Moving to the valley- San Jose/ Mountain View/ Campbell (Santa Clara: apartments, rent)

[kavitab]

I plan to move to the valley with my husband and baby.
My workplace is at Campbell, California. We are together earning $ 175 k per annum.
I am trying to evaluate the best combination of safety/ rent/ living expenses and which city in the Valley is best suited.

Here are a few questions.

a) What places will have less than 20 minutes drive to Campbell?
b) Which cities are better suited to live- San Jose, Mountain View, Campbell. My budget is $2,500 per month.
c) Will we get an apartment or a house at $2,500 per month rent?
d) How much will other monthly expenses be- such as car/ clothing/ groceries/ medical/ other?
e) with a $ 175 k earning how much can I save?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

[vikas.gupta]

You can search for apartments here: classifieds - craigslist - the advantage over rent.com and similar sites is that the listings are very fresh and accurate.

There are plenty of apartments for < 2500/ . If you can get something in December, you might be able to lock in a lower rent as I am seeing prices going down a bit in my own apt. search.

To get a sense of the city, just search for it by clicking the Search link and you will get good info. on it

[quizzer25]

Hi Kavita,

Campbell by itself is a very good place. You can rent good places for around $2K. I'm not sure about the school district.

All the other costs you are asking depends on from where you are moving from?

I moved to the bay area some time back and will be happy to answer your questions.

Thanks

[humboldtrat]

Live in Campbell - it's a nice town and you can keep the commute down to a minimum. Traffic in the Santa Clara valley can be awful during the morning/evening commute. Downtown Campbell has a light rail station and it's easy to ride the light rail into downtown San Jose without much problems Light Rail Service - Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.

Welcome to Downtown Campbell (http://www.downtowncampbell.com/about.php - broken link)

[Luke9686]

I recommend living in Campbell just to eliminate the headache of traffic. The city is very nice, and I believe the schools are good. Cupertino has some of the best schools in the area, so that's always an option. Also, Los Gatos, the Almaden area and Blossom Valley are very nice. I always like the Willow Glen and Rose Garden areas of San Jose.

I found auto insurance to be reasonable. Clothing is about the same as everywhere else. Groceries were abour 30% more than most places I've lived. I don't know about medical. It may be more expensive. Those doctors have to afford those $2 Million homes some how.

On your salaries and budget, you should be able to "splurge" a little bit and still save a lot.