Updated:Sacramento, CA Moms: Need help on school and neighborhood info

[moonsky]

We may be moving there and I really want to know about the schools and neighborhood. Which area has the best schools(preschool, kindergarden, elementary, and high school? North, West, South, East, Roseville, Folsom, Elk grove, etc. I don't know the area. DC1 will start a kindergarden and DC2 will be in preschool. Which neighborhoods are nice and safe? Are there any areas we should avoid? How is the current real estate? TIA!

Updated: Thanks you all for wonderful info. We prefer new house or newer ones(less than 10 years old) and are located in good school districts. We hope to get a five bedrooms house(We have two DCs now and have one more on the way). So, Roseville is the best bet then? We hope to be in the safe area and nice neighborhood.

[Laurel]

Davis, if you don't mind a short commute to downtown Sac. Great schools, fun college town. Feel free to PM if you have more specific questions!

[Tondi G]

My BIL and SIL live in El Dorado Hills ( I think about 20 miles East of Sacramento). They LOVE it! My SIL homeschools but I believe the area schools are supposed to be good.

http://www.eldoradohillschamber.org/

they opened this place up in the last few years http://www.eldoradohillstowncenter.com/

http://www.visit-eldorado.com/index.php

[AnnieW625]

Hi!

I grew up in Woodland about 20 minutes north west of Sacramento. Nice schools (2 high, 2 jr., and 8 to 10 elementary, plus a few other Christian, and a K-8 Catholic). Nice area, old downtown area, decent home prices, old homes, new homes, near farm land. Your kids will curse you for moving there in their teens, but once they've left once they'll thank you. After living there I spent the last 4 years of living near Sacramento in Davis. I really liked Davis, and the schools are supposedly better (it's a Woodland/Davis rivalry thing! waves to Laurel!), but in exchange housing prices are going to be higher. Bikes are required as is an open mind; it's uber crunchy (think mini Berkeley), but on the flip side it does have it's conservatism.

Now if I were to live in Sacramento and the job was downtown I'd chose to live in either Woodland or Davis, or one of these places within a 20 minute drive to downtown that won't require the use of the freeway:
East Sacramento: 50th Street to about 65th Street off of H, J, and or Folsom Blvd
Tahoe Park: From about 50th Street till about 70th Street just south of Folsom Blvd; not quite as nice as East Sacramento, but still very middle class, and up and coming.
Fab 40s: (amazing large old homes between 39th and 50th St. in between H and Folsom Blvd)
Land Park/South Land Park: nice area south of US 50 that street names are #rd avenues between 1st and 15th and William Land Park is known as Land Park. Anything south of the Park (Sutterville to the north and Florin to the south) is South Land Park, but you NEED to stay WEST of Freeport (east of Freeport south of say Fruitridge on the East side is not soo great!)
Curtis Park: between 21st/Freeport on the west, south of Broadway/US 50, to Sutterville at the south, and Franklin on the east (don't cross over Highway 99!!!!!!)
Greenhaven/Pocket area: 43rd to the North, I-5 on the east, Sacramento River on the west, and Pocket Road to the south (east of I-5 is not so great!). Parts of Greenhaven will require use of I-5 to get to downtown Sacramento but it's still less than a 20 minute commute and much better than most of the outerlying areas of the city (we most likely would've chosen to live here had we stayed). Also home to wonderful traditional Montessori preschool to 8th grade school, Bergamo Prep (my mom used to work at it's sister school in Woodland until the end of last school year).
La Riveria/CSUS: nice homes, most built in the 50s or 60s. May require some freeway, but Fair Oaks Blvd. turns into J Street and heads downtown. Rio Americano is a good high school, and Jesuit (all male Catholic is in this area) as are Sacramento Country Day, and Sacramento Waldorf. Only downside is that both Howe, and Watt Aves. can get crowded during commute times.
Arden-Arcade: just north, and east of CSUS/La Riveria area. Very nice, older homes with large lots. May also require some if not all freeway.

