StreetAdvisor Blog

Exploring the San Francisco Bay area

There's more to the Bay area in California than San Francisco itself. While landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge capture the hearts of tourists, for current and potential California residents the issue of finding an affordable and enjoyable place to live is probably more important.

Despite its fame as a city, San Francisco itself does not score very highly as a city (San Francisco, California, City Rank in California #60, Overall Score 65.14).

San Francisco is ranked similarly to smaller cities in the Bay area like Sunnyvale, California (Overall Score 65.45) and Redwood City, California (City Rank in California #61, Overall Score 63.41).

Scores and ranks for the neighborhoods in these areas are starting to fill out. For example, the third best neighborhood in Redwood City is Oakwood, Redwood City, California Neighborhood Rank in Redwood City #3, Overall Score 63.28).

Scores are lower in the area immediately south of San Francisco, such as San Mateo, California (City Rank in California #77, Overall Score 49.19), Daly City, California City Rank in California #81, Overall Score 45.34) and South San Francisco, California (City Rank in California #83, Overall Score 41.27).

In the east the scores are mixed. San Leandro, California (City Rank in California #79, Overall Score 47.55) is at the low end and Oakland, California (City Rank in California #78, Overall Score 54.78) is not much better. The high end is dominated by Alameda, California (City Rank in California #4, Overall Score 84.07).

Scores are generally higher in southern part of the Bay area, also known as Silicon Valley. Mountain View, California (City Rank in California #30, Overall Score 74.52) scores the highest, followed by Santa Clara, California (City Rank in California #49, Overall Score 68.66) and Palo Alto, California (City Rank in California #51, Overall Score 67.40).

What do you think of these scores and ranks? How does your neighborhood or city rank? Contribute your own reviews, comments, forum topics and lists to StreetAdvisor today and influence the scores and ranks of these places.

StreetAdvisor adds private messaging

You may have noticed a new feature in your StreetAdvisor user account. We have added an email function to allow private messaging between users, and for users to send emails to people outside StreetAdvisor.

As well as using the 'Share This' feature let people know about your favorite StreetAdvisor content, including your own reviews, you can now email people to let them know about anything on StreetAdvisor (or anything at all).

We're making it easier for you to share information with your neighbors and friends. Now you can message or email, write reviews and comment on them, write forum topics and reply to them, and share anything with neighbors in StreetAdvisor or in the real world.

So log in to StreetAdvisor today and share some great local content with your real or virtual neighbors and friends.

How does your neighborhood rate in StreetAdvisor?

Just as the scores of different cities vary considerably in StreetAdvisor, so too do the scores and ranks of the neighborhoods within cities. The difference in scores between the top 5 neighborhoods of different cities also varies a lot. Consider these examples.

Denver, Colorado (City Rank in Colorado #6, Overall Score 66.99)

Best neighborhoods in Denver:

First: Washington Park, Denver, Colorado (Neighborhood Rank in Denver #1, Overall Score 90.00)

Fifth: Cory Merrill, Denver, Colorado (Neighborhood Rank in Denver #5, Overall Score 81.45)

Phoenix, Arizona (City Rank in Arizona #5, Overall Score 68.19)

Best neighborhoods in Phoenix:

First: East Phoenix, Phoenix, Arizona (Neighborhood Rank in Phoenix #1, Overall Score 72.98)

Fifth: Central Phoenix, Phoenix, Arizona (Neighborhood Rank in Phoenix #5, Overall Score 68.40)

Atlanta, Georgia (City Rank in Georgia #10, Overall Score 65.83)

Best neighborhoods in Atlanta:

First: Virginia Highland, Atlanta, Georgia (Neighborhood Rank in Atlanta #1, Overall Score 79.20)

Fifth: Downtown, Atlanta, Georgia (Neighborhood Rank in Atlanta #5, Overall Score 66.78)

Austin, Texas (City Rank inTexas #5, Overall Score 71.06)

Best neighborhoods in Austin:

First: Zilker, Austin, Texas (Neighborhood Rank in Austin #1, Overall Score 92.50)

Fifth: West Austin | Tarrytown, Austin, Texas (Neighborhood Rank in Austin #5, Overall Score 76.68)

In each of these examples, even the fifth best neighborhood scores better than the city as a whole.

