May be relocating there for work.
Is it nice? Good places to eat, things to do?
What places should I look for rentals? What areas should I NOT look for rentals?
(new possible work location is actually Roseville, so I want to be in driving distance.)
From your profile, it appears you’re already in California, so I’ll assume you know some of the basics. Like, it’s hot in summer. Winters can be foggy and cold, but snow is a twice-a-century thing.
There are some wonderful older neighborhoods closer to downtown, but Roseville puts you on the far suburban fringe. Pretty much everything out there is new, and the restaurants are chains. I don’t think there are any crappy neighborhoods out there, as long as you’re east of the older suburby areas of Citrus Heights.
The bonus side is that you can get to the mountains really easily from there, and even some of the mother lode is commutable distance. When I worked in Roseville for a few years a couple of decades ago, several of my cow-orkers lived in the Auburn area. Of course, literally, YMMV.
I’m moving to north Sac soon. The commute from north to downtown sucks utter balls.
It depends on your budget and preferences. Roseville is massively overbuilt - it went from about 10,000 people to 120,000, and if you count the sprawl into other counties and towns, I’d bet the area went from 20k to well over 200k in about ten years. There are many good things about it, but housing tends to be expensive and you may not care for its nuevo-suburbia crush and town attitude somewhere between superior and Stepford.
If you can handle a little less Escaladity, the surrounding towns of Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks, Carmichael and Orangevale all have very nice older areas - as well as a few dump spots. I’d exhaust the list in Citrus Heights before looking elsewhere. It’s relatively cheap, the newly formed city (1997) has done wondrous things with the place and good financial management, and it’s central to nearly everything in the area.
Drivers in the Sac area are different than other parts of the state. They suck particularly bad. In the bay area everyone drives super agressivley but if you don’t make sudden movements everyone pretty much knows how big their car is and while they will get feet from you you most likely won’t be hit. In the Sac area they just don’t give a shit and will run right into you. And I’ve never seen a place that more people ran red lights than in Sac.
If you ate going to work in roseville - live in roseville or very close. Traffic sucks.
Bumping because it is now official. I am moving to Roseville. Target date is October 1.
I have lived in L.A. for the past 29 years. It’s very familiar and I have a family and a lot of friends here, but I am very excited about the move.
Now comes the hassle of finding a house to rent. Hassle in that we will have to make a bunch of appointments to see houses in a one or two day stretch and then make the 5 drive out there to look at them. Not really convenient.
Parts of it are flood-risk areas and there are several levees. I’d advise ID’ing those places.
Very low lying, so you will want to pay great attention to where you live and make sure it is on high ground. Compare to New Orleans for flooding danger, but it is not widely publicized. Commuting is a nightmare, so plan on that too.
The main flood risk is in Sacramento, especially north and south of downtown. If you’re out in Roseville or Citrus Heights, you’ll want to check theFEMA map if you’re near a creek, but otherwise floods aren’t a big concern.
If flying up to look at houses is an option, the Sacramento airport is very easy to get in and out of.
- Too damn hot (for me anyway)
- Capital of California
- Known as “Sacto” to locals
- If you take the “Sacto” out of Sacramento you are left with “ramen”
(No. 1, you don’t care. No. 2, you already knew. No. 3, you may or may not have known. No. 4, you learn something new every day!)
I live in the region. I think the comments posted so far are pretty accurate, to tell the truth. Roseville is at the base of where the foothills to the Sierras start, so flooding risk is limited to creek side areas for the most part. The American and Sacramento rivers (the ones associated with disaster potential) do not go thru Roseville.
Roseville is a tad sprawly, so if you are from SoCal, it will feel familiar. There is a big indoor mall there. You will not be want for anything - Roseville has everything you may need. The commute on I-80 to downtown is bad, but not long-lasting - we do not have 24-hr rush hour like on the 405. If you live and work in Roseville, commuting will be easy. People here complain about traffic - they have not lived in L.A.
About a 2 hour drive to SF, but Amtrak runs there as well. Napa is about 90 min in good traffic, but there are good wineries in the hills in El Dorado and Amador counties, about 45 min drive.
North Lake Tahoe is about a 90 minute drive from Roseville - you can be in the snow (in winter) in about 45 min. If you like to bicycle, or run, the American River Parkway runs about 30 miles from downtown to Folsom Lake - a paved bike trail the whole way - tons of people use it. Boating on Folsom Lake (until the water is drawn down - this week). There are a lot of outdoor activities in the area - you will see a lot of homes with campers, trailers with jet skis, boats, kayaks, dirt bikes and other toys. People leave their ski racks on all year long (optimists).