Commutes that will require a freeway for at least 20 minutes (traffic patterns are worse going east to west in the AM or west to east in the PM):
Carmichael: nice area, middle class, lots of green, but prone to flooding, and to get to the freeway it can take an additional 10 minutes or so. Schools are generally good from what I understand.

Citrus Heights/Fair Oaks (Fair Oaks is just a little south, and east of Citrus Heights): further up the I-80 corridor, but again nice homes, larger lots, about 30 to 40 minutes to downtown on a bad day. San Juan Unified is kind of hit or miss for schools, but when I was in the area the schools in Fair Oaks were better than the ones in Citrus Heights.

Roseville/Rocklin: urban sprawl IMHO. I don't care for it much and 95% of it is less than 30 yrs. old (most of new Rocklin is maybe 15 yrs old, if that). If I had to live in that area and didn't mind a 45 to 50 minute to downtown commute I'd look in either Granite Bay or Loomis. A much more wooded feel to it and less tract home feel.

El Dorado Hills: my BIL and wife live there and they really like it. I can't really fault them for it, it's clean, nice homes (almost all of the new stuff is all gated), good schools, but the commute SUCKS! Folsom is going to be very similar, but not as many gated communities. Schools in both areas are quite good from what I understand.

I'd avoid these areas (most of them at all costs):
Rio Linda, and North Highlands (poor)
West Sacramento (poor, it's the arm pit of Yolo County)
Del Paso Heights (African American gangs, bad neighborhoods)
Natomas (either 25-30 yrs. old and a little aging--east of I-5 off of West El Camino or Garden Highway, or off of Arena or Del Paso Blvds (this is okay area) off I-5 are 12 yrs. old, but smaller lots, and most are your a-typical tract home; for this though I would pay more in live in Roseville or Folsom to get the better schools and deal with the commute).
Oak Park (African American/Hispanic gangs, old bad neighborhoods)
Rancho Cordova (Asian gangs)
Elk Grove (parts of it due to Asian gangs; Laguna off of I-5 is a better choice because it's an easier commute too)
South Sacramento (pretty much anything south of Fruitridge and east of Highway 99 or off of Florin Road East off of I-5, and east of Freeport)

School wise unfortunately I don't know much about the Sacramento Unified School District, and most of what I do know is now probably very stale because I have been out of high school for almost 15 yrs., and out of the area for five years now.

Good luck and please feel free to PM with any other questions you may have.

[catroddick]

Annie did a great job. I only disagree with her take on Roseville. I work in Roseville and live in Lincoln (to the north). Yes, it is classic suburbea. But it is also very, very family/kid friendly. The whole South Placer area is so very family focused. The schools are great, there are wonderful activities, it's a great place to raise a family.

I am not a fan of Sacramento County, you just have to be so careful about where you settle.

As far as the local real estate, it is in the toliet. But that is good news for you! There are amazing deals on wonderful homes right now. I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to be buying here right now.

Feel free to PM me with any questions, and Good Luck!!

[AnnieW625]

Annie did a great job. I only disagree with her take on Roseville. I work in Roseville and live in Lincoln (to the north). Yes, it is classic suburbea. But it is also very, very family/kid friendly. The whole South Placer area is so very family focused. The schools are great, there are wonderful activities, it's a great place to raise a family.



Yes that is quite true South Placer is very family friendly and focused, but everything is just soo new and it's just not my style, but that's me. What works for others may not work for some.

[codex57]

I live in Lincoln too, but may move to Rocklin. Trying to get final loan approval (tentative approval right now).

I like South Placer. I'm originally from socal. I like Orange County. S. Placer is like S. Orange County but without the nice weather (but also a ton cheaper).

Anyways, check out Rocklin School District's test scores and then pick your jaw up off the floor.

