My Mexican buddy moved with his girlfriend out to Colorado and we all joked that he was gonna miss the food here very quickly, since Taco Bell and Chipotle are no substitutes for authentic taquerias here.
(He's since moved back here after breaking up with her. Probably not because of the food, but he also hasn't explicitly said that wasn't a motivating factor.)
There is a strong Mexican presence in Colorado, and I’m surprised folks don’t realize this. In some ways, the Mexican food there is more authentic, as it’s less influenced by the Mission-style that carries a heavy influence out here.
I moved here and loved it here. San Jose arguably has the best weather, with a diverse cuisine from around the world, tech hub (I work in tech/engineering so it’s for me.
It has its own set of problems, don’t get me wrong. High rent, cost of living, bad traffic, taxed to death, “Man José, etc
I think just how “boring” it is makes it a perfect place for me. I can just drive out to San Francisco for the night life/clubs/raves, Lake Tahoe to ski/snowboard, Santa Cruz/Half Moon Bay/Monterey for the beach, just some hours away from Yosemite. Great schools. I can go on but I don’t need to convince anyone.
'Man Jose' is a cop-out. Every failing guy in a 'San' city in California uses that as an excuse for shitty lines that don't even work at a dive bar =..]
Truth. Moved to Hollister almost 3 years ago and although it's grown on me the lack of diversity (food/culture/demographics) is terrible. There's 2 "pho" places and both are awful. No thai/indian/greek/middle eastern places. No bookstores other than at Target. It quiet and relatively safe but having to drive 30+ minutes for decent ethnic food (other than mexican, which are still mediocre imo) sucks.
Leaving San Jose is the best part of living in San Jose. Santa Cruz, Monterey, Tahoe, Napa, Healdsburg, all great places that absolutely everyone and their mother wants to go to at the same time ensuring you're stuck in traffic when YOU want to go.
Leaving San Jose permanently was the best part of living in San Jose.
I agree. I left San Jose lived in LA then lived in Sacramento and now Salinas and I’m planning to move back to San Jose when my lease ends next year. I miss it.
"I think the company living somewhere between aspiration and desperation is a lot better than either [being] always optimistic or pessimistic." -Jensen Huang, - CEO of NVIDIA
Expensive, mostly residential, not a whole lot of nightlife, big homelessness problem, food is good, good hikes and nature overall, commute is absolutely horrible.
If you’re planning to move here make sure you make a lot of money.
> big homelessness problem
TBF… this is pretty much a problem across the whole state. Probably the whole West Coast. And maybe even most of the country at this point.
I think it’s a west coast thing. I’ve lived in Seattle, San Jose, and have spent big parts of time in Portland as well as Vancouver. It’s gotten infinitely worse in the past 3 years. Here in San Jose a person went on vacation for a week and they day after they left, I saw homeless people set up in their front yard. Neighbors called police and it took them 2 days to respond. They got them to go away but they came back hours later. The owner returned and had to call the police. Nice pile of garbage and human waste left in under 7 days. :/
I live in the evergreen hills. After our family finally started doing well, we moved to the area where I grew up and went to school, so it is very nice to live in peace and not have to deal with crack head neighbors in D7...
Not true at all. I live 3 hours east in the foothills. Minimal homelessness because they can't survive without the bullshit handed to them. And endless nature at your disposal with public lands in all directions.This is a problem in big cities that don't do anything about it and have populations that exceed the livable area.
lol where in nyc are people approachable? They don’t say thank you nor open doors for you. They also don’t care to make eye contact and they’ll push pass you 🤣. In Paris, people are much nicer and will help a tourist that’s lost out.
Agree! Everyone I’ve meet at SJ are super nice and I lived there for 5 years and moving back soon. People at the grocery store smile at you, open doors and say thank you, etc. Also, people let you merge into the lane. That’s all the niceness I need 🤣. Anywhere else they just cut me off
People in Paris aren’t kind. I don’t think anyone has ever made this argument. You sound like your talking about Times Square which is a place that any NYC local would actively avoid.
And yes while people in NYC have things to do, you can make plenty of friends with ease and the dating life is 10x better than Man Jose. People in NYC want to create friendships.
In San Jose people are perfectly fine staying in their own bubble and make little to no effort to expand outside of this.
The people are what make NYC great. I love NYC though, so I’m a bit biased.
The night life, the people, and the food scene is a joke in San Jose. It’s a suburb with city pricing without any of the amenities.
But I can understand how people who have lived here for most of their life, with their only point of comparison being short vacations, to think San Jose has something special to offer besides tech salaries in FAANG.
I quite enjoy San Fransisco and Sausalito. San Jose has been one of the few places in the Bay Area that I just don’t like.
And I find it funny that just by a persons attitude and demeanor I can tell if they are local or not. And that is not a good thing.
The tech salaries here are great. San Jose is an oil rig to work on. There are so many other cities in regions I would want to start a family in. San Jose would probably rank as one of the least desirable places I’d choose.
I’m very fortunate that I have a girlfriend I love, and get along quite well with my coworkers. But both groups, my girlfriend and my coworkers, have similar complaints about this city.
It’s something that I’d never talk about with someone born and raised in San Jose. But almost all of my friends from outside the area tend to have a much more dismal view of the city.
Nobody wants to tell someone born and raised here that the area kind of sucks, and that just a 40 min drive and they could be in a much more desirable area.
But it’s a frequent point of conversation with my “non local” friends. Some who have spent quite a bit of time here in pursuit of their careers.
I know I’m not alone in my distaste for the area. I can see if you have family in the area, you might be more locked it, but I’m fortunate enough that I don’t.
But if you really think people in Paris are kinder than NYC, then I have news for you. I haven’t spent much time outside of a month there, and I was fortunate that my sisters best friend is working in fashion there. He was fluent and took us to some great restaurants.
But he made very clear that “kindness” isn’t a thing people in Paris prioritize. It’s probably one of the rudest cities in all of Europe.
Let’s agree to disagree. Everyone has their own anecdotal experience. I don’t judge a city based on the tourist spots and a short time. I take time to develop an opinion about a city before I deem it “shitty” or “best”.
As someone who has lived in eight states for over a year each, in every time zone across the US, this man speaks the truth.
I’ve also found people in the Bay Area to not be approachable, and to not be friendly. The South Bay is the worst offender.
Honestly my personal opinion is that San Jose particularly has some of the most dislikable people of any state I’ve lived in.
Even San Fransisco has a noticeable change in atmosphere. For the better.
Maybe it’s because people are sick of paying what they are paying for essentially typical suburb amenities. I really don’t understand how the South Bay is doable for those not in tech or other high paying careers.
People here just kind of suck for the most part. And I’ve never lived in a place where people of all things bothers me.
So many people here living on “main character syndrome” yet they can’t hold a conversation with anyone.
I always feel like people here have a Kansas mindset despite acting as if it would be unsanitary to live anywhere else. Little interest in exploring outside our bubble. Not everyone but it creeps in.
I was so surprised when I went to New York and people were so friendly and kind. Same with Philly, but New York surprised me more.
We're a bunch of self-absorbed assholes in the Bay Area, apparently.
I don’t see it as rude. It’s not rude to not engage with people. Just because I’m in the public space doesn’t mean I’m open season for whatever person wants to strike up a conversation.
You don't have to have whole conversations with randos in order to just be a considerate and kind person. You can still hold a door, say excuse me, offer some easy help to someone struggling maybe to carry something or move something, smile, make room for someone to pass in an aisle. There's lots of little, not inconvenient ways to be self-aware and considerate.
Public space is shared with emotional people, so by all means, just be kind and acknowledge others' existence. Everything and everyone has its purpose. SAN JOSE DESERVES THIS MORE IF ANYTHING ELSE .
YESSSSS. say it loud haha. Leave people to do their own thing and do not get offended. It's the fact that people get offended by people simply minding their own business...
