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Literally, a couple of miles. If I climb the big tree behind my house, I can see the taller Modesto buildings in the distance.
Modesto, overall, isn't a bad place to live. The people are friendly, the amenities are modern (it hasn't been a "farm town" for 20 years), there's good shopping, the schools are pretty good, it's very ethnically diverse, no major traffic problems, etc. I grew up in this area, could afford to leave tomorrow if I wanted, and yet I'm still raising my kids here...if there's a bigger vote of confidence, I don't know what it is.
That's not to say that it's without its problems. As others have mentioned, we have a bit of notoriety for our crime rates, mostly auto theft. What those rates don't mention is that most of those thefts tend to be concentrated in the poorest areas of the city. While car thefts and crimes happen everywhere in the city (as they do in all cities), the majority of Modesto is no more or less "dangerous" than any street in any other city in America with a comparable population.
It also does tend to get a bit warm here in the summer. It will be 103 here on Sunday, but it's a dry heat and really isn't that bad once you get used to it. High heat is tolerable when you have very little humidity. And, contrary to what some of the other posters have said, we DO get the Delta breeze here (breezes blowing in off the Pacific through the Carquinez Strait). Modesto is generally considered to be the southern boundary of the Valley cities where the ocean breezes can still be felt. They're not as strong or quite as cool as they are further north, but it's still not bad.
Politically, it's a mixed bag. Modesto has a Democratic majority, but they tend to be the more conservative blue-dog type Democrats. You won't find a whole lot of compatriots if you're a strong leftist liberal, but they won't give you any problems either. The town has some openly gay bars, and a regular Pride Parade, and neither has ever generated any controversy. Modesto does have a large Republican population but they're usually the mellower "I disagree with you, but God can deal with you later" types. Our teabagger groupies occasionally hold rallies on the main drags, but aren't a problem. OUTSIDE of Modesto, in the smaller towns and farm country, is a different story. Some towns like Oakdale and Ceres are hard right, and people have had their cars keyed for simply flying the wrong bumper sticker. Modesto is a moderate island in the middle of a conservative red county, and its politics reflect that. Conservative Democrats in Congress, moderate farmer Republicans in the statehouse, a fairly moderate city council, and a solidly Republican county board that tends to avoid moral issues but is solidly pro-business.
The worst thing about Modesto, at the moment, is that our local economy has been absolutely hammered by this economic downturn. The cities industrial areas are full of shuttered factories, it's surrounded by half-built subdivisions that the builders walked away from when the market crashed, and our unemployment rate actually hit 18% at one point. Things are improving today, but there are still a LOT of shuttered storefronts throughout the city, and a lot of smaller local businesses are still having problems staying open. This isn't really a "problem" if you have a job, but it can be a bit depressing driving around town and seeing all of the dark stores...especially for those of us who remember a few years ago when our economy was doing exceptionally well, even by California standards.
As someone else mentioned, you do also have the option of living outside of Modesto and driving in. The city is ringed by a number of smaller towns and cities that are only a few minutes away by car. Some, like Riverbank, Ripon, and Salida, and Hughson, are fairly nice. Del Rio and Escalon are wonderful. Others, like Empire and Ceres should be avoided at all costs because of crime and gang problems (Ceres has a real problem with police brutality, and is dark-red conservative to boot). As I mentioned above, you might want to avoid political discussions with your neighbors though (Salida isn't that bad in the "subdivision" parts, because it's mostly populated by people who moved from the more liberal Bay Area).
By the way, if you're looking at a perm job with a "food processor", you're probably looking at Del Monte Foods, Gallo Wines, or Frito Lay. There are a number of food processing and production companies in Modesto, but those are the big three.
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