I would not recommend Salinas. The weather tends to be kind of cold and windy. Traffic on 101 can be a nightmare, especially on weekends with all the people headed to Monterey. Agriculture is the main industry, which means at certain times of the year neighborhoods can smell like vegetables or the chemicals applied to vegetables. Salinas also has the worst gang and crime problem of any city on the central coast. Drive-bys happen even in the nice neighborhoods. The schools are not very good and Northridge Mall is terrible. I m really having a hard time coming up with any positives. If you want to live on the central coast, obviously Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel, etc are the most posh. If you are on a budget, consider Seaside or Watsonville or head inland to Hollister or Gilroy. While those towns all certainly have dirty crime ridden areas, they also have nice neighborhoods that aren t overrun by gangs and lowlife.
Salinas isn t all bad. It has extremely moderate weather, like San Francisco, if you are into that sort of thing - chilly all year round. It is in a gorgeous rustic area, with some very nice neighborhoods in the surrounding hills. It is a good location for traveling to the Monterey Bay. And it must be relatively inexpensive to live there.But, life in Salinas is rough. You may have heard on the national news about high teen murder rates in Chicago. Salinas has about the same number of murders, but keep in mind this is a small town! The gang problem is pervasive throughout most of California, but in Salinas it is particularly bad. I forget the exact number, but something like 10% of the Salinas population is affiliated with a gang. Since it s a small town, the city really struggles to manage the crime with limited resources.I m not sure what exactly draws you to Salinas, but there surely must be better places to live. Prunedale and Aromas are nearby small towns, with a lower population density so probably less crime. Marina and Seaside are working-class coastal towns that are better than Salinas and more affordable than, say, Santa Cruz. Hollister and Gilroy aren t AS bad as Salinas but they have quite a bit of crime too.
Two letters, No, I used to live there nothing to do cold and it smells like crap and it is expensive