Living in Half Moon Bay

How many places are famous for both their natural beauty and their unparalleled access to San Francisco? Half Moon Bay, where you can fall asleep to the surf and wake up to the sun, is one of these rare locales. An idyllic beach town that just happens to lie on the doorstep of San Francisco, Half Moon Bay is a tight-knit community that has stayed insulated from the rapid growth of the Bay Area, but which hasn’t isolated itself. Rather, it’s learned from watching the rest of the area grow and has taken that growth to heart in its own measured, careful way, and the picturesque quality of the area has been maintained for years. Half Moon Bay thus has a real sense of community and home that other cities often lack. Part of that comfortable environment is due to the natural geography – with extensive state parks and beaches, the beauty of the California coastline is literally at one’s fingertips in Half Moon Bay.

Nowhere else in the Bay Area hosts a legitimate seaside culture scene like Half Moon Bay does; the city hosts many amenities and traditions in addition to those provided by its natural geography. You can start your day hand-selecting freshly caught seafood at the pier and end it with a gallery viewing downtown. Yet the city remains secluded and affordable even with all it has to offer. The median price of a home is well under the county average, despite the commute time to both San Francisco and San Jose being comparable to that of most other Peninsula cities. Living in Half Moon Bay is living the quintessential Northern California beach lifestyle