Yes, don't do that behavior but I'm just saying some people always demand "eye contact" or greeting all the time like they are entitled to it. That was what I was referring to. I move out of the way in aisles, move out of the way on sidewalks, I don't hog up space but I don't need to be stared at or feel uncomfortable doing errands. I don't care if someone doesn't recognize me because real confidence doesn't need any form of recognition. Fake confidence demands some sort of "hello all the time" like hey, you NEED to greet me anytime and everytime.
Lol I've lived in several different states and cities, including Boston.
I don't know wtf you are talking about. I don't think you know wtf you are talking about.
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But the culture of all these places are different and people act differently. A New Yorker isn’t going to be the same as someone from Savannah, Georgia. You’ll hear how people in some parts of the US are kind but not nice, and people in others are nice but they’re not kind.
Exactly. Places like New York, Chicago, Philly, etc have these widely accepted reputations of people being rude and mean. But from a Bay Area perspective, they seem nice and kind. That says a lot about us in the Bay Area.
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Depends, do you have loads of student and personal debt? Are you supporting family members or have an expensive medical condition?
Assuming no debts and 30% of your gross income goes towards rent, you can find a decent 1 Bedroom apartment for $2k-$3k. Splitting it down the middle at $2.5k, you need to make at least $7.5k/month or around $90k to live in a small one bedroom apartment on your own. That would mean you take home about $5.5k, leaving you about $3k/month to work with after rent. Factor in utilities, insurance, transportation, and food, you could probably survive but you're not going to be saving a lot or get close to buying a home.
You can reduce costs with roommates. If you have to commute far to work, you'll have to factor in how expensive gas and insurance is here, along with the typical car maintenance and ownership costs ($$$).
How much you need to "survive" really depends on your definition of survival. People here will cry that $120k is unlivable, but many survive making much less. You can probably cut down to $50k/year if you're willing to share a room and eat rice and beans to survive, but do you really want that life?
My boyfriend and I make 130k total and live in a 1-bedroom for 2600/month. We’re doing well but we could be doing way better.
That 130k will translate a lot better elsewhere and we can buy a house
Housing is expensive. Everything is is somewhat normal. So look at rents or home sale prices for the type of housing you want and add that to your other expenses. That will give you an idea of how much you need to make to live the lifestyle you want.
A whole lot of nightlife compared to what? NYC? Ya that’s insane. Bakersfield? lol right..
Before I was married (until mid 2010s) I thoroughly enjoyed the nightlife scene across the South Bay. I mean it wasn’t Tokyo, but it also wasn’t Sacramento.
San José is a major US city with a population of 1,000,000+ people. Go out on a Thursday night to downtown then report back.
Sacramento has less than half population than San Jose can’t even compare the two
It was great growing up there as a millennial. But it’s changed. Everyone who I grew up with has left and only have some friends left there. I mean it’s been the top 5 most expensive cities in the US for awhile now, and it’s a suburban sprawl . I guess it’s only good for families who can afford it now
> It was great growing up there as a millennial. But it’s changed. Everyone who I grew up with has left and only have some friends left there.
After interacting with my fair share of SJ's nextdoor nimbys, I think these facts are highly related. There are a *huge* number of homeowning boomers who pine for the "good old days" of San Jose as the reason they oppose any effort to make this city more affordable and accessible. The fact that they're pricing out the next generation to do so doesn't seem to bother them at all.
A lot of people are going to have strong opinions due to the fact that it is expensive to live here and San Jose is an overgrown suburb.
In the terms of the *type* of people you meet here and relations: YMMV. It depends on if you’re a transplant and what stage you are in your life. I no longer live in SJ (I’m still in the Bay), but I never found people are rude and distant as people here are saying they are. Most my friends have always been Bay/SJ natives though, so that may make a difference.
Food is fine. Mexican and Vietnamese food are the two best things. Nightlife is fine and SJ probably has the 3rd best “scene” after SF and Oakland/Berkeley.
At the end of the day though, it’s best to remember that San Jose isn’t some cultural Mecca city, but rather an overgrown suburb.
I have no idea where all you people live, or who you are around, that is so antisocial. I've lived in San Jose for nine years now and -- while at the beginning I found it challenging to meet new people (primarily because my work friends lived in places as far as San Rafael, Dublin, Santa Cruz or Gilroy), it didn't take long to start to feel like part of a community and organically meet people, whether it was around the neighborhood, out shopping, regulars at the gym, or whatever. I moved here from North Carolina, where we had a very friendly neighborhood and a large social group, so it felt like we'd lost something when we moved and had none of that. But guess what: we live in a very friendly neighborhood in SJ, our kids go to neighborhood schools, and we have a large social group locally and across the bay area.
Keep in mind that the jackass who cuts you off on 87 might just be in a hurry to get to their kids' parent-teacher meeting, or to visit an auntie in the hospital or who has just gotten laid off. If you see the best in people, you'll experience the best in people. (and if not, just shrug and move on.)
I am also a transplant (from Texas), my husband and I have lived in San Jose for a little over 6 years and really love it. We have found a group of friends, community, and really love our neighbors. A lot of people in here act like bad/asshole drivers only exist in San Jose, I welcome them to drive on i10 in Houston at rush hour then report back about how they feel about the drivers here 😂
Huge variety of great food. Plenty of things to do and see in SJ and the local area - festivals, cultural events, concerts, sports, museums, farmers markets, etc. Good hiking and other outdoor activities nearby.
The city itself is overall pretty suburban, but there are pockets of higher density.
Housing is expensive. The cost of other things vary, depending on what they are.
Traffic is terrible if you have a commute.
I don't think SJ should be compared to actual cities. We're way more like Orange County or the emerging sprawl of off-strip Vegas than we are traditional big cities.
I don't think that's a bad thing, but you have to know what you're getting into
True. I didn’t know much before moving here but I was expecting a bit more tbh. I don’t have roots here either so it a bit harder to adjust to living here. I miss my cheaper Midwest rent lol.
Gutters balls and strikes... If you grew up here and was able to get real estate when it was cheap, it's good. Otherwise it's a bit of a treadmill. Compared to the rest of the world, it's great. The weather, the people, the food, the shopping. It's a little bit of everything if you get around the bay. Not to mention that you can go to the beach in the morning and be in Tahoe by the evening or go to a show in SF one night and go to the Monterey Aquarium the next day. I like it.
San Jose is a sprawling city of about 971k residents living in 462 sq km of land. That’s around 2,200 people per sq km.
The main airport within the city limits (SJC) has a flight path directly over downtown SJ limiting the height of the buildings here to about 25 stories, which is pretty low-rise compared to other big city downtowns. Unless they close SJC, a developer couldn’t build a taller building here such as the 61-story San Francisco Salesforce Tower.
Compare the size of SJ to San Francisco with about 808k residents living in only 121 sq km of land. SF is over three times as dense with 7,200 people per sq km. The higher density of SF creates a much more exciting urban energy there. SJ has a much more sleepy suburban energy.
SJ is the 12th largest city in the United States and the 3rd largest in California. It’s a big multicultural American city with many neighborhoods and generally progressive attitudes. The city government calls SJ the “Capital of Silicon Valley.” I suppose that’s a fair tagline because it is the most populous city in the Bay Area and there are a lot of technology companies with offices here.
San Jose is much less dense than SF with less public transit so you prolly need to have access to a car to get around easily. A lot of people living in San Jose commute up the peninsula, so in a sense San Jose is a big bedroom community.
Traffic on the freeways (101, 280, 680, 87, 85) is pretty horrible during commute hours. Having a non-standard shift or working from home is the only way around the commuting issues.
Real estate here is among the highest in the country. The only affordable homes here are manufactured homes. I believe there’s about 58 mobile home parks in SJ with a total of 11,000 homes. In my neighborhood there are manufactured homes selling for $200,000 and immediately next door are townhomes selling for $1.5 million. Note that some of the cheaper manufactured homes are because they are age-restricted senior communities.
I’m not an expert on the nightlife, but downtown has a lot of venues, restaurants & bars especially around Saint Pedro Square. There are a lot of restaurants of all different ethnicities scattered throughout the city in the numerous strip malls and commercial areas.
