These resources were originally gathered to help fellow Google employees (Googlers) and their families (hence the Mountain View-centric language), but much of this will be useful to anyone moving to the Bay Area (especially working in Silicon Valley):
Craig's List Apartment/Housing Rentals - common way to find rental housing in the Bay Area
also has other lists like rooms & shares (roommates), real estate (sold by owner), real estate (sold by broker), etc.
Zillow - nice site that lets you browse (some) houses/apartments for sale/rent
Redfin - great app, primarily but not exclusively for buying real estate
Bay Area Housing Resources Website - nice Google Site, from a Peninsula perspective but still useful for Bay Area in general
This Onebayarea.org map shows "isochrones", or "what areas are within XX minutes of [place]"? ...you can change the transport mode (e.g. biking, walking, etc.) and also do a (rudimentary) affordability search
Cars
in parts of the Bay Area, it's hard to get around without a car...but it is possible
traffic is highly variable—depending on the time of day, day of the week, and time of year (e.g. it's often very bad in mid-November and early December, when almost everyone is at work and almost no one is on vacation)
consider joining AAA (American Automobile Association) for easy roadside assistance
some highways have HOV ("High Occupancy Vehicle") or"carpool" lanes...for example, 101 near Google requires at least 2 people in the vehicle to legally ride in the HOV lane
some "green" vehicles can get special stickers to ride in the HOV lane with only 1 occupant...but as of 2020 there weren't many stickers left: http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/carpool/carpool.htm
to get a driver's license you need to apply at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in any California county
Map of DMV Offices - find the closest one to where you live (Santa Clara DMV is closest to Google MTV)
California DMV YouTube Channel - useful for learning about the rules of the raod, road tests, and top 10 reasons for failure
This map and this map show some popular test routes for Santa Clara DMV
Walk/bike
the SF Bay Area has pretty good (for the US) bicycle infrastructure; to find routes:
Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition's Maps (also consider joining)
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's Map (for SF, considerjoining)
Walkscore.com - lets you evaluate how "walkable" a neighborhood is
SF2G runs regular bike rides from San Francisco to the Peninsula (it takes ~2.5 hours but you get a workout & transportation at the same time!)
Buying a bike - there are lots of places to buy bicycles in the Bay Area (join the SVBC or SFBC for discounts!), but consider these nonprofits whose proceeds help disadvantaged people:
Silicon Valley Bike Exchange - in Mountain View
Good Karma Bikes - in San Jose
Pedal Revolution, SF Bike Hut and SF Yellow Bike Project - in San Francisco
Changing Gears - in Alameda
Bay Area Bike Share - this isn't a great deal for regular commuting, but if you want easy access to a growing fleet of rental bikes, you should check it out; as of October 2015 they already have bikes in SF, Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View (including a station near Google), and San Jose.
Public transit
Clipper Card - one card to pay for all public transit in the Bay Area
Caltrain runs from San Francisco all the way to San Jose (and beyond to Gilroy)
mvgo - free shuttle that connects Google with Mountain View Caltrain
Mary Moffett Shuttle - also connects Google with Mountain View Caltrain
compared to traveling on highways, Caltrain has a more regular schedule...but every once and a while, there is an accident (e.g. someone is hurt on the tracks) which causes major delays
VTA (Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority) runs busses and trains in/around Mountain View
BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) runs trains from Millbrae (which connects to Caltrain) and San Bruno (near YouTube) to San Francisco and the East Bay
...various other Bay Area agencies serve other areas
Taxi/Uber/Lyft/Sidecar
Taxis are typically slow and hard to get in the Bay Area, but thanks to new competition they are getting better
Uber - lets you hail a "black car" (professional private driver), taxi, or "UberX" ("ride-sharing" with an amateur driver, usually the cheapest option)
Lyft - "ride share" (similar to UberX), Lyft Plus is 6 passengers and Lyft Line is sharing with other riders going in the same direction (so it's possibly slower, but also cheaper)
Borrowing/Renting a Car/Carshare
Traditional car rental agencies mostly rent from airports, but also have city locations
"Carshare" programs allow you to rent by the hour, often at places near where you live/work
Companies include Zipcar, Getaround, RelayRides, CityCarShare, etc.
