Best place to live in the San Francisco Bay Area
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9/25/2019
Apart from the congestion, Walnut Creek is one of the best places in the San Francisco Bay Area to live. It is one of the most compact/walkable cities in the entire area and the BART station is just a few minutes from downtown. We don't have peons or junkies shooting up and passed along the sidewalk, and no one defecates on the side like in SF. San Francisco and Oakland have a high prevalence of street urchins and undesirables... neither is particularly safe and both are dirty and seedy, apart from the expensive neighborhoods. Walnut Creek is the exact opposite. Besides the winter being colder than most of Bay Area, during the rest of the year the climate is usually superior, except for 10-20 days when it exceeds 100F. Most of the bay area, particularly near the bay/ocean is not very warm or comfortable most of the time, with SF being the worst. Except for some relatively infrequent property crime, usually related to car break-ins, it is a safe place to live. The property crime seems to be adjacent to freeway exits, particularly in the north, closer to Concord. The cost of living used to be very reasonable, but since 2012 it has gone up a lot, which is the biggest downside. The quality of the people that live here is very good and everyone seems very civilized...a rarity in the Bay Area. I've lived here for most of the past 15 years, but it is not a good place to retire early due to the cost of living...so I'm relocating to Portugal next year to escape the rat race. If you like living in civilized area, with everything nearby, quality weather most of the year and can earn a better than average salary for the area, I'd definitely recommend Walnut Creek.
Todd | Walnut Creek, CA