I'm going to graduate in about a year from now, and I want to move to California for graduate schools. My plan is to work for about a year (to get the "California resident" status so I pay less for school), and then apply to schools. So, my df and I are looking for a good place to live for a year, where we can work and get a relatively decently priced apartment. Any ideas? Urban areas preferred.
Thanks for your help!

Kelly I live in the north county coastal area of San Diego....about 45 miles from downtown. It is a fabulous area to live in. There are areas with high rents and other areas where it may not be that high....although I have no idea what you would consider high!

We live in an area where rents and areas are way different just a few miles apart.

We do have several colleges in our area ~

CSUSM is very close to me ~ my son went there and earned his teaching credential there

Point Loma Nazarene is close...a private Christian college where my daughter earned her degree

San Diego State where my daughter earned her Master's and my niece attends now

UCSD and SDU both great schools

We are also within 75 miles of several colleges in Orange County

I don't know if any of these are for you regarding graduate work

Our local paper, the north county times ~ nctimes.com or the San Diego Union would be the two best papers to research rents in.

Good luck and PM me anytime if you have questions.

thanks a lot- I'll look into it. This is so helpful!

I grew up in the same city that Gary lives in. I really liked growing up there. There are a few areas that aren't remote, with decent jobs and aren't crazy expensive in terms of rent.

North County San Diego is one but also North Orange County is another I'd recommend.

Thank you all!

I live in the Bay Area , south of San Francisco. Lots of good schools around here and many interesting things to do. But it is Silicon Valley after all, lots of techies and computer geeks. It is however one of the most expensive places to live. Living costs in San Jose and surrounding cities are very high. San Francisco is through the roof. Smaller cities might be cheaper, the freeway system gets you around pretty fast. Write to the Chamber of Commerce in the Cities you are interested in. They can send info on the area Try Visalia, near Fresno or Tulare also near Fresno or farther north Paradise or Chico or San Luis Obispo going south .You can check newspapers on the internet look at the classified for rentals.

I'm in Porterville, in between Fresno and Bakersfield. It is a GREAT place to live and work. Right next to the mountains, and only 3 hours away from the beach!

We are pretty close to everything and it's very cheap to live here.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...N%26start%3D21

Good luck!

And Porterville is close to Visalia and Tulare.

One of the guys that works for me (and has a very looooong drive to work now) moved to Porterville about 8 months ago....he likes it but says he would rather come back down here to the San Diego area if it was more affordable.

A number of years ago I lived in Visalia and commuited to work in Lindsay. Just a short drive away. The worst part of living in that area is that they get terrible fog. Not fun driving in it.