this Quora post discusses some differences between the services
bestplaces gives you a bunch of statistics on different cities
Peninsula
Mountain View the area closest to the Google headquarters, and thus in many ways hardest to find affordable housing
an odd pocket of affordability is in Mobile Home Parks; as of Oct 2015 Santiago Villa Mobile Home Park (walking distance to most Google buildings, see this news article) had various 3 bedroom/2 bath homes on sale for $220-250K...but not including space rent of ~$1500/month; similarly Moffett Mobilehome Park at 440 Moffett Blvd had a 2 bedroom/2 bath home on sale for $176K
Los Altos - town just "up the hill" from Mountain View, south of El Camino Real.
Sunnyvale - just south/east of Mountain View, known for good schools and Korean restaurants
Palo Alto/Menlo Park/Atherton - expensive, very nice suburbs on the outskirts of Stanford University, where many tech company executives live
East Palo Alto - this separately-incorporated city is on the east side of 101 from Palo Alto and close to Facebook's headquarters along with many other tech companies...and yet it has relatively low housing prices. Why? It's a very long story, but this TechCrunch article is a good introduction
Redwood City/San Carlos/Belmont - nice suburbs northwest of Atherton
Foster City/San Mateo - nice suburbs a little ways further north; Foster City is interestingly built on landfill in the Bay...nearby Redwood Shores (technically part of Redwood City) is home to Oracle's headquarters
Burlingame/Millbrae/Hillsborough - suburbs not far from the San Francisco Airport; Hillsborough is a bit nicer/more expensive than the other two
San Bruno/South San Francisco/Daly City - all close to YouTube, but is pretty far for MTV-based employees without the urban amenities of San Francisco...still there may be some housing bargains in this foggier stretch of the Peninsula
Santa Cruz Mountains (Woodside, Portola Valley, La Honda, etc.) - these relatively small towns have a rural feel despite being relatively close to Silicon Valley; in general they are very nice but very expensive...and may be at risk of wildfires
Half Moon Bay/El Granada/Pacifica - along the Pacific Ocean, not very popular with Silicon Valley employees but for some it's worth the drive over the hills to be close to the ocean
South Bay
Cupertino/Santa Clara - east and south of Sunnyvale, home to Apple, NVIDIA, and various other companies
San Jose - a pretty sprawling city, including North San Jose (NorthPark Rivermark area), Central San Jose (280 corridor), South San Jose (Silver Creek/Ohlone/Camden corridor)
Saratoga/Los Gatos/Campbell - nice communities close to the Santa Cruz mountains
Morgan Hill/Gilroy - south of San Jose, cheaper but further away from everything (some people live here to get more space, but with the tradeoff of longer commutes)
San Francisco - also "The City" or SF, the most dense/urban area in the Bay Area and thus the hub of culture/food/tourism...but also increasingly crowded and expensive, with long commutes to/from MTV
Mission - one of the most popular neighborhoods, due to its walkability, restaurants, and relatively quick travel times to Silicon Valley; since the 1960s it has had a strong Latin American culture...but also is more messy/dirty/dense so not recommended if you're used to suburban living
South of Market (SoMa) - another popular neighborhood, close to many startups, lots of tech people
Bernal Heights - nice, hilly neighborhood with small-town feel, traditionally a Lesbian enclave
Potrero Hill/Dogpatch - the extreme east end of SF, has a wide range of housing
Haight/Cole Valley/Hayes Valley - "hip", vibrant part of the city but with some sleepier corners, (Stanyan/Hayes/Polk/Civic Shuttle)
Noe Valley/Glen Park - nice neighborhoods with a small-town feel; Glen Park is a bit cheaper than Noe
Cow Hollow/Marina/Russian Hill - on the north end of San Francisco, these neighborhoods have some of the longest commutes to Silicon Valley, but feature great nightlife and views; stereotypically "yuppies" and/or "bros"
Mid-Market/Tenderloin/Tendernob/Polk Gulch - this area near Civic Center and to the north has been consistently plagued by homelessness and poverty, but there are pockets that are nice
Castro/Duboce Triangle - nice, walkable neighborhoods, traditionally (since the 1960s) a Gay enclave
