Any insight to living in Burlingame for jobs in SF?
What can you tell me about living in Burlingame? I know that housing is crazy expensive, but I also know it's a short commute to SF (where both my husband and I work) with top schools. And great weather! I was thinking we could rent an apartment or buy a condo to get access to the schools, but then I worry that we might not fit in if everyone else is living in a $2M+ home. We are solidly middle class and would love to find a great community on the Peninsula where we can raise our son, but I feel like we're being priced out of the Bay Area. Any tips or opinions welcome!
Mar 23, 2017
Parent Replies
I grew up in Burlingame but haven't lived there in 15 years so take my impression with a grain of salt. I still have many old friends from childhood that still live there and raise a family there so I am pretty familiar. Even when I was young it was a pretty desirable/expensive place to live but with the tech industry it has become insane. I don't (didn't growing up either) many families there that rent. There is a small area with condos/apartments that families could rent but in my experience it was where most divorced dads went to live after the divorce. My good friend lives in San Mateo and has found families to be much more diverse economically. Maybe take a look there. There are some great areas in San Mateo (Hayward Park, Beresford) that are more open. Also a word on the commute-my friend drives from San Mateo to SF daily and she says it takes an hour+ most days. Good luck in your search!
Hi Katiemalia,
Here are a couple thoughts: You might find this article in today's New York Times interesting. There is an interactive graph that plots towns near some major metropolitan areas (incl. San Francisco) as a function of housing (price per sq. foot) and quality of schools, with color-coding by commute time. It gives a big-picture view of where you might find more value-for-money school-wise. The article is here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/30/upshot/good-schools-affo…
That being said, the devil (as always) is in the details. For example, I live in Redwood City whose schools overall aren't great. However, the neighborhood elementary schools span a range (in terms of the various performance metrics), and there are some well-regarded specialized programs (e.g., Spanish immersion) and a magnet elementary school (for which there is an entrance exam). The high school offers an International Baccalaureate program. The real estate prices here are still lower than most of our neighboring towns, and (for better or worse, depending on whom you ask) there is currently a lot of growth (new companies moving in and new housing being built).
All that is to say that if you drill down a bit you may find good options in a number of towns that you might not expect.
Good luck with your search!
JCNRMom, I read that Burlingame is 51% renters, so I wonder if your school just didn't draw from that part of town. Looks like most of the apartments are along El Camino. I wish the East Bay wasn't such a bear to drive to and from during rush hour, since my job is not near BART. That's the main reason we're considering the Peninsula, because at least you can drive to SF fairly easily without going over a bridge. Thanks for the insight. Would love it if anyone else has other responses to add!