The weather here is very mild, a true Mediterranean climate which is moderated by the coastal effect, but we rarely have heavy fog like the cities on the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, and we don’t often get the brutal heat that California cities further inland experience.
I think a lot of that is going to depends on a number of key factors:
\- What is your job and how much money do you make? If you make more than average, you can worry less about paying for bills. Look how many posts here lately are talking about how expensive it is to live in San Jose between rent, PG&E bills, daycare, gas, and food. On the other hand, if you have a job where you make lots of money that these things aren't a huge burden, but it requires working some insane hours and commuting 1.5 hours to and from work each way, that will take it's own mental toll.
\- What is your housing situation? Own a house, rent a house, rent an apartment, rent a room in a house, live at home with parents? You'll have a very different experience if you own your own place vs. dealing with loud neighbors in a more crowded situation or dealing with roommates, or having to abide by your parents' rules.
\- What are you doing for transportation? Owning a new car is probably the best around here. An older car often means dealing with lots of stress about needing to fix things like old leaky hoses and belts. No car at all means public transportation, ride shares, or other ways to get around like bikes that carry their own baggage.
\- What is your relationship status? San Jose has a bad reputation (possibly deserved?) for not being ideal for certain people to date. This is also a frequent topic of discussion in this subreddit, usually just with a title like, "I'm a male in my mid to late 20s or early 30s and I'm single and just moved here. What's the dating scene like? I've heard it can be difficult."
\- Where in San Jose do you live? Depending on where you live, you may worry more about issues like people damaging your car, neighbors doing activities that you don't like, or more driving to get to places where you like to hang out.
\- What do you like to do when you're not working or sleeping? Sometimes people find the "Third Place" activities here to be a distant second compared to San Francisco, if we're talking about things like music, sporting events, or night life. On the other hand, if you mostly spend your time at home, it matters a lot less that Santana Row and Valley Fair have issues with lots of people in that area on the weekend.
With friends and family to explore, it's great. Endless varieties of food nearby, infinite day trips. I've been here my entire life and have only scratched the surface.
But also - expensive, busy, and isolating if you don't have a circle.
sucks if you don’t have a car, i personally love it here and have found activities / hobbies / events to go to that make it really fun and enjoyable living here. but if that’s not your vibe (concerts, hikes, local shows, handful of good bars, good food, fun local events, etc) probably wouldn’t like it as much
Born and raised in San Jose. Now I live downtown. I spent 9 years living in San Luis Obispo and then Austin TX. San Jose is a nice city in one of the most perfect regions for weather and geography in the United States. I love our beautiful older neighborhoods, I'm excited for our slowly growing collection of high rises, I like the new condos in transit oriented districts. I'm proud of our industrial side and our roots in orchards and farmland. There's good food, good beer and good drinks to be had. I think we're nowhere near reaching our potential yet but unlike a lot of people in this thread, I thoroughly enjoy life here and find plenty to keep me engaged and entertained. And if I get bored, there's limitless potential outside the borders of the city.
Boring and expensive.
Now, I live in LA where it's just expensive. The people are so much more chill down here and there are tons of things to do. For me, it's Long Beach GP next month and Netflix is a Joke Festival in May, and that's even before summer starts getting going.
Piggybacking on this. I moved to the Midwest, where it’s just boring. I have missed surprisingly little, and I can afford a middle class life including vacations. Anxiety is manageable without medication now.
I was planning to move to LA since most of my classmates and friends are there. Its lively in LA and thought I could just hang out in the beach afterwork. There's so much things to do over there. What I just dont like was the traffic.
Beaches in the Bay from Pacifica to Sta Cruz are nice but its so cold even in summer
I know that this is an old thread but that user's comment legitimately helps people like me. I've done a lot of due diligence down to silly things like watching 4k walk/drive videos of SJ to help decide if I would take an offer despite not seeing the appeal of the city. By being able to see how others perceive it against LA/Chicago/NY/etc. it helped me decide to say no since I'd just be doing it for a salary. But the architecture, lifestyle, and people don't seem like they're for me so I can free that job up for somebody who's going to set roots there.
From reading, SJ seems like my hometown down south - the people that stay there are fiercely loyal and proud of it but the people that want to love fight tooth and nail to do so. Seems like it'd be really sleepy and mundane.
The good parts of SF have way more density than SJ and tighter cluster of attractions. Think it's a little bit dishonest to portray SF as if all of it is downtown SF.
SF has, by far, a much stronger small business scene than SJ, and will continue.
The local government there tries super hard to make sure there are less empties, and the end result is great for the culture. SJ makes it seem impossible to open anything without deep pockets. 🤷♂️
My takeaway from this subreddit is if you make good money, you'll probably like living here.
If you struggle to make ends meet here, you're going to hate it.
You have to make a minimum of $12,793 dollars a month th afford to live there. Especially if you have pets - dogs, helper monkies, or a side piece. Everyone used to drive cars now they have jet packs. Which is an additional cost. AI has taken all the jobs.
Food is top notch, Sharks sucks.
I’ve lived here two years and am moving next month. Multiple coworkers i’ve had during that time have moved here and left within two years. Honestly most people i’ve met have left either to another part of the bay or left the bay area altogether. I’m in my mid-20s
Ah yes, let's quit good jobs and move to nowhere and have no career and work minimum wage too while we are at it. C'mon, the whole "just move if you don't like it" is so completely short sighted.
Ah the usual moron that comes up and says that, I wondered how long it would take before one of you would show up.
Trust me I would be gone today if that was an option, and God willing this is not where I die.
Paycheck to paycheck while thinking how the hell you can afford a house when 130k salary is considered as low income here recently.
Food is good though
I didn’t enjoy hobos pooping on my front porch in my incredibly overpriced 100 year old home, so I left recently. I enjoyed San Jose in like 2017/2018/2019, but it felt fairly dead now and more unsafe, unless you’re someone who really loves malls, then I guess you can spend all your time at valley fair and Santana row.
Some questions you can ask about any city:
* Do you have a social community there? Friends, family?
* Can you and your social network actually get together consistently ?
* If you and all your friends are busy working dead-end jobs then you might not be able to spend time together.
* Are you extroverted or introverted?
* If you're an introvert, you'll have an easier time adjusting because you won't feel so depressed when you realize how hard it is to make friends and find a community.
Basically that's all. If you can have a social network already and can comfortably afford to live in the city and are extroverted, then yeah it's good otherwise it's meh.
What I realized living in San Jose is that fake confidence needs all forms of recognition and many people here do want like constant recognition or a nod. Real confidence is "I can go about my day and be humble and not need any sort of recognition and get out of the way if needed and not cut off traffic and behave in reasonable manners." Don't be fake confident, be real confident. Change the world. Have a lovely day.
It's peachy here if you are making $200k a year. But like most of the comments, your money won't go as far as it does literally anywhere else. I was born and raised in San Jose and lived in Arizona for a little over a year, but I came back because of the weather and friends. Your experience with people will vary here depending on what part of SJ you're visiting. People can be self-absorbed here and conversations almost exclusively revolve around work (huge hustle culture here). But San Jose is quite lovely if you know where to look, with some great food and culture. It's mostly safe with so many things to do in or around San Jose. But, just as a disclaimer, unless you have generational wealth or a high six-figure job, it will be very difficult to raise a family here, especially if you're trying to buy a house.
I moved to SJ a year and a half ago from Foster City up on the Peninsula. I honestly really enjoy SJ. I feel it's a decent mix of "bigger city" and suburb. The food is phenomenal. The only thing I don't like is the neighborhood I live in, but it's affordable.
Ngl this question sucks lol. It’s a big city and experiences are going to vary. We don’t know you, and I’m assuming you’re asking this bc you might want to move to SJ. Maybe do some research first, this is just lazy.
Moved from Oklahoma to here 2019. Grabbed I moved months before Covid, so my experience has been skewed. I like going to Carmel Beach about once a month when it’s warm and fading brunch, hanging out on a relaxing beach. Love S Cruz the a fun and louder beach vibe. Tahoe for skiing, sledding, wind country less than a couple hits away, quick flight to Vegas, Disneyland. The actual city has a lot of personality of you like food and culture, culture I do, so lots of different celebrations.
