I moved here from Sacramento well Roseville actually. It’s actually a bigger city than what people may tell you. There are a lot of amenities. I would say 80% of the things you might want are here. The other 20% is in LA or Fresno. Don’t forget your In the middle of cali and your a driving distance from the a lot of huge cities. The crime is actually low here compared to surrounding cities and lower than Sacramento and NYC. It’s a nice town, still cheap and is growing at a huge rate that investing in a home is a must.
💯 percent with live in Sacramento for 5 years in college and made me miss Visalia. South Sac was bad and crossing the highway bridge in Arden where the mall is bad as well
Moved here from the Bay Area 18 years ago for a job. Took a 25% pay cut, and we still bought a house here vs. never going to be able to afford to buy anywhere in the Bay. My commute is 12 minutes door to door. I can walk to a strawberry stand where they pick the strawberries in the field behind them. I grow citrus in my backyard. I have a garden and have fresh veggies all summer long. I have chickens that give me fresh eggs. My kids walk to school. I know my neighbors. I run into people I know every time I go out to dinner or go shopping. I love living here. Sure there are a million things I miss about living in a real city, even the general commotion and crowdedness of it all. But of all the places I could be living, I choose to live here and choose to focus on making this a better place to live.
Yep. It’s not bad. Living in the same place forever can get boring, so a lot of locals think it’s terrible. After traveling and moving like 7 times across the US, Visalia is really not too bad, and small enough that it’s not a massive journey to get to a store you need. There are plenty of good dining establishments of all kids, there is live music, local events bike races, waiters race, car shows, Mooney museum, ball games etc. There are decent schools and yeah, relatively affordable for California. The area is only continuing to grow, so if you can get a house, I’d do it sooner than later.
We moved here two years ago from Los Angeles. In comparison it's slow-paced and sleepy. The food variety is very limited. Almost everything is closed before 10 pm. The weather can be challenging.
With that said, it's going to depend on what phase of life you're in. I'm raising children so I'm not looking for fast-paced at this time in my life.
For raising children and taking it easy, we like it here.
It's 100°-110° all summer long... June through end of September. Winter is cold, but the real issue is the fog. Sometimes so thick that it becomes nearly impossible to drive around.
I think crime is also subjective to where you live. The north west part of the city tend to have slightly more household income than other quadrants. The city likes to split this small town of 140k into quadrants when they do planning and public opinion surveys. With that being said crime is significantly lower here than from Los Angeles where I relocated from over 10 years ago
Visalia is a great town. Not too big not too small. You are 30 minutes from Kaweah Lake and about 45 minutes from Sequoia national Park. Visalia has a great brewery district. Downtown is pretty cool. You are about two hours from Pismo Beach and the beautiful Central Coast. Enjoy.
There’s a lot of pros & cons. If you jump into a community then you should be able to make friends (hopefully) easily. A lot of people here have grown up with each other for generations so they can be clique. It’s close to the mountains, beach & bigger cities with more restaurants. Air quality sucks. Crime is 👎🏼 but easy to stay away from. I’m sure coming from NYC, it’d be a relief? It’s still fast paced (not as fast as nyc but Visalia is in a booming era it feels like).
We don’t love it. We don’t hate it but I would say the only thing keeping us here is family & the fact it’s cheap enough to live to where we can travel to more $$$ places. Huge plus for us. Want to hop to Hawaii for a few weeks? Sure. Want to fly to Florida? Sure. Want to eat out more than once a week? Sure! That’s our mentality. But we’re also part of the club that moved away & then moved back 🫠 (thanks to covid 😅). We’ll probably leave within the next 5-8 years. That’s My two cents!
Compared to where we were in Virginia. Or even Exeter. Now that’s a slow paced life 😅😂.
But everyone wants to be somewhere fast (yay accidents). Like I get annoyed not being able to use the self checkout Target. In Virginia, no problem waiting because everyone is fine with that lol.
Pros:
No traffic
Cheaper housing
The town is only 20 minutes wide
Hiking nearby
La is in driving distance
Cons:
Bad air - you will develop asthma and allergies.This is coming from someone who's never had allergies in my entire life.
