Hello everyone,

I am planning to move to San Jose and was wondering if it is a safe place to start a family life. Is it a family friendly environment? Are there a lot of crimes and violence in SAn Jose? Any information about this city would be of great help. Thank you.

Abort mission while you still can...

The more I read the San Jose Mercury news I wonder about the area around White rd, Capitol Ave, King st,  Story road. It always seems there is a Police Blotter post about yet some other guy being shot or stabbed. I would see if you can find a crime map of the area you are considering moving to prior to signing a lease or buying a home. Oh, look here are some.

mercurynews.com/crime-re…

mercurynews.com/crime-co…

I hope this helps.

Jasmine/Jorn- Every city has their "East Side" but there are also places like South SJ and the surrounding cities. The more traffic to an area, the more crime. Mismanaged low income housing areas and highly condensed business/living areas like downtown SJ usually are worse off than other areas.

san jose is rated one of the safest big cities in the nation.

east san jose is one of the dangerous parts of the city in terms of ... everything (attacks, thefts, etc). but, comparing east san jose to san francisco's tenderloin, oakland and richmond, east san jose is much better!!! as long as you avoid randomly lounging in this area late at night, you should be OK.  i used to live in north east san jose. this area was fine during the day, but i'd still avoid this area in terms of raising a family. northeast san jose is quickly falling into the "ghetto" area, so avoid this area for long term living.

downtown san jose can be dangerous, but not too bad....?

west, north, and south san jose are the better areas and are generally much safer than east san jose.

San Jose is a city. Act accordingly.

sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic…

Compared to where?

West and North San Jose are generally safer? You have got to be shitting me.

Try the Willow Glen area. It's a nice little community.

Jasmine,

As mentioned in any big city there are trouble spots. Try to do your homework on police activity in the area aswell as check up on the 'registered' sex offenders in the area if you are planning on raising a family meganslaw.ca.gov

San Jose has alot to offer and is a great place to live, in general. Willow Glen,  Evergreen Hills, and Beryessa areas are my favorite places to stay.

i used to live in the Northeast San Jose area near Capitol Ave and Hostetter Rd, which is zip code 95132. the neighborhood is very odd. one street would look super clean cut and safe and then a block to the right would be all dead lawns and pitbulls attacking the front yard fences, viciously trying to get out. I'd walk my dog regularly for 3 years in that area.  If I'd drive south of McKee Rd, I'd start to fear for my life, especially at the 24 Hour Fitness there. The locals near that 24 Hour Fitness seemed so thuggish. Because of zip code 95132 being almost unsafe, I read the San Jose Mercury News Police Blotter all the time. The streets and intersections mentioned were usually a few intersections south of Capitol and McKee Rd.

If I drive west on Hostetter (which turns into Murphy Rd), the zip code is 95131. Where the houses are more expensive than 95132 and the neighborhoods looked consistently cleaner and safer. I remember this because I was house hunting in that area.

West San Jose is generally just east of Westfield Valley Fair Mall, which is considered Santa Clara.  West San Jose begins somewhere near the Municipal Rose Garden and the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. I just drove through here yesterday. The neighborhood houses in this area are really kept up very nice, considering that those houses were bordering a busy street. No bars on windows or doors on these houses.

Feel free to use Google Map street view and drag the little yellow figure onto particular regions of San Jose.

Check out this website:

crimereports.com

I also lived in San Francisco for 3 years. I lived near Japantown, which is just north of the Western Addition section. My friends living in the Western Addition would tell me that they would hear shootings outside their apartment buildings every weekend. And of course, every month or so, someone would actually get shot there. Every night, you'd hear a fire truck or ambulance there.

I always had to drive through SF's Tenderloin district to get to SF's Union Square. Even driving through that area during the day was scary! My friend's dad is a SF native tried living in the Tenderloin District because he thought he would feel safe anywhere in SF. He was wrong. Even HE was terrified of the Tenderloin.

One time I met up with friends for dinner in SF's Mission District. I was walking alone. I'll never do that again.

So, in comparison to those SF areas that I've encountered, West and North San Jose look picture perfect to me!

I agree with Eddie.  It really depends on the neighborhood.  Say no to East Side.  Blossom Hill, Willow Glen, and Evergreen area are nice.

