GeoffM

Upland is nice but it's getting a bit far from SB, albeit a reverse commute if normal office hours. We have friends living in Upland that work in the vet hospital in Redlands and it's still a little tiresome a commute for them. But then I re-read OP's post and realised they said "SB county", not the city of! SB county is the largest county in the US, more than double the size of Wales, so OP (DFox), which city is your job in?

DFox

Sorry, my bad. Still getting used to the whole scale of things, currently in Dorset and everything is very close together.

My work is in SB city itself, however we have a young family and, given the other comments, we were planning on being a little further out of the city. We had originally targeted Rancho as somewhere we liked from a safety/family perspective although I appreciate that I'm basing it entirely from online information (not first hand actually looking at areas). I'm happy to have a bit of a commute everyday, would like to keep it under an hour (including traffic).

I hope that this clears up where we are heading. Will have to take a little look at Upland, thanks.

GeoffM

Ah ok. Upland to SB is about half an hour off peak but an hour is not unusual on a weekday peak, reverse commute or not. Remember that you'd be driving more than in the UK, not just commuting but for virtually anything. Redlands and Loma Linda share the same, good school district and are right next to SB but a lot more upmarket. The closer you get to LA (Upland, Montclair etc) the more expensive living will be. Highland is supposed to be nice but too close to the San Andreas fault for my liking, rational or not

Metrolink have commuter trains but it's nothing like the UK. Half hourly is about your best bet during rush hour but the schedules are incredibly erratic. Delays, especially on the single line sections, can be brutal, making the UK's railways look like a well oiled machine. Yes, I'm a train fan, and still don't recommend it as an option!