Which Sacramento neighborhood or suburb is right for you?
WEST SACRAMENTO
West Sac is a diverse, vibrant community just across the Sacramento River from downtown Sacramento. Its urban Bridge District along the river is one the most dynamic new neighborhoods in the region, with hundreds of apartments, condos and townhomes being built, a French restaurant, the popular Barn brewery and outdoor restaurant and a hotel. Most of West Sacramento, which is part of the Washington Unified School District, is an easy commute into downtown or midtown. The more suburban-style Southport communities are made up of newer homes, parks and several large commercial districts — all just a few minutes’ drive to the Yolo County wine country.
FOLSOM
Folsom is a big draw for those looking to get outside. It’s known for its bike and pedestrian trails, proximity to the Sierra, high-performing schools and thriving commercial centers. The city’s historic district along Sutter Street is a walkable stretch of shops and restaurants just a couple blocks from Lake Natoma. Major thoroughfares such as Bidwell Street and Blue Ravine Road are lined with shopping. Folsom, part of the Folsom Cordova Unified School District, has some of the region’s most sought-after real estate (and some of the most expensive). It’s also among the region’s home-building hot spots: Thousands of new homes are being built on the city’s southern edge in the Folsom Ranch neighborhoods, but there are serious questions about whether the booming city will have enough water in the decades to come. The Highway 50 commute into the employment centers of Rancho Cordova and downtown Sacramento can be tough. But head east on 50, and you’re in the foothills in a matter of minutes.
RANCHO CORDOVA
Rancho Cordova is close to just about everything in the region. The Highway 50 corridor runs right through the city, so if you’re looking for a spot that’s a relatively easy ride into downtown or the Sierra foothills, Rancho is a good choice. It’s also one of the more affordable options for real estate in the region and is becoming a destination for young and first-time homebuyers — notably in the new neighborhoods popping up south of Highway 50. Nearby Carmichael, Fair Oaks and Folsom are all more expensive. Parents will want to choose where they live carefully: Some schools in this part of the Folsom Cordova Unified district receive high ratings, but many others get lower marks from parents. The American River Parkway runs through the northern part of the city, providing miles of bike paths and pedestrian trials. And after a long hike or bike ride, hit up the Barrel District, with its breweries, a pair of distilleries and — yes, that’s right — a meadery.
ELK GROVE
Sacramento’s largest suburb is a diverse city with high performing schools in the Elk Grove Unified district, new parks and several busy commercial corridors. It also has some of the worst commutes in the region and an ultra-competitive (and expensive) real estate market that’s particularly popular with Bay Area refugees looking for more affordable housing and space. Some people looking for a home in Elk Grove make their decision based on freeways. Highway 99 running to and from downtown Sacramento is one of the worst commuter corridors in the region. Interstate 5 is slightly better, so real estate on the west side of Elk Grove, near I-5, is prime. Elk Grove leaders have been trying for decades to add more employment centers, thus cutting down on those nasty commutes. There’s also been a lot of attention on Old Town; Dust Bowl Brewing Co. recently opened a large taproom that’s a new anchor for the neighborhood.
TAHOE PARK
Tahoe Park, part of Sacramento City Unified School District and one of the historic original “suburbs” of Sacramento, was long a starter neighborhood for young and first-time homebuyers, with many homes selling for less than $250,000. It’s still relatively affordable compared with other neighborhoods close to the central city, but home prices have exploded in the past few years — driven in part by new residents working at the growing UC Davis Medical Center campus and those priced out of Curtis Park, Land Park and East Sacramento. Tahoe Park has terrific options for food and drink: Bacon & Butter on Broadway serves one of the best breakfasts in town. A neighborhood tap house on 14th Avenue and the dive bar Tallac Lounge next door are popular nightlife destinations. And the neighborhood’s namesake park is always alive with softball, basketball and soccer games, a pool, a playground and a well-kept path for jogging.
ROCKLIN
You could argue that this south Placer County suburb is the top destination for young families in the Sacramento region and those moving from the Bay Area. The Rocklin Unified schools are top notch, rivaling those in Davis and Roseville. Real estate is expensive, but homes generally come with a lot of interior space. Many neighborhoods are built around parks or golf courses. There are a fair amount of restaurants — and a couple of great breweries — along Pacific Street and Rocklin Road. Take the kids to Quarry Park Adventures to burn off energy, then hit up Moksa Brewing Company or Out of Bounds Brewing for some of the area’s best craft beer. For the outdoor enthusiasts, Rocklin is a few minutes from the beaches and trails of Folsom Lake. It’s also the last major suburb you hit before starting the climb on Interstate 80 into the Sierra Nevada.
