How far can I live from San Francisco and still take in all the benefits of the city life and meeting people?

My wife and I are relocating from Florida after visiting San Fran once. I am trying to find my limits on housing locations and she is very concerned that if we do not live in the city, we will not be able to meet people. Also, if you live in East Bay, how hard is it to frequent the bars, concerts or restaurants in San Fran?How far can I live from San Francisco and still take in all the benefits of the city life and meeting people?
Look into the Walnut Creek area, its about 25 miles east of SF. It's one of the best suburbs in the Bay Area and has easy access to the city with BART, the commuter rail system in the Bay Area. The train takes about 35 minutes to get into downtown SF, about the same or less if you drove.



WC is great and has one of the best and largest downtowns in the Bay Area. Tons of great, upscale shopping, great restuarants, lots of bars and great nightlife, and lots of parks and open space. The schools are top notch and it's a great place to raise a family. There are also many arts and cultural type events and places there, such as the Regional Center for the Performing Arts and they have such events like the Art and Wine Festival and Main St Art festival. There are many sidewalk cafes and public gathering places to meet and talk to people. There are a lot of apts, condos, and townhomes within walking distance or right in downtown and people there are nice so it shouldnt be hard to meet make new friends. Plus there is a good bar scene there.



The city is great but coming from FL you might like the weather in WC and other inland locations better. SF doesn't really ever get warm and is pretty cool and temperate year round. Inland locations have much nicer and warmer summers and with no humidity.



WC has so much to offer and to do you might not find yourself heading into the city as often as you thought you would. It's such an easy commute too with BART, just hop on the train and relax for 35 minutes. The only thing is that the system stops around 12:30-1am so you can't stay real late out in SF if you took BART there.



Certain areas have better access to SF. The East Bay would be the best b/c of BART. Marin County doesn't have a train and only buses and ferries. San Mateo County only has Caltrain which doesnt run as often and is slower than BART. The whole Lamorinda (Lafayette, Moraga, %26amp; Orinda) area and the Walnut Creek area are really nice areas to live in with easy access to SF.How far can I live from San Francisco and still take in all the benefits of the city life and meeting people?
I found that down below San Jose is nice...find a little quiet place like.hmmmmm lets say Linda Mar....its close to half moon bay....nice ppl there...small little place.....good luckHow far can I live from San Francisco and still take in all the benefits of the city life and meeting people?
San Francisco used to be a cultural mecca surrounded by dull suburbs, but these days there are also lots of great bars, concerts, restaurants etc. in the East Bay. With BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) it's possible to get to the city in just a few minutes if you live in Oakland or Berkeley to the east, or Daly City and other towns to the south. A lot of people commute every day from as far as 100 mi. away!



The whole bay area is kind of expensive to live in (because everyone wants to live here, and who can blame them?) but San Francisco is the most expensive. I lived there for a while and I loved it. I loved the climate mostly, its always cool and 'brisk', and the air is always sparkling clean because of the wind off the ocean. But you don't need to live there to enjoy it, you can come in to see concerts and museums and cultural events. As far as meeting people, well this is an area of 6 million people. You can meet lots of people just about everywhere!



Besides the East Bay, check out Marin County (just north, across the Golden Gate Bridge) and San Mateo County (just south).