And yes, I'm not a fan of Sacramento Co. either. Just have to be WAYYYY too careful when picking where you live. When I was buying the Lincoln house, EVERYONE said they'd rather live up North rather than head South in this region. If you're not from the area and intimately familiar with the areas, it's quite risky.

El Dorado Hills is too isolated and underdeveloped for me. It's like Roseville/Rocklin, except 15 yrs ago when they first started building. It's only plus to me is that it's closer to S. Tahoe, which I prefer better than N. Tahoe. Other than being closer to S. Tahoe (and Apple Hill), I consider it a poor facsimile of Roseville/Rocklin. In another 15 yrs it might get better, but that's an awful long time to put up with the negatives when you can just get it now at Roseville/Rocklin.

[AnnieW625]

El Dorado Hills is too isolated and underdeveloped for me. It's like Roseville/Rocklin, except 15 yrs ago when they first started building. It's only plus to me is that it's closer to S. Tahoe, which I prefer better than N. Tahoe. Other than being closer to S. Tahoe (and Apple Hill), I consider it a poor facsimile of Roseville/Rocklin. In another 15 yrs it might get better, but that's an awful long time to put up with the negatives when you can just get it now at Roseville/Rocklin.

I have to laugh then if you think EDH is underdeveloped now you don't want to know what Rocklin, Lincoln, and EDH were like 20 yrs. ago. Roseville has always been bigger, but before highway 65 showed up in the mid 90s I think Rocklin had maybe 8,000 people; it was litterally a hole in the wall (I have family who lived there at the turn of the century, it was like the pics we have of it for many years, even my childhood). You can't see most of Folsom or EDH from the freeway so if you do decide to check the area out definitely get off the freeway and drive a bit, it's really scenic esp. in EDH, there are really hills in the area.

FWIW, they are building this new shopping center right off the freeway at the EDH/Folsom border that looks to be pretty upscale. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of it, but it does look like it will be nice once it opens. I will give the Roseville Galleria credit it is the nicest mall in the Valley:), and it keeps getting nicer from what I understand. My BIL and his wife are foodies and there is enough of that in El Dorado Hills or Folsom to keep them happy (Bistro 33, Mikuni, Scott's Seafood, and Fat's Asia Dim Sum bar are their favorites). If there wasn't they most likely would've stayed in Rocklin.

[codex57]

No, my friend/former co-worker lives in El Dorado Hills. He lives in the hills, altho most of EDH could be considered "hills." I stand by my underdeveloped opinion. Very pretty, but just nowhere near as developed as Roseville. Lincoln is still pretty bare, which is one reason why we're taking the opportunity to move to Rocklin while we have the chance in this housing market. In years to come, it might develop, just like EDH, but if you don't have to wait, why wait? At least with Lincoln, home prices are low. EDH has prices as high as Roseville/Rocklin so you don't even get a discount for being so isolated/underdeveloped. Heck of a lot prettier than Lincoln tho.

And yes, I know Roseville was nothing 20 yrs ago. But it's pretty built out now. EDH still has a ways to go. Years IMO. Especially with this economy.

[hobie]

If you can get up the hill a bit, you will be out of the fog that the valley gets in the winter (Auburn is usually the fog line).

[catroddick]

I do love it when people refer to me living "out" in Lincoln. Oh yeah, "out" just past the Lowes and the Home Depot. It has grown so much just since we've been here!

I like a small town- I'd prefer to be on some acreage with my horses. So Lincoln is plenty big for me!

[codex57]

We like having lots of stores and restaurants around.

We like the Target, but that extra 10 min or so to get into Roseville gets annoying sometimes. We like more variety than Awful Annies or McDonald's.

[ellies mom]

That is a very thorough rundown. I worked in Roseville (NEC) for years. The new part is very sprawlish but I'm quite fond of the older downtown area. I also really like the older parts of Folsom. My parents live in Orangevale. I lived in Old Land Park until I moved to the Pacific NW. Personally, I'd prefer living in dowtown Sacramento but probably only if I could swing private schools.