Oakland doesn’t have a good rep, and at least some of it can be attributed to rap music. I mean, first there was Tupac’s video, and then recently, ASAP Rocky claimed, “you raged, you hated like you live in Oooaaaklaaaaand.”

Presumably, some of you readers don’t really want to live in the place that doubles as a popular subject for rap lyrics. But Oakland, California, has far more to offer than drug abuse, assault and hate. It has many beautiful, fun and (relatively) safe neighborhoods, which have more space to stretch out than nearby San Francisco, as well as more warm sunshine to stretch out beneath.

Here are the best neighborhoods in Oakland to live in (as coming from a current Oaklander):

• Piedmont – Piedmont is really its own city. Its residents designed it that way so that they could run their own school district (at least, that’s the rumor). Running up into the Oakland Hills, Piedmont is shockingly beautiful and wealthy. An aside about the Oakland Hills – their views of the San Francisco Bay cannot be beaten, and just about every plant that ever existed seems to grow there. I mean, it is lush.
• Uptown – Uptown, which is downtown and runs from roughly 16th to 27th ave, is neither nice nor pretty. However, it has the best concentration of restaurants, venues and bars in the city, and its collection of great spots might be growing faster than anywhere in the US, helped in part by the Pop Up Hood and the local Art Murmur. Every single place (except a Starbucks and a couple fast food joints) is a unique, locally-owned spot. Enjoy.
• Grand Lake / Adam’s Point – Located at the northern tip of Lake Merritt and at the foot of the hills, these neighborhoods bridge the grit and fun of downtown with the beauty of the Oakland Hills. Grand Ave and Piedmont Ave are great for walking with a cup of coffee on a sunny day. Also, the farmers’ market comes to life every Saturday near the iconic Grand Lake Theater, and families like to take their young children to nearby Fairyland.
• Jack London Square – Located at the southwestern edge of downtown, JLS, as it’s abbreviated, is home to many expensive lofts and a waterfront dotted with upscale restaurants and bars. Like Uptown, JLS is thriving. New places are popping up all the time. JLS is just doing it in a fancier way, and with a view of the bay. Another aside – there’s nothing better than sitting in the sun at JLS and watching the fog blanket downtown SF, which can be seen just across the bay.
• Rockridge – Rockridge divides Piedmont and Grand Lake from Berkeley (home to the UC Berkeley campus). It’s removed from the downtown area, but it has its own avenue of great restaurants and shopping. Its general safety and affordable-yet-nice housing are good for families.
• Temescal – Located just north of downtown/uptown on Telegraph Ave, Temescal has become a hotbed for young people looking for fairly cheap rents and great amenities, like a local farmers’ market, good restaurants, and yards (a relative rarity in the north bay). It still has a bit of downtown’s grit, but it’s nicer-looking all around.

BART – BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit train) is a big deal for Oaklanders, because it’s only a 10-15 minute ride to downtown SF from downtown Oakland. BART is a far better option than driving, especially for those who work in downtown SF. Of the above-mentioned neighborhoods, Temescal, Uptown, JLS and Rockridge all have BART stops within a 5-15 minute walk.

Read more about the pros and cons of Oakland, then check out some Oakland moving companies.

What is friendly? Is it going out of your way to wave to your neighbor? Is it making sure you tip 20%? Is it not robbing someone?

Everybody has different definitions of friendly, but when it comes to an entire city, friendly can be boiled down into three factors: intimacy, events and low crime.

Intimacy means people actually interact. Events are reasons for people to gather. Low crime means people aren’t killing each other at too high of a high rate. Based on these factors, here are our top five friendliest US cities:

New York City – NYC might be known for being fast-paced and rude, but its residents would beg to differ. All people in all cities have good and bad days. However, only New York has more things to do than many American cities do combined. Plus, it’s one of the densest cities in America, leading to plenty of neighborly conversations.

San Francisco  – San Francisco’s calendar is filled year-round with nice weather and lively activities. From crazy parades to intimate music fests to boats parties and performances in Union Square, San Francisco is always bringing its population together. Additionally, its crime rate is low and its density is high, meaning people rub elbows a lot without getting robbed. (get quotes from real SF movers)

Salt Lake City – Of all major American cities, Salt Lake City has one of the absolute lowest crime rates. Additionally, though the city is spread out, its population prides itself on strong community.

Honolulu – Honolulu is one of the most densely populated cities in the US. Additionally, its gorgeous weather and many natural activities make it very easy to get along. Finally, its crime rates are below average.