LOOMIS
Want to stretch out a bit? With its large lots, sprawling ranchettes and vineyards, some of the Sacramento region’s most sought-after real estate can be found in Loomis. The Placer County town, in the Loomis Union Elementary and Placer Union High School districts, is where the region’s suburban sprawl meets the country. Homes rarely go on the market, so those that do can attract intense bidding wars (a home in Loomis sold for $1 million above the listing price earlier this year). Deals are hard to find, so jump on one if it becomes available. Loomis is tailored more toward older residents; its median age is among the oldest in the region. But Del Oro High School is among the region’s best, and town leaders have invested in the downtown to help attract families. Don’t be fooled by the average commute time. If your job isn’t in south Placer County, the ride to work can be tough.
LINCOLN
Lincoln, part of the Western Placer Unified School District, was the fastest-growing city in the nation between 2000 and 2010, transforming a tiny rural town into a booming suburb of nearly 50,000 residents. It’s kept its cute downtown along Lincoln Boulevard, with shops and restaurants. Head out of town, and within minutes you’re surrounded by farms, breweries and some of the region’s best wineries (not to mention Thunder Valley Casino). Highway 65, the main artery into the city, gets super congested the closer you get to Interstate 80. But it also provides a quick jaunt into Roseville and the Galleria shopping area. Lincoln appeals to many seniors, especially the Sun City development.
DAVIS
Davis is the most Bay Area-esque of any community in the Sacramento region. The college town has a charming, fun downtown and a terrific network of bike trails and lanes. The politics aren’t quite as quirky as Berkeley, but there are the occasional dust-ups over new housing and development proposals. Davis Joint Unified School District is among the best in the region and a big draw for young families. UC Davis, regularly ranked among the nation’s top public universities, injects culture and energy. Head 10 minutes out of the city in any direction, and you’re in the country. Napa wineries are only an hour away.
WOODLAND
Woodland, with lots of new housing in its eastern neighborhoods, has become a landing spot for many families priced out of nearby Davis. So many Davis residents have moved to Woodland that locals jokingly call it Wavis or North Davis. But the charming community along Interstate 5 has a lot going for it on its own. Restaurants, breweries and the historic Woodland Opera House define its underrated downtown. Woodland has largely been an agricultural town. Now it’s becoming more of a bedroom community poised for big growth this decade.
ARDEN ARCADE
Looking for an inner-ring suburb with lots of shopping and a handful of good San Juan Unified schools? This large unincorporated section of Sacramento County is right outside the city of Sacramento. It’s defined by its major thoroughfares: Fair Oaks Boulevard and Howe and Watt avenues. There’s a Whole Foods and Sacramento institutions like Wenelli’s Pizza, Country Club Lanes and Sam’s Hof Brau. American River Drive is a pleasant stretch of mid-century modern homes just a couple blocks from the American River Parkway. Arden-Arcade residents sometimes gripe about not receiving enough services and have long debated about whether to incorporate as a city or get annexed by Sacramento. And there are some fairly big disparities in the quality of life depending on where you settle down. Crocker Road homes might be the most prestigious addresses in Sacramento County. But nearby, families are packed into rundown apartment buildings in the neighborhoods near Watt Avenue and the posh Del Paso Country Club.
FAIR OAKS
Fair Oaks, in the San Juan Unified School District, is a small-town oasis in the middle of a metropolis. Fair Oaks Village, its bucolic downtown, is a quaint neighborhood of shops, restaurants and, yes, wild chickens roaming the streets. Check out the Palm Springs-inspired Shangri-la restaurant or any of the neighborhood hangouts around Village Park. The Veterans’ Memorial Amphitheater is under renovation. It usually hosts the Fair Oaks Theatre Festival, a big draw on those comfortable summer evenings. Fair Oaks lines arguably the prettiest stretch of the American River, with tall bluffs and the historic Fair Oaks Bridge. Planning to commute downtown on Highway 50? You better hit the Sunrise Boulevard bridge early, or that drive can turn into a time-sucking ordeal.
