Pacifica, California

Pacifica - Anyone live there? If my wife and I land the jobs we are both interviewing for our jobs would be in the North and South bay and Pacifica seems like a good "middle". I have posted about this before but nobody really mentioned Pacfica.

If you have to commute to the North or South Bay I wouldn't recommend living in Pacifica (I'm assuming that by North Bay you mean across the Golden Gate Bridge and South Bay means San Jose area). To get to the South Bay you would either have to go up Highway 1, through the city, and back down 101 or 280 (thus going backwards before going forwards) or you would have to go down highway 1 through Half Moon Bay, then go over 92 to 280 which takes freakin forever in the mornings. I'm from the Foster City and dated a girl from Half Moon Bay and it took me 25~ minutes just to get from the Peninsula over 92 to see her, and that's only one section of your journey. You're looking at over an hour commute, likely more to get to either location. Highway 1 is one lane in either direction which means if there is traffic you're fucked.

Commutes aside, Pacifica is a really cool town. Right on the water, friendly locals. It's a cool place, good Mexican food.

Moving to Pacifica. What should I expect?

My fam moved to Pacifica right before high school. Before that we were near Lake Merced so the fog wasn’t a big deal, and it’s honestly not much worse than Daly City and most parts of SF. Pacifica is lovely, and luckily the tech bros are too scared of the fog to venture there.

Depending on where in Pacifica you live, it can be much closer to SF than people think. I went to school in SF all my life — commute was never an issue. My mom still lives there and I go at least once a week from Oakland. If I leave after 7pm it’s 34 mins door to door.

I moved back from NYC a few years ago and thought I’d be miserable back in Pacifica but I fell in love. If I didn’t work in Alameda I would have stayed in Pacifica. Hope you enjoy it!

Moving to Pacifica. What should I expect?

Lived here for 3 years, fog in the summer, not as big of a deal rest of the year. Honestly, I'd take the fog all day long over the heat or bad air that is inland. Amazing hiking trails all over the place, super dog friendly chill town. HMB super close, and I can be in downtown SF in about 20 minutes. It's a food desert though. One good grocery story (Oceana), but some killer bakeries (Mazetti's, Rosalind), and a cool wine shop (Table Wine). Welcome!

Considering a move to Pacifica -- how is it there?

It's nice. Palo Alto is still a trek for a daily commute. You're going to be a bit further from some commodities, like we don't really have a movie theater. Traffic gets terrible on the weekends if it's sunny with all of the tourists. Pacifica is kind of a few small towns strung together with one road serving them all, so it can be frustrating. There is hiking and such around here, depending on how much you want to hike there is probably a few hikes you would like, but it's also a bit limited. Luckily there are other beaches than Linda Mar and the Pier that locals will know about, that are only crowded a few days of the year.

It's got a small town feel to it, which I like. Depending on the community you live in you can get more bang for your buck as far as land/housing goes, but there certainly won't be any amenities that an actual city would offer. The biggest downside is you have to go up to Daily City to get to most stores you might need. Need to go to Costco? You have to go into Daily City.

I lived in Manor, which is the most northern neighborhood in Pacifica. The great part about that part of Pacifica is that it is right where Hwy 1/Hwy 35/Hwy 280 all converge. So it is VERY easy to get to the City and easy access to the peninsula. It's great. A little easier than living in the more southern neighborhoods. You don't get stuck in the traffic that you usually see between Linda Mar and Valamar.

What to Know Before Moving to Pacifica, CA - Good places to live