Pacifica, California

It’s a foggy beach town with stellar surfing, the most beautiful Taco Bell on God’s green earth, and pound-for-pound more open green spaces than any city in the area. What’s not to love? Pretty much everything here is good. The pier is good, the BBQ is good, the haircuts are good, the fish and chips are good and the lifestyle is just chill and good. When it’s scorching hot inland it’s always quite a bit cooler here. And that’s true for both the temps and the people. Everyone here is a bit more nonchalantly cooler than the rest of the area - the singles, the couples, even the families, and the dogs are groovy in Pacifica.

Many people will argue for the fog as the worst thing about Pacifica but that’s a tiny bit of a myth. Sure it blows in the summer but most of the year it clears up and is sunny-ish. What does kind of suck about Pacifica is it’s pretty isolated from most of the Bay Area. You’re a short hop to San Francisco but most other destinations require you to drive through the mountains and across convoluted roads to get there. Some of that isolation is part of the charm but to many, it can lead to feeling a bit alone.

In addition to the aforementioned groovy surfer scene, it’s important to remember that Pacifica is a suburb. Lots of families enjoy the coastal lifestyle and raise their kids in an extreme outdoor culture. Taking the kiddos to the beach is a treat but there are also tons of hiking and biking trails as well as parks, golf courses, and even an archery range. While there are plenty of traditional smaller parks for play there are also amazing places like Frontierland Park. It has a wonderful playground space, and picnic/BBQ amenities but it also has a massive outdoor open space and it nestles up to the hills of Pacifica offering everyone all the trails and hikes they could want.

There are six miles of beach and one thousand acres that belong to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. So when it comes to living outdoors you and the family won’t tire of things to do in Pacifica. There isn’t a major downtown but Pacifica does have a couple dozen restaurants/bars to keep locals happy when they don’t feel like driving 15 minutes to San Francisco. Like a lot of California coastal towns, the commercial districts stretch narrowly along the ocean and so it’s less dense and walkable as a result.

Pacifica also has a nonstop stream of community events happening, like the Pacific Coast Fog Fest, a mixed entertainment fair that happens in September (ironically when the fog clears) and includes local foods and brews, a race, a big parade and countless other fun activities for the kids and the grownups. There is also a big Farmer’s Market, an Art Center, a performing Arts Theater, and plenty of live music at Sam’s Castle and other more intimate spots. For a small town, it offers a lot to do. Check out the calendar of events for all the happenings.

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

The Pacifica School District only manages the schools in the area at the elementary school level. The schools in the district are a mix of B’s, B+’s and A-’s on niche.com so if you’re focused on the scoring of the schools then keep an eye out for the neighborhood you choose. At the high school level, Pacifica is in the Jefferson Union High School District. Two schools, Oceana and Terra Nova, are in Pacifica and both are considered decent schools with Terra Nova edging out Oceana by most standardized grading standards. There is a beautiful theater and sports facilities at Terra Nova and overall a ton of school pride among the students, families, and faculty so good options at that level in Pacifica.