Summers are generally on the hot side - about 10 degrees warmer than the Bay Area (altho the last week has been awesomely cool!). Each summer there is usually a heat wave where we are in the 100s for a few days in a row. Winters are generally about 10 degrees cooler than the Bay Area, and there is risk of Tule fog after storms.
Sacramento is not on the tourist trail, but there are a number of good attractions to check out in town. Mid-town (east of the Capitol area) is known for a number of good restaurants. The area lacks world-class cultural exhibits you may get in L.A.
As stated, the airport is a cinch - about 30 min drive to and from Roseville. If kids are in the equation, I think Roseville has a good school district (but not sure). Good luck!
I grew up in Roseville from about 5th grade to most of HS when I went I left and I agree it went from small town to waaaay to big really quickly. It was a very small town when I lived there, but I was back recently and man, it’s MASSIVE.
Go the other way and try Rocklin or Auburn. Lovely cities, commute would be ok. Auburn is really nice.
Roseville does flood, as others have pointed out. Auburn is heading towards the foothills, is lovely, and does not.
Read the Craigslist housing ads - Roseville is up there on the want-to-be-yuppie list. Unfortunately, most of the people looking for Roseville can’t afford it.
One thing which surprised me (positive) is the willingness of strangers to help - I’ve got a truck on its last legs and it has developed the unfortunate habit of dying. I’ve had no problem with people stopping to help.
Sacto seems to actually hate its residents - ever see DOUBLE traffic bumps? Those are vicious - approach atr 10 mph unless you want a sore back. If pulling a trailer, make that 5 mph.
Red light cameras fund much of the budget.
See the Sacramento Bee (no, and I don’t want to know how they came up with it) - about the only thing it has to talk up is the local sports. Capital city discusses HS football - yes, it is that pathetic.
You will get directed to the Railroad Museum - trains used to be built here, and it was the primary location for splitting trains coming through the Sierras (Donner Pass) into trains going north, south, and west. They no longer build cars or locomotives, but they had a bunch of stuff they never got around to scrapping, and the stuff has been polished up.
That museum is pretty much the only thing that Sacto does that every other city of 500,000 or more doesn’t do, and do better.
When the only thing the locals can brag about is how easy it is to get FROM here to someplace interesting, you know…
I live in Rocklin. I like it up here. There isn’t much to “do,” but it’s quiet. I like looking at the hills. Oh, and “Woofstock” is later this month.
Yah, this is true. HS Football is a bigger deal here than a lot of other cities where I have lived. The Kings are here and a lot of noise is made about them, but a lot of people are indifferent and focus on HS sports. There is also the River Cats minor league baseball - there is a nice park near downtown. They seem to have a decent following.
The area is also more conservative than the SF Bay area and L.A. The economy is heavy on the state Goverment, but there are a number of tech companies with operations in the area plus a large service sector. There are a few sketchy areas around and problems do exist, but it is generally safe in the eastern burbs.
Here’s the deal, if you are a hipster, coffee shop intellectual who refuses to own a car, you are probably not going to like this area. If you require a lot of cultural stimulation and variety, you will get bored. However, if you like outdoor activities, a slower pace of life than SF Bay Area or L.A, and you are looking for a decent place to have a family, you will probably be fairly comfortable in this region.
I hear Roseville cops are wicked harsh.
Rocklin, Auburn and Lincoln are definately on the list. I am going there at the end of the month to work for a few days. We will be checking out some places then. This way, the company pays for the trip.
That’s so funny because “the Bay Area” can have a 30 - 40 degree temperature gradient on any given day, depending on where you are. I think you mean San Jose.
But the biggest difference I noticed is that it doesn’t cool down at night like it does here (I live near SJ). It’s unusual for it not to cool down pretty quickly in the evening, and get near or below 60 by morning.
Yah, you are right. I should have accounted for all the micro-climates. I am thinking of the south bay. In the Sacramento valley area, the temp keeps rising thru the day until the sun goes down. In the S bay area, the hottest time of the day is mid afternoon. Sacto has the “delta breeze” which moderates temps in the summer.
I will say that it can be nice to be outside after dark without a sweater in the Sacto area.
I am a recent transplant to Sacramento from Madison. (Big change, for sure!)
We live in North Sac, which is …meh. I’d not pick it again. Midtown is nice, I keep an office on 18th street. I like the area. My main gig is teaching at a small college in Rancho Cordova. Both Rancho and Elk Grove are nice, suburban-ish areas.
What I’m learning is that everything around here is very spotty, decent areas and lower income areas seem to be interspersed.
Still, the area is fairly nice. Cost of living seems reasonable for California.
Welcome. Let’s have a Sacto dopefest when you’re in town!