I was wondering a nice area to live in around Oakland CA?

Question

Hello. We currently live in Ohio and are looking in the Oakland area for houses. Any suggestions on which cities to look at?

Thanks

Answer 1

Oakland has an area of 60 square miles. There's a big difference between living near the interesection of 105th & Edes and College & Claremont, just as there is a difference between South Central L.A. and Bel-Air.

Answer 2

As a former resident of the city of Oakland I would say stay away from Oakland if you are not used to an Urban Area. The city of Oakland is about to break it's own record for Homicide's in the city at 106.

Oakland is a dangerous, dangerous place with quite possibly the worst school districts in the country. I was aproduct of the school district and I had a rough time in school.

The Bay area ia a wonderful place to live. You can find GREAT PLACES to live. Just be careful about the city of Oakland. If you must live in Oakland. Look at the area arouond Skyline Highschool, or LakeMerit. Also, the City of San Leandro

Hope this helps

Answer 3

The Bay Area is wonderful, you're making a great choice! Oakland is a lovely city, there are a lot of high crime areas. The Oakland Hills and Lake Merritt areas are very nice though. Other cities that I'd recommend are Piedmont (trendy, lots of boutique shopping), Berkeley, Albany (mini-Berkeley), El Cerrito (has a bit of everything), Richmond (Richmond Annex area, the homes there are really nice, and it's right next to El Cerrito)
If you have any questions just send me an email.

Answer 4

There are safe and fun parts of oakland (some were mentioned, rockridge, north of lake merrit, Oakland hills, Piedmont, Montclair) but you do have to be careful. The crime stats are gained mostly in the most eastern/western of the city and are rarely against innocent bystanders (mostly gang vs. gang). I lived near chinatown for 9 years and never once felt in any danger.

If you have children though, I wouldn't recommend putting them in a public school in Oakland. Some better (CA public schools aren't great, but these places would at least be safer) are: San Leandro & Hayward (better, but both do have their gangsta wannabes), Union City, Fremont, Newark or to the north Albany, El Cerrito. Berkeley I can take or leave, personally. Going more east, Dublin & Pleasanton are nice and still have bart access. To the north of them are Alamo and San Ramon which are a little more pricey but nice. East and North: Orinda, Moraga, Lafayette and Walnut Creek are expensive but very nice. Pleasant Hill, Concord, Pittsburg and Antioch are okay and more affordable but they are really far away. Richmond is a pretty dangerous place for the most part, but to the north of it Hercules is okay.

Answer 5

The north side of Oakland (towards Berkeley) is safe and multicultural and the Piedmont district (east of downtown) is actually multi-milliony ritzy. The town to the northwest, Emeryville, a place largely of 1940s and 50s style California bungalows also has or is close to just about everything but it also has a large industrial district and so is trafficy. However I always felt the best part of the area were the two towns on the other side of Berkeley: Albany and El Cerrito. Much to do there in their own right and on the BART (the regional subway and metro) and also with good bus service so you can get to Berkeley, Oakland's downtown and Jack London entertainment district, and also San Fran conveniently and quickly without getting stuck in the horrendous traffic. Be ready there to enjoy the spicy smells wafting from the kitchens of scores of wonderful Asian restaurants (both Indian/Bengali and Chinese/Vietnamese) and of those of thousands and thousands of fine Asian neighbour families, and with Trader Joe's, Grocery Outlet and McFrugal stores in the area you can stock your wine racks with a wonderful variety of CA wines under private or secondary labels which only their CA stores sell at fractions of the wineries' known label prices.

Answer 6

Are you insane?? Have you even been there? Oakland has a high crime statistic, second to south central los angeles. Good luck with that. Ohio to Oakland..LOL.
If for some demented reason you still want to live near there, try looking for houses in Albany, Berkeley, Alameada
Moving into the bay area, expect to pay 3 times as much for the same size house you are moving out of and it will take you 10 times longer to drive 1 mile.

Answer 7

Given the knee-jerk responses to your question, its clear that some people are completely ignorant about Oakland.

Downtown and West Oakland may have some rough neighborhoods with high crime rates, however the parts of Oakland that are closer to the hills are incredibly nice and highly sought after. For instance go to www.grubbco.com and look at the homes in Piedmont, Montclair and Rockridge. The public schools in those neighborhoods are also good. Piedmont schools are reknown for their academic excellence.

Rockridge and Montclair, in particular, have great restaurants and shops. If I could handle the commute to the Silicon Valley I would move to Oakland in an instant.

Answer 8

I should advice you to just stay over there in Ohio. It might be nicer over there.
I had been to Oakland early this year and people on the nearby areas dont usually go there. My friend who works in a hospital there is usually brought by a hospital shuttle when riding the BART or a co-nurse who just lives across the hospital has to be escorted in crossing the street.
The atmosphere in the parking lot in the mall is not that friendly too. People keeps on hunking their horns and shouting at one another. I wouldnt dare go back to that place again.
It you really have no choice, try looking for houses or studios at the CONTRA COSTA COUNTY area. Friendly environment along Concord and Pittsburgh. It is about 30 minutes drive depending on the traffic. Walnut creek as suggested by the rest is also a nice community.

Answer 9

Oakland = Scary
I grew up in South San Jose, the Almaden Valley area. It's still a safe area and very pretty in the hills. It's also about 1.5 hours from San Francisco.

Answer 10

Try Walnut Creek or somewhere in Contra Costa county. If you have kids, dont move to Oakland. You can confirm the school situation & crime by going to the online version of Oakland Tribune. Good Luck.