Suburbs East of San Francisco

[Anonymous]

OP here. My husband would be working in the East Bay, so the peninsula is probably not a good option in terms of commuting, although it does seem like a great area to live and I've heard very positive things about the schools. We're not considering San Francisco proper because of the bridge and the school system seems challenging. It doesn't seem possible to send your kids to a local school and that's really important to us. I don't know where I'll work. My best options would probably be in the Silicon Valley or San Francisco itself, but it doesn't sound like one of us could commute into the city (or SV) and one of us commute to the East Bay without spending hours on the road (or transit). So, I'll probably focus on Oakland/Berkeley for work.

I will definitely check out citi-data. Thank you. This is incredibly helpful.

[Anonymous]

Interesting.
Can someone tell me about the suburbs west of San Francisco?

[Anonymous]

Can someone tell me about the suburbs west of San Francisco?

The Farallon Islands. They're shark-infested.

[Anonymous]

I would check out Rockridge (in Oakland) and Berkeley. The Lamorinda area is more suburban, less walkable.

Think about the whole public/private thing. If you wanna go public, Lamorinda or Piedmont. Many people go public in certain Oakland neighborhoods and Berkeley for elementary and private later on. But neither Elmwood (Berkeley public schools, there is a lottery) or Rockridge (Oakland USD, Chabot Elementary) require private schooling - then again, that's not a requirement anywhere .

[Anonymous]

Oh, and if you live near BART, commuting to SF is really easy and totally doable, especially if your husband can do school drop-offs. For instance, from Rockridge BART to downtown SF (financial district) is a 20 minute BART ride. There is also the casual carpool option.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Marin, so am not so familiar with the East Bay, but a good friend lives in Piedmont with his family and they love it. Suburban feel, but close-knit community and walkable. His wife is from Orange County and wanted the opposite of that -- something with a village feel and they seem to have found it. They're happy with the schools too -- kids now in middle school. If you end up working in the city, BART is your best option for commuting or maybe the ferry (one of my cousins did that for years and it seemed to work well for her). I would try to avoid the commute to the South Bay/Peninsula, though. Downside: expensive, even for the Bay Area.