Nice places to live in CA?

[Ang]

Where in or near (bordering) California are there quiet, nice places to live.

I live in San Diego and its just too dang crowded here now!!! 3 million people alone in San Diego.
BLAH!!

I've thought about Lake Tahoe. But i just dont know where is nice and where isnt.

I dont want to live in the middle of the desert. But it seems like those are the only places in CA that dont cost an arm and a leg and are peaceful.

I'm open to the states bordering CA too.

 

[Jesse]

If making decent money isn't an issue, there are plenty of choices in the rural parts of northern California, especially northeastern California. For example, $10K can buy you a lot in the California Pines subdivision in Modoc County:

http://www.calpines.com/

I wouldn't believe everything you hear in those commercials w/ Erik Estrada. Alturas will never be mistaken for civilization, but it's beautiful, inexpensive, and cold out there.

There are many cool rural towns, but they're getting more expensive. Downieville (population 325) in Sierra County is one of my favorite towns. It's at 2,800 feet elevation, but surrounded by 7,000 foot high mountains, and is renowned as home of some of the best mountain biking in the world.

The Tahoe/Truckee area is pretty expensive. Homes are much cheaper in the nearby Reno/Sparks area.

 

[benzjamin13]

I used to live in Carmel for afew months. It was nice and a little too quiet for my liking. I live by Good Ol' Six Flags. It's a nice place, but it's getting pretty populated.

 

[Jesse]

I used to live in Carmel for afew months. It was nice and a little too quiet for my liking. I live by Good Ol' Six Flags. It's a nice place, but it's getting pretty populated.

Carmel is nice, but I would put Carmel and any other place on the Monterey Peninsula, with the possible exception of Salinas, in the "cost an arm and a leg" category.

 

[Ang]

If making decent money isn't an issue, there are plenty of choices in the rural parts of northern California, especially northeastern California. For example, $10K can buy you a lot in the California Pines subdivision in Modoc County:

http://www.calpines.com/

I wouldn't believe everything you hear in those commercials w/ Erik Estrada. Alturas will never be mistaken for civilization, but it's beautiful, inexpensive, and cold out there.

There are many cool rural towns, but they're getting more expensive. Downieville (population 325) in Sierra County is one of my favorite towns. It's at 2,800 feet elevation, but surrounded by 7,000 foot high mountains, and is renowned as home of some of the best mountain biking in the world.

The Tahoe/Truckee area is pretty expensive. Homes are much cheaper in the nearby Reno/Sparks area.

Thanks a lot!
I'll start doing some research on those places.

 

[Jesse]

If you don't mind rain and fog, Humboldt County is quite beautiful and still fairly reasonably priced. I have a friend who lives in Eureka and I visit the area often. Humboldt State University is in nearby Arcata.

 

[Ang]

::adding names to list::

 

[benzjamin13]

If you don't mind rain and fog, Humboldt County is quite beautiful and still fairly reasonably priced. I have a friend who lives in Eureka and I visit the area often. Humboldt State University is in nearby Arcata.

If you like plants, I hear there's nice "greenery" in that area

 

[Jesse]

The Rogue River Valley in southern Oregon is another beautiful and fairly reasonably priced area. Medford tends to be more reasonably priced. Ashland, home of the Oregon Shakespheare Festival and Southern Oregon State College, is somewhat more expensive.

The Redding area in Shasta County, CA, is pretty nice too. Beautiful with views of mountains on three sides, but it gets really HOT in the summertime. Nearby Mt. Shasta stays snowcapped for most of the year and makes a nice backdrop.

 

[Jesse]

The foothills of Placer and El Dorado counties are quite popular and are getting expensive, but it's hard to beat the proximity to a medium/big city (Sacramento) coupled w/ the ability to live out in the woods. Auburn, Placerville, Colfax, Foresthill, Georgetown, Camino, etc., are some of the towns in this stretch of the Sierra Foothills. There are literally tons of foothill towns, ranging from Oakhurst in Madera County all the way up to Nevada City/Grass Valley in Nevada County, and then on up to Downieville/Sierra City in Sierra County. Good stuff!