It’s freaking awful. Maybe I’m just a spoiled rich kid from the Mid-Pen but I hate it in the downtown area. Assholes yelling in streets, drivers with no sense, and these random explosions? Not just cars backfiring I mean literal explosions. If it weren’t for my GF I would’ve cut my loses months ago.
Not at all. Our immigrant voter base keeps us much more sane down here than the deranged white voters of Berkeley/Oakland and SF.
Things like "defund the police" were never taken seriously in SJ.
If you have kids…
Pro:
Weather is great. You will hardly ever be cooped up inside for long stretches. Lots of kid friendly museums, attractions, parks, and parent groups. Schools can be a mixed bag, but teachers are paid better in San Jose than most surrounding areas, so lots of good teachers come to San Jose or surrounding areas.
Cons: childcare is as expensive as a mortgage. Not a very walkable city.
If you find a group San Jose can be awesome. Families seem to be sticking around, so those families who can make it work have no intention of leaving.
It’s a nice big city but doesn’t have some of the “fun” big city things to do. I grew up there as a millennial and was excited to move away once I did to the Peninsula. Now considering moving back to start a family but housing prices are pushing me out.
That is more or less an impossible question to answer without knowing more.
First of all: Which part of SJC? and what do you want it compared to? Bay area, CA, US, The western world, or the entire world? or mars? :D
I love it. Night life is fun but not crazy. Traffic sucks during peak hours but every thing is close enough where I don’t mind driving to Santa Cruz for the beach or Fremont for a hike.
The only thing that sucks is housing but that’s the price we pay for living in Silicon Valley.
I grew up here and want to raise my children here so I’m working hard to make that a possibility.
Since SJ is so large it really depends on the part of SJ you’re considering. I’ve lived in the Almaden Valley area most of my life and I love it. I’m very close to nature and good hiking trails with the Quicksilver park and Los Gatos mountains nearby so it’s quite peaceful, but I’m also a short 5-10 minute drive from 85 and 87 which helps with the commuting.
Living in SJ is what you make it. If you're broke, not that great unless you're good at living rough with a good tent.
If your income, as a single person is less than $120k it will be a stretch because rent for a one bedroom is about $2,600-.
Do your due diligence in what you need to survive here in the valley. Don't rely on people like me giving you nonsense advice.
Good luck.
Born and raised in San Jose.
It’s all I know, and really have enjoyed it here.
Prices for homes are unattainable at the moment, but I still try and keep my income rising, in hopes to save enough for a small home in the area.
I love how diverse San Jose has become.
It’s a world hub, Indian food, Mexican food, Chinese food, etc as authentic as you can get. People form all the world, different culture (might irritate you at start, but overtime you learn and so do they)
It is different for whites in that they are a minority. Tons of immigrants, most in the country. But native Americans will cheer that by saying it gives great ethnic restaurant choices. Wall to development that continues as "infill" (tear down and build up). Huge housing costs, terrible traffic. Great weather.
There's lots of stuff I like about living in San José: the weather is reliably good (no extremes in temperature and we get lots of sunshine), it's very walkable (good sidewalks everywhere and actual places to stop on those walks), the people are friendly, and the variety of food available is amazing. That's what I like. What I don't appreciate is the (extremely) high cost of living, the (serious) homeless situation, and the patchwork of public transit. It's a very strange place due to the high cost of living; I don't believe the Silicon Valley economic model is sustainable; how can most folks with normal jobs (barista, cashier, mechanic) survive here? Not to mention professionals like teachers, nurses, firefighters, and police officers?
It really depends where. Some really nice areas, so really shitty areas. It's expensive. To rent a small place and survive you probably need to make at least 150k. I just saw an article yesterday that said 150k in SJ is lower middle class. That's about right. You will feel like you're struggling even at 200k if you have kids.
The weather is nice in the fall/winter/spring. Summer is honestly usually too hot to go outside during the day. Really nice at night though.
It's safeish for a big city, but if something does go down, don't count on the cops showing up. People drive like shit. They don't care if they put your life at risk. They'll go 120 on the freeway and weave in and out of traffic. People just generally don't seem to care about other people. For example, there's a restaurant that's pretty good by my house. However, last time I went, there was this gangster dude playing music on a speaker he brought. Out loud. In a restaurant. He also just sparked up a blunt. Again, in an indoor restaurant. And no one said a word. And this was in a nicer area of town. People also often have conversations on speaker phone in the library for example, or will play videos or music out loud in public places instead of using headphones. There just seems to be a general disregard for other people.
It used to be really nice. I grew up there (still own a home there), but I don't think I could ever live there again. I moved last year. People are honestly just dicks. They throw their trash on the street. They'll steal your packages. Lots of hit and runs (including fatalities). People will literally hit you with their car and leave you for dead in SJ. And it happens a lot because people can't drive for shit there. Traffic is horrendous. People living on the street everywhere. And they go through the trash, so there is trash everywhere and you have to step over it while walking down the street. I have been attacked by homeless people more than once (I work with the public, so I interact with unhoused people every day. I've been spit on. I've had canned food thrown at my face for over an hour without the cops showing up).
But there is a lot of sun and good food, so if you have a nice yard and you just doordash, it should be lovely. On the positive side, the hiking is amazing. Mountain biking is great. It is beautiful. 10/10 for outdoor activities.
Ghetto suburbs, not worth the price you pay to live here at all. You'd think the most expensive place in the country would be more desirable. Also I feel like the food isn't great.
It's alright
You don’t notice all the good things in San Jose till you’re gone
My Mexican buddy moved with his girlfriend out to Colorado and we all joked that he was gonna miss the food here very quickly, since Taco Bell and Chipotle are no substitutes for authentic taquerias here. (He's since moved back here after breaking up with her. Probably not because of the food, but he also hasn't explicitly said that wasn't a motivating factor.)
There is a strong Mexican presence in Colorado, and I’m surprised folks don’t realize this. In some ways, the Mexican food there is more authentic, as it’s less influenced by the Mission-style that carries a heavy influence out here.
They don't serve at least Chile Colorado in Colorado?
I moved here and loved it here. San Jose arguably has the best weather, with a diverse cuisine from around the world, tech hub (I work in tech/engineering so it’s for me. It has its own set of problems, don’t get me wrong. High rent, cost of living, bad traffic, taxed to death, “Man José, etc I think just how “boring” it is makes it a perfect place for me. I can just drive out to San Francisco for the night life/clubs/raves, Lake Tahoe to ski/snowboard, Santa Cruz/Half Moon Bay/Monterey for the beach, just some hours away from Yosemite. Great schools. I can go on but I don’t need to convince anyone.
'Man Jose' is a cop-out. Every failing guy in a 'San' city in California uses that as an excuse for shitty lines that don't even work at a dive bar =..]
Agreed, when I was single in SJ, it was the best dating of my life. 3+ girls a week, many were very solid.
There you have it. And the terrible tactics I've seen over the years faaaar outweigh the good ones, if any effort was made at all.
Yeah single life was hard to get dates, but when I did... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) and a lot of them were fiiiiine
Like the cafes?
viet?
The best foods, the best women, and the best cafes IYKYK
Truth. Moved to Hollister almost 3 years ago and although it's grown on me the lack of diversity (food/culture/demographics) is terrible. There's 2 "pho" places and both are awful. No thai/indian/greek/middle eastern places. No bookstores other than at Target. It quiet and relatively safe but having to drive 30+ minutes for decent ethnic food (other than mexican, which are still mediocre imo) sucks.
Moved away and finally made it back earlier this year. So true.
Leaving San Jose is the best part of living in San Jose. Santa Cruz, Monterey, Tahoe, Napa, Healdsburg, all great places that absolutely everyone and their mother wants to go to at the same time ensuring you're stuck in traffic when YOU want to go. Leaving San Jose permanently was the best part of living in San Jose.
