Davis, California

Davis is sometimes described as a “suburb of Sacramento.” That description doesn't nearly do it justice.

Davis also has the spunk of a college town, with UC Davis bringing much energy of the city than a typical suburban city. Davis does though have great public schools, California weather, and plenty of parks which make it a great place to raise a family. Notably it has been the bicycle champion of the U.S. with the highest ridership of any city in the union.

Finally, in addition to Sacramento, the cities of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland, and the natural beauty of Lake Tahoe, Mt. Tam and Pt. Reyes National Seashore, are all accessible within a two hour drive. So you've got that going for you too.

Thoughts from a local:
Davis is a quiet town for the most part. The most bustling part, as you’d expect, is the area surrounding the UC Davis campus. The apartments and houses that are within a 10 minute bike ride of the campus are usually populated by students. Weather can be on the extreme side since it’s in the valley.

I love it here because this is the type of town that I want to be in. People complain mostly about it being too quiet or having nothing to do, but I have none of these complaints. There’s always good food to choose from, and there’s a spate of new breweries to hang out at as well. If you want Thai food, there’s about 10 different places to choose from.

Davis is great for families. Davis is great for college students. Davis can be difficult for those in between. There isn’t that much going on in terms of nightlife if you’re not a student, and the variety in the restaurant/bar scene isn’t on par with what you might hope from a college town. It’s also property in a nice part of California, so housing prices almost immediately price a lot of young people out of Davis to begin with. To summarize, single people in their mid-twenties have very different experiences in Davis than families and college students.

Locals mostly complain about housing prices:

The only bad part about Davis? the cost of housing. I’m a real estate agent in town and finding a decent home for less than $500,000 is going to mean you’re in a condo or halfplex. Even at a $600,000 budget it can be challenging to find a home, which is pretty discouraging for a lot of young families who grew up in town but can't afford to buy here.