Where to live near Palo Alto with a young family of 4?

[joemonk]

Considering a job offer of 120k in Palo Alto. Where should I look for apartments considering I have a wife and 2 young children?

[Marco_Bonechi]

Maybe East Palo Alto.
You won't be able to afford childcare anywhere near, your have to go 90mins away for that.

[Hendrick_Sukardi]

Hello.

It's very unlikely that you will be able to find a suitable place with that salary, unless your wife is also working.

First, it would cost 4-5k for a 2 bedroom in Palo Alto unless you find a willing landlord. Probably 5-6 for a 3 bedroom if each child needs her own space.

Second, I think that would only work if you have a combined 170-200k salary and you may get shocked at the sticker price for childcare and more.

My recommendation is to live in the East Bay across the bridge at Union City or Fremont. 20-35% cut in prices. If you insist on living on the Peninsula, Redwood City is a little bit cheaper than Palo Alto and Foster City can also be quite cheap. The only negative is it's on reclaimed land and there may be safety issues if there is a major earthquake.

Welcome to the Bay!

[Don_Park]

This is a trick question right?

Hate to say this but at $120K a year, you are not going to be able to find even a studio apartment where you can live with your family that's "near" Palo Alto. You might be able to find a below average 1BR somewhere in the East Bay or somewhere you need to commute at least an hour away each way before even thinking about it.

Even if you look on Craigslist, you aren't going to find much - if anything - and if you do, they are going to be snatched up extremely quickly or not even posted online.

Better find a better paying job or re-examine your priorities because there's a huge disconnect here that needs to be addressed.

Good luck!

[Megan_Magee]

Palo Alto or Mountain View would be best for your commute and both have good school districts, freeway access, and active communities for raising kids. I grew up in Mountain View/Los Altos, but in general the South Bay/Peninsula is family friendly with good schools. You can use Zillow to check on average rental costs by neighborhood, and they will also show you school scores. You could also try Fremont and Sunnyvale, but I would try to land in Mountain View first. The local YMCA, thriving Downtown, and Wine Festival are some favorite attractions.

[John_LaBarge]

Austin, TX - that is unless you have 2 mil in cash.

[Ashleigh_Sullivan]

LOL. Try buying an RV? I've lived here my entire life and even people who grew up here are getting priced out because soooo many people are moving to the area. Rent prices are so high RVs litter the streets...

[joemonk]

These are all great replies, thanks for your input! The offer I'm considering is an internal thing and I would be moving from Belfast in Ireland so it's good to know what to expect. I think I may need to negotiate a more agreeable package before I consider the relocation. I would have no problems living maybe an hour away if it were necessary.

[Edward_Kim2]

When you say you're ok living "an hour away" don't forget to consider traffic. If your commute follows the major traffic patterns (south along the peninsula and east bay to Cupertino, Santa Clara, San Jose etc in the mornings, then reverse; also a lot of traffic between SF and Oakland) it will increase by roughly 50% (my estimate, others can weigh in). One accident along the way and that's another 45 minutes to an hour, much worse if you need to cross one of the bridges like San Mateo or Dumbarton.
If your kids are preschool there are affordable options, mostly in the family-friendlier cities like Fremont, but you'll need to do a lot of footwork to find a home daycare or quality preschool.
It's incredibly crowded and the lack of well connected public transportation anywhere outside of the 3 big cities (SF, Oakland, San Jose) means there are a lot of people driving. You could always buy an electric car that still gets you a carpool lane sticker... If you can work from home that will also mitigate it some, but as someone who has to go in every day, I can tell when all the telecommuters stay home and then they're all back on the road on the same days, seems like.