Reviews & Comments
Santa Rosa, CA
Good for above average simple people -
6/21/2022Good/decent Medium-smaller sized city. Currently looking to move to Oregon or Washington.
CONS
-There is starting to be a bigger homeless problem than there was 10 years ago and crime. Several areas of the city have a homeless problem and the middle area where the highways cross has problems with gangs/ gang activity.
-Fires/power shutoffs on the eastern side of the city are a huge drag to living here. Besides 1/3 of the city burning down a few years ago fires and drought are a constant concern and to help "fix it" pge shuts the power of on the border where the fire was a few years back in hopes another fire wont start since their too lazy to cut brush down.
-Rents wayyyy too high, you dont have a good opportunity to buy a house unless you have 300k, and you cant get your own apartment unless youre wealthy or you have a partner.
-If you have pets the pet ERs are constantly max capacity and vet appts take forever to get, when my dog was sick several months ago it took a week to get her in, the ERs were max capacity the entire time and they recommended i travel 1.5 hours away to a different area in the bay area to try there.
PROS
-Lots of outdoors and nature. Parks, Camping, sports, hiking, fishing are all good things for around here.
-The ocean is 30 mins away, its gorgeous and its my favorite part of living here that makes me stay. Its cold and windy generally but i love the ocean so much.
-45 Mins from SF and the cities
-Lots of jobs
-Big hippy area, very chill
-Organics are a big thing here if thats your thing
Background: I grew up 30 mins outside of Santa Rosa in a small town. As someone whos used to living in a small town (and enjoyed it) living in SR the past 7 years hasnt been overwhelming, its just big enough to have a lot of different things to do and opportunities while not being a massively overwhelming city like SF. I feel like Santa Rosa is the crossing point for what kind of lifestyle you wanna live, go North-west you hit a more conservative country area, go east youll find wine country, go south youll find the city life with the bay area. Its a good starting area for CA if you can find a good job