Sacramento, California

OHdulcenea
Living in Sacramento
1y ago
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We were a bit leery about leaving Austin after 30 years because we both had good jobs we liked and our kids were pretty happy. But then I looked around at the state, at what happened during COVID, at what the legislature was doing, what’s happening at school boards and medical centers, and decided even the Austin bubble didn’t seem safe enough anymore.

We visited Sacramento in fall of 2021 and again last July. We sold our Austin house, got here in September 2022, and then bought a house in a walkable neighborhood.

Our lives have improved in nearly every way. I’m no longer angry and stressed all the time at what’s happening around me and feeling at risk from the government that’s supposed to be in place for the people. My kids go to schools where healthy free breakfasts and lunches are served to every child, as opposed to Texas where school kids were fundraising to pay off other students’ lunch debts. Most of my neighbors don’t support insurrections against the government. Some Proud Boys showed up to try to start some trouble at a Drag Queen story time near us and were immediately shouted down and run off.

Our cost of living went up somewhat but our pay went up more - lots more - so financially we’re doing really well. I’m almost positive my youngest was literally the only white kid at his school - a big change for him - but he got settled right in and had a great year. My kids love their new schools, had kind teachers, and made friends quickly.

The weather has been superior here compared to Austin nearly every day. We got here in the fall and the weather gradually cooled. I kept waiting for it to get hot again like Texas, where the weather is very schizophrenic, but it never did. It was a gradual cooling and a beautiful changing of leaf colors. There was a ton of rain in the winter and we were repeatedly told how abnormal it was. But even with that, it was nice. The cold isn’t as cutting here as in Austin, so we were usually comfortable, even when it was near freezing. Now that it’s summer, I still barely use my AC. It’s cool at night - in the 50s and 60s - so we sleep with the windows open and leave them open for most of the day. Sometimes by the afternoon the house has heated up enough that the AC kicks on and I’ll close the windows then. But by dark it’s cooled again and the windows get reopened. And even with that, I’ve had perhaps a half-dozen mosquito bites total. I‘ve gotten that many in 5 minutes in my Austin backyard before.

For this review in full and more reviews from locals check out The Reviews

TakeNameInVain
Living in Sacramento
1y ago
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Edited 1y ago
Moved here from Dallas recently. Your response resonates with me in so many ways from body autonomy to inclusiveness of differences. I love Sac a lot already in comparison to TX & other states I lived in. So far I really like Sac for the combination of a lot of varied events going on around town & inclusive of families, singles, young, old, culture, etc. Only thing I dislike is the high gas prices, but I'll gladly pay that for better living.

I like that I can get to so many different areas in a short time vs hour of gridlock just to run errands. In comparison, humidity is so much lower that at least I can enjoy the summer mornings. Pay is better even factoring higher cost of living. I like that my cost of living helps (teeny bit) subsidize better benefits for the community rather than a state where withhold even basic benefits.

I hope I feel the same way later on that I do now. I can't really think of another area/state that I would prefer more that is somewhat affordable.

Downside: while I can afford to rent here, I can't afford to buy here. So because of that, I may ultimately have to consider other options, but I'm going to enjoy here while I am here. Lived in more cities than I can count, 8 states, and Sac is high up on the list of favorites so far.

Edit: this may sound silly, but I love living in the same state as Rep Katie Porter. Elected officials like her have been the balm to my battered democratic soul since 2016. Every state has elected asshats, but no other state has Katie.

notthehighground
Lived in Sacramento
1y ago
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I moved from Western Massachusetts to Davis 6 years ago to get away from the -30F winters and then moved to Sacramento 2 years ago so that I could live in a place with better nightlife options + get a head start on networking while I was getting my master’s degree. Now, I’m planning on moving back closer to my family in Seattle in a couple months.

I don’t so much regret moving to Sacramento, I just learned what I was looking for. Here are my takeaways:

I feel like I don’t “click” with people here. Maybe this is just me, or because of the political circles I’m in, but most of the friendships I’ve made here seem shallow and we end up talking about work instead of hobbies or interests. I definitely have found some solid friends though, but we either don’t meet up super often due to life getting in the way or they end up moving elsewhere soon afterwards. I’ve also tried to find hobby groups, and I’ve had success with playing airsoft (after trying all sorts of things), so I have that going for me at least.

Transit (or the lack thereof): I was spoiled as a kid growing up in Hong Kong with a gazillion transit options, as well as Seattle’s bus + light rail systems, but Sacramento is completely abysmal when it comes to safe, reliable transit that operates past 8 PM. Sometimes, buses don’t show up and have headways of 30 minutes or more. Western Mass doesn’t have the greatest transit either, but at least the cities there are walkable and the buses show up on time. I also miss not being car dependent, so Seattle is an appealing option for me.

The “Sacramento Process”: It’s like the Seattle process, where there’s constant introspection as to what to do about a certain issue until it’s planned repeatedly to death, but with a twist—it’s not an issue when sports (light the beam tho) is involved. There’s other quirks to it too such as the constant shift in priorities which makes implementation very difficult and having no unifying vision of what Sacramento should look like.

The culture: Coming from Davis, the nightlife scene is markedly better, but I don’t really sense a city culture like I do for Seattle or NOLA or SLC. The food scene is fine (although dominated by hipster culture in certain areas, not that I take issue with that) but not something to write home about. I am pretty miffed about the Jeff Koons sculpture and the weird neon Old Sac sign that you can only barely see while driving on I-5 because it does seem that the people in charge of things are more interested in importing culture rather than fostering it organically (and I’m 80% sure the farm-to-fork slogan is GMO’d in some corporate board meeting as well).

bomersjc
Living in Sacramento
1y ago
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I was born here, and like most 18 year olds, I was desperate for something new. I joined the Navy, traveled the world, and lived in San Diego for 10 years where I met my wife. We moved up to the Bay for work, but the cost of living was ridiculous. Moved to Tracy and killed myself commuting to the Bay, and had kids. My family still lived in Sacramento and we really wanted the kids to be closer to them. The pandemic hit and opened up more flexible work opportunities, so we moved to Sacramento. Best move we’ve ever made. Close to family, and despite lots of folks bashing it, Sacramento has so much to offer. We plan on staying here the rest of our lives.

PROS & CONS OF LIVING IN SACRAMENTO