Considering San Jose

1,033,670

Population

Sunny Days: 205

85100 Affordability

90100 Schools

100100 Diversity

80100 Safety

See all the facts!

LookyLOO Review of San Jose

Entrepreneurship, start-ups and big-time tech players

While many would argue the weather is the nicest thing about San Jose, what’s more unique and alluring is the fact that this is the Capital of Silicon Valley. The biggest tech companies in the world call San Jose home, from Apple and Google to IMB and PayPal. It’s a place that exudes innovation and entrepreneurship unlike any other, without the high-intensity stress of say New York City or San Francisco. It has a major downtown area, yet still encompasses your stereotypical California suburban feel with its charming, albeit very pricey neighborhoods, big homes with backyard space and pools, and nearly year-round sunshine.

San Jose has amazing weather; sports teams; upscale dining and shopping, including Valley Fair Mall and Santana Row; job opportunities; and culture. But at the end of the day it doesn’t have those buzzing vibes of a San Francisco, Los Angeles, or again, New York City. While there are some spots to go out, the nightlife isn’t popping by any means, and it can be a sleepy city despite having one of the biggest populations in the country. That said if you have a family, raising kids or past your drinking and dancing days, then you have nothing to worry about. Oh, and you need a car, or be comfortable with a rentable scooter or bike, or Ubers/ Lyfts.

Lifestyle

If you’re in San Jose, you’re going to be living around some of the scrappiest and smartest people you’ve ever encountered. San Jose metro has more millionaires and billionaires per capita than any other city in the US, which makes sense when you consider that it has the highest cost of living in California as well as the US. The city does lean younger, with a median age of around 35, but keep in mind that the people who live and work here can be obsessed with their jobs. The city has been working very hard to create a social scene to try to compete with the popularity of San Francisco. There are more restaurants, events, and shopping now than ever before to try to lure the techies out for happy hours and weekend hangs. Also, it’s good news if you’re a person who dates men. San Jose has been nicknamed “Man Jose” because of the overwhelmingly large population of single men in their 20s and 30s who live and/or work there.

If you want to see everything happening in San Jose check out the [calendar of events](https://www.sanjose.org/events.

Worklife

Like we said before, this is the tech and startup capital of the US, maybe even the world, so if you’re working here, you’re going to be either living the Silicon Valley dream or working for the city. There are a ton of companies that call San Jose home, including the headquarters of Adobe, Cisco Systems, PayPal, Roku, and more. In addition to headquarters, many companies like Samsung and Apple choose to house their very elite and very large campuses in the city. There are plenty of jobs for cutthroat recent grads and seasoned tech pros alike.

Schools

The San Jose Unified School District has a pretty diverse performance spectrum across the broad landscape. Overall is scores a "B+" on niche.com with college prep an area of great strength.

If you review the map for school performance you'll see most of the "A" ranked schools are on the southern side of the city and the C's are generally on the north side. If you care about standardized rankings then keep the schools in the neighborhood in mind when choosing a home. San Jose has a pretty traditional selection of schools, without a ton of the charter and magnets that can confuse a district. High fliers among the public school secondary options include:
-Leland High School; is an "A" ranked high school down in the Almaden Valley neighborhood. Leland scores an A+ in both Academics and College Prep.
-Pioneer High School; Another "A" ranked high school located just north of Almaden Valley, that also gets high grades for Academics and College Prep.

Why You Should Move Here Now?

Life is stressful, San Jose isn’t.

It’s always sunny in San Jose. It’s the perfect combo of suburban life and city life, (minus nightlife.) There’s diversity in culture (it’s home to one of only three Japantowns in the U.S., tons of great Mexican and Vietnamese food, and a Little Portugal); tons of options for outdoors activities, not to mention relatively close proximity to the mountains, coast, and San Francisco, Napa Valley and more; there’s fancy shopping and dining; diversity in people; and mostly everything you need to thrive mentally. No SAD here! If you’re a techie, engineer, entrepreneur or the like, there’s no better place for you. Another important thing to note, the area has tons of highly ranked high schools and some of the top universities in the U.S. including Stanford. So if higher education is important to you, San Jose is a slam dunk.

Reviews of San Jose from Locals

love44
living in San Jose
2y ago
✭✭

Just moved here last year from Toronto (originally from Vermont)

Like every place San Jose has its pros and cons.

Pros: I personally feel there are more opportunities in California. I have the best job I’ve ever had in my life and I haven’t had a problem securing a job since moving here (had to leave original company I transferred with). Obviously the weather is a huge pro and it’s close to many outdoor activities.

Cons: The driving is crazy. I thought Toronto was bad but MAN they don’t mess around here haha. Also, I actually don’t find it to be that friendly of a place. It’s not really a city like I thought where you take public transportation everywhere; you pretty much have to drive. I also don’t feel as safe as I have felt in other places BUT I felt worse in SF. I also wish I realized where SJ was in relation to the ocean but that’s my fault.

Ultimately, we are looking to move back to Toronto because we like that type of city feel more but I have enjoyed my time in California for the most part.