7.1 out of 10

Santa Clara

37.3600095072478 -121.969731023111
Great for
  • Clean & Green
  • Safe & Sound
  • Shopping Options
  • Schools
  • Internet Access
Not great for
  • Lack of Traffic
  • Parking
  • Cost of Living
  • Public Transport
  •  
Who lives here?
  • Professionals
  • Families with kids
  • Singles
  • Retirees
  • Students

Reviews

4/5 rating details
  • Neighborly Spirit 4/5
  • Safe & Sound 4/5
  • Clean & Green 4/5
  • Peace & Quiet 3/5
  • Nightlife 2/5
  • Shopping Options 3/5
  • Schools 3/5
2yrs+

"Bright future ahead"

Situated in the heart of the Silicon Valley, Santa Clara is known for its bustling high tech business quarters and high aspirations for a better community tomorrow. It shares its name with the larger Santa Clara County and incorporates more than a dozen other cities. The town is rather large in size, covering 18 square miles of land area and harboring three seasonal creeks that flow into the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay. Demographically speaking, the city is approaching 120,000 residents. According to the 2010 US Census, Santa Clara is split between white and asian ethnicities (both 34%) with a large minority of hispanic residents. Its also a widely democratic community with residents overwhelmingly voting for Obama (70%) in the 2008 election.

Santa Clara is a very large, family-friendly community. Its one of the safest cities in Silicon Valley and is surrounded by acres of plains and level grasslands. Its residential quarters are just as appealing, or unappealing. Driving through the neighborhood, you’ll be met with lower middle-class aesthetics including stumpy homes, shallow yards and old cars lining the streets. Streets are relatively well-maintained or newly paved. Residences are mostly one story in size, unless you travel to the city’s outskirts where you’ll find homes a step above the norm. But be weary, because some areas look like dumps. For perspective residents, $82,000 is the estimated median household income, while house values are typically between $400,000 and $750,000.

With Silicon Valley in its backyard, Santa Clara has become a bustling metropolitan community in the past two decades. The city’s commercial district lies in the city’s northern third, just above US Route 101. Its thriving commercial and industrial areas make it an attractive residential area for job seekers and techies alike. In fact, its most known for it headquartering companies of Intel, Applied Materials (solar equipment) and Sun Microsystems (information technology services). Intel, along with Kaiser Permanente, are the city’s two highest employers within the city’s limits, creating over 1,200 jobs combined.

Santa Clara is more than just your typical middle-class suburban city, but has plenty of entertaining options for its residents. Firstly, the town is home to the practice fields of the San Francisco 49ers and will likely be the venue of their home games in the near future (with the addition of the newly built stadium). Moreover, the city is home to the San Jose Earthquakes of major league soccer prestige and play their home games at Buck Shaw Stadium. For young families, you’ll be interested to know that California’s Great America amusement park in the northern reaches of Santa Clara. The theme park provides more than three dozen rides for all ages and offers the only water amusement ride in Northern California.

Students within Santa Clara have the option of picking between 20 schools within the Santa Clara Unified School District (from elementary school to high school). Its also home to one of the oldest learning institutions of higher learning in the state of California, Santa Clara University. Many students also attend Mission College, the area’s two-year community college program. For public transit, they have the option of taking the Great America-Santa Clara rail or the Caltrain which connects residents to San Francisco and along its peninsula. San Jose International Airport skirts the eastern edge of the city for out-of-state commuters.
Pros
  • Good Restaurants
  • Good Schools
  • Great Techie Location
Cons
  • Sligthly Overpriced Homes
Recommended for
  • Professionals
  • Singles
  • Families with kids
  • Retirees
  • Tourists
  • Students
  • Trendy & Stylish
  • Beach Lovers
4/5 rating details
  • Neighborly Spirit 3/5
  • Safe & Sound 4/5
  • Clean & Green 5/5
  • Pest Free 4/5
  • Peace & Quiet 2/5
  • Eating Out 4/5
  • Nightlife 4/5
  • Parks & Recreation 5/5
  • Shopping Options 5/5
  • Gym & Fitness 5/5
  • Internet Access 5/5
  • Lack of Traffic 1/5
  • Parking 3/5
  • Cost of Living 3/5
  • Resale or Rental Value 5/5
  • Public Transport 3/5
  • Medical Facilities 4/5
  • Schools 4/5
  • Childcare 5/5
2yrs+

"Just Another Silicon Valley City"

With more than 100,000 residents, Santa Clara, CA—like Sunnyvale next door—is in no way a minor city.
If you are not from around the Bay Area, then you are most likely to hear about Santa Clara as the new home of the 49ers when they finally leave 50 year old Candlestick Park.

You should really think of Santa Clara, however, as related to San Jose rather than San Francisco as it not only borders San Jose, but also has a lot more to do with that city in terms of geography, industry and culture. Like bordering Sunnyvale, it is a largely residential area with a heavy tech commercial office building area on its northern end where it borders the very south most edge of the San Francisco Bay.

Intel employs almost 6,000 people here in Santa Clara. Oracle and Agilent also have their HQ’s here. Or to put it another way—just another run-of-the-mill Silicon Valley city.

But it’s not all business here. Santa Clara is also home to the Great America amusement park is here as well. And the fun is not just for teenagers either. If you are into the nightlife, Santa Clara offers everything from Hookah bars (Smoke) to cocktail lounges (Homestead) and karaoke bars (Normandy). You also have a number of nearby restaurants of virtually every variety in the area as well.

What are home prices like in the upper middle class city dominated by the tech industry? The average home in Santa Clara is about $500K. These are not amazingly large homes. In fact they are pretty average for the most part, but the location and the opportunity to avoid hour long commutes makes them fairly attractive to those who work in the Silicon Valley.
Though not as strong as in Mountain View or Cupertino, the schools in Santa Clara are very solid.

Overall, this—like the other surrounding cities is a pretty great place to live.
Pros
  • Good Schools
  • Good Restaurants
  • Great Techie Location
Cons
  • Terrible Traffic
  • Sligthly Overpriced Homes
Recommended for
  • Professionals
  • Families with kids

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