Moving to Reno in July

Hi all, my wife and I are moving to Reno in July for one year(we think at this point).  We have spent some time in Nevada, but have never been to Reno.  I'm wondering what neighborhoods are good for walkable/bike to climbing gyms/restaurants/jobs/engaging things to do but aren't over priced.  

I'm also looking for climbing partners; experienced alpine rock/ice preferably.  

Cheers!

Around midtown is going to be bike-able/walkable to gyms and such. Anywhere close to the river and outside downtown will be good for flatter exercise. Once you go into western reno it will become 100 ft vert/mile minimum for exercise. South Reno has much more mild weather than North. Think Denver for weather/elevation. I work in south Reno and live in Northwest, so I can wake up to several inches of snow and more coming down, then arrive to work where it is bone dry and sunny (1000ft elevation difference in a crosstown commute).

Best of luck! Welcome to the west

Hi John, thanks for the reply!  How bad is the drive between south?  I think we are going to try to live in northwest reno, it seems like that is a good place to try to move.  Do you like it there?

Hey all, we are considering an apartment on high street a little north of midtown.  Is it pretty rough in that area?  
Thanks!
Emory

Not good. Avoid.

Midtown is good, but close to the river gets sketchy.

If you haven’t been to Reno, I think you may be thinking mountain town, but it is more like desert city with occasional mountain weather in terms of vibe. Run down vegas would be accurate.

Darn.  Thanks for the reply though!  Is midtown in good shape?

Midtown is better than downtown for sure. Plenty of fun shops and restaurants, easily walkable. Like many western towns, Reno has a homeless problem (as John states, this is concentrated near the river, especially from downtown east through Rock park.) I biked from NW reno to south reno for commute for some time, was about 9 miles each way, ~45min. Heading home the afternoon headwinds from the west can be pretty rough though.

Jack and John- thanks for the replies.  It's looking like midtown or west of idlewyld may be the way to go, so thanks for that information guys.  John, you're spot on.  I'm having a hard time imagining what Reno is like as a whole.  I've been puttering around a bunch on google maps to try to get a better sense of it- but that only goes so far.

Some interesting perspectives here.  I find Reno to be nothing like LV besides being in the same state with some casinos.  I lived in downtown Reno for 2 years and to compare the homeless problem reno has with any of the major west coast cities isn't accurate in my opinion.  I lived in downtown Portland for 5 years, have family in Seattle and have spent lots of time in the Bay and LA so maybe my perspective is very different and I don't find the homeless problem to be even remotely as bad here.  I've found that people that grew up in Reno and haven't really travelled or spent time in major metro areas are the ones that think Reno has a huge problem.  Same people say traffic is bad here and I don't even know how to respond to someone that says that.  Sorta like a 5.7 climber saying 5.10a is really hard and not realizing the scale goes to 5.15+

And regarding a High street apartment, it probably comes down to the exact apartment building.  Some of my closest friends live just a block east of High street in a house that they own.  They don't seem to mind it at all.

My partner and I live just off of Plumas and Mt. Rose currently.  We are both very happy in this zone though rents are definitely higher around here.

Mikey, totally agree Reno doesn't have a homeless problem that compares with Portland, Seattle, LA or the bay. Just that along the river downtown it has gotten much worse in the last 3-5 years, and guessing it might be a lot worse than Barnstead NH (trying to think about OPs perspective..). I live in west reno near mayberry park off 4th, and love it here. 

Interesting stuff y'all.  I am looking at crime rates per 1k people and its interesting, all of midtown is ranked in the 'red' zone which indicates high levels of both property and violent crime- but that also looks like a really nice area to live in from an outside observation.  I used the same tool to look at burlington, vt, which has a similar issues to Reno with its transient population and is a place my wife and I both agree feels very safe; if you aren't a total buffoon.  Not surprisingly, a lot of the downtown areas looked similar in statistics, primarily focused around church street.  It seems like Reno is in a similar ballpark, but I don't want to make a bad miscalculation that lasts a year.  All of this information is extremely helpful for us, so thank you for taking the time to post.