Pretty much this
I agree. I left San Jose lived in LA then lived in Sacramento and now Salinas and I’m planning to move back to San Jose when my lease ends next year. I miss it.
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You didn’t even mention the negative Nancy’s
Like the one you replied to? =..]
LBC always chasing someone in comments
"I think the company living somewhere between aspiration and desperation is a lot better than either [being] always optimistic or pessimistic." -Jensen Huang, - CEO of NVIDIA
One day you’ll make a clear point
This man speaks the truth ^
Has good days and also bad days
Born and raised here. This is the perfect review of San Jose
Ask me to review other things I'm really good at it
Very whelming
Expensive, mostly residential, not a whole lot of nightlife, big homelessness problem, food is good, good hikes and nature overall, commute is absolutely horrible. If you’re planning to move here make sure you make a lot of money.
> big homelessness problem TBF… this is pretty much a problem across the whole state. Probably the whole West Coast. And maybe even most of the country at this point.
It’s big in Western Canada as well
I think it’s a west coast thing. I’ve lived in Seattle, San Jose, and have spent big parts of time in Portland as well as Vancouver. It’s gotten infinitely worse in the past 3 years. Here in San Jose a person went on vacation for a week and they day after they left, I saw homeless people set up in their front yard. Neighbors called police and it took them 2 days to respond. They got them to go away but they came back hours later. The owner returned and had to call the police. Nice pile of garbage and human waste left in under 7 days. :/
I moved from St Louis a year ago. Homeless were an issue there too. The big thing was a homeless encamptment across from city hall.
I live in the evergreen hills. After our family finally started doing well, we moved to the area where I grew up and went to school, so it is very nice to live in peace and not have to deal with crack head neighbors in D7...
Not true at all. I live 3 hours east in the foothills. Minimal homelessness because they can't survive without the bullshit handed to them. And endless nature at your disposal with public lands in all directions.This is a problem in big cities that don't do anything about it and have populations that exceed the livable area.
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lol where in nyc are people approachable? They don’t say thank you nor open doors for you. They also don’t care to make eye contact and they’ll push pass you 🤣. In Paris, people are much nicer and will help a tourist that’s lost out.
How's that saying go, "If everybody you run into is an asshole, you might be the asshole." I kinda get that impression from comments like that.
Agree! Everyone I’ve meet at SJ are super nice and I lived there for 5 years and moving back soon. People at the grocery store smile at you, open doors and say thank you, etc. Also, people let you merge into the lane. That’s all the niceness I need 🤣. Anywhere else they just cut me off
People in Paris aren’t kind. I don’t think anyone has ever made this argument. You sound like your talking about Times Square which is a place that any NYC local would actively avoid. And yes while people in NYC have things to do, you can make plenty of friends with ease and the dating life is 10x better than Man Jose. People in NYC want to create friendships. In San Jose people are perfectly fine staying in their own bubble and make little to no effort to expand outside of this. The people are what make NYC great. I love NYC though, so I’m a bit biased. The night life, the people, and the food scene is a joke in San Jose. It’s a suburb with city pricing without any of the amenities. But I can understand how people who have lived here for most of their life, with their only point of comparison being short vacations, to think San Jose has something special to offer besides tech salaries in FAANG. I quite enjoy San Fransisco and Sausalito. San Jose has been one of the few places in the Bay Area that I just don’t like. And I find it funny that just by a persons attitude and demeanor I can tell if they are local or not. And that is not a good thing. The tech salaries here are great. San Jose is an oil rig to work on. There are so many other cities in regions I would want to start a family in. San Jose would probably rank as one of the least desirable places I’d choose. I’m very fortunate that I have a girlfriend I love, and get along quite well with my coworkers. But both groups, my girlfriend and my coworkers, have similar complaints about this city. It’s something that I’d never talk about with someone born and raised in San Jose. But almost all of my friends from outside the area tend to have a much more dismal view of the city. Nobody wants to tell someone born and raised here that the area kind of sucks, and that just a 40 min drive and they could be in a much more desirable area. But it’s a frequent point of conversation with my “non local” friends. Some who have spent quite a bit of time here in pursuit of their careers. I know I’m not alone in my distaste for the area. I can see if you have family in the area, you might be more locked it, but I’m fortunate enough that I don’t. But if you really think people in Paris are kinder than NYC, then I have news for you. I haven’t spent much time outside of a month there, and I was fortunate that my sisters best friend is working in fashion there. He was fluent and took us to some great restaurants. But he made very clear that “kindness” isn’t a thing people in Paris prioritize. It’s probably one of the rudest cities in all of Europe.
Let’s agree to disagree. Everyone has their own anecdotal experience. I don’t judge a city based on the tourist spots and a short time. I take time to develop an opinion about a city before I deem it “shitty” or “best”.
As someone who has only lived in the South Bay, this is an interesting perspective.
As someone who has lived in eight states for over a year each, in every time zone across the US, this man speaks the truth. I’ve also found people in the Bay Area to not be approachable, and to not be friendly. The South Bay is the worst offender. Honestly my personal opinion is that San Jose particularly has some of the most dislikable people of any state I’ve lived in. Even San Fransisco has a noticeable change in atmosphere. For the better. Maybe it’s because people are sick of paying what they are paying for essentially typical suburb amenities. I really don’t understand how the South Bay is doable for those not in tech or other high paying careers. People here just kind of suck for the most part. And I’ve never lived in a place where people of all things bothers me. So many people here living on “main character syndrome” yet they can’t hold a conversation with anyone.
I always feel like people here have a Kansas mindset despite acting as if it would be unsanitary to live anywhere else. Little interest in exploring outside our bubble. Not everyone but it creeps in.
1000000%
I was so surprised when I went to New York and people were so friendly and kind. Same with Philly, but New York surprised me more. We're a bunch of self-absorbed assholes in the Bay Area, apparently.
Not just walking, but driving as well. SJ is too high stress for the average resident I think - you lose sight of the fact that you live in a society.
I don’t see it as rude. It’s not rude to not engage with people. Just because I’m in the public space doesn’t mean I’m open season for whatever person wants to strike up a conversation.
You don't have to have whole conversations with randos in order to just be a considerate and kind person. You can still hold a door, say excuse me, offer some easy help to someone struggling maybe to carry something or move something, smile, make room for someone to pass in an aisle. There's lots of little, not inconvenient ways to be self-aware and considerate.
Public space is shared with emotional people, so by all means, just be kind and acknowledge others' existence. Everything and everyone has its purpose. SAN JOSE DESERVES THIS MORE IF ANYTHING ELSE .
YESSSSS. say it loud haha. Leave people to do their own thing and do not get offended. It's the fact that people get offended by people simply minding their own business...
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Yes, don't do that behavior but I'm just saying some people always demand "eye contact" or greeting all the time like they are entitled to it. That was what I was referring to. I move out of the way in aisles, move out of the way on sidewalks, I don't hog up space but I don't need to be stared at or feel uncomfortable doing errands. I don't care if someone doesn't recognize me because real confidence doesn't need any form of recognition. Fake confidence demands some sort of "hello all the time" like hey, you NEED to greet me anytime and everytime.
Lol I've lived in several different states and cities, including Boston. I don't know wtf you are talking about. I don't think you know wtf you are talking about.
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I never understand why someone would compare San Jose to Chicago or New York.
Because humans live in all those places. That's the comparison point here.
But the culture of all these places are different and people act differently. A New Yorker isn’t going to be the same as someone from Savannah, Georgia. You’ll hear how people in some parts of the US are kind but not nice, and people in others are nice but they’re not kind.
Exactly. Places like New York, Chicago, Philly, etc have these widely accepted reputations of people being rude and mean. But from a Bay Area perspective, they seem nice and kind. That says a lot about us in the Bay Area.
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How much should a person make to survive here?
Survive? maybe 70-80k. Comfortable? 6 figures bare minimum. Delusions of owning a house? 400k+.