Nashville – Nashville is known as the friendliest major city, a place where people just say hi. Maybe it’s all the music – music makes people happy, right? (get moving quotes from some Nashville movers)

Being single is fun as long as you aren’t lonely. Paradoxical? Not really. Single people should be able to enjoy being single, which means being able to go out with new people and experiment with personalities. This requires having a healthy dating scene to dip into.

Obviously, massive metros like Chicago, LA and New York have massive dating scenes as well, but many (relatively) smaller cities are establishing themselves as Cupids of sorts. These are five great cities for being single:

• Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh is attracting young professionals by the college-load, and its lively downtown is a great place for them to all mingle.
• Columbus – With Ohio State University and a growing tech sector, Columbus has a very healthy, young population, and its dating scene is recognized as one of the best in the US.
• Scottsdale (Phoenix) – Scottsdale is a party town, and a lot of young adults live here to take advantage of its relatively low rents and great social scene. Where better to pick up a guy/gal than at a sunny pool party?
• Houston – Houston has become a hub for international industry. People from all over the world are finding new jobs in Houston, often on a fairly short-term basis. This means the scenes ripe for picking, not for sticking, if you know what I mean.
• Atlanta – Atlanta has one of the liveliest LGBT scenes in the US, and its arts and music culture is unparalleled in the South.

Learn more about each of these cities via MovingGuru.com’s City Guide Pages.

Want to know the worst neighborhoods in San Francisco? Well, define worst first.

You see, San Francisco has a lot going for it. However, it also has a lot of bad jazz, such as criminal activity, traffic and, worst of all, tourists. Here’s a break down of the worst neighborhoods in SF for each:

Crime

• The Tenderloin – At first, you think you just took the wrong street out of the Hyatt and that things will get better. Then dozens of people are sleeping on the ground and some guy is shooting up in a doorway. The Tenderloin is, quite frankly, the worst neighborhood in SF, and its worst sections are on par with hell.
• SoMA – SoMA is the grungy warehouse district of SF. Though not as densely packed with degeneracy as the Tenderloin, people in SoMA regularly deal with property crimes, and the many nightclubs attract fights and drug use.
• Mission – The Mission is gentrifying quickly and has many beautiful streets. However, all it takes is one stop on 16th and Mission to realize that the transition is not complete.

Traffic

• Marina/Richmond/Sunset – These neighborhoods are only a few miles away from San Francisco’s downtown (6 max); however, they might as well be San Mateo. Public transit to downtown means a 30-45 minute bus ride, and driving is a worse idea, because good luck finding parking… anywhere.
• FiDi – The downtown, called Financial District (with all the big buildings) is no place to ever bring a car. Ever.

Tourists

• North Beach – Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, the crookedest street – yep, North Beach has it all. And all the tourists want to see it. Every. Day.
• Chinatown – Tourists flock to Chinatown to buy their cheap buddhas and $5 I <3 SF sweaters, making its already-jammed streets even jammier.

So, what’s the worst neighborhood all in all? San Franciscans will point their fingers all over (people from the Mission will say Marina; Marinians will say Tenderloin; Tenderloinians will admit Tenderloin). In this writer’s humble opinion, though, it’s gotta be the Outer Sunset. It’s so far outside San Francisco proper that it’s barely even SF, plus the fog hits there hardest and earliest, and it’s mostly a bunch of cookie-cutter homes.

Learn more about the pros and cons of San Francisco, or check out some San Francisco moving companies.

Young professionals differ from their elder statesmen in a few ways. First, they need to use technological skills; young professionals not only know computers better than the older generations, many have degrees in the tech industries. Second, they want to go out, not have families. And third, they don’t have much money.

So, the best cities for young professionals serve all three of qualities. Here are the top five:

1. Brooklyn – New York City has a ton to offer young adults when it comes to employment opportunities and nightlife, more than anywhere else in the US, and maybe even the world. However, it’s Brooklyn that has the more affordable rents (though still quite high…).
2. San Jose – San Francisco’s SoMa is fast-becoming the Bay Area’s tech hub; however, San Jose is still the capital of Silicon Valley. Plus, it’s far more affordable; its nightlife is growing; and SF is just 40 minutes away. (Hire some San Jose movers)
3. Austin – Austin has become the Southwest’s hub for tech companies like Apple and Microsoft as well as its own, growing scene. Austin is also home to dozens of bars and clubs and UT, and its rents, though higher than surrounding areas, are far lower than on the US coasts.
4. Columbus – Columbus, like Austin, has become the regional base for a few tech giants as well as its own thriving tech scene. Additionally, it is known as one of the best cities in the US for dating, and its home to OSU.
5. Chicago – Chicago, like New York, cannot be ignored when it comes to the tech industry. Its a giant in all categories. And its rents are lower than other very large cities. (Hire some Chicago movers)