How does your neighborhood rate in your city? Is the score of your neighborhood higher than the score for your city?

If so, you probably live in one of the better parts of town. If not, you probably are not. But regardless of the score or rank of your neighborhood, are you happy where you're living? Log into StreetAdvisor.com today and tell us about it.

Small towns in Australia

Most of the time we write about streets in big cities because that's where most people live. It's fascinating when we receive reviews from more remote places, such as these reviews from small towns around Australia.

One of the most remote places to be reviewed in StreetAdvisor is Eromanga, Queensland (Overall Score 63.68). swampyro says that:

Power is costly, and we have many 'outages' Ergon always says there is nothing wrong, but they don't live here, they only account for outages over a minute long, so we may have 30 in an hour that are less than a minute long. Most people have a back up Generators left over from before we were connected to the 'grid'. Eromanga only got power in 1987.

The Local Quilpie Council is great, they have done a lot for this town, at present they are sealing our old dirt Air Strip.

It's hot and dusty in Summer, and freezing in winter. But in between times its lovely, plenty of places to go and camp and fish, nature walk, all that sort of stuff.

We love it out here. All the best to our visitors, we get lots of tourists, so many that we got a computer at the museum hooked up to the internet for them.....

At Wilmington, South Australia (Overall Score 86.94) Firey56 says:

Having been raised in Wilmington South Australia and also I lived there for about 33 years - it is a good place to live. My grandparents lived there all their married life-raised 5 children including my father who was well known as the mail contractor. He used to do the mail run from Wilmigton to Orroroo for many years. My mum also was involved in many local organisations. Myself, I belonged to the local EFS/CFS until I shifted to WA many years ago. Wilmington is a good place to visit-live and enjoy.

At Lobethal, South Australia (Overall Score 79.97) Roland explains that:

Lobethal is a pleasant 38km drive from the Adelaide City Business District and is known as the 'Valley of Praise' so named by German Settlers in 1842. It offers a relaxing rural lifestyle with all the conveniences of the city only 35 minutes away. Located in the Adelaide Hills Council district and in particular near to the townships Charleston, Mt Torrens, Woodside, Lenswood, Balhannah, Oakbank, Cudlee Creek and Kenton Valley.

At Womboota, New South Wales (Overall Score 49.02) jawjar says:

If you like peace and quiet then this is the place for you!!!! With only a handful of houses you are guaranteed isolation. I would not recommend this "town" for families or couples and definitely not for singles!! However if you are newly retired and looking for a change (challenge) then this would suit you to a tee! Expect to find cheap houses/land. Rentals are hard to come by and are by word of mouth only!

About 15km south/east you will find Deep Creek Marina. Continue a further 15km and you will find Echuca/Moama.

At Myrrhee, Victoria (Overall Score 72.00) MikeW tells us that it is:

A quiet place, access to bush walking, vineyards, forests. I found it a great place for inspiration for my painting, a good variety of buildings, creeks and geographical features.

There's a lot going on in small towns around Australia, and StreetAdvisor.com.au is a great place to share your stories.

The StreetAdvisor guide to the 5 boroughs of New York City

In StreetAdvisor we classify the 5 boroughs of New York City as cities. In descending order, the 5 boroughs hold the following ranks among cities in the state of New York.

New York (Manhattan), New York (City Rank in New York #12, Overall Score 63.30) is the highest ranked borough in NYC.

The top neighborhood in Manhattan is the Meatpacking District, New York, New York (Neighborhood Rank in New York #1, Overall Score 87.75).