Sunset/Richmond - known as "the Avenues", this area north and south of Golden Gate Park is less dense and more suburban than the rest of San Francisco, with a diverse range of immigrants from many countries; somewhat less expensive than the eastern neighborhoods, especially for larger places
Southern Neighborhoods (Ingleside, Oceanview, Outer Mission, Excelsior, Bayview, Hunters Point) - some of the cheapest housing is in these neighborhoods, which are generally less dense than the rest of the City...generally not as popular with tech employees, but could be right for someone who wants more space and/or wants to buy a "starter home"
Other guides to neighborhoods
Paragon Real Estate's Map of SF Neighborhoods - pretty comprehensive, and also links to real estate listings
UCSF Neighborhood Descriptions - designed for people going to UCSF medical school, but it will give you an idea of the plusses and minuses of some neighborhoods
East Bay - the east side of San Francisco Bay has somewhat warmer weather and cheaper prices than SF or the Peninsula, but there are also expensive areas (e.g. the Oakland hills)
Fremont/Union City/Newark - just across the Dumbarton Bridge from Silicon Valley, these towns often have cheaper housing options, but the bridge can be a traffic chokepoint at some times
the Dumbarton Bridge also has a bike/pedestrian path, but it can be intimidating for beginners and total travel time to most tech companies is at least an hour (but like SF2G you get your workout for free!)
Hayward/San Leandro/Castro Valley - suburbs between Union City and Oakland
Milpitas - close to San Jose, at the far southern end of the East Bay
Oakland/Emeryville/Berkeley - the heart of the East Bay, Oakland and its surrounding cities has the most vibrant, urban culture in the East Bay. Berkeley is home to UC Berkeley and thus has an urban college town feel.
Piedmont is an interesting fancy enclave within Oakland known for its good schools
680 Corridor (Pleasanton/Livermore/Walnut Creak/etc.) - more suburban, but with reasonably-walkable downtowns close to BART
North Bay (Marin County) - very nice suburbs north of the Golden Gate Bridge, but due to expense (at least as expensive as SF/Peninsula, if not more) and distance it's not that popular with Silicon Valley employees
Santa Cruz - a nice "beach town" on the ocean; a bit far away but due to traffic patterns travel times to Silicon Valley are comparable to parts of San Francisco
If you have school-aged children, you have three broad options:
Public schools - in the US public schools have variable quality, often based on the relative wealth of the area around the school
California Public School Districts/Boundaries - look up what district a given address is in
California Public School Academic Performance Index (API) - one way to judge a school's quality
Map of Schools' API Scores - from schoolperformancemaps.com
Some of the highest-rated public High Schools in the Bay Area:
Monte Vista & Cupertino High (Cupertino)
Lynbrook (West San Jose)
Homestead (Cupertino/Sunnyvale)
Los Altos High (Mountain View/Los Altos)
Palo Alto High & Gunn (Palo Alto)
Aragon (San Mateo)
Piedmont High (Piedmont, in East Bay)
Redwood High (Larkspur, in North Bay)
This map shows some popular high schools and school district boundaries
Private schools - these schools have a range of costs, and may or may not be religiously affiliated
Independent Schools of the San Francisco Bay Area - consortium of private schools; they also have a map
Private School Review - directory of private schools
Bay Area Kid Fun's List of Private Schools - throughout the Bay Area
Homeschooling - this can be a difficult option in California but still worth considering in many cases (see this Wired article about its growing popularity in Silicon Valley)
California Department of Education FAQ - explains some of the steps you must take (e.g. file a Private School Affidavit) although keep in mind that the agency tries to discourage homeschooling
HomeSchool Association of California - has a good Legal page explaining regulations, etc.
California Homeschool Network - advocacy and support group
Christian Home Educators Association of California - supports homeschoolers who want a Christian education
Bay Area Gifted Homeschoolers - support group for homeschooling intellectually gifted children
Homefires Support Listings - for each California county, there is a list of support/meetup groups
Other Resources for Parents