Commuting to hillsborough - where to live?
hi bpn
I haven't been living full time in the bay for over 10 years so i am out of the loop with how it has changed. how is san leandro? san bruno? sunset district in sf also an option, potentially.
thanks!
lina
(north berkeley born & raised, living in NYC for the past 10 years)
Feb 4, 2020
Parent Replies
Hi- I have a toddler and we moved over the summer from Berkeley to Millbrae (near SFO) because I work in SF and my husband got a job in San Jose. We wanted to stay in Berkeley but commutes would have just been too crazy. We surprisingly really like Millbrae- very family friendly, clean, safe, enough fun stuff going on, etc. We've also had a good experience visiting San Mateo and San Bruno which would also be possible with your commute. I think anywhere in the East Bay (including San Leandro) would definitely make your commute more than 40 mins realistically. Anyway, we did a lot of weighing of pros and cons and I'd be happy to share with you what we learned and our current experience if helpful. Send me a message!
We recently moved from Millbrae over to Albany. If you end up in the San Bruno area, I *highly* recommend looking into San Bruno Parents Club - they are an amazing group of families and helped us through the first year of parenting, especially having been new to the state as well.
If your desire is to live within a 40 min commute of Hillsborough it's going to be a question of affordability and commute hours. Getting across the SM Bridge during commute hours, (6am-10, 2:30-7) is typically going to be an hour or more from SL. An additional 30 or 45 for Berkeley and more for El Cerrito. Sunset down 280 IDK, but I would think wouldn't be that bad.
I would suggest looking at Google Maps or Waze to see what traffic is like. Since you haven't been here for 10 years are have you looked into house costs?
I have a co-worker (no kids) who lives in Millbrae and really likes it. And others who live in Montera (with kids) who really like it. You might look in Half Moon Bay as well.
Best of luck. And prepare yourself for Bay Area traffic.