Tufts isn’t a safety but is less selective than Yale. It’d check all the boxes!
Fordham?
I second University of Wisconsin-Madison. Depending on your daughter’s test scores, it should be a match or a safety. Large enough that you don’t need to join a sorority, great school spirit, two hours from Chicago, and a wonderful college town. My son didn’t go there, but it was his “dream” safety school–once he was admitted EA, he focused only on his reaches.
P.S. Also NorCal public school parent
Check out TCU! Her stats are great! I hail from NorCal, too, and it’s been amazing. ~8k undergrads, merit scholarships available, Liberal Arts vibe. Located in Fort Worth, which is next to Dallas but has many fun things to do. Two airports nearby- DFW (usually from SFO/OAK/SJC American is cheapest) and DAL-Love Field (SouthWest always cheapest usually out of OAK/SJC). Basketball and Football games are my MO, they’re so awesome! I’m not Greek, but I’ve made friends outside of that easily enough. I am involved in Econ and PoliSci so I can definitely DM you if you have specific questions about that or anything else if you wish 
For a safety, maybe look at Western Washington in Bellingham, WA? It’s a small charming city equidistant to Vancouver and Seattle, so maybe 1.5 hours from a major airport. There is WUE money available (apply early!), an honors program, and lots of outdoor recreation nearby - mountains, lakes, and the ocean. No football team.
Another safety with a strong journalism program - Ithaca College. I’m not sure if Ithaca counts as “middle of nowhere.” Cornell used to joke about being centrally isolated. But between Cornell and Ithaca there will be plenty of student buzz. Merit scholarship (no separate application) of 25K or so are within reach for strong students.
U MD or U Delaware might be matches. American is worth a try - demonstrated interest is very important there.
Regarding state schools, though, you’ll be hard pressed to find comparable value at a comparable price point than the UCs and Cal States. CU Boulder, already on her list, is a fun school in a nice location.
She sounds great, good luck!
These are terrific suggestions!
I think she does consider Ithaca to be the middle of nowhere Her friend’s 2 sisters both go to Cornell and she has heard many stories about how difficult it is for them to get home to the Bay Area for holidays. The reach schools she loves—Yale, Columbia, Northwestern and UChicago—are all in medium-big cities.
She also really wants a campus-like setting. From this list, University of Utah, University of Wisconsin, St Olaf, William and Mary, Tufts, American all seem like they’d be good to consider. TCU, too, though she’s been pretty consistently favoring places in the northwest, Midwest and northeast.
Thank you for the merit advice @KBTDPT and @ucbalumnus — I appreciate it!
As much as I love the city of Ithaca (Cornell alum here), it’s a bear to get to from the west coast. Easiest is SFO>>EWR. Then you can do one of three things: get a connecting flight to ITH, ground transportation to Manhattan and take the campus-to-campus bus directly to Cornell, or hitch a ride with a NY/NJ-area friend.
FWIW there are a couple more options. One is using Syracuse; my understanding is during peak times they run buses there Or at least share cabs.