Yes, Carlsbad is home to Legoland but before that, it was known as a quaint, sleepy beach village on sea cliffs and sloping sandy beaches surrounded by golf courses and easy access to Del Mar, San Diego, and La Jolla (including train) with low crime. The schools are excellent and the homes beautiful which means if you’re a family and have the resources to buy (or rent) a home, and want to live in in one of the most beautiful beach towns on the west coast then Carlsbad should be on your short list. 

There is a heavy-duty influx of tourists in the summer and the bucolic town you loved for 9 months becomes pretty crazy until fall. If you dislike crowds just avoid the beaches and downtown for a few months till they clear out in the fall. 


Family Beach Town

LookyLOO Review of Carlsbad

Carlsbad is an exurb of San Diego where master-planned suburbs climb up into the hills overlooking the waterfront with a mix of beachy locals, well-off second-home retirees, young families, and tourists. Everyone loves The Village (a block from the beach) with street tacos gastropubs fine dining and karaoke. The local scenery includes a huge flower field and strawberry fields for picking in the spring. Carlsbad is an upscale suburban scene that rolls down to lovely California beaches (Ponto State Beach, Carlsbad State Beach, and a beach called Warm Waters.) Beyond all that, Carlsbad is the Golf Capital of Southern California; people are serious about golf here, and there are a lot of opportunities to play; both high-priced and cheap. 


Lifestyle 

[**Carlsbad Unified School District**](https://carlsbadusd.net/) is a top-rated public school district receiving an ["A+" on **niche.com**](https://www.niche.com/k12/d/carlsbad-unified-school-district-ca/). It comprises 9 elementary schools that feed into three middle schools, and two high schools. All the schools perform well but the high schools in particular are strong with [**Sage Creek**](https://schs.carlsbadusd.net/) and [**Carlsbad High**](https://chs.carlsbadusd.net/) both ranking up to A+ on niche.com.

Schools 

It’s hard to quibble with year-round sunshine, beautiful beaches, great schools and a quaint village. Suburban homes/yards and amenities combined with a beach town vibe is hard to resist. 


Why You Should Move Here Now?

**No_Pianist_1658**
1y ago
🦉🦉🦉

I relocated to CA right before COVID hit in Sep 2019 from AZ where everyone was moving TO AZ. I’m a single mother with no child support. Certified Pharmacy Technician. We moved here for quality of life. It’s all about QOL for me. California as a whole has SO much to offer. You don’t even need to technically leave the state to travel and take your kid or kiddos around. Carlsbad has a highly rated school district. I live in San Elijo a community within San Marcos right on the border of Carlsbad. Also close to Encinitas, Del Mar other parts of San Marcos, a hop skip and a jump from La Jolla etc. The areas are super safe and well planned. North San Diego County is kind of covetted even when I visit Orange County other people speak highly of this area. It’s clean, nice and new. I currently work remotely but I didn’t always I commuted all over San Diego when I first moved to California. There’s countless museums, activities, events. People are nice and friendly. The drivers are the best. You can have sun, surf, sand, snow, rain all of it in California. It’s easy to make friends out here. People are super nice and I feel like people are happier in this part of California. Sunshine and sand are good for the soul. Very supportive to parents and single parents alike. I would highly recommend it if it’s your vibe. There’s a lot to do out here. People always say “Oh, but California’s expensive.” And I would say back, “Yeah but you get what you pay for.


The Tourists 

Reviews of Carlsbad from Locals

Carlsbad Village is the spiritual center of the city. It’s the oldest section and for those who like to go out, the most fun part of the city. The restaurants, bars, cafes, and shops are walkable and even better they're right next to the beach!

The oldest homes in the city are here and these include beautiful Victorians, as well as more beach-type cottages, Craftsmans and bungalows. There are also plenty of condos and apartments filled with younger professionals and retirees who like being near the social scene and the beach. This is also where the hotels, bars and nightclubs are so expect lots of tourists in the summer months.  The [State Street Farmers’ Market](https://www.carlsbad-village.com/events/farmers-market) is also here, open from March through October, every Wednesday. 

Plenty of families that appreciate proximity to beach and a walkable social life live in the Village neighborhood and the smaller footprint homes are a bit more affordable than some of the more suburban neighborhoods with more mcmansion style homes. Median home price is $1.44m and median monthly rental price is $2.8k. 

Families/Young Professionals/Retirees

Carlsbad Village

Bressi Ranch is the ideal suburban neighborhood in the southeast corner of the Carlsbad area. One part of the appeal is how it sits east of the fog belt so if you dislike “June Gloom” consider Bressi Ranch. It’s a master-planned community, with 180 acres of open space for outdoor play including paths for running, hiking and biking. There are also tons of parks, including the massive [**Alga Norte Community Park**](https://www.carlsbadca.gov/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/10/7417) which is quintessential Southern California, with a skatepark, aquatic center, and doggo park.  Locals shop at the [**Bressi Ranch Village Center**](https://bressiranchvillagecenter.com/) which has two grocery stores (Trader Joe’s!!!) along with plenty of other family restaurants and shops. Homes and yards are newer and bigger in Bressi Ranch and come with a median price tag of $1.5m.  