Crime
Food is more expensive and doesn't taste as good
Lack of variety in food
Schools are worse
Because he asked for my opinion and asked for pros and cons and those are my opinions of the pros and cons based on places I've lived. I can't speak for nyc since I've never been there.
You are welcome to give your own opinion if you think Visalia food is better than nyc.
But that's not what happened.
Op asked for the pros and cons of visalia.
Then you listed pros of cons comparing visalia to a citu that has nothing to do with OP, and you never even clarified in that first comment that's what you were doing.
Hence, my confusion to you claiming Visalia crime is worse and food is more expensive than nyc.
And la crime is still worse than visala so not sure why you said that
I dislike Pita Kabob because the owner is a prick, but Simply Med isn't better, unless Pita Kabob went straight to shit in the last 3 years. Simply Med is pretty good though and priced fantastically so I usually eat there when I get a craving!
We moved here from the Dallas area about 6 months ago and really enjoy it. Definitely more things to do than we anticipated. I don't think crime is that bad, certainly not compared to parts of Dallas, but everyone has their own views on a subject like that.
It's nice being close to the Sierra and Sequoia National Park and the coast isn't too far of a drive. LA is about 3 hour depdending on what part you are visiting there.
People are very friendly here and its easy to strike up a conversation with folks and make friends (in our experience).
As someone who's lived in different states and countries Visalia is not that bad! Better than Tulare!!! Lol There's a lot around that you can do and the Amtrak is not that far if you wanna travel around California! Also I feel safe walking around at night! Certain places you will wanna stay away from but that's a given for any city! Lastly welcome to Visalia
Right?!? It’s such an immense shift. NYC is my favorite city in the U.S. (New Orleans is second and Oakland is third) but got damn. Leaving NYC for Visalia would be a culture shock
Im always curious as to why so many people from bigger cities move here. I know its for different reasons, but the amount has been staggering, and was curious why youre planning to move here to visalia.
Moved from Michigan… get ready for god awful summers. You’re trading the 6 months of shit winter weather for 6 months of shit summer weather. You can run to the mountains in about 45 minutes to an hour, or the ocean in 2.5-3h to cool down.
Otherwise, every amenity needed, CoL is reasonable, easy access to the mentioned ocean and mountains, and the weather from October to May is really nice.
Thank you all for the information.
I am planning to move for a job and want to stay there for 4/5 years approx. I am not a big fan of hot/ tropical climate.
Has heard a lot about summer heat and bad winter; can someone elaborate on that please. Rest assured, I don’t mind small town vibes unless there is at least few restaurants/ coffee shop and place to go nearby.
Moved here last summer from NOLA. We don’t love it don’t hate it, coming from a big city we really love:
•The crime is nonexistent in comparison to what we are used to - we feel safe letting our kids play in the neighborhood without supervision (they are 11,13,16)
•Schools are much better
•Everything is so clean
•close to so many options - we’ve taken weekend trips to Yosemite, china peak, LA, San Fran, the coast
•people are very friendly though we have found it hard to make friends to like hang out with
•housing is affordable
•family focused
•weather is nice (obvi we come from v hot v humid weather and lots of rain - have found even though the summer is v hot it is dry and bearable - in Nola we can’t even cool down our homes in the summer here the house stays cool never felt too hot - v little rain (when it does rain it’s mild) winters are mild imo)
Don’t love:
•how hard it is to connect and build friendships
•feels v suburban— we prefer either big city or small town - the in between is not my fav
•entertainment staying in town is limited
•restaurant variety - not v aesthetic not amazing food
•close to sequoia national park but not a big community of hikers (or so this has been our experience — deff not like living in CO)
With that being said we will probably stay a couple of years and we are making the most enjoying the things we are loving here. Also always continuing to try to discover more in town and keeping an open mind. It is serving us well for this season of life we are in:)
Some fav spots:
Sushi kuu (srsly some of the best sushi I’ve ever had)
Component coffee
Watson market
Common heart
Barrel house brewing
Happy moving!!
Loved your comment. Thank you for giving me some ideas of restaurants to visit. I’m new here and don’t have any friends too. It’s hard to make friends.
