Hey,
So I was offered a job in California (I live in upstate New York). It’s in Sacramento, but when I visited I did not like the city, and the employer is considering letting me live in San Francisco and coming into the office twice a week.
would you do this? I think it’s about 1.5 hours each way
Are there any nice areas inbetween Sacramento and San Fran to live as well?
Hell no I wouldn’t do that. If you like long boring drives, maybe you’d feel differently. It’s not a particularly scenic part of California.
I opened up google maps to see precisely what cities are between San Francisco and Sacramento. Richmond, Vallejo, Fairfield, Vacaville, Davis. Nah, I wouldn’t want to live in any of those place.
ETA: Actually, Davis might be okay. I haven’t spent much time there, but it’s a college town and probably at least somewhat fun.
I have a very good friend that lives near Berkley and commuted to Sacto every day via the train.
She loved it.
My girlfriend’s dad went from Sac to northern Contra Costa, but had a place up there too so he didn’t have to do it every day. My uncle commuted from Davis to Hayward daily. It was crazy, I wouldn’t want to be on the road for ~4 hours a day. 2x a week might be okay, but not great.
There’s all kinds of places to live between, at least in the East Bay you don’t have to deal with the bridge every day.
For me, driving would be a dealbreaker. But FWIW, it looks like Amtrak has fairly good and frequent service between Oakland and Sacramento. Just click on the “Capitol Corridor”.
For enough money I’ll be willing to do the commute once a week. Twice a week? I’ll even consider that if the money is there. It’s not a difficult drive (very straight), just not too exciting. You will have to choose your commute times to minimize running into traffic. For entertainment, You can listen to podcasts or audio books while driving.
I lived in between Sac and SF for a while, in Vacaville. It is a pretty ordinary, boring place, so if you didn’t like Sac, you probably would not like Vacaville or Fairfield. However, as someone else suggested, Davis is pretty nice and you might like it.
If you like audio books or music, you may enjoy a long commute a couple times a week. The drive is easy, but may be longer than 1.5 hours with traffic outside of SF.
I’d pick Davis. Or take the train from Richmond (not that I’d want to live in Richmond, mind you).
What didn’t you like about Sac? It’s a small city with too many suburbs, but there are some cool parts. I’d also say the East Bay is a better choice than SF. Cheaper, better weather, easier to get around, etc.
I used to commute from Sacramento to San Francisco 1 day a week. It really burned me out, but I think everybody’s different when it comes to how much logjammed-freeway time they can handle. I felt as if there were ever-increasing odds that I was going to get creamed by a semi while trying to score a few extra bucks (which mostly paid for gas).
I agree that you should maybe do some more research about Sacramento and its surrounding areas. What parts of Sac did you see?
We had someone who commuted from Folsom to Sunnyvale four days a week to avoid moving. It did not work out well, and that was from the perspective of those who worked with him. I’m sure it was worse for him.
There are many nice places to live way closer to Sacramento than SF, and cheaper also.
You are probably aware of this but San Francisco is one of the most expensive places in the US to live. Sacramento is hot as hell in the summers so I can see not wanting to live there but there are better options. Go east Rancho Cordova, Cameron Park, Placerville. Hell if you are willing to drive from SF to Sac why not just go live in Lake Tahoe? Only a few more miles of a drive.
Also, there is no way you are getting between Sac and SF in an hour and a half. Traffic in Sac and SF is brutal during commute hours. It would be doable on the train though.
My house is just below the Canadian border. My office is in Seattle. One hundred and ten miles. Each way. It takes about two hours to drive to the Park & Ride, then another half-hour to ride into Belltown and walk to the office. I do this three times a week. Is it worth it?
Well… My little seaside village is pretty dull. But I can afford a house here, and I like not hearing sirens all the time. Pleasantly quiet. AND I get to go into a city (remember, I’m from L.A.). When I go to the office, I get outside for lunch. I get to walk around. I can do the odd bit of shopping. When I work at home, I’m pretty much glued to the couch with the computer on my lap. I get into the work groove, and it’s hard to stop. But I get to sleep late.
I don’t mind the drive. It’s the getting up early that’s a chore.
If by “live in San Francisco” you mean live somewhere in the greater SF Bay Area, it might be OK. Consider carefully your commute before committing to driving two hours each way, one and a half hours of which each way will be cornfields. Personally when I had a long commute I adored Amtrak. It was by far the best of the several options I tried. Clean, comfy, spacious, bathrooms and a snack bar, wifi. You can nap or work. And you could get heavily discounted passes. Of course in that case, the East Bay is way more convenient as that is where the train actually runs as opposed to SF, which has to connect by bus.
If you can get a not too rapacious rate at an extended stay hotel, it might be worth it to stay there for a couple of weeks and experiment with various commute methods and explore the different towns and neighborhoods before committing to one.
Broke my heart the last time I was there. The Nut Tree is gone.
no fuckin’ way - the Nut Tfee is gone ?!? Goodbye childhood…sniff
I went to UC Davis. Davis is a nice sacto burb, but that’s about it. I grew up in norcal, high school in folsom. ItLs one big dump.
I love the bay area but the commute will kill you.
It was gone from 1996 to 2006, and again for part of 2009. It’s back now apparently, I don’t know how it compares to the good old days, though.
Not very much fun in the winter, though. When we go to Tahoe, Sacramento might be half way in miles, but much less than half way in hours.
What?
I’ve lived and worked in both SF and Sacto. If you don’t like Sacto for a visit, you will hate working there and living there two days a week even more. It is very small town and provincial socially with none of the advantages of being a big city. The people are very nice, but a cultural center it most definitely is not. And it’s ugly.