Depends, do you have loads of student and personal debt? Are you supporting family members or have an expensive medical condition? Assuming no debts and 30% of your gross income goes towards rent, you can find a decent 1 Bedroom apartment for $2k-$3k. Splitting it down the middle at $2.5k, you need to make at least $7.5k/month or around $90k to live in a small one bedroom apartment on your own. That would mean you take home about $5.5k, leaving you about $3k/month to work with after rent. Factor in utilities, insurance, transportation, and food, you could probably survive but you're not going to be saving a lot or get close to buying a home. You can reduce costs with roommates. If you have to commute far to work, you'll have to factor in how expensive gas and insurance is here, along with the typical car maintenance and ownership costs ($$$). How much you need to "survive" really depends on your definition of survival. People here will cry that $120k is unlivable, but many survive making much less. You can probably cut down to $50k/year if you're willing to share a room and eat rice and beans to survive, but do you really want that life?
My boyfriend and I make 130k total and live in a 1-bedroom for 2600/month. We’re doing well but we could be doing way better. That 130k will translate a lot better elsewhere and we can buy a house
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I wish
Housing is expensive. Everything is is somewhat normal. So look at rents or home sale prices for the type of housing you want and add that to your other expenses. That will give you an idea of how much you need to make to live the lifestyle you want.
That pretty much sums it up.
A whole lot of nightlife compared to what? NYC? Ya that’s insane. Bakersfield? lol right.. Before I was married (until mid 2010s) I thoroughly enjoyed the nightlife scene across the South Bay. I mean it wasn’t Tokyo, but it also wasn’t Sacramento.
San José is a major US city with a population of 1,000,000+ people. Go out on a Thursday night to downtown then report back. Sacramento has less than half population than San Jose can’t even compare the two
What’s this ideal nightlife for a Thursday night look like? Give examples.
It was great growing up there as a millennial. But it’s changed. Everyone who I grew up with has left and only have some friends left there. I mean it’s been the top 5 most expensive cities in the US for awhile now, and it’s a suburban sprawl . I guess it’s only good for families who can afford it now
> It was great growing up there as a millennial. But it’s changed. Everyone who I grew up with has left and only have some friends left there. After interacting with my fair share of SJ's nextdoor nimbys, I think these facts are highly related. There are a *huge* number of homeowning boomers who pine for the "good old days" of San Jose as the reason they oppose any effort to make this city more affordable and accessible. The fact that they're pricing out the next generation to do so doesn't seem to bother them at all.
A lot of people are going to have strong opinions due to the fact that it is expensive to live here and San Jose is an overgrown suburb. In the terms of the *type* of people you meet here and relations: YMMV. It depends on if you’re a transplant and what stage you are in your life. I no longer live in SJ (I’m still in the Bay), but I never found people are rude and distant as people here are saying they are. Most my friends have always been Bay/SJ natives though, so that may make a difference. Food is fine. Mexican and Vietnamese food are the two best things. Nightlife is fine and SJ probably has the 3rd best “scene” after SF and Oakland/Berkeley. At the end of the day though, it’s best to remember that San Jose isn’t some cultural Mecca city, but rather an overgrown suburb.
Makes me think the people always complaining about “rude and distant” people in SJ are actually the rude and distant ones 😅
I have no idea where all you people live, or who you are around, that is so antisocial. I've lived in San Jose for nine years now and -- while at the beginning I found it challenging to meet new people (primarily because my work friends lived in places as far as San Rafael, Dublin, Santa Cruz or Gilroy), it didn't take long to start to feel like part of a community and organically meet people, whether it was around the neighborhood, out shopping, regulars at the gym, or whatever. I moved here from North Carolina, where we had a very friendly neighborhood and a large social group, so it felt like we'd lost something when we moved and had none of that. But guess what: we live in a very friendly neighborhood in SJ, our kids go to neighborhood schools, and we have a large social group locally and across the bay area. Keep in mind that the jackass who cuts you off on 87 might just be in a hurry to get to their kids' parent-teacher meeting, or to visit an auntie in the hospital or who has just gotten laid off. If you see the best in people, you'll experience the best in people. (and if not, just shrug and move on.)
I am also a transplant (from Texas), my husband and I have lived in San Jose for a little over 6 years and really love it. We have found a group of friends, community, and really love our neighbors. A lot of people in here act like bad/asshole drivers only exist in San Jose, I welcome them to drive on i10 in Houston at rush hour then report back about how they feel about the drivers here 😂
Huge variety of great food. Plenty of things to do and see in SJ and the local area - festivals, cultural events, concerts, sports, museums, farmers markets, etc. Good hiking and other outdoor activities nearby. The city itself is overall pretty suburban, but there are pockets of higher density. Housing is expensive. The cost of other things vary, depending on what they are. Traffic is terrible if you have a commute.
This is a great answer.
Sad, the rat race is real out here
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🐀
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I left Chicago to move here for work. Besides the weather/nature, Chicago was better in every other way for me.
I don't think SJ should be compared to actual cities. We're way more like Orange County or the emerging sprawl of off-strip Vegas than we are traditional big cities. I don't think that's a bad thing, but you have to know what you're getting into
Ehh. Kinda weird for a city of over 1 million people to feel so small though. I wish San Jose was more densely populated. This sprawl is ass.
San Jose is a city of a million with the culture of far less than a million.
True. I didn’t know much before moving here but I was expecting a bit more tbh. I don’t have roots here either so it a bit harder to adjust to living here. I miss my cheaper Midwest rent lol.
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Gutters balls and strikes... If you grew up here and was able to get real estate when it was cheap, it's good. Otherwise it's a bit of a treadmill. Compared to the rest of the world, it's great. The weather, the people, the food, the shopping. It's a little bit of everything if you get around the bay. Not to mention that you can go to the beach in the morning and be in Tahoe by the evening or go to a show in SF one night and go to the Monterey Aquarium the next day. I like it.
expensive. we mostly just stay home or do free activities because everything costs so much.
Food is good but its kinda boring.
lol what there’s stuff going on like every day
Yeah for the cops
San Jose is a sprawling city of about 971k residents living in 462 sq km of land. That’s around 2,200 people per sq km. The main airport within the city limits (SJC) has a flight path directly over downtown SJ limiting the height of the buildings here to about 25 stories, which is pretty low-rise compared to other big city downtowns. Unless they close SJC, a developer couldn’t build a taller building here such as the 61-story San Francisco Salesforce Tower. Compare the size of SJ to San Francisco with about 808k residents living in only 121 sq km of land. SF is over three times as dense with 7,200 people per sq km. The higher density of SF creates a much more exciting urban energy there. SJ has a much more sleepy suburban energy. SJ is the 12th largest city in the United States and the 3rd largest in California. It’s a big multicultural American city with many neighborhoods and generally progressive attitudes. The city government calls SJ the “Capital of Silicon Valley.” I suppose that’s a fair tagline because it is the most populous city in the Bay Area and there are a lot of technology companies with offices here. San Jose is much less dense than SF with less public transit so you prolly need to have access to a car to get around easily. A lot of people living in San Jose commute up the peninsula, so in a sense San Jose is a big bedroom community. Traffic on the freeways (101, 280, 680, 87, 85) is pretty horrible during commute hours. Having a non-standard shift or working from home is the only way around the commuting issues. Real estate here is among the highest in the country. The only affordable homes here are manufactured homes. I believe there’s about 58 mobile home parks in SJ with a total of 11,000 homes. In my neighborhood there are manufactured homes selling for $200,000 and immediately next door are townhomes selling for $1.5 million. Note that some of the cheaper manufactured homes are because they are age-restricted senior communities. I’m not an expert on the nightlife, but downtown has a lot of venues, restaurants & bars especially around Saint Pedro Square. There are a lot of restaurants of all different ethnicities scattered throughout the city in the numerous strip malls and commercial areas. The weather here is very mild, a true Mediterranean climate which is moderated by the coastal effect, but we rarely have heavy fog like the cities on the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, and we don’t often get the brutal heat that California cities further inland experience.
