Offered job as Registered Nurse in Santa Cruz County & Stanislaus County, both in CA, which should I pick?

The Modesto Bee (link 1) will give you an idea about housing prices. Modesto is not as nice as Santa Cruz and the houses are cheaper. I would guess that a nice new 3-bed 2-bath cottage in Santa Cruz, within walking distance of the ocan and the college, would cost as much as a ranchette with 5 - 10 acres here. Maybe two of them.

Modesto has close to 300,000 people. Some areas are nicer than others, oddly enough. It gets over 100 at least 10 - 20 days every summer, which is why we all have A/C in our cars, homes and offices. It almost always cools down in the evening. We have cold fogs in the winter, but so does SC.

We have gangs and drugs, as does any city this size. Modesto's two claims to fame in that department are the Laci Peterson case and the highest car theft rate in the state.

You could live in Turlock and commute; lots of people do. It is smaller and cheaper. (All other things being equal, the farther you are from the SF Bay area, the lower the housing price.)

Most of Modesto - and Stanislaus County, for that matter - is safe for kids. The IB program at Modesto High has about 150 students.

I'm biased; I raised three children in Stanislaus County.

On the down side, if you are a liberal, there are a lot of conservatives here. There are not as many ethnic restaurants, there is only one used book store and there is no independent book store. The symphony is reasonable and there is a pocket opera company. There are 2 small theater companies plus the drama departments at the state college and junior college.