We're moving from Barnstead- which is as country/old school libertarian new hampshire as it gets- but I've lived in numerous cities before as has my partner.  Ideally, we'll find a place where she can walk without getting nervous during the day time and feel relatively safe at night.  How long have you been out by mayberry park Jack?  

We found a place in southern Reno off of Skyline boulevard.  Is reno small enough where there is potential to bike wherever in the city?  It certainly appears that way on paper.

E C wrote:

Interesting stuff y'all.  I am looking at crime rates per 1k people and its interesting, all of midtown is ranked in the 'red' zone which indicates high levels of both property and violent crime- but that also looks like a really nice area to live in from an outside observation.  I used the same tool to look at burlington, vt, which has a similar issues to Reno with its transient population and is a place my wife and I both agree feels very safe; if you aren't a total buffoon.  Not surprisingly, a lot of the downtown areas looked similar in statistics, primarily focused around church street.  It seems like Reno is in a similar ballpark, but I don't want to make a bad miscalculation that lasts a year.  All of this information is extremely helpful for us, so thank you for taking the time to post.

We're moving from Barnstead- which is as country/old school libertarian new hampshire as it gets- but I've lived in numerous cities before as has my partner.  Ideally, we'll find a place where she can walk without getting nervous during the day time and feel relatively safe at night.  How long have you been out by mayberry park Jack?  

We found a place in southern Reno off of Skyline boulevard.  Is reno small enough where there is potential to bike wherever in the city?  It certainly appears that way on paper.

Skyline is in a nice neighborhood. I've lived up there before and currently live at the bottom of that hill. There's an excellent hiking trail that runs through there along the irrigation ditch. I wouldn't be concerned at all about walking there at night, other than coyotes if you have a small dog. Be aware that it's up on a big hill, so you'll have to climb it to get home if you bike/walk into town. Midtown is nice in that sense. I've lived down there, but I don't eat out or go to bars often, so it doesn't really make sense for me to live there. The houses and lots are smaller and more expensive, older homes, etc.

I agree with Mikey regarding the perspective on homeless / traffic and the perspectives of some locals. I moved here in 2006 from Anchorage and thought it was pretty similar to what I was used to. Commuting into Reno from North Valleys sucks during rush hour.

My fiancée and I are budding alpine climbers. It would be cool to meet some more people to do that stuff with. We've got a bunch of objectives in the Sierras.

Happy to discuss more with you via PM if you'd like. 

I have been at current spot for 11 years. Skyline is really a nice area (a little hilly but easy access to midtown/downtown/McCarran loop).

Been following along and I'm just curious what brings you guys to Reno? Do you already have jobs lined up in town? And is your wife just looking to walk for exercise or as a means to get to places like work, gym, bars, etc.? Sounds like more of the latter. 

I was born and raised on the east coast and I would just like to highlight that Reno has never felt rough to me. It isn't immune to crime and riff raff but it's a far cry from a major city like Boston, Chicago, SF or something similar. When I think of rough I think of violence but that isn't the case out here. You'll see a bit of petty druggie/homeless related crime here and there but nothing that ever makes me think oh wow Reno is rough or dangerous. I'd say 5% of Reno feels like "the city" to me and the rest just feels like urban suburbs if that makes any sense.

I guess it all depends on what you're into and where you've been in life but in my opinion Reno is a really cool place and it's hard to put a label on it. I personally get a southwest rancher sorta vibe with a nice mix of Hispanic heritage that is transitioning into a tech industry production hub and outdoors mountain oriented college city. A lot of people just see Nevada and see casinos and default to mini Vegas which all just overshadows the real Reno. 

Hey BG, thanks for contributing.  My wife got accepted into a fellowship program in hospice and palliative care in Reno and so she has a binding contract.  We went through a list of different programs in September while making her rank list and thought about where we would want to move for a year.  We knew the Sierras were nearby and that Tahoe and all of its powdery goodness was also a stone's throw away and advocated for Reno.  Lucky for us, the area also has a terrific fellowship program.  We have spent time climbing in the desert together and love ski touring together as well so it made sense to switch it up, for at least a year.  We originally knew very little about the city itself, so I'm quite relieved to read these perspectives as they are really enlightening for me as far as what we should expect.  

