best 'get by' on $100k in the bay area, especially if they don't already own a home in the area.

[sarmstrong]

Thank you for all the responses everyone! Very helpful!

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Yeah...but 100k is the median household income for the area, so at least half of the people who live here in households are making that much or less, right? So people are doing it. A lot of those people are probably renting, but renting is still living here.

So you just proved my point. You said you were surprised no one made a comment about not affording it yet we all saw the op posted an income twice that of the median income which you said people can live there on that amount. The op Posted an income of 100k more, why would people say it wouldn’t be affordable?

[Jane M]

Originally Posted by buenos

under $4k as the OP indicated?
I live in south south san jose near Blosson Hill. My commute is 30-45min to north santa clara.

Yes, Under 4K. Either Blossom Hill by Snell or South Santa Teresa. I have no idea what people think is a reasonable commute. 45 minutes (each way), to me, is not reasonable. Twenty minutes is reasonable. If the OP lives and works in Campbell, their commute will likely be 20 minutes or less (each way)

[GBPACKERS1200]

Campbell is a great, family friendly town. I would recommend searching for a SFH rental in one of the neighborhoods south of Campbell Ave between Winchester Blvd and Saratoga Ave. This would put you between a lot of the amenities in Downtown Campbell and the Westgate Mall area.

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by jdhpa

It can be done, of course, the question is quality of life. A family can live very comfortably in most places on $100k per year, they can at best 'get by' on $100k in the bay area, especially if they don't already own a home in the area.

lol...no, it's just that a middle class lifestyle is different here than other places. In Smallville, Flyover State, USA, middle class means you own a home with five bedrooms and a big yard. In Silicon Valley, that's upper middle class or upper class. It also happens to be my family's lifestyle when I was growing up in Silicon Valley in the 80s and 90s, so that's why I lol at some people here. That doesn't change the fact that 100k is a decent salary anywhere in the world.

Still, according to this web site which we're reading right now, 100k is the median salary in Silicon Valley, so it isn't "just getting by". It's middle class. But the housing associated with "middle class" here is not the same as "middle class housing" in other places, because this is a desirable area. Just as you can't buy a monolithic single family home in Manhattan on a middle class salary, the same is true of Silicon Valley, a similarly desirable area.

You want to see just getting by?? lol let's swap salaries. Line 7 on my 1040 for 2018 -- adjusted gross income -- was about 40k (I'm not going to publish the actual number of course). So you'll take my 40k and I'll take your 100k. Then we meet back here and you tell us how well you were doing on 100k and how ridiculous it was for you to claim that 100k is "just getting by".

lmao at this forum sometimes...

[jdhpa]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

lol...no, it's just that a middle class lifestyle is different here than other places. In Smallville, Flyover State, USA, middle class means you own a home with five bedrooms and a big yard. In Silicon Valley, that's upper middle class or upper class. It also happens to be my family's lifestyle when I was growing up in Silicon Valley in the 80s and 90s, so that's why I lol at some people here. That doesn't change the fact that 100k is a decent salary anywhere in the world.

Still, according to this web site which we're reading right now, 100k is the median salary in Silicon Valley, so it isn't "just getting by". It's middle class. But the housing associated with "middle class" here is not the same as "middle class housing" in other places, because this is a desirable area. Just as you can't buy a monolithic single family home in Manhattan on a middle class salary, the same is true of Silicon Valley, a similarly desirable area.

You want to see just getting by?? lol let's swap salaries. Line 7 on my 1040 for 2018 -- adjusted gross income -- was about 40k (I'm not going to publish the actual number of course). So you'll take my 40k and I'll take your 100k. Then we meet back here and you tell us how well you were doing on 100k and how ridiculous it was for you to claim that 100k is "just getting by".

lmao at this forum sometimes...

According to HUD, a family of 4 making less than $117K in San Francisco is low income:

San Francisco Families Earning $117,000 Are "Low Income" | Fortune


In most places in the country, they would not be low income, or anywhere close to it.

[Wintermomma]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

I'm surprised nobody is claiming that they can't live here on that salary.

I'll do it! We moved here as a family of four, several years ago, with about that salary. It was hard and our rent was just $3500 at that point. It does depend upon what QOL you are used to, however. If you are used to eating all meals in, perhaps even having your own vegetable garden, no traveling or just camping/road trips and staying with family, not a lot of extras like movies or dates, no extra lessons for kids, not having pets, being thrifty when buying clothing and toys for your rapidly-growing family; sure it is totally possible. And you do have going for you that not all of your kids are school aged or going to ask for extra curriculars yet.

I agree with Campbell (but check on which school, some are not good), Cambrian or S SJ (there are some good school districts there and you could maybe even avoid freeway commute).

Do be sure to check crime report and school rating websites when narrowing your neighborhood choices. Then drive them, at all hours of the day and days of the week.