The 10 BEST PLACES to Live in CALIFORNIA

California now I know I give this state a hard time but there's actually some great places to live in this state you just have to know where to look of course Los Angeles and San Francisco aren't very desirable for many people they're crowded and expensive and dangerous and dirty in California like in other states it's the smallish towns that are actually pretty great being such a large state there's a big discrepancy in quality between the best and the worst places to live today we're going to talk about what makes the better places great to do so we measured quite a few metrics as it turns out the places which ranked the highest all share the same sort of general measuring sticks they're safe they have great schools and folks who live there have great jobs so break out your avocado toast and wax your surfboard as we talk about California's best cities [Music] [Applause] we begin in Danville a cute little town of about 40,000 people located only about 20 minutes east of Oakland Danville makes a cut because it's one of the safest places on this list with the 5th lowest rate of violent crime and 8 lowest rate of total crime in California the cost of living in Danville is pretty reasonable with folks spending far less of their incomes on housing than in other towns in the greater Bay Area it's also pretty easy to get yourself set up in Danville because both the unemployment and poverty rates are really low households here make about 150 K a year here which is quite a chunk of change for fun you can visit Blackhawk Plaza a cool combination of a shopping center and a city park nice Danville really nice [Music] [Music] moving Southwest dish our next stop brings us to Cupertino a town just east of San Jose ever wonder why Cupertino is the default option for weather on your iPhone that's because in addition to being the ninth best place to live in California Cupertino is also home to apples headquarters being the hub of a tech behemoth like Apple it's no surprise that Cupertino is population of 60,000 is hyper educated with more than 40 percent of residents having a masters PhD or professional degree all that extra time in school really pays off too because folks in Cupertino earn a median household income of a hundred and sixty-three thousand a year which are gonna need to pay off the one point five million dollar home prices oh my goodness less than 1% of the population gets social assistance and only 2 percent of people don't have health insurance so you know the residents of Cupertino aren't struggling to get by I'm here at Paul Masson Chateau in California almost every night here there's a wine-tasting party one of the favorites is for my son Chablis it's light and crisp it's delicious the wine you drink the most should be the best now we all know you really can't consider yourself a part of the elite unless you're a wine snob and Cupertino folks have several vineyards in the area at which they can indulge in their tendencies good for you Cupertino good for you belmonts a little place south of San Francisco which has strong numbers across the board in education amenities safety and solid markets for both jobs and housing the median age of belmonts below 40 highlighting the youthfulness that makes California such an exciting place to live kinda sorta it should come as no surprise that the largest employers for a city in this region are big-name tech companies like Oracle if working with computers is your dream belmont should have more than enough opportunities to keep you satisfied and if you're a health snob Belmonts a dream it has some of the strictest smoking laws in the country so all the city's residents were able to breathe a little more freely it's also the closest we're gonna get San Francisco on this list so if you have to have the experience of the Bay Area big-city life then this is a good starting point California's so big and cool there's a lot of beaches where you can cool off the water's so cold here people want to move here cuz they think that it's so great here but it's crowded here yes it's crowded here here here here we're gonna remain in the Bay Area as we come to the town of Saratoga population 31,000 which is located on the western side of the Santa Clara Valley now of all of these San Jose suburbs Saratoga is closest to the Big Basin redwood State Park California's oldest state park and it's home to the largest stand of redwoods south of San Francisco that ought to satisfy even the most voracious nature lover public schools in Saratoga are ranked just about as high as you can get so you know the kids are gonna get off to a good start here which obviously translates into greater success later in life seeing as how over 40 percent of residents here I'm a master's degree or higher and one good thing leads to another because residents of Saratoga earn a median income of a hundred and seventy six thousand dollars the eighth highest in the entire state add to that the twelfth lowest data crime statewide and the ninth largest percentage of insured residents and you've got one heck of a place to call home good for you Saratoga we're finally leaving the Bay Area for a bit as we head down to Orange County this is Aliso Viejo the sixth best place to live in California Aliso Viejo is a vibrant youthful city where the median age is about 36 it's also the most densely populated city you'll see on this list so if you crave constant activity Aliso Viejo is probably your jam Aliso Viejo is actually somewhat affordable at least for smallish enclaves in the state that lowish cost of living means you won't have to break the bank to enjoy yourself here and that's a bonus you won't have any trouble getting friends and family to come visit you because Disneyland is just hop skip and jump away or you can just drop him off and let him have their own fun cuz Disneyland is a lot of money and a lot of standing in lines as you know if