What part of San Jose are you looking into ?! The most safest and kid friendly area I know for sure is up on Silver Creek and Murillo way up by the San Jose Gurdwara. Blossom Hill area is also very nice and secluded area. The houses by Evergreen are to die for and the enviroment is a very safe area to reside in. Tons of sweet people. Neighborhood is kid friendly and the houses are very beautiful. Though coming across the Capitol Eastridge area has fast traffic most of the time. I would highly suggest the hills area =] look into the schools that are around the neighborhood too... The Evergreen school district is good, I havent heard any complaints...Certain parts of the city along with other cities always has violence and it really cant be denied that we dont have enough patrolling half the time. but some parts of SJ is safe. Hope this review helped.

Julie, you realize that Evergreen is the East Side right?

Jasmine Pay little attention to the East Side West side jazz, the neighborhood should be more of a focus. Evergreen is East side Willow Glen is West Side, Blossom Hill is South SIde, but all of these 'Sides' of San Jose do have 'unsafe' neighborhoods also.

For help looking up the schools you can use this site as a resource.
greatschools.org/cgi-bin…

North valley is kool. Or evergreen valley or silver creek valley.

As ppl stated, San Jose is a huge city.  There are bad areas and a lot of nice areas too.  The best thing is to ask ppl by street/intesection.  Because it can vary quite a bit.  Don't go by general neighborhood names--i.e. Willow Glen, Evergreen, East SJ, North Valley.  It can be misleading.

For example, the Evergreen areas used to be considered a nice, upscale area.  It was the area around Evergreen College.  However, during the housing boom, ppl started using that term for homes all the way down Tully even, which is not really the Evergreen area.  

In general though, I'd avoid Tully Rd, King Rd, Alum Rock, McKee, and Story Rd.  Of course, if you go along those roads long enough, you'll hit nice areas.  Thus, knowing the intersection is key.

I live on the east side. While it has it's share of issues so does every other area. and I'd much rather live on the East Side around real people than near any snob who thinks they're "too good" for it.....Like one or two people who've posted here.

Depends on what you want. Drive around the areas. If you want to see a bunch of yuppie Pretentious white and asian families, Willow Glen/west side may be a good choice. If you wanna be around all the douchebagery, downtown?
If you want a fairly multicultural area, south and east are good options. And I don't know the north side well enough to comment.

@Sean:  Who has sounded like a snob here on this thread?  I thought everyone's opinions have been fair and valid.

I have friends and family who are SJPD or work for the SJ Sheriff's dept.  They all say that the area commonly referred to "East SJ" does have a lot of crime.  Because, they are called out there often.  That's just a fact unfortunately.  Is it okay to live there though?  Sure, I lived in that area as a child.  I thought it was fine.  Yeah, my parent's cars were broken into a few times.  But, that can happen anywhere, right?

Thank you everyone for you kind and honest inputs. I highly appreciate it. I will definitely look into the crime reports, schools, and certain areas of interest. I thank you all once again. :)

Of course, parts of it are safe. Some, not as much.

I also looked into Willow Glen area, and I was not impressed.

I like where we are now, and there is no DINK-yuppie nonsense to deal with.

Depends on who you are and what you plan to do.

@Jennifer P:
Where in the Willow Glen area did you look?  Because, in general, the Willow Glen area is nice and a cute, quiet area to live.  Is it nice and posh like the Silver Creek area?  No, because the homes/neighborhood is fairly old.  However, it's well-kept and clean.  Even my good friend who's a SJ cop moved there because he thought it was a fairly crime-free area.  He patrols east SJ, by the way.

And this is how gangs are formed.....my side is better than yours! Lol. Just do some good research, drive the neighborhoods (with tour windows up and doors locked) talk to people (when they ask you for spare change), and try the local joints (no pun intended).

By the way, with the advent of Google maps and street view, you can actually check out there areas without actually venturing out there!

I wish they had this option when I was shopping for a house 5-6 yrs ago!  It would have saved me a lot of trips.

oops......edit:  "you can actually check out [the] areas without actually venturing out there......."

