Antioch

Antioch is the city just to the east of Pittsburg. The two are usually thought of together, with most people not making much of a distinction between the two of them unless they live there. Both cities have a reputation for high crime and cheap housing and are basically bedroom communities for the East Bay and Contra Costa.

In terms of crime, the perception is closer to true for Antioch than it is for Pittsburg. Where Pittsburg is about average, Antioch has a much higher crime, about 150% above the national average. Not as bad as Richmond or Oakland, but starkly higher than Pittsburg and other places in Contra Costa County.

Locals will tell you that most of the crime is located north of the freeway. I don’t know if this is true.

It is the case however that the schools are better south of the freeway. If you simply look at API scores, south of the freeway you get a fair number of average schools, including Deer Valley High which has an API of 5. (Technically Antioch high which is just north of the Freeway has a 6 but that is not true of most of the other schools to the north of Highway 4.)

So do home prices here really make up for these drawbacks?

The median home price in Antioch is $200 K with 90% of homes for sale due to the foreclosure. And there are literally a thousand homes for sale here. High, even when you consider that Antioch’s population is 100,000.

One of the big drawbacks of this area in addition to the crime problem is the terrible commute. BART does not extend this far, so unless you are taking AMTRAK, you end up hitting one of the worst commutes in all of the Bay Area—a narrow highway most of the way.

There is more night life and entertainment possibilities in Antioch than there is in Pittsburg, however. Up by the Amtrak Station (which can also take you as far as Jack London Square) is where you find establishments such as the venerable Campanil Theater where they play foreign movies, have live plays and occasional musical groups as well. You can also find sports bars like Bases Loaded Restaurant and Bar, and Riverview Lodge—right at the edge of the delta waters.

You can also find City Hall, a bail bond place and a gun shop called the Antioch Armory. If you are familiar with the area around the Amtrak station in Martinez, you will recognize this place as being in a very similar vein.

Closer to the highway, you will find a lot more generic sort of stores and restaurants such as fast food places and home furnishings and improvement sorts of stores.

Overall, I would say that you could probably raise a family in Antioch if you mostly stuck to south of the freeway and made the most out of the school system.

I don’t think Antioch would be anyone’s first choice in terms of places to live however.