Housing/School between Berkeley & Mountain View
Hi there. My partner, 2 kids and I are moving to the Bay Area in 2025. We are moving back (after decades away) from Australia. I used to live in Berkeley, and it's time to come home.
Schooling. The kids will probably be in 6th and 8th grade. Culturally, they're Australian and so accustomed to education that emphasizes wellbeing, fairness, and group focus. I'd love your advice on middle and high schools that are high-ranking, but not too high-pressure/competitive.
Housing. Everything is expensive, but can you recommend areas that are less expensive but still have good schools and are safe? We'll probably need to rent at first, so if anyone has recommendations on that front, we'd be grateful. Ideally, we need to keep open the possibility of living somewhere equidistant-ish from Berkeley and Mountain View.
Thanks!
Parent Replies
I think you have to decide what's going to drive the train, the schools or the housing site. You have to narrow it down a bit since the area between Berkeley and MV is large.
You would probably be looking at the younger child entering middle school as the youngest class (most US middle schools are now 6th-8th) and the older child would be in a bit of a pickle since most schools wouldn't necessarily have space for an 8th grader where there is space for a 6th grader. ie., it could be difficult to keep them at the same school.
While this is a Berkeley/East Bay specific forum, I would probably place my bet on finding good public schools more likely in Sunnyvale/Mountain View/San Carlos and spend that money on rent there. I feel like you might get better quality rental housing on the peninsula but it won't be cheap. Fremont used to have a stellar school reputation and maybe it still does, and I just haven't heard about it lately; that might be another place to look. I would not be inclined to Milpitas myself as it really feels like a bedroom community. Good luck!
"Equidistant-ish" between Berkeley and Mountain View caught my attention. This is a looooooong commute with traffic and all. I would try to move closer to the job with less flexibility and the parent with more flexibility does longer commute.
If you are set on equidistant-ish, Castro Valley and Fremont come to my mind. Both have good school districts and not astronomical in housing prices compared to the astronomical parts of the bay area.
On the peninsula side, San Carlos is lovely and has good schools, but prices are high.
If your children will go to school near your house, it's nice to have one parent who can get to the school in less than 30 min. for emergencies, pick-up/drop-off, school events/activities, etc. If you are in the mid-point from Berkeley and MV and your child is sick and needs to be picked up from school at the mid-point, neither of you will likely make it to school in less than 30 min.
Agreed with above that commuting is brutal (feels like getting worse by the year, especially after the pandemic), if one or more of you have a commute without flexible hours to dodge traffic, try to minimise it and don’t discount the impact of lost time with your family. When I was moving to the bay area 10 years ago I read articles about the high self-harm/suicide rates in some silicon valley high schools (google around if you wish, but warning it’s really sad to read about), and then I had two relatives transfer to Palo Alto and alarmingly they both did self-harm. Maybe coincidence, but something to look into.