So, you’d like to move to San Francisco, huh? You hear it’s nice. Cute buildings, pretty bridges, great brunches, and weird people, right? A place with more places to go than space to place them all. Flowers on the windowsills all year long. Sounds beautiful. And they have public transit! Your city probably doesn’t even know what public transit is. Your city’s been a middling middle-America burbtown since 1947. Its best restaurant is in a strip mall next to McDonalds. Its best restaurant is McDonalds. What a joker. Not SF, though. It has five-star Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese, Honduran, Ethiopian, Italian, Peruvian, and French, plus American versions of all the above. The people there wear light sweaters all year long. Yes, indeed, San Francisco sounds like a good place to be.

But the question is not why move to San Francisco, it’s how to move to San Francisco. Moving to S.F. is like trying to dig up a chicken leg in a dumpster of raccoons. The competition for your run-of-the-mill $2,000 studio is fierce, and the job market is filled with people just like you, with the same degrees and better resumes, people who have been underemployed in San Francisco for at least two years and understand how to fight for jobs all while still not sacrificing rooftop patios, gourmet coffee shops, and sunny-green parks. Beating them will take all your casual. Fortunately, we’re here to help. Here’s how to move to San Francisco:

1. Have a job.
2. Have a friend who can get you a job.
3. Have a friend who you can crash with for a week or two (but probably more).
4. Have a friend who has a friend who needs a roomy and already has a place.
5. If no friend, find a sublet.
6. Have hella savings.
7. Understand that “lunch” can mean interview.
8. Dress well but not too well – look like you’re wearing a shirt and tie, but don’t actually wear a shirt and tie. You know?
9. Figure out how whatever you do is related to the tech industry and sell it like the tamale lady sells tamales – steaming and with picante.
10. Understand “interview” can mean lunch.
11. Surf Craigslist daily, yes, but also surf coffee shops and bars, looking for someone who knows of something, whether it’s a room, a job, or both. Word of mouth is big in competitive atmospheres like this.
12. Talk to people, and keep the conversation going by saying, “let’s go to the park,” or “let’s get brunch this Sunday,” or “I hear Public Works is going off tonight,” or “want to hit up the Tandoori-Loin with me?”
13. Carry a sweater or a light jacket at all times. Or move to Oakland, in which case ignore almost everything else I said, find a spot near BART, and hit up Uptown for good times.

Hire some San Francisco movers and get more San Francisco insight at MovingGuru.com.

No fluff: SF is friscin’ awesome. Here are our top 10 15 reasons to move to San Francisco:

1. Seafood in North Beach
2. The Golden Gate Bridge and the redwoods just beyond it
3. The Lower Haight’s beer selection
4. Sunny and 60’s in January
5. Dolores Park
6. Buying produce in Chinatown
7. The Bay Bridge’s LED light show
8. Great shopping on any given street… plus Union Square
9. Coffee options in the Mission
10. The colorful rows of homes in the Castro, Mission and Haight
11. Getting lost in Golden Gate Park
12. Happy hour in the Financial District
13. All the weird, including Folsom Street Fair, Bay to Breakers, and your average Tenderloinian.
14. It doesn’t snow
15. Oakland isn’t that far away…

Enough for you? Ready to move? Time to hire some SF movers. Or read more about the pros and cons of San Francisco.

Moving to California fills people with thoughts of ocean swells, palm trees, salt-bleached blonde hair, and avocado/seafood dishes on warm, misty evenings. Of course, more than half the population is located in a desert, farmland, a combo of both, or a massive suburb. Nevertheless, the romantic ideal of California persists, and for good reason. California has it all. If you’re wondering how to move to California, here are our top tips:

• Know where to live – California has many different vibes. L.A. is nothing like S.F., which is way more liberal than Anaheim, which is rich but does not as rich as San Jose’s Silicon Valley, which can’t simply pay for Mendocino’s redwoods, which don’t have Tahoe’s skiing, which doesn’t have San Diego’s surfing, or Santa Cruz’s chillaxing, or Fresno’s… hot dust. So, which sounds right for you?
• Bring hiking shoes – Wherever you live, there will be mountains, beaches and/or forests nearby.
• Be frugal (or rich) – California is expensive, especially along the coast. Plan your spending accordingly, or move with a lot to spend.
• Try In’n’Out Burger – It’s good, if you haven’t heard.
• Also try farmers’ markets – California is home to the Central Valley, which produces a massive amount of the world’s produce. Additionally, the coastal territories’ mild climates are great for many crops. Good farmers’ markets abound!

Hire some San Francisco movers today. Or Los Angeles movers. Or just move to California all on your own!