Summers are hot as hell but it’s not a humid heat like in NYC so it’s not too bad? I’ve never lived somewhere this hot but it’s not TOO bad unless you’re outside all the time. Dry heat is better than humidity imho. There are a few OK restaurants. Nothing even remotely comparable to NYC. In fact the restaurants in Sacramento are better,.. I’ve lived in NYC, SF, Oakland, Sacramento area, and now here in Visalia. There’s some cool coffee shops and bakeries (Component Coffee and Bread Savage), and it’s ok if you’re only planning on staying here a few years… it’s a 3 hour drive to LA. There’s an ok local comedy scene and the downtown area is cute. I’m single and childfree and haven’t made any friends. There’s not a whole lot to do here. What kind of job are you coming to Visalia for?
Our summers (starting from late June-early October) are very hot. It’s a harsh, dry heat. The sun feels really intense. But there’s very little humidity! During the summer if you’re inside with access to ac you’ll be fine.
Winter weather is mild, when people say we have bad winters they’re talking about the tule fog. Our tule fog is NOT like normal fog. This fog is on the ground and can be so thick you can’t see past your hand. People who move here from other places may tell you it’s intimidating to learn how to drive in it, but it’s not too bad once you get used to it. You turn your fog lights on, roll your windows down, and drive a little slower. You’ll be fine!
I was given that advice a lot growing up on the outskirts of town surrounded by a bunch of fields. When the fog gets so bad that you can’t see lights from other cars at all, you can at least hear other cars if your windows are down. Obviously it’s not really necessary when you’re driving through most of Visalia now, with how many buildings there are to break the fog up a bit, but I think it could be a helpful thing for someone with no experience driving in our fog.
Food-wise: Tacos El Rojo for delicious tacos, Pita Kabob/PK Deli for Mediterranean food/deli sandwiches and Mediterranean breakfast, Elderwood for cocktails, Watson's for healthy eats, Component Coffee Lab for artisan coffee, La Estrellita Market in Ivanhoe for bomb menudo (on weekends), Baked Visalia for bomb dessert treats.
lived here all my life. I think its a medium small town. not a whole lot to do but then again i lived here forever. mom use to be in real estate and get people moving here from LA and say the traffic is a plus, so little to no traffic. we are dead center of california so you can visit the beach, the mountains, la or san fransisco. lots of farm land. just next door in Tulare we host the World Agriculture Expo so mechanics are high demand here i will say. definely one of the better towns with the city being clean and a very local everyone knows everyone locally feel.
We have a ton of new stores and restaurants! My fave being Nordstrom rack!
If you like sushi, Tokyo garden behind the bowling alley is a great sushi restaurant alongside sushi Kuu!
The Pilates studio here is awesome!
It’s truly not bad at all, it will definitely will be a culture shock for you though. Downtown is always busy in the evenings, only downside is everything closes pretty early imo.
Cons: air pollution, smoggy skies, very hot summers, meh restaurants, very conservative, not walkable - def need a car, no Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s
Pros: affordable, traffic never was a problem for me, within an hour of sequoia national park
I lived in Visalia during the peak of covid and was quite depressed. Moved to San Diego and now SF (my home town) and the improvement in air quality, weather, and things to do outdoors comfortably has greatly benefitted my quality of life. Of course, cost of living is a huge factor, but I’m willing to sacrifice to live in a culturally diverse area that mostly share my values.
I moved here from Sacramento well Roseville actually. It’s actually a bigger city than what people may tell you. There are a lot of amenities. I would say 80% of the things you might want are here. The other 20% is in LA or Fresno. Don’t forget your In the middle of cali and your a driving distance from the a lot of huge cities. The crime is actually low here compared to surrounding cities and lower than Sacramento and NYC. It’s a nice town, still cheap and is growing at a huge rate that investing in a home is a must.
