Moving to Santa Rosa...HELP! (San Francisco, Oakland: low crime, lawyer, house)

[elcapitan]

My wife and I, as well as our two small children are considering moving to Santa Rosa from Eugene Oregon. I was born and raised in the Napa Valley and left when I was sixteen (now in mid-twenties), so I am not all that familiar with current day Santa Rosa.

Perhaps some people could chime in on their thoughts:

1. Has Santa Rosa changed for the better or worse over the
last ten years?

2. Is it a good place to raise children? i.e. good schools and
parks, low crime, ample childcare

3. Do the professional salaries match the cost of living?
(Wife and I are both CPA's.)

4. Are employment prospects good in Santa Rosa, or do most
professionals commute to the city?

5. Since Eugene Oregon basically has all of the above, is
there anything about Santa Rosa that would make the
move worthwhile? (BESIDES the weather )

6. What type of neighborhood would $550k buy into?

We truly appreciate any input....If anyone is curious, feel free to ask us about Eugene!

[elcapitan]

Anybody?

[elcapitan]

Still nobody?

[mono#9]

wow--I guess not many Santa Rosians come to this forum. I live in s. cal and don't know much about SR, but you might want to check out this from today's postings
A report of the best and worst downtowns (website)
Tantalust

Santa Rosa is listed as the fifth best downtown area for mid-sized CA cities. Sounds good!

[skytrekker]

Ok

I am 3000 miles away- but have visited the city much. Sonoma county and Santa Rosa have grown much since you left.

The cities rapid growth has changed it from a pleasant wine country town of 25 years ago to a place with a population of about 150,000. Such growth anywhere can have pluses and negatives. I cannot make an objective evaluation about the schools. Crime has generally risen from 1999-2005 according to City data- being now slightly above the national average in 2005. There has been some rise in gang activity in recent years.

The city I found has a nice park system.

Living costs far exceed household income; single family homes average over 600K median. 550K will likely buy a starter home in an average area.

CPA's and other persons with training in finances are in demand in SR.

Since I have been to both Eugene and Santa Rosa- its a tough pick for me. Eugene is located in a beautiful area- I love the green, the recreational opportunities and the 'quirky' culture. I found Eugene to have a more laid back less stressful way of living.

Santa Rosa has a nicer climate- with less rain in the winter. There is much to do Santa Rosa - and its proximity to San Francisco is a real plus. The city is attractive, and the nearby wineries, Redwoods and coastline are enhance the outdoor opportunities.

Traffic in Santa Rosa can be a real problem, especially on US 101, since its still four lanes, and the traffic increase over the years make the freeway obsolete, thus very congested at times. When I visited a few years ago, the county and city where considering widening this road- I have no information if this was ever accomplished-since there was strong opposition to this plan.

Hope this helps!

[CAtoGA]

Sorry, I wasn't able to get to the computer the last couple of days. Growth in the Santa Rosa/Sonoma County area has been tremendous in the past 10 years. We moved to Sebastopol 11 years ago and it now feels like we're living in a sardine can. There's people everywhere! Prices are pretty high, so I'm not sure what you could get for $550.

I also can't really help with info on the CPA thing. I do know that the city has changed. I grew up coming to Santa Rosa every summer. My cousin and I would ride our bikes all over the place. Now it's just too busy. Too many cars, too many people. You get traffic at any time of day.

I wish you the best of luck with whatever you decide to do. I personally am trying to get out of CA.

[mlutfi]

Probably my answer is really to late (7 years after the original post :-)

I have been living in Santa Rosa for 12 years, now thinking to relocate to Vancouver/Portland area. Not sure for CPA, but not many for IT similar kind, at least for me. I have faced two layoffs/office shutdowns in Petaluma, couldn't find a job in Sonoma county and later found a job, but in Oakland (1 hour one-way commute, if I am lucky). The second phase 101 widening program has started since 2012's and since then I couldn't bear the commute traffic thru 101 anymore (from Santa Rosa to Petaluma could take more than 40 minutes!). Now I lost my job (layoff again) and could not find a good job in the area (my skill is IT/high-tech). No choice other than move out of Santa Rosa (or suffer of the commuting to/from the city/bay area).

ALso, the last 2-3 years California has been experiencing drought, quite serious to cause some cities to fine residents who wash their car with tap water. Housing price is also above average (I own a house, so i't good for me). This is what I don't understand. It makes sense housing price in some places in Silicon Valley is extremely expensive, but Santa Rosa doesn't have that much comparable economical value (except for winery biz.?)

As usual, everything is taxable in CA (state income, property, sales, etc.). Cost of living is about or slightly above average.

Positives:
Have various food choices (asian cuisine, latin american cuisine, italian, mexican and peruvian cuisine, indian).

The nice thing about it is the mild climate, although it's got warmer every year (global warming?). Just about a week ago the temperature was close to 100 and this is in fall!. One thing I hate is the allergy during spring-early summer season. All persons in my household got allergy since moving here. Also there is Rose parade every spring (late spring?), something nice to watch.

Nice downtown, people are nice in average. Traffic is not that crowded (compared to 101 in Marin county or Berkeley-Oakland).

Schools are relatively OK (depends on where you live). There's some magnet schools (e.g., ARTQuest program @ Santa Rosa High school, etc.)

Good parks (Anadel, etc.). Recently they just opened trails to Taylor mountain. It's really nice view if you hike or walk there.

Still a good place to raise a child. Childcare is good and getting even better (they're opening another health center in north of SR),


Negatives:
There are gang-related activities in some neighborhood, mostly in hispanic communities. A few good-paying jobs (unless you're a doctor or lawyer or in higher managerial positions). Lack of water (well, this is not only Santa Rosa, but throughout California). My water bill is now more expensive than my cell-phone (for 3!) plus Netflix combined!
Housing is getting more expensive, although with $550k you'd still get a decent house (depends on the area). Much better than Silicon Valley where average house price is above $700k (more insane if we see San Francisco bay area).
Because of the drought, the air is soo dry, damaging my skin. Insects stay longer now (usually they start to dissapear in fall, but not this year. I see a lot of flies flying around in my garage, spiders.) due to the unusual hot temperature.
prone to earthquakte (couple of weeks a go there was an earthquake in Napa).

[the city]

I've been there twice in the last year and half. My friend went to college up there and now lives there. Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sonoma, and Sebastpol are the main towns of the area.

Santa Rosa has nice parts and bad parts. It's all pretty much a suburban area. Petaluma was the nicest town in the area. Rohnert Park, Cotati, and Santa Rosa seemed like the most affordable area to live in.

All the towns have really nice downtowns except Rohnert Park which does not have a a downtown and it's downtown is prob Cotati's downtown.

My friend had 2 incidents of crime up there. He had his laptop stolen and he almost got assaulted.

From what I heard they have some hispanic gangs up there.

The area is absolutely beautiful. You are close to Napa, Main County, and San Francisco. Bodega Bay is awesome as well.

You won't regret moving up there.

Oh and I forgot to mention the 101 south of Petaluma gets really bad traffic. They r working on expanding the 101 and eventually build a light rail up there, but until then sometimes traffic can get bad at peak hours of the day.

Oh and they have my favorite grocery markets up there-Sprout's Farmers Market and Trader Joe's

[italiangirl]

Do you see that these questions were asked in 2007?

[winecounty]

Yeah,