It's better than Oakland or EPA (what city isn't these days), but I'd look elsewhere. This city is slowly but surely becoming a sh*t-hole. Add on the fact that our police force is losing hundreds and the gangbangers in this city are everywhere and don't have any intentions of slowing down.

I would also say check out the parks on a weekday. You can get a general feel for the type of people in the area. if you go to late in the evening or on the weekend you will find people from all sides of town ..

I grew up on the East Side and I love it.

A C. says:

i used to live in the Northeast San Jose area near Capitol Ave and Hostetter Rd, which is zip code 95132. the neighborhood is very odd. one street would look super clean cut and safe and then a block to the right would be all dead lawns and pitbulls attacking the front yard fences, viciously trying to get out. I'd walk my dog regularly for 3 years in that area.  If I'd drive south of McKee Rd, I'd start to fear for my life, especially at the 24 Hour Fitness there. The locals near that 24 Hour Fitness seemed so thuggish. Because of zip code 95132 being almost unsafe, I read the San Jose Mercury News Police Blotter all the time. The streets and intersections mentioned were usually a few intersections south of Capitol and McKee Rd.

If I drive west on Hostetter (which turns into Murphy Rd), the zip code is 95131. Where the houses are more expensive than 95132 and the neighborhoods looked consistently cleaner and safer.

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actually, 95132 goes all the way up into the hills and North to the Milpitas border, IIRC.  Includes $multi-million homes.

I lived in 95132 from 4th grade through high school.  I was killed several times.

Yes, Al. I've seen those multimillion dollar homes. My dad's friend used to own one over there. He was selling his home for a couple million. The hills are very nice. I am convinced that when 95132 from your 4th grade through high school was a very nice area.

But I lived about 1 minute away from Capitol Ave and Hostetter Rd. To be exact, I lived on Cabrillo Ave. in 2005-2006 and Camino Del Rey during the years of 2006-2008. Both of these streets are close to the main intersection that I mentioned. Like I said, I walked my dog around that particular neighborhood daily during those 3 years. I saw alot of nice houses on Cabrillo Ave. And then you go onto Camino Del Rey and every couple houses is pretty nuts.

In 2006, I lived on a nice, clean, safe block on Cabrillo Ave where the long time resident on this street were SO nice and friendly, but even they told me that there was one house at the end that broken into many times, with different homeowners over the course of a few years. A street just east of Cabrillo Ave where I was walking my dog, there was a pitbull charging from the front door, through the front yard and collided with the 4 foot tall metal fence barking menacingly. If there was a hole in that fence, my dog and I would be goners for sure.

When I lived on Camino Del Rey during 2006-2008, I had 4 problematic neighbors. The house on the right was a huge Asian family that had big house parties with loud music, easily heard inside my house. The parents always scowled at me. The house on the left had a Hispanic family who enjoyed blasting Hispanic music around 8-10am every Sunday. That was difficult for me if I went SF clubbing the night before. They also dumped trash into my yard. The house right across the street from me was occupied by several men of various ages, I'm assuming that they were all family members. One time a fight broke out right in the street and the cops came. They were always in their driveway fixing up their cars, watching me enter and exit my home. The house behind my backyard (sharing the backyard fence) had 2 dogs: one pitbull and one enormous 100 lbs dog (I didn't recognize the breed). Anyways, both of the dogs broke through our shared fence 4 times. Each time they broke through the fence, they would charge into my sliding door, trying to attack my 8 lb dog inside the house.

I'm convinced that 95132 used to be a very nice area. I bought a house there! I mean, I was planning to live there a long time. And then, all these problems happened in the course of 2 years!!!! How can I call the area "safe" if I was forced to hide inside my house every time I came home?????

No matter where you live in SJ, you have to pay attention to your surroundings. The two areas that I go to play dates, where people behave better than others. Those places are in Willow Glen and in Campbell. Even if you can't afford to live in those areas, you can go to the parks there. However, even in the nicer communities, you can't let your guard down.

There are always "bedroom" communities to SJ (places where you can live that are more small town that you can still live within reasonable commute distance into SJ), such as Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Scotts Valley, etc.

No Long, my comment wasn't snobby, it was stereotypical about the people I've experienced there. Haha.  I tend to not like the cookie cutter yuppies and from my experience willow glen, Campbell, and similar are definitely those type of places.