The second highest ranked borough in NYC is Staten Island, New York (City Rank in New York #16, Overall Score 60.69).

The best neighborhood in Staten Island according to StreetAdvisor community members is Huguenot, Staten Island, New York (Neighborhood Rank in Staten Island #1,Overall Score 85.49).

Next is Brooklyn, New York (City Rank in New York #18, Overall Score 58.65).

Brooklyn's best neighborhood is Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, New York (Neighborhood Rank in Brooklyn #1, Overall Score 79.51).

Queens, New York (City Rank in New York #22, Overall Score 54.18) does not score quite as well as Brooklyn.

However, the best neighborhood in Queens scores almost as well as the best neighborhood in Brooklyn: Neponsit | Belle Harbor, Queens, New York (Neighborhood Rank in Queens #1, Overall Score 78.00).

The lowest ranked borough is The Bronx, New York (City Rank in New York #31, Overall Score 43.47).

The best neighborhood in The Bronx is Country Club, Bronx, New York (Neighborhood Rank in Bronx #1, Overall Score 69.71), which would not even place it in the top five neighborhoods in most of the other boroughs.

As you can see, there is huge diversity in the borough and neighborhood scores in New York City. How does your neighborhood rate? What do you think of the different ranks of the boroughs? Log into StreetAdvisor.com today and let the world know.

The StreetAdvisor guide to Boston neighborhoods

While the top ranked StreetAdvisor neighborhoods in other cities regularly score in the high 70s and even the low 80s, the top ranked neighborhood in Boston only scores 73. Why so low? Perhaps the residents of Boston, Massachusetts (City Rank in Massachusetts #3, Overall Score 68.07) are fussy or difficult to please.

The top neighborhood is Fenway | Kenmore, Boston, Massachusetts (Neighborhood Rank in Boston #1, Overall Score 73.15).

Second is Central Boston, Boston, Massachusetts (Neighborhood Rank in Boston #2, Overall Score 69.82).

Third is South End, Boston, Massachusetts (Neighborhood Rank in Boston #3, Overall Score 69.27).

Forth is South Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts (Neighborhood Rank in Boston #4, Overall Score 66.62).

Fifth is Back Bay | Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts Neighborhood Rank in Boston #5, Overall Score 66.46).

What do you think of these rankings? I think these rankings are a bit tough and some Bostonians should show their city some love. Log in to StreetAdvisor.com today and tell us what you think about Boston.

The StreetAdvisor guide to the neighborhoods of Los Angeles

Los Angeles (City Rank in California #63, Overall Score 62.02) is an amazing city, or rather a collection of cities in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Los Angeles is receiving lots of street and neighborhood reviews in StreetAdvisor, and the scores and ranks for the neighborhoods are filling out. These are the top five neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

The top neighborhood is Beverly Crest, Los Angeles, California (Neighborhood Rank in Los Angeles #1, Overall Score 81.87).

The second is Rancho Park, Los Angeles, California (Neighborhood Rank in Los Angeles #2, Overall Score 78.91).

Third is Century City, Los Angeles, California (Neighborhood Rank in Los Angeles #3, Overall Score 78.70).

Forth is Elysian Park, Los Angeles, California (Neighborhood Rank in Los Angeles #4, Overall Score 76.50).

Fifth is Sawtelle, Los Angeles, California (Neighborhood Rank in Los Angeles #5, Overall Score 75.15).

If living in LA proper is not your scene, perhaps you prefer somewhere by the water or in the suburbs. The rankings of the cities in the LA area vary considerably.

Pasadena, California (City Rank in California #4, Overall Score 84.32) ranks much better than most LA neighborhoods. Glendale, California (City Rank in California #23, Overall Score 75.86) also ranks well and so does Santa Monica, California (City Rank in California #34,Overall Score 73.36).

What do you think of these rankings? Where does your neighborhood rate? Log in to StreetAdvisor.com today to find out!