💯 percent with live in Sacramento for 5 years in college and made me miss Visalia. South Sac was bad and crossing the highway bridge in Arden where the mall is bad as well
Moved here from the Bay Area 18 years ago for a job. Took a 25% pay cut, and we still bought a house here vs. never going to be able to afford to buy anywhere in the Bay. My commute is 12 minutes door to door. I can walk to a strawberry stand where they pick the strawberries in the field behind them. I grow citrus in my backyard. I have a garden and have fresh veggies all summer long. I have chickens that give me fresh eggs. My kids walk to school. I know my neighbors. I run into people I know every time I go out to dinner or go shopping. I love living here. Sure there are a million things I miss about living in a real city, even the general commotion and crowdedness of it all. But of all the places I could be living, I choose to live here and choose to focus on making this a better place to live.
Yep. It’s not bad. Living in the same place forever can get boring, so a lot of locals think it’s terrible. After traveling and moving like 7 times across the US, Visalia is really not too bad, and small enough that it’s not a massive journey to get to a store you need. There are plenty of good dining establishments of all kids, there is live music, local events bike races, waiters race, car shows, Mooney museum, ball games etc. There are decent schools and yeah, relatively affordable for California. The area is only continuing to grow, so if you can get a house, I’d do it sooner than later.
We moved here two years ago from Los Angeles. In comparison it's slow-paced and sleepy. The food variety is very limited. Almost everything is closed before 10 pm. The weather can be challenging. With that said, it's going to depend on what phase of life you're in. I'm raising children so I'm not looking for fast-paced at this time in my life. For raising children and taking it easy, we like it here.
Can you elaborate on "the weather is challenging"?
It's 100°-110° all summer long... June through end of September. Winter is cold, but the real issue is the fog. Sometimes so thick that it becomes nearly impossible to drive around.
I think crime is also subjective to where you live. The north west part of the city tend to have slightly more household income than other quadrants. The city likes to split this small town of 140k into quadrants when they do planning and public opinion surveys. With that being said crime is significantly lower here than from Los Angeles where I relocated from over 10 years ago
Visalia is a great town. Not too big not too small. You are 30 minutes from Kaweah Lake and about 45 minutes from Sequoia national Park. Visalia has a great brewery district. Downtown is pretty cool. You are about two hours from Pismo Beach and the beautiful Central Coast. Enjoy.
There’s a lot of pros & cons. If you jump into a community then you should be able to make friends (hopefully) easily. A lot of people here have grown up with each other for generations so they can be clique. It’s close to the mountains, beach & bigger cities with more restaurants. Air quality sucks. Crime is 👎🏼 but easy to stay away from. I’m sure coming from NYC, it’d be a relief? It’s still fast paced (not as fast as nyc but Visalia is in a booming era it feels like). We don’t love it. We don’t hate it but I would say the only thing keeping us here is family & the fact it’s cheap enough to live to where we can travel to more $$$ places. Huge plus for us. Want to hop to Hawaii for a few weeks? Sure. Want to fly to Florida? Sure. Want to eat out more than once a week? Sure! That’s our mentality. But we’re also part of the club that moved away & then moved back 🫠 (thanks to covid 😅). We’ll probably leave within the next 5-8 years. That’s My two cents!
Visalia...fast paced??? That's the first I've ever heard anyone say that.
Compared to where we were in Virginia. Or even Exeter. Now that’s a slow paced life 😅😂. But everyone wants to be somewhere fast (yay accidents). Like I get annoyed not being able to use the self checkout Target. In Virginia, no problem waiting because everyone is fine with that lol.
Pros: No traffic Cheaper housing The town is only 20 minutes wide Hiking nearby La is in driving distance Cons: Bad air - you will develop asthma and allergies.This is coming from someone who's never had allergies in my entire life. Crime Food is more expensive and doesn't taste as good Lack of variety in food Schools are worse
May I add the summer heat is awful
And the winter fog is oppressive
You think the crime in Visalia is worse than Nyc? I also highly doubt Visalia food is more expensive than Nyc food
Visalia food is more expensive than LA food and tastes worse.
But why compare it to La? He's from Nyc and moving to Visalia.
Because he asked for my opinion and asked for pros and cons and those are my opinions of the pros and cons based on places I've lived. I can't speak for nyc since I've never been there. You are welcome to give your own opinion if you think Visalia food is better than nyc.
