It's tough. I mean the subtext is "Where is the ideal, affordable place to live". I'm in the Tri-Valley area, but we bought a while ago when prices were more r

It's tough. I mean the subtext is "Where is the ideal, affordable place to live". I'm in the Tri-Valley area, but we bought a while ago when prices were more reasonable. I'm used to long commutes, so they don't bother me so much. Pleasanton is the end of the Bart line, so you're pretty much guaranteed a seat if you use that to commute in. I work in the south bay, so for me it's car / bus on rainy days and motorcycle on the nicer ones. I can do a good chunk of work from home too, so that helps. Livermore is a little too far out; the last couple miles of traffic are torturous. Oakland is pretty hit or miss. Berkeley is... uh... Berkeley. Fremont isn't a terrible choice, but there's always traffic no matter which direction you want to go. Anything near Milpitas smells like landfill. Walnut Creek and Lafayette are nice, but expensive. I don't really know much about the peninsulas or Richmond.