5 Best Places to Live in Marin County for Commuting to San Francisco

If you work in San Francisco but don't wanna live there, Marin County is a great place to consider living. And in this video, I'm gonna break down the top 5 communities in Marin County that are the best for commuting to San Francisco. This is Austin Klar, your lurchin real estate agent and real estate developer in San Francisco. I've lived in multiple neighborhoods throughout the city, giving me in-depth firsthand knowledge of what it's like to both live and work in San Francisco. If you're thinking about relocating or want more information about the market, definitely reach out to me. My contact information's in the description below. I will personally answer every call, every email, every text, and I'd be more than happy to help you. And if you like videos just like this, please consider subscribing to my channel and don't forget to click the bell so you're alerted every single time I post a video. All right. So this video is all about the best neighborhoods in Marin to live in if you have to commute to San Francisco for work. There was a huge outpouring of people leaving San Francisco for Marin during the pandemic and still today wanting to take advantage of the better weather, the great outdoors, the more suburban kind of residential rural lifestyle and all the other amenities that Marin has to offer. And moving to Marin for several years wasn't a problem because offices were letting people work remotely. But that's slowly starting to change. A lot of companies are either requiring people back in the office 5 days a week or at least requiring some sort of hybrid system, you know, maybe 2 or 3 days a week. If you work for one of those companies that's requiring people to come back but you moved really far away during the pandemic, or you currently live in the city and are thinking of moving away but you still have to work in the city, uh, Marin County is a great place to consider. And I'm going to break down 5 neighborhoods in Marin County that are great if you have to commute to the city. Number 1 on the list is Sausalito. This one is a no-brainer. It is the closest city to the Golden Gate Bridge and to San Francisco, so it is definitely the quickest from a commute perspective. During rush hour, if you have to drive to downtown San Francisco from Sausalito, takes maybe 25 minutes. A lot of people who live in Sausalito actually don't drive to SF at all. They take the ferry across the San Francisco Bay to the San Francisco Ferry Building, which is a short walk to the financial district and all of the, you know, office buildings along the Embarcadero. All in all, the ferry probably takes a tad longer than a straight drive into the city from Sausalito, but if you take the ferry, you don't have to to pay bridge tolls, so it's definitely a cheaper option and doesn't extend your commute time very long. Sausalito is a pretty touristy part of Marin. A lot of shops and restaurants are along the main drag in Sausalito, so it's a great option if people want to live in a little bit more lively of a Marin town and still be close enough to the city without actually living in the city. Now because it is right next to the bay, the weather patterns are very similar to San Francisco. Shielded by a bunch of hillsides like a lot of other cities in Marin County, so you should expect a little bit more, you know, moderate, you know, cooler and foggier weather, sort of like San Francisco but a little bit warmer, definitely colder than most of the rest of Marin County. So if you happen to like San Francisco weather and don't want too far of a commute, uh, Sausalito is probably your best bet. Number 2 on my list is Mill Valley, and while it's not the closest to San Francisco, it has by far the most to do out of any other city in Marin, and it also has some of Marin's best schools, which make it a great option for families with school-aged children who want to leave the city. Mill Valley is a very affluent, gorgeous place to live. It's home to a ton of nature preserves. The Muir Woods are in Mill Valley. It has direct access to beaches on the outskirts of town. On top of all these outdoor amenities, it has what I think is one of the cutest downtown areas with some great restaurants. Mill Valley Lumberyard, which is part of downtown, it's like an outdoor retail village. You can eat there, drink there, shop there, rent bikes from there, take them all over the area. Down the street from there is the actual downtown square, which has like markets, home goods stores, restaurants, and a lot of outdoor picnic spaces. Like San Francisco, there's a ton of little enclaves within Mill Valley, each with different character. The most popular areas in Mill Valley, probably Sycamore Park, Alto, and Tam Valley. Sycamore Park is like one of the most desirable