Moving to CA

[sacreole]

Just to echo what others have been saying, Sacramento may be an ideal location for you to settle given your housing budget and area of travel for work. Sacramento is located 90 minutes from the Bay Area and Chico. Flights from Sacramento International Airport connect to most of the major hubs in the nation and is known for its ease of use compared to the Bay Area airports. Southwest Airlines is the largest carrier, with 51 percent of the market share. I would suggest checking out the Sacramento forum for information and guidance.

[semispherical]

Hello - My job, which is in Texas is moving me to CA. I will be working in Northern CA (San Fran, Oakland, Sacramento, Chico, etc.) and doing extensive traveling. I am trying to decide on a location to move to, and I am thinking an area close to San Fran since that is the biggest area. What areas are nice to live in and reasonably priced? For example, I am looking to not spend more than 1800/month on a rental. I would prefer a house, but I am not closed to living in an apt or townhouse. I prefer a mountain view over the beach. Any thoughts?

OP unless your job pays very well and you love traffic, I'd avoid living near SFO. Not many mountain views either. I'm adding my vote for the greater Sacramento area. Woodland and Natomas in particular have reasonably priced housing and are an easy drive to SMF, which, unlike SFO, is not crazy. If you do move to the Sacramento area, stay on the north side. You don't want to have to commute from Elk Grove, for example, to the airport during rush hour.

Originally Posted by LoriBee62

As many others have mentioned, Sacramento would be an even better option. I know nothing about the Sacramento airport, or getting to/from it.

Originally Posted by LoriBee62

Pretty easy as long as you don't have to go through Sac to get there -- meaning stay to the north east of Sac in general.

And parts of Sacramento (Placerville county, from what I hear) is a little more conservative, if that matters to you.

Um -- neither Placer County nor Placerville (in El Dorado County) are "parts of Sacramento" and have suburban/rural vibes rather than the metropolitan state capital ambience of Sac. Placerville is way too far out for regular trips to the airport and, like other El Dorado Co locations, requires driving through Sac to get to the airport.

OTOH, I think the OP would like some of the locations in western Placer Co -- Roseville, Granite Bay, Folsom come to mind. Nice views of the Sierras when the weather is clear.

(Not trying to give you a hard time LoriBee! Placer/Placerville is tough to keep straight!)

[LoriBee62]

Originally Posted by semispherical

[color=Red][i](Not trying to give you a hard time LoriBee! Placer/Placerville is tough to keep straight!)

Oops, you're right. I meant Placer County!

I have read on the Sacramento forum that Rocklin and some of the outer eastern cities are pretty conservative.

[semispherical]

Originally Posted by LoriBee62

Oops, you're right. I meant Placer County!

I have read on the Sacramento forum that Rocklin and some of the outer eastern cities are pretty conservative.

Well depends on what you mean by conservative. Yes, Placer and El Dorado Counties always vote Republican and have a very active Tea Party presence. There are a lot of guns and a lot of "State of Jefferson" support.

HOWEVER -- it doesn't generally trickle down into day-to-day interactions. I drove around for years with an "Obama" sticker on my bumper and the most I ever got from my neighbors was eye-rolling and a couple of rants about the country going to hell. But when the above neighbors needed my help, or when I've needed theirs, we managed to tolerate each others politics .

Country governments are completely dominated by old, white male "good ol' boys" whose family connections run deep. The smaller cities tend to be overwhelmingly Caucasian. I don't know about experiences those of other races/ethnicities might have, though Roseville and Folsom are said to have more diverse populations.