Living in Fresno, California

Most people think of California as a monolith of Bernie Bros West. While the state votes Democrat the city of Fresno, like many cities east of the coastline, skews centrist. It has things like an LGBT film festival and a few thousand more Democratic voters than Republicans, but it’s the second most conservative city in the state and votes more conservative than Houston or Dallas. We aren’t saying a conservative city is better or worse than a liberal one. If you think living in a centrist city overall, and a conservative one for a big city is a good thing, you’ll like it here.

Fresno has a relatively toxic mix of soot and pollutants that in combination make this a city with among the worst air quality in the country. While Fresno produces plenty of this on its own it also is unfortunately in a region surrounded by mountain ranges which means the unhealthy air from around the Central Valley, the Bay Area, and LA pools atop the city.

What locals will tell you about a Fresno Lifestyle is that you live here because of what is nearby rather than what is within the city limits. Fresno is smack dab in the middle of an amazing state. You are near the most magnificent national parks: Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon. You’re an hour or two from skiing and two hours from coastal beaches. Finally, you’re a three-hour drive to San Francisco or Los Angeles. Fresno the city may be quiet but if you want a reasonable drive to virtually anything you could want it works.

If you're interested in checking out what people get up to in Fresno, here's the calendar of events.

We highly recommend visiting Fresno and staying in the community in a VRBO rather than a hotel to get a feel for living among the locals. You can also receive discounted travel fares via our partnership with Expedia.

The job market in Fresno is not considered exceptional. Generally, people move here to work in Education: at Fresno State, or the elementary/secondary school system. There is also a large health sector employer base with a large UCSF medical and research facility, a stellar VA hospital, and a large Community Regional Medical Center with the only Level 1 trauma center between LA and Sacramento. A big change coming to cities like Fresno however is the rise of Work-from-homers who may want to be in California, be central to everything the state has to offer but also be able to rent cheaply or buy a home.