Families

Bressi Ranch

As the name implies, Old Carlsbad is one of the older sections of the town. Homes are primarily older ranch-style homes, although there is a newer section of the neighborhood in the northwest section with much bigger, contemporary homes. 
Families love the fact they live on the beach and that they also have great parks in the neighborhood including, [**Hosp Grove Park]**(https://www.carlsbadca.gov/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/36/7400), a 5.5-acre park with playgrounds and picnic areas and beautiful trails amidst groves of eucalyptus trees.  Kids who grow up here will often walk to and from the beach and enjoy surfing after school. Sounds pretty good. The smaller footprint homes means lower price tags at media home price of $1.4m. 


Old Carlsbad

Calavera Hills is just east of downtown and is known among locals for newer beautiful homes, excellent schools and amazing outdoor spaces and parks galore for the kiddos and doggos to play. The “center” of the community is the [**Calavera Hills Community Park**](https://www.carlsbadca.gov/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/16/7400). The park has 21-acres of green spaces, tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds, bbq/picnic spots park and performing arts spaces and events at the Calavera Hills Community Center.  
Right next door to the park is the Calavera Nature Preserve -- 110-acres of stunning countryside for hiking and biking as well as Mount Calavera. It also includes the 400-acre Lake Calavera Reservoir.  South of the preserve is the 473-acre [**Carlsbad Highlands Ecological Reserve**](https://wildlife.ca.gov/Lands/Places-to-Visit/Carlsbad-Highlands-ER) that is home to an incredible variety of bird and animal species for the wildlife lovers in the community. 

Homes are a mix of newer homes and homes built in the original development of the 70’s and 80s. Median home price is just north of $1m. Schools in the neighborhood include Calavera Hills Elementary School and Calavera Hills Middle School, both A-rated schools. 


Calavera Hills

Carlsbad

**No_Pianist_1658**
1y ago
🦉🦉🦉

I relocated to CA right before COVID hit in Sep 2019 from AZ where everyone was moving TO AZ. I’m a single mother with no child support. Certified Pharmacy Technician. We moved here for quality of life. It’s all about QOL for me. California as a whole has SO much to offer. You don’t even need to technically leave the state to travel and take your kid or kiddos around. Carlsbad has a highly rated school district. I live in San Elijo a community within San Marcos right on the border of Carlsbad. Also close to Encinitas, Del Mar other parts of San Marcos, a hop skip and a jump from La Jolla etc. The areas are super safe and well planned. North San Diego County is kind of covetted even when I visit Orange County other people speak highly of this area. It’s clean, nice and new. I currently work remotely but I didn’t always I commuted all over San Diego when I first moved to California. There’s countless museums, activities, events. People are nice and friendly. The drivers are the best. You can have sun, surf, sand, snow, rain all of it in California. It’s easy to make friends out here. People are super nice and I feel like people are happier in this part of California. Sunshine and sand are good for the soul. Very supportive to parents and single parents alike. I would highly recommend it if it’s your vibe. There’s a lot to do out here. People always say “Oh, but California’s expensive.” And I would say back, “Yeah but you get what you pay for.

**rfdey**
1y ago
🦉🦉🦉

As someone from Bellingham, this place is nice but expensive. Weather is infinitely better, we actually see the sun now. The water is a perfect temperature, if you ever swam in the lakes there. Food is not as good, unless you are good with driving to SD. It is a great place to live in comparison to PNW. To be fair, I hated the rain and love the sun. Hiking is not horrible, you just need to find the right places but it will not compare to anything Washington has.

Lifestyle is just a beach culture, which will make all the more sense when you go along the 101. Everyone here surfs, jogs, or both.

Schools here are good as far as I can see, I work with middle and high schoolers just not at the schools, nor did I go to school here, and haven't heard anything bad about them. Buying a house in Carlsbad will be difficult, but that is what Oceanside, Vista, and Escondido are for haha.

**Ratagamic**
1y ago
🦉🦉

So there's a lot of nice reviews here and that's nice

But I'm not a huge fan. It might be nice if your raising a family, or in a routine you find yourself content in. As a young adult I don't find it very appealing, the activities are not very far spread. I spend a lot of time outdoors or at the beach but I find there are not very many different communities of people. This area tends to attract above middle age, retirees or couples wanting to raise a family.

I think the thing I have to dislike the most is the food here though 🤣 which is funny I didn't think that would be such a big deal to me until I tried all different types of restaurants and was disappointed.

Someone else said it but Encinitas is a bit more diverse to me and has more activities

Carlsbad, California

Titanium Valley

Looklyloo Score: 93

Reviews

What's it like to live in Carlsbad?