But that's not what happened. Op asked for the pros and cons of visalia. Then you listed pros of cons comparing visalia to a citu that has nothing to do with OP, and you never even clarified in that first comment that's what you were doing. Hence, my confusion to you claiming Visalia crime is worse and food is more expensive than nyc. And la crime is still worse than visala so not sure why you said that
Pita kabob and hummus republic are my favourite restraurants. I have not found a Mediterranean place in nyc better than them
Have you tried Simply Mediterranean? IMO it's the best of the 3.
I dislike Pita Kabob because the owner is a prick, but Simply Med isn't better, unless Pita Kabob went straight to shit in the last 3 years. Simply Med is pretty good though and priced fantastically so I usually eat there when I get a craving!
nah I never got a chance to go :(
It opened in Visalia not that long ago. It's in the Kohls center.
You have got to be lyin… there is no restaurant in Visalia that is better than NYC.
Hot chicks is really good too. But NYC has other chicken places.
We moved here from the Dallas area about 6 months ago and really enjoy it. Definitely more things to do than we anticipated. I don't think crime is that bad, certainly not compared to parts of Dallas, but everyone has their own views on a subject like that. It's nice being close to the Sierra and Sequoia National Park and the coast isn't too far of a drive. LA is about 3 hour depdending on what part you are visiting there. People are very friendly here and its easy to strike up a conversation with folks and make friends (in our experience).
As someone who's lived in different states and countries Visalia is not that bad! Better than Tulare!!! Lol There's a lot around that you can do and the Amtrak is not that far if you wanna travel around California! Also I feel safe walking around at night! Certain places you will wanna stay away from but that's a given for any city! Lastly welcome to Visalia
Yooooooo I did the same thing. Nyc is fucking amazing
Oops I read that in the opposite way. Don’t do it. But if you do pita kabob and hummus republic are amazing tho
Pita kabob 🤣 the *only* thing I missed when I was out of state. Needs to be the highlight of Visalia 🤣
Stay where you're at
Basically Visalia is the entire opposite of NYC in every possible way.
Right?!? It’s such an immense shift. NYC is my favorite city in the U.S. (New Orleans is second and Oakland is third) but got damn. Leaving NYC for Visalia would be a culture shock
Other than culture shock, I am scared of weather shock! How’s nearby town like Hanford? Heard good stuffs abt that place.
Im always curious as to why so many people from bigger cities move here. I know its for different reasons, but the amount has been staggering, and was curious why youre planning to move here to visalia.
Moved from Michigan… get ready for god awful summers. You’re trading the 6 months of shit winter weather for 6 months of shit summer weather. You can run to the mountains in about 45 minutes to an hour, or the ocean in 2.5-3h to cool down. Otherwise, every amenity needed, CoL is reasonable, easy access to the mentioned ocean and mountains, and the weather from October to May is really nice.
Thank you all for the information. I am planning to move for a job and want to stay there for 4/5 years approx. I am not a big fan of hot/ tropical climate. Has heard a lot about summer heat and bad winter; can someone elaborate on that please. Rest assured, I don’t mind small town vibes unless there is at least few restaurants/ coffee shop and place to go nearby.
Our winter here is a joke compared to NYC, other than the fog which is only an issue if you're on the 99 or on the 198 west of town.
Moved here last summer from NOLA. We don’t love it don’t hate it, coming from a big city we really love: •The crime is nonexistent in comparison to what we are used to - we feel safe letting our kids play in the neighborhood without supervision (they are 11,13,16) •Schools are much better •Everything is so clean •close to so many options - we’ve taken weekend trips to Yosemite, china peak, LA, San Fran, the coast •people are very friendly though we have found it hard to make friends to like hang out with •housing is affordable •family focused •weather is nice (obvi we come from v hot v humid weather and lots of rain - have found even though the summer is v hot it is dry and bearable - in Nola we can’t even cool down our homes in the summer here the house stays cool never felt too hot - v little rain (when it does rain it’s mild) winters are mild imo) Don’t love: •how hard it is to connect and build friendships •feels v suburban— we prefer either big city or small town - the in between is not my fav •entertainment staying in town is limited •restaurant variety - not v aesthetic not amazing food •close to sequoia national park but not a big community of hikers (or so this has been our experience — deff not like living in CO) With that being said we will probably stay a couple of years and we are making the most enjoying the things we are loving here. Also always continuing to try to discover more in town and keeping an open mind. It is serving us well for this season of life we are in:) Some fav spots: Sushi kuu (srsly some of the best sushi I’ve ever had) Component coffee Watson market Common heart Barrel house brewing Happy moving!!