CARMICHAEL
Carmichael has long been a destination for families. The American River Parkway is a natural treasure. Take a picnic or hop on your bike at the William Pond Recreational Area or go see the wildlife at the Effie Yeaw Nature Center in Ancil Hoffman Park. Fair Oaks Boulevard is the community’s main street; the Milagro Centre has a public market feel, with sushi, a taco bar, a cafe and River City Brewing Company. Carmichael, in San Juan Unified, has some of the best elementary schools in the region and families have sent their kids to Rio Americano High School for years. If you plan to work downtown, get that morning commute going early: The turn onto Watt Avenue from Fair Oaks — the main route to Highway 50 — can be a nightmare.
NORTH NATOMAS
The sprawling neighborhood along Interstate 5 north of downtown Sacramento has a suburban feel yet is within view of the downtown skyline. It has several new and pristine parks, good schools (Natomas Unified district) and shopping centers. It also has major employment centers such as the West Coast HQ for healthcare company Centene. California Northstate University is planning a medical center complex on the site of the Sacramento Kings’ former arena. Longtime residents have waited years for these things to happen. The newly opened North Natomas Aquatics Complex will be a regional draw. North Natomas Regional Park has finally been developed, with ball fields, a dog park, a playground and a farmer’s market. The neighborhood is diverse: The latest census figures show its population is about 33% white, 31% Asian, 14% Latino and 14% Black. One thing to keep in mind for downtown commuters: As southern Yuba and Sutter counties grow, those drivers are competing with you for space on I-5.
OAK PARK
This was Sacramento’s first “suburb,” a vibrant neighborhood that for decades served as the cultural and economic hub of the city’s Black community. After years of neglect, it’s been in a rebirth for more than a decade, with all kinds of restaurants, shops and community gathering spots being built along the Broadway corridor. What’s happened here might fall just short of gentrification — many of the new businesses are owned by locals — but the change has been dramatic. The typical home in North Oak Park, in the Sacramento City Unified School District, went for less than $400,000 before the pandemic. Now it’s approaching $600,000. Central Oak Park is seeing some of that growth as well, but the blocks south of 12th Avenue remain more affordable. Oak Park has a passionate core of community advocates who fight for housing equity and city services. Stop by the Saturday farmer’s market or the neighborhood association meetings, and you’ll feel how connected the community is. The next 10 years will be vital to the neighborhood’s future, as the $1.1 billion Aggie Square research and housing project on the nearby UC Davis campus takes shape.
MEADOWVIEW
This south Sacramento neighborhood is catching a lot of attention from first-time homebuyers who can no longer afford places like Oak Park, Tahoe Park or Elk Grove. And the market is growing competitive, with quick home sales and rapidly rising prices. Meadowview is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the Sacramento region (and perhaps even California). While public and private investments focused on other parts of the city, Meadowview was often left behind. That seems to be changing, with new housing planned near the neighborhood’s light rail station and a bike trail in the works to better connect the area to the central city. Still, the neighborhood schools (Sacramento City Unified) struggle to compete, and some residents are upset that the nearby Delta Shores development has added national chain businesses that are competing with locally owned shops. Thousands of homes are also planned for Delta Shores, so Meadowview could see some serious changes in the next few years.
DOWNTOWN/MIDTOWN
Sacramento’s urban core is finally becoming the 24-hour neighborhood that city leaders have long dreamed of. Apartment buildings — many of them affordable only to higher-income earners — are popping up everywhere, replacing empty and blighted blocks. Midtown has long been the city’s most walkable neighborhood, where a five-minute stroll in any direction takes you to some of the city’s best restaurants, live music and shopping. Golden 1 Center and the surrounding DoCo entertainment district replaced a failing outdoor mall. The tree-lined pockets of Boulevard Park, New Era Park and Southside Park are filled with historic homes nearly as old as the city itself. But the area has its challenges. Some downtown streets are lined with unhoused individuals living in tents. Neighborhood school choices, in the Sacramento City Unified district, are limited. And many of the young workers who support the neighborhood’s economy can’t afford to live there because of high rents and home values. The central city will always be a focus of investment from City Hall officials, who often say the health of the Sacramento region depends upon the vibrancy of downtown.
DEL PASO HEIGHTS
First-time homebuyers aren’t rushing to this North Sacramento neighborhood. Yet. But with some of the cheapest real estate in the region, Del Paso Heights might be in line for the same kind of changes and explosive price growth that Oak Park has seen in recent years. After decades of being a fresh-food desert, the neighborhood just got its first full-service grocery store a few years ago. The center of the community is Grant High School and its storied Pacers football team. A Friday night at Grant High is like something out of a movie, with generations of families and former players packing the stadium. Most of the public schools in the neighborhood, part of the Twin Rivers Unified district, score low in metric standards.
