I'm considering a career move from Raleigh, NC to the Oakland area. I'm 42 with wife & two children (10 & 4). Good schools are a must. Of course I'd like to minimize my commute and housing expense, but I pretty sure those are going to be painful.
Suggestions?
2006-08-01 16:27:10 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Travel ➔ United States ➔ San Francisco
San Leandro, Hayward, Union City, Fremont in the other direction. Depending on where you will work in Oakland, you may be able to take Bart to work which won't be too bad. CA public schools are not great unfortunately, but these places will be much safer for your children than Oakland itself. Union City/Fremont would probably be the safest of the four, less gangsta wannabes. As for housing, it will be expensive, but not as bad as the places suggested above (Orinda etc.). I wouldn't recommend much to the North of Oakland, not Berkeley or Richmond, Albany or El Cerrito might be okay.
UPDATE: Going further out to the east (past moraga) you might try Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and Concord. This will mean a longer commute, but they are more options to consider.
2006-08-02 04:15:53 · answer #1 · answered by Rossonero NorCal SFECU 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Montclair and Piedmont are nice areas with small village-like centers. Off of Park Avenue there are many nice little neighborhoods, too. Stick to places towards the hills rather than towards the Bay for the best neighborhoods and schools. The best school in the entire Bay Area is in Walnut Creek, actually ... The Meher School, and though most people sign their children up as soon as they get pregnant (they don't advertise at all ... it's all word of mouth), the upper 4th and 5th grades usually have a few spaces. There are places east of Oakland and Berkeley ... in Contra Costa ... that are very nice. Good luck with your move.
2006-08-02 21:11:09 · answer #2 · answered by Aunt Thea 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
stay out of oakland if you can. berkley is close and anywhere north on I-80 of there is all safe and good. dont go south on I-80 though. walnut creek is very nice and hwy 24 never gets alot of traffic and no toll both so thats a plus. You will love the weather and would be suprised if you moved back after coming here. best wishes to ya.
2006-08-02 14:51:13 · answer #3 · answered by teddybar67 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You may want to consider Lafayette, which is considered to have a good school zone and is BARTable. Do keep in mind that houseing expense is very different from NC..... (I was from Chapel Hill, NC and is living in SF now).
2006-08-02 11:44:59 · answer #4 · answered by H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Orinda, Lafayette, Moraga, Danville, Alamo. Houses start at 1.2
2006-08-02 01:49:41 · answer #5 · answered by Bryan H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We were there a couple weeks ago. Doesn't look like the safest place for kids.
2006-08-02 11:53:21 · answer #6 · answered by Whatsername 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