When looking for a home in the Monterey Peninsula, the first things you notice are how close the ocean is and how beautiful the neighborhood is.

However, for families with children, the order of priorities should be a bit different. If you find a home you love first and then look into schools later, you might end up disappointed. In this area, the school district varies depending on where you live, and home prices can differ significantly.

If you prioritize school districts, the first one to consider is the Carmel Unified School District. This includes some surrounding areas like Carmel-by-the-Sea and Carmel Valley. This area is known for having well-rated public schools in the Monterey Peninsula.

The flagship school is Carmel High School. It is preferred by families preparing for college, not just for its academic programs. The issue, however, is the home prices. In Carmel, a price of around $1.5 million feels quite normal, and homes with good locations or ocean views easily exceed $2 million to $3 million. If you choose this neighborhood for the schools, you need to budget significantly for housing costs.

The second most considered area is the Pacific Grove Unified School District. Pacific Grove is a small and quiet town. When I visit, it feels different from the tourist-heavy Monterey or Carmel. There are many charming old homes, and it's nice to walk around the neighborhood.

Pacific Grove High School is also known as a well-rated public high school in the area.

For families wanting both quality education and a quiet living environment, this area is quite attractive.

However, it's not cheap either. Depending on the condition and location of the homes, it's common to find houses over $1 million, and good homes may require a budget of over $1.5 million.

If you adjust your budget a bit more realistically, you'll look at the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.

This district includes Monterey, Seaside, Marina, Del Rey Oaks, and others.

What's important here is that being in the same district doesn't guarantee you'll attend the same high school. If you live in a specific area of Monterey, you might be assigned to Monterey High School, but if you go to Seaside or Marina, the assigned school will be different. So, you can't just buy a house based on the name MPUSD.

Homes in downtown Monterey range widely from about $700,000 to over $1 million. As you get closer to the ocean or enter better neighborhoods, prices naturally increase. Still, compared to Carmel or Pacific Grove, you might find relatively accessible properties. For families wanting to balance school districts, convenience, and home prices, Monterey could be a realistic compromise.

If you want to lower home prices a bit more, you can expand your search to Seaside or Marina. With the same budget, you're likely to find slightly larger or newer homes. However, if you have children, you must check which school your address will actually be assigned to.

Going further east to Salinas will definitely lower housing prices. You can find homes around $500,000 to $600,000, so after looking at prices in the Monterey coastal area, Salinas suddenly feels much more realistic. However, the school district changes, and there are differences in academic achievement by school, so it's wise to be cautious about making decisions based solely on price.

If I had children, I would approach it this way: first, set a housing budget, then choose a few desired schools, and finally look for homes within the actual assigned addresses for those schools.

In the U.S., sometimes just crossing a street can change the school your child attends. Don't rely solely on the school information displayed on real estate websites; it's safest to directly input the address into the school district's website before finalizing any contracts. In Monterey, while finding a good home is important, if you have children, ultimately finding a good address means finding a good school district as well.