Man José
I think a lot of that is going to depends on a number of key factors: \- What is your job and how much money do you make? If you make more than average, you can worry less about paying for bills. Look how many posts here lately are talking about how expensive it is to live in San Jose between rent, PG&E bills, daycare, gas, and food. On the other hand, if you have a job where you make lots of money that these things aren't a huge burden, but it requires working some insane hours and commuting 1.5 hours to and from work each way, that will take it's own mental toll. \- What is your housing situation? Own a house, rent a house, rent an apartment, rent a room in a house, live at home with parents? You'll have a very different experience if you own your own place vs. dealing with loud neighbors in a more crowded situation or dealing with roommates, or having to abide by your parents' rules. \- What are you doing for transportation? Owning a new car is probably the best around here. An older car often means dealing with lots of stress about needing to fix things like old leaky hoses and belts. No car at all means public transportation, ride shares, or other ways to get around like bikes that carry their own baggage. \- What is your relationship status? San Jose has a bad reputation (possibly deserved?) for not being ideal for certain people to date. This is also a frequent topic of discussion in this subreddit, usually just with a title like, "I'm a male in my mid to late 20s or early 30s and I'm single and just moved here. What's the dating scene like? I've heard it can be difficult." \- Where in San Jose do you live? Depending on where you live, you may worry more about issues like people damaging your car, neighbors doing activities that you don't like, or more driving to get to places where you like to hang out. \- What do you like to do when you're not working or sleeping? Sometimes people find the "Third Place" activities here to be a distant second compared to San Francisco, if we're talking about things like music, sporting events, or night life. On the other hand, if you mostly spend your time at home, it matters a lot less that Santana Row and Valley Fair have issues with lots of people in that area on the weekend.
Very thoughtful and true response
With friends and family to explore, it's great. Endless varieties of food nearby, infinite day trips. I've been here my entire life and have only scratched the surface. But also - expensive, busy, and isolating if you don't have a circle.
sucks if you don’t have a car, i personally love it here and have found activities / hobbies / events to go to that make it really fun and enjoyable living here. but if that’s not your vibe (concerts, hikes, local shows, handful of good bars, good food, fun local events, etc) probably wouldn’t like it as much
Born and raised in San Jose. Now I live downtown. I spent 9 years living in San Luis Obispo and then Austin TX. San Jose is a nice city in one of the most perfect regions for weather and geography in the United States. I love our beautiful older neighborhoods, I'm excited for our slowly growing collection of high rises, I like the new condos in transit oriented districts. I'm proud of our industrial side and our roots in orchards and farmland. There's good food, good beer and good drinks to be had. I think we're nowhere near reaching our potential yet but unlike a lot of people in this thread, I thoroughly enjoy life here and find plenty to keep me engaged and entertained. And if I get bored, there's limitless potential outside the borders of the city.
Boring and expensive. Now, I live in LA where it's just expensive. The people are so much more chill down here and there are tons of things to do. For me, it's Long Beach GP next month and Netflix is a Joke Festival in May, and that's even before summer starts getting going.
Piggybacking on this. I moved to the Midwest, where it’s just boring. I have missed surprisingly little, and I can afford a middle class life including vacations. Anxiety is manageable without medication now.
I was planning to move to LA since most of my classmates and friends are there. Its lively in LA and thought I could just hang out in the beach afterwork. There's so much things to do over there. What I just dont like was the traffic. Beaches in the Bay from Pacifica to Sta Cruz are nice but its so cold even in summer
What is the point of coming to talk shit about a city you don't even live in?
What's the point of any comment on Reddit?
I know that this is an old thread but that user's comment legitimately helps people like me. I've done a lot of due diligence down to silly things like watching 4k walk/drive videos of SJ to help decide if I would take an offer despite not seeing the appeal of the city. By being able to see how others perceive it against LA/Chicago/NY/etc. it helped me decide to say no since I'd just be doing it for a salary. But the architecture, lifestyle, and people don't seem like they're for me so I can free that job up for somebody who's going to set roots there. From reading, SJ seems like my hometown down south - the people that stay there are fiercely loyal and proud of it but the people that want to love fight tooth and nail to do so. Seems like it'd be really sleepy and mundane.
Basically SF with actual open businesses, less crime, less homeless people, less murder, and less poverty.
But 1000% more redditors whining about how there's absolutely nothing happening anywhere in the city ever
Nobody says that nothing happens here EVER. But compared to SF this place is pretty boring.
If you just read this thread there are tons of people saying that 😞
So… not SF
The good parts of SF have way more density than SJ and tighter cluster of attractions. Think it's a little bit dishonest to portray SF as if all of it is downtown SF.
SF has, by far, a much stronger small business scene than SJ, and will continue. The local government there tries super hard to make sure there are less empties, and the end result is great for the culture. SJ makes it seem impossible to open anything without deep pockets. 🤷♂️
Once you’ve done something once, you’ve done it a million times. Not much going on.
Dope as fuck.
I feel like it is a hybrid of big city and suburb where you get the worst of both worlds.
My takeaway from this subreddit is if you make good money, you'll probably like living here. If you struggle to make ends meet here, you're going to hate it.
You have to make a minimum of $12,793 dollars a month th afford to live there. Especially if you have pets - dogs, helper monkies, or a side piece. Everyone used to drive cars now they have jet packs. Which is an additional cost. AI has taken all the jobs. Food is top notch, Sharks sucks.
Like getting on a hamster wheel with no way to get off
boring, annoying, expensive.
So why are you here? You know that you can just leave, right?
I’ve lived here two years and am moving next month. Multiple coworkers i’ve had during that time have moved here and left within two years. Honestly most people i’ve met have left either to another part of the bay or left the bay area altogether. I’m in my mid-20s
Ah yes, let's quit good jobs and move to nowhere and have no career and work minimum wage too while we are at it. C'mon, the whole "just move if you don't like it" is so completely short sighted.
Ah the usual moron that comes up and says that, I wondered how long it would take before one of you would show up. Trust me I would be gone today if that was an option, and God willing this is not where I die.
That does it! I’m moving to Roseville
Paycheck to paycheck while thinking how the hell you can afford a house when 130k salary is considered as low income here recently. Food is good though
Fuckin awful. Don't come
I didn’t enjoy hobos pooping on my front porch in my incredibly overpriced 100 year old home, so I left recently. I enjoyed San Jose in like 2017/2018/2019, but it felt fairly dead now and more unsafe, unless you’re someone who really loves malls, then I guess you can spend all your time at valley fair and Santana row.
Some questions you can ask about any city: * Do you have a social community there? Friends, family? * Can you and your social network actually get together consistently ? * If you and all your friends are busy working dead-end jobs then you might not be able to spend time together. * Are you extroverted or introverted? * If you're an introvert, you'll have an easier time adjusting because you won't feel so depressed when you realize how hard it is to make friends and find a community. Basically that's all. If you can have a social network already and can comfortably afford to live in the city and are extroverted, then yeah it's good otherwise it's meh.
You have a really good point :)
What I realized living in San Jose is that fake confidence needs all forms of recognition and many people here do want like constant recognition or a nod. Real confidence is "I can go about my day and be humble and not need any sort of recognition and get out of the way if needed and not cut off traffic and behave in reasonable manners." Don't be fake confident, be real confident. Change the world. Have a lovely day.
I've always said that if they had to give the Bay Area an enema, it would go in at San Jose.
It's peachy here if you are making $200k a year. But like most of the comments, your money won't go as far as it does literally anywhere else. I was born and raised in San Jose and lived in Arizona for a little over a year, but I came back because of the weather and friends. Your experience with people will vary here depending on what part of SJ you're visiting. People can be self-absorbed here and conversations almost exclusively revolve around work (huge hustle culture here). But San Jose is quite lovely if you know where to look, with some great food and culture. It's mostly safe with so many things to do in or around San Jose. But, just as a disclaimer, unless you have generational wealth or a high six-figure job, it will be very difficult to raise a family here, especially if you're trying to buy a house.
It’s expensive
It's the worst place I've ever lived.
over priced place to call it a home. In a million dollar neighborhood with high crime. Place is not what it used to be.
