We moved to Poway for the schools, as do most parents. You can also find good schools in LaJolla and other coastal cities (google San Diego API or SAT), but we couldn’t afford to buy a house there. You also have to deal with overcast and cold weather if you live near the beach.

Some parents do choose private schools, but plenty of rich families send their kids to the public schools. We have a Montessori preschool, so there’s something also for the little one.

Poway residents passed Proposition U, a $200 million bond measure to update our aging schools, a couple years ago, and all 3 of my kids’ schools are currently being remodeled. It’s about time. The schools are crowded; we have about 30-50% more students at each school than they were built to handle. I don’t know if this is unique to Poway, though.

We found our rental by checking the San Diego Union Tribune, craiglist, and getting MLS for-rent listings from our realtor. In December, there were many options, and rents were a little over $1/sq ft.

4S Ranch has very small yards, and the houses are too close for my liking. But many families do like the area, and I checked some rentals there.

Powy is the City in the Country, with horse property sprinkled throughout. Built up by mid-1980’s, the city has more open space acres than any other city in the County. I can’t remember the exact numbers now, but I think Poway has 13,000 preserved acres, while the other 18 cities in the County have only 20,000 acres. Because they do not allow developers in Poway, the city has remained stagnant in size, and traffic is not a problem. The only construction going on is infill type of stuff.