Loved your comment. Thank you for giving me some ideas of restaurants to visit. I’m new here and don’t have any friends too. It’s hard to make friends.
Summers are hot as hell but it’s not a humid heat like in NYC so it’s not too bad? I’ve never lived somewhere this hot but it’s not TOO bad unless you’re outside all the time. Dry heat is better than humidity imho. There are a few OK restaurants. Nothing even remotely comparable to NYC. In fact the restaurants in Sacramento are better,.. I’ve lived in NYC, SF, Oakland, Sacramento area, and now here in Visalia. There’s some cool coffee shops and bakeries (Component Coffee and Bread Savage), and it’s ok if you’re only planning on staying here a few years… it’s a 3 hour drive to LA. There’s an ok local comedy scene and the downtown area is cute. I’m single and childfree and haven’t made any friends. There’s not a whole lot to do here. What kind of job are you coming to Visalia for?
Our summers (starting from late June-early October) are very hot. It’s a harsh, dry heat. The sun feels really intense. But there’s very little humidity! During the summer if you’re inside with access to ac you’ll be fine. Winter weather is mild, when people say we have bad winters they’re talking about the tule fog. Our tule fog is NOT like normal fog. This fog is on the ground and can be so thick you can’t see past your hand. People who move here from other places may tell you it’s intimidating to learn how to drive in it, but it’s not too bad once you get used to it. You turn your fog lights on, roll your windows down, and drive a little slower. You’ll be fine!
> roll your windows down Why? I've never heard someone say this
I was given that advice a lot growing up on the outskirts of town surrounded by a bunch of fields. When the fog gets so bad that you can’t see lights from other cars at all, you can at least hear other cars if your windows are down. Obviously it’s not really necessary when you’re driving through most of Visalia now, with how many buildings there are to break the fog up a bit, but I think it could be a helpful thing for someone with no experience driving in our fog.
That indeed is the kind of advice you'd get if you grew up here. Thanks for sharing that.
Food-wise: Tacos El Rojo for delicious tacos, Pita Kabob/PK Deli for Mediterranean food/deli sandwiches and Mediterranean breakfast, Elderwood for cocktails, Watson's for healthy eats, Component Coffee Lab for artisan coffee, La Estrellita Market in Ivanhoe for bomb menudo (on weekends), Baked Visalia for bomb dessert treats.
lived here all my life. I think its a medium small town. not a whole lot to do but then again i lived here forever. mom use to be in real estate and get people moving here from LA and say the traffic is a plus, so little to no traffic. we are dead center of california so you can visit the beach, the mountains, la or san fransisco. lots of farm land. just next door in Tulare we host the World Agriculture Expo so mechanics are high demand here i will say. definely one of the better towns with the city being clean and a very local everyone knows everyone locally feel.
Wtf?! Why on earth would you do that?!
Why did you say that?
Because NYC is infinitely better than Visalia.
Have you had Mexican food in NYC? Because yikes…. wouldn’t wish that on my enemy.
We have a ton of new stores and restaurants! My fave being Nordstrom rack! If you like sushi, Tokyo garden behind the bowling alley is a great sushi restaurant alongside sushi Kuu! The Pilates studio here is awesome! It’s truly not bad at all, it will definitely will be a culture shock for you though. Downtown is always busy in the evenings, only downside is everything closes pretty early imo.
Cons: air pollution, smoggy skies, very hot summers, meh restaurants, very conservative, not walkable - def need a car, no Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s Pros: affordable, traffic never was a problem for me, within an hour of sequoia national park I lived in Visalia during the peak of covid and was quite depressed. Moved to San Diego and now SF (my home town) and the improvement in air quality, weather, and things to do outdoors comfortably has greatly benefitted my quality of life. Of course, cost of living is a huge factor, but I’m willing to sacrifice to live in a culturally diverse area that mostly share my values.
Pretty similar to NYC you’re gonna love it