you've ever been there if you wanna live the California Dream then they need more nice yes they need more nice back to the Bay Area we go to the cute little town of Tiburon located on the tip of the Tiburon Peninsula reaching into the San Francisco Bay there's quite a few reasons why Tiburon ranks as the fifth best place to live in California the poverty level here is less than 3% which is the third lowest in the state and the 2.8 percent unemployment rate is the 11th lowest which helps explain why 99.4% of Tiburon residents have health insurance the highest rate of coverage in California Tiburon has the 15th lowest rate of crime in California - so you probably won't even need that health insurance very often it's also a great jumping-off point for getting to Angel Island which has an amazing view of San Francisco or the imposing Alcatraz Island for a history lesson and by the way Alcatraz is no longer used for locking up dangerous members of our society in case you're wondering [Music] [Applause] now no disrespect to the folks in Southern California but a nother Northern California city is on the horizon Atherton is right outside of Palo Alto so if you've ever dreamed of taking classes at Stanford you're right next door Atherton enjoys the shortest commute time on this list with residents having to spend 22 minutes to get to and from work each day which is crazy for a city in the Bay Area Atherton also has the lowest rate of food stamp recipients on this list so the people here are doing just fine without government assistance that probably has something to do with Atherton's ridiculously high median income of two hundred and fifty thousand a year which is just about at the top for California wino experience the best parts of Oakland without having to deal with all the high rates of crime and drama Piedmont's a place for you with below 3% levels of unemployment and poverty Piedmont makes sure that its residents get a piece of the pie that also may have something to do with the fact that Piemonte has the lowest rate of high school dropouts in California peanuts fortunate to get some of the warmer weather that the East Bay gets without the hot dry climate of the Sacramento Valley and if after this season you're a Golden State Warriors fan you don't have to go far to watch the game homes in Piedmont are also a little bit cheaper than pretty much every other city on this list so it might be somewhat easier to get yourself established here especially on your salary of two hundred and ten thousand dollars of course keep in mind that these huge income levels all need to be put into perspective the high salaries are in part due to the high cost of living in this part of the state there's no way people can afford to live here unless they're earning way above average salaries we don't have to drive too far to arrive at California's second best city to call home low Sal toes Hills the unemployment rate in Los Altos Hills is a mere 2.8 percent the tenth lowest of anywhere else on this list which makes sense when you consider that a staggering 50% of Los Altos Hills population has received at least a master's degree it also explains why folks in Los Altos Hills earn absolutely massive salaries two hundred and fifty five thousand he are you kidding me and you can take full advantage of the 24 miles of trails available at Rancho San Antonio without fearing for your safety where's our best town to live in California in 2020 Los Altos is if you can afford it right in the heart of the Silicon Valley this is a dream for anybody who wants to live out of touch with not only the rest of the state but the rest of the nation too unsurprisingly residents of Los Altos are highly educated with over half of folks having a master's degree or higher bigger degrees lead a bigger paychecks which leaves the residents of Los Altos in the comfortable position of earning only two hundred and fifteen thousand a year per household so while the two million dollar price tag on homes here is quite expensive the overall cost of living is actually quite reasonable I guess sorta kinda and if you want to settle down in Los Altos for good you're in luck because the schools are pretty much the best in the state and on top of that los altos has the seventh lowest rate of violent crime in California and with all these awesome features it's unsurprising that the Los Altos farmers market is one of the city's top attractions and if your shopping needs fall outside the purview of a farmers market Santana row in San Jose is just a 15 minute drive away everyone okay so that's it the best places you can live in the state of California for 2020 if you're planning to move here and have a lot of money and a lot of work experience these are the places you should look into and if you're not rich but still want to enjoy the even smaller town life in California here's a list of the best teeny small towns in California if you already live in California and you want to change and don't want the hustle and bustle that comes with living in the always expensive and somewhat overwhelming Bay Area life then well do like everybody else and move out of the state to Arizona Nevada Colorado Idaho Montana Oregon Washington New Mexico Texas Utah hey guys if you learn something new or you just like this video make sure to like it and if you really like this video make sure you hit that subscribe button so you get all of our videos about it's like to live in different places in America peace

Channel: Nick Johnson

Views: 265,919

Keywords: best places to live in california, best california cities, where should i move in california, moving to california, california, real estate, realtor, mortgage loan, los altos, los altos hills, san francisco, los angeles, orange county, aliso viejo, piedmont, danville, sausalito, cupertino, belmont, saratoga

Id: LcX1asGb8gk

Length: 12min 19sec (739 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 20 2020