locations and has some of the most expensive homes in Mill Valley, largely because it's right next to downtown. If you do live close to downtown, probably looking at 30 to 45 minute commute to the city depending on traffic. Unlike Sausalito, there is no ferry pickup in Mill Valley, but a lot of people who live in Mill Valley, you know, drive either to Larkspur or to Sausalito and take the ferry from there. So it's not that difficult to take the ferry into San Francisco. Number 3 on my list is Larkspur, and that's mainly because it has a ferry terminal. It's a much smaller area compared to Mill Valley and has a smaller kind of lower key energy compared to Mill Valley or Sausalito. It's way less touristy. The downtown area is way smaller. It's really more of a residence area, not a touristy, you know, SF visitor area. It can take a solid 45 minutes to commute from Larkspur to downtown San Francisco if you go by car, but you can get to the city faster going the ferry route, and it's going to be cheaper because again, you don't need to pay bridge tolls or for parking in the city. Again, there are ferry tolls, but it does cost less than going on the bridge, and you avoid probably $20 to $35 a day that it costs to park in the city. The extra commute time compared to Mill Valley and Sausalito, which are the first two on my list, is worth it because Larkspur has some incredible weather, and there are actually a lot of really cute shops and great restaurants in Larkspur. Larkspur Landing has one of my favorite restaurants, which is Farm Shop. There's also some very high-end shopping there, and then downtown Larkspur is a very cute small little street off Magnolia that has a ton of boutique shops and restaurants. The setting in Larkspur is pretty idyllic. It's, you know, kind of built into hillsides and built into a forest, so a lot of the homes there have redwoods in their backyards. I've seen homes with redwoods coming out of the decks in their backyards, in their front yards. It is a very quaint, quiet residential neighborhood and not too far from San Francisco, so it's a great option for people who want to commute to the city but live in a more rural setting. Number 4 on my list is Corte Madero, which is considered the twin city of Larkspur. Like Larkspur, Cortemadera is a very small town. It's super close to a ton of outdoor amenities, which is perfect for people looking for more of a suburban, you know, active lifestyle compared to city living. It also has a lot of great restaurants and shops. Two of the larger malls in Marin, The Village and the Town Center, are located across the street from each other, both in Cortemadera. So a lot of larger chains— Crate Barrel, Sephora, REI, RH, Apple, Nordstrom, Macy's— are at those malls, so it's very much like a larger town shopping vibe, but in a smaller city. Cortemadera is right next to Larkspur, so it basically takes the same amount of time to get to downtown San Francisco as it does if you were commuting from Larkspur. Housing is a little bit more affordable in Cortemadera than Larkspur, so if you are looking to spend a little bit less money, Cortemadera might be a better option for you. Number 5 on my list is Tiburon. Tiburon is a waterfront town on a peninsula bordered by Cortemadera to the north and Mill Valley to the west. It's a really small town, less than 10,000 people live there,, and it's easily one of the nicest places to live in all of California due to its proximity to the bay. The downtown area is super nice, great boutiques, some great restaurants. A lot of the homes there are super, super high-end, like $10, $20 million homes, largely because of the views. You get views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge, the San Francisco Bay, the Pacific Ocean if you're high enough. But there are also a lot more approachable homes and condos in the area in the, you know, $2 to $4 million range as well. The reason Tiburon is on my list is because it has a ferry terminal. So if you're looking to commute to the city and you don't really want to drive, it could take a little bit longer to drive from Tiburon, but if you don't want to, a lot of people take the ferry, drops you off right at the Ferry Building, and you can walk to pretty much all the office buildings in downtown San Francisco. So those are the 5 best neighborhoods, in my opinion, to commute from if you're living in Marin but have to work in San Francisco. If you're thinking about relocating or want more information about any of these areas, definitely reach out to me. My contact information is in the description below. I will personally answer every call. Every email, every text, and I'd be more than happy to help you. And if you like videos just like this, please subscribe to my channel and don't forget to click the bell so you're alerted every single time I post a video.