NORTH HIGHLANDS
This is another community that isn’t a real estate hot spot quite yet but could emerge as an affordable alternative to the south Placer County suburbs. Part of the Twin Rivers Unified school district, North Highlands is one of the few places in the region where a three-bedroom home can be had for less than $400,000. (A small apartment was even recently listed at $53,000!) North Highlands has been in years of decline since McClellan Air Force Base closed nearly three decades ago. Crime is a concern in the area, and the main thoroughfare, Watt Avenue, is, well, a bit rundown.
ORANGEVALE
There’s been a lot of chatter in local real estate circles lately about first-time homebuyers checking out Orangevale, an older Sacramento suburb wedged between Citrus Heights and Folsom that’s part of the San Juan Unified School District. That’s likely because there are deals to be found, if you’re patient and willing to get aggressive with your bid. There are still those million-dollar ranch-style estates. But $500,000 can get you a decent three-bedroom home within a short drive of Lake Natoma. The population skews a bit older and is far less diverse than the rest of the county (75% of residents are white).
PLUMAS LAKE
If you’re looking for affordable real estate and don’t mind a long commute, this Sacramento “exurb” could be a good fit. It’s in southern Yuba County but isn’t that much farther from downtown than Lincoln or Galt. Real estate agents in the area say many of their clients are young families or first-time homebuyers under 40 who can’t afford Placer County. There is a give and take. So far, the community only has two elementary schools and a middle school, but no high school. And not a lot of commercial development has been built in Plumas Lake yet, so grocery shopping or a visit to the doctor takes some planning. (Those services are available in Marysville and Yuba City, 6 to 10 miles away.) The lack of services has actually helped build the community. Residents sometimes talk about Plumas Lake as if it’s a modern-day Mayberry, where neighbors borrow eggs or sugar from one another instead of battling traffic to drive to a store.
CITRUS HEIGHTS
This is an old-school California suburb. It was once defined by Sunrise Mall, a 1970s-era shopping district that has been in decline for years. The mall is now the focus of one of the biggest suburban renewal plans in the region, and city leaders want to remake it into a live-play-work-shop site. The city is crisscrossed by two major thoroughfares lined with small and large shopping centers: Greenback Lane and Sunrise Boulevard, which might rank as the most congested, frustrating drive in the entire region. Citrus Heights is in the San Juan Unified School District and has many neighborhood schools, most of which receive average or below-average ratings in online rankings. Still, home values are well below the region’s median, so there are deals to be found.
PLACERVILLE
Want to live in the mountains but be close-ish to the city? Placerville is just 40 miles east of downtown Sacramento in the gorgeous Sierra Nevada foothills. It’s close to the El Dorado County wine country, rivers and trails. At an elevation of around 1,900 feet, the city even gets a few dustings of snow every winter. It’s a small town, but it’s also the county seat, so there are good jobs and plenty of shopping options. Historic Main Street is a fun and walkable stretch of shops and restaurants. Home prices have been on a steady incline, especially since city dwellers began fleeing urban areas for the country during the pandemic. But city leaders have made progress on approving affordable housing projects marketed toward the service workforce.
WINTERS
Check out Placerville if you’re looking for a small mountain town. But definitely consider Winters if you’re more of a Central Valley person. That’s not to say Winters is a dusty outpost; it has one of the nicest downtowns in the region. Main Street is lined with angled parking spots, shops, winery tasting rooms, a hardware store and terrific restaurants, including the famous Buckhorn Steakhouse. The Putah Creek Cafe is a destination for locals and out-of-towners, including cyclists taking advantage of the flat terrain and nearby trails. Putah Creek and Lake Berryessa will draw the avid outdoorsy types. And while it might feel remote, Winters is a quick trip down Interstate 505 into Vacaville. A lot of new homes are being built north of downtown, so Winters is in line to become a real estate hot spot this decade.
ROSEMONT
This is one of the few inner-ring suburbs where homes are relatively affordable. There are always three-bedroom homes available for less than $500,000; in this market, that’s considered a steal. Rosemont is an unincorporated community, so most of its services come from Sacramento County. However, its schools are in the Sacramento City Unified School District, which has had a turbulent few years of pandemic shutdowns and a teacher strike. Rosemont appeals to young professionals — nearly half the population is between the ages of 20 and 49. The commutes aren’t terrible. It has good access to Highway 50 and multiple stations on the light rail’s gold line.
This story was originally published June 22, 2022 at 6:30 AM.