Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill or San Rafael?
Hi,
I am a mom of two kids, 4.5 years and 18 months. I am an expat from Prague, my husband is African American. Our kids are mixed. We have lived in San Francisco for almost a decade and two years ago we purchased a house in Concord as an investment opportunity with the idea to move a bit closer to SF once the house appreciates. We are now deciding where to move and it's tough.
My step daughter lives in SR.
I work FT but work from home twice a week. Otherwise I commute.
We would love a flair of culture, down to earth people, diversity, good public schools and walk-able distance to a park, store a cafe etc. So far it seems that as for diversity, WC and SR are about the same- not super diverse for Bay Area standards. The amount of wealth, which I don't necessarily take as a plus, is about the same but wanting public schools that are good schools also means in the Bay that we will be living around very rich people. It's a challenge as I want our kids to be well rounded, not snobby and not thinking that poor people live in condos (which is what I heard from of of the Marin kids).
WC has better central location and BART that gets me to he city faster and provides late night transportation. SR takes much longer by public transport.
Without offense I am trying to avoid being surrounded by entitled people. I want a normal, very mixed population to be represented in our neighborhood....where do we go? experience? Ideas?
Parent Replies
We moved from SF to Rockridge and are now living in Walnut Creek. We also seriously considered San Rafael for quite a while, but haven't lived there. (we do have friends who love it, but the commute made me nervous).
We live near Buena Vista Elementary, walkable to BART, and I really like it. It is definitely the suburbs, but I do find that there is diversity and a great community. I have been very happy with the schools. From the outside I think people look at the new shopping area and make assumptions about the people who live there. There are some snobby people everywhere, but overwhelmingly we have met other families who are looking for safe, affordable neighborhoods, with a "reasonable" commute and good schools. I will say that after living here, I would definitely want to be walkable to BART because parking seems impossible (I do walk).
Best of Luck!
Walnut Creek is much more socioeconomically diverse than San Ramon I think. Just look at % of kids who get free and reduced price lunch in the various schools. And WC has better schools than PH.
Be aware that not all Walnut Creek addresses go to Walnut Creek School District.
Not sure if you are looking for the long term but not only is the commuting easier for you, once your kids are teens they will be much happier to live in Walnut Creek compared to San Ramon since they can hop on BART and go to Oakland/SF, etc.
I live in Walnut Creek, and while it is not as racially diverse as other parts of the Bay Area, I'm actually pretty satisfied at how economically diverse it is (MUCH more so than nearby Lamorinda). I totally get what you mean about not wanting to be surrounded by entitled people, and I have felt comfortable in Walnut Creek. We live in a condo (that maps to 9/9/10 schools), can walk to a park, and the restaurants here are slowly getting better. We also looked at San Rafael, and I'm really glad we moved here and that Bart, even with all its faults, is an option for commuting to work in SF.
Good luck with your search!