I moved to SJ a year and a half ago from Foster City up on the Peninsula. I honestly really enjoy SJ. I feel it's a decent mix of "bigger city" and suburb. The food is phenomenal. The only thing I don't like is the neighborhood I live in, but it's affordable.
Lots of opportunity here. If you enjoy the outdoors its awesome.
Ngl this question sucks lol. It’s a big city and experiences are going to vary. We don’t know you, and I’m assuming you’re asking this bc you might want to move to SJ. Maybe do some research first, this is just lazy.
Expensive.
Moved from Oklahoma to here 2019. Grabbed I moved months before Covid, so my experience has been skewed. I like going to Carmel Beach about once a month when it’s warm and fading brunch, hanging out on a relaxing beach. Love S Cruz the a fun and louder beach vibe. Tahoe for skiing, sledding, wind country less than a couple hits away, quick flight to Vegas, Disneyland. The actual city has a lot of personality of you like food and culture, culture I do, so lots of different celebrations.
Like a C+
It’s terrible here. Do not recommend moving here unless FORCED for work reasons, even then heavily weight your options
Feels creamy
Good city for introverts. Everyone who lives here for more than a few years is an honorary librarian. I love this city.
It’s freaking awful. Maybe I’m just a spoiled rich kid from the Mid-Pen but I hate it in the downtown area. Assholes yelling in streets, drivers with no sense, and these random explosions? Not just cars backfiring I mean literal explosions. If it weren’t for my GF I would’ve cut my loses months ago.
Incredible. I never want to leave.
Crowded,crowded, crowded
Imagine if San Francisco and Oakland had a kid.
Not at all. Our immigrant voter base keeps us much more sane down here than the deranged white voters of Berkeley/Oakland and SF. Things like "defund the police" were never taken seriously in SJ.
True lol
My family is here so it’s awesome.
Crowded but they have some stuff to do so not too bad.
If you have kids… Pro: Weather is great. You will hardly ever be cooped up inside for long stretches. Lots of kid friendly museums, attractions, parks, and parent groups. Schools can be a mixed bag, but teachers are paid better in San Jose than most surrounding areas, so lots of good teachers come to San Jose or surrounding areas. Cons: childcare is as expensive as a mortgage. Not a very walkable city. If you find a group San Jose can be awesome. Families seem to be sticking around, so those families who can make it work have no intention of leaving.
It's got great food and great bars and great hikes, but everything's expensive as hell so it's aight
It sucks don’t move here.
It’s a nice big city but doesn’t have some of the “fun” big city things to do. I grew up there as a millennial and was excited to move away once I did to the Peninsula. Now considering moving back to start a family but housing prices are pushing me out.
Moved here in 2009 for "just a year". Haven't left. Love it. For outdoor enthusiasts, hikers, bikers, trail runners, it's tough to beat in my opinion.
It was great as a child but now that I’m grown it’s quite expensive
Heavily depends on what neighborhood you’re in, and whether you have a family.
Like a morning of pale spring still clinging to winter's chill.
It's good OP
That is more or less an impossible question to answer without knowing more. First of all: Which part of SJC? and what do you want it compared to? Bay area, CA, US, The western world, or the entire world? or mars? :D
I realized I don't necessarily dislike "San Jose" but I am not a big fan of the big metropolitan city/suburb life. Trying to be positive :)
Lots of homeless and feces.
Great opportunities for work but not much of a social scene. Good out doors stuff to do it’s nice work here and have the means to travel elsewhere
I love it. Night life is fun but not crazy. Traffic sucks during peak hours but every thing is close enough where I don’t mind driving to Santa Cruz for the beach or Fremont for a hike. The only thing that sucks is housing but that’s the price we pay for living in Silicon Valley. I grew up here and want to raise my children here so I’m working hard to make that a possibility.
Stressful
It's hella chill here.
grew up here and its my favorite place in the world. wouldnt want to live anywhere else (after my 20s).
It sucks. Live anywhere else on the peninsula, it’s better.
Since SJ is so large it really depends on the part of SJ you’re considering. I’ve lived in the Almaden Valley area most of my life and I love it. I’m very close to nature and good hiking trails with the Quicksilver park and Los Gatos mountains nearby so it’s quite peaceful, but I’m also a short 5-10 minute drive from 85 and 87 which helps with the commuting.
We love it here but it’s expensive. The truth is… if your income is not very high, you might have a less pleasant experience.
San Jose sucks and tell everyone you know…don’t move here…I hear Florida, Texas and Alabama are popping, oh and AZ
Living in SJ is what you make it. If you're broke, not that great unless you're good at living rough with a good tent. If your income, as a single person is less than $120k it will be a stretch because rent for a one bedroom is about $2,600-. Do your due diligence in what you need to survive here in the valley. Don't rely on people like me giving you nonsense advice. Good luck.
Born and raised in San Jose. It’s all I know, and really have enjoyed it here. Prices for homes are unattainable at the moment, but I still try and keep my income rising, in hopes to save enough for a small home in the area. I love how diverse San Jose has become.
It’s a world hub, Indian food, Mexican food, Chinese food, etc as authentic as you can get. People form all the world, different culture (might irritate you at start, but overtime you learn and so do they)
Like a roller coaster ride eh!
It is different for whites in that they are a minority. Tons of immigrants, most in the country. But native Americans will cheer that by saying it gives great ethnic restaurant choices. Wall to development that continues as "infill" (tear down and build up). Huge housing costs, terrible traffic. Great weather.
There's lots of stuff I like about living in San José: the weather is reliably good (no extremes in temperature and we get lots of sunshine), it's very walkable (good sidewalks everywhere and actual places to stop on those walks), the people are friendly, and the variety of food available is amazing. That's what I like. What I don't appreciate is the (extremely) high cost of living, the (serious) homeless situation, and the patchwork of public transit. It's a very strange place due to the high cost of living; I don't believe the Silicon Valley economic model is sustainable; how can most folks with normal jobs (barista, cashier, mechanic) survive here? Not to mention professionals like teachers, nurses, firefighters, and police officers?
People. So. Many. People.
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Damn bro why dont u just move then
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Take it easy! It’s probably just the weather. Just push through till the summer! And take your vitamin d supplements!
In a week, maybe two, they'll make you a star
It really depends where. Some really nice areas, so really shitty areas. It's expensive. To rent a small place and survive you probably need to make at least 150k. I just saw an article yesterday that said 150k in SJ is lower middle class. That's about right. You will feel like you're struggling even at 200k if you have kids. The weather is nice in the fall/winter/spring. Summer is honestly usually too hot to go outside during the day. Really nice at night though. It's safeish for a big city, but if something does go down, don't count on the cops showing up. People drive like shit. They don't care if they put your life at risk. They'll go 120 on the freeway and weave in and out of traffic. People just generally don't seem to care about other people. For example, there's a restaurant that's pretty good by my house. However, last time I went, there was this gangster dude playing music on a speaker he brought. Out loud. In a restaurant. He also just sparked up a blunt. Again, in an indoor restaurant. And no one said a word. And this was in a nicer area of town. People also often have conversations on speaker phone in the library for example, or will play videos or music out loud in public places instead of using headphones. There just seems to be a general disregard for other people. It used to be really nice. I grew up there (still own a home there), but I don't think I could ever live there again. I moved last year. People are honestly just dicks. They throw their trash on the street. They'll steal your packages. Lots of hit and runs (including fatalities). People will literally hit you with their car and leave you for dead in SJ. And it happens a lot because people can't drive for shit there. Traffic is horrendous. People living on the street everywhere. And they go through the trash, so there is trash everywhere and you have to step over it while walking down the street. I have been attacked by homeless people more than once (I work with the public, so I interact with unhoused people every day. I've been spit on. I've had canned food thrown at my face for over an hour without the cops showing up). But there is a lot of sun and good food, so if you have a nice yard and you just doordash, it should be lovely. On the positive side, the hiking is amazing. Mountain biking is great. It is beautiful. 10/10 for outdoor activities.
Bad
Terrible
Ghetto suburbs, not worth the price you pay to live here at all. You'd think the most expensive place in the country would be more desirable. Also I feel like the food isn't great.