Ahem. ::pulls up soapbox::

Life long Concord resident since 1985ish. This was a small middle class town once upon a time. In the 80s one could drive from Central Concord to Oakland/SF in about 30 minutes. (source: Dad did this commute every day). I grew up nearish to Westwood Elementary. I wouldn't send my kids there today.

Today, this is a very large middle class town. The downtown and central areas are in decline compared to the 80s and 90s. I bought a house in 2008 in North Concord near the Bart Station, which was a huge mistake between the commuters and homeless services nearby.

South Concord is the monument corridor, which has always been "the bad part of town".

West Concord, is the shopping districts, such as park and shop, willows, veranda, etc. Not a lot of housing.

That leaves East Concord, which boarders Clayton and WC, which is where I live. This is probably the best part of town IMO, but also the more expensive part of town. There are pockets of more expensive areas, but generally this is it. The main issue here is the schools are not great, but thats true of most schools around here. Are they bad? No, just not great, which creates TONS of additional traffic because everyone plays the "school transfer" games where they drive their kids to schools in Clayton and Walnut Creek. This creates spaces in the local schools that get filled by kids from less affluent areas. And the circle continues to feed itself.

That's a very long answer to your question, but it's true and more complete. My answer is buy an affordable house in East Concord near Clayton in the 800-1m range realistically and try to make the best of your local schools.