When I say rough I am thinking violence as well.  I am thinking about not worrying about my wife being able to go for a walk alone.  Comparing the crime maps to Burlington's gave me a lot of clarity as to what the maps actually entail.  Accordingly, we've shifted our focus for location and are looking in the midtown area again.  We've lived in the country for the last three years and are psyched to be able to walk to venues, eateries and friends...

The other thing I wanted to mention is that I'm assuming with this massive snowpack that some ephemeral alpine ice lines will come in.  If anyone wants to log some days this summer to try to bag rare forming gullies/flows- I am totally game.  Same with summer corn harvesting!  There's nothing like getting some turns and a sunburn.

Right on then, sounds like you guys will have a nice change of pace and a new city to explore. Good luck with the searching!

We're moving in a week y'all!  We have a place just south of Idlewild park that looks like it will be great for a year.  We drive out next Tuesday and I leave for Rainier on Sunday.  I'll be back around the 8th of July and looking to climb as much as possible.  Anyone who wants to get out; shoot me a PM and we can talk objectives.  I'm a shit rock climber(5.10ish) but decent on ice/mixed and long days.   

I hope to meet some of you soon, we're stoked!!!

I grew up in Reno, but I haven't lived there in nearly a decade.

In my opinion, you will be fine just about anywhere.  I would choose downtown over any of the North Valleys any day.  There are a few select places downtown that are actually pretty nice.  Sure, there are homeless but what city doesn't have any of those less fortunate than us?

I spent my 20s living all over town and rode my bike EVERYWHERE.  There is a great bike path along the Truckee that will take you from the furthest West part of town to the furthest East.  I hear the housing prices are skyrocketing and midtown has blown up in price.  

I would move back to Reno in a heart beat if I could.  I currently live in Modesto, so even the worst part of Reno would feel like an upgrade to me.

If this helps at all.

E C wrote:

We're moving in a week y'all!  We have a place just south of Idlewild park that looks like it will be great for a year.  We drive out next Tuesday and I leave for Rainier on Sunday.  I'll be back around the 8th of July and looking to climb as much as possible.  Anyone who wants to get out; shoot me a PM and we can talk objectives.  I'm a shit rock climber(5.10ish) but decent on ice/mixed and long days.   

I hope to meet some of you soon, we're stoked!!!

That part of town is great!  With Idlewild there, you have really easy access to my aforementioned bike path.  You'll need to take some side streets to get to Mesa Rim, but Reno seems to be getting increasingly more bike friendly (hopefully).  

Keystone Canyon has a boulder up there, as well as some rocks in Somersett.  Washoe Boulders in Carson City is also great, just make sure you take the East Washoe Lake road some time and walk along the sand dunes.

B G wrote:

I personally get a southwest rancher sorta vibe with a nice mix of Hispanic heritage that is transitioning into a tech industry production hub and outdoors mountain oriented college city. A lot of people just see Nevada and see casinos and default to mini Vegas which all just overshadows the real Reno. 

Reno has come up a lot in the last 25 years. Up to the 90s it was still gaming focused and some areas were getting run down. A lot of people who haven't been there in years (especially some SF Bay Area people) still think of it that way. But when jobs became more remote based and tech industry moved in it changed. It really varies by neighborhood. There's old places developed in the 50s/60s/70s that are pretty nasty, and there's high end neighborhoods from the late 90s to now that are really upscale. For someone into outdoor recreation it's a great city. The river. Only 30-60 minutes from a ton of great places. A decent sized international airport. Decent weather. (compared to a lot of the country). A good chance of a reduced home prices in the next couple years so anyone interested in setting roots here should pay attention and be ready to buy if prices drop. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ATNHPIUS39900Q