Interested techy thinking about buying in Bakersfield or other Central Valley city... (Long Beach: sales, 2013)

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

More even than Fresno, Bako or Merced? lol

Yep, a lot more than Bako and Merced, and more than.....LA, Riverside, Fresno, and Stockton

A study of the top 100 Metros for STEM Professionals using 17 different Metrics

1. Seattle
2. Boston
3. Pittsburgh
4. Austin
5. Minneapolis


12. San Francisco

15. San Diego
16. Sacramento



35. Los Angeles


62. Bakersfield


83. Riverside

87. Fresno

91. Stockton

Source: Wallethub

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

Sacramento's cost of living has really jumped over the past few years. It may soon become unattainable like the Bay Area and L.A. are.

I think not:

Median Home Values:

San Francisco - $1,275,000
Costa Mesa (Orange County) - $757,900
Oakland - $712,700


Los Angeles - $650,200 (Average Income $62,000)
San Diego - $600,000



Sacramento - $312,900 (Average Income $55,000)

Fresno - $221,600 (Average Income $44,000)
Bakersfield - 219,600 (Average Income $45,000)

[dontbelievehim]

Please Take what chimerique(heck, any fanboy) says with grains of salt. Chim loves posting outdated and inaccurate lists. Those lists are mostly pointless. Ignore.


Fresno is improving
Bakersfield is improving
Sac is improving
Even Stockton is fixing itself
The central valley as a whole is becoming more livable.

Sac is the nicest big city, but it will cost you. Just visit them all and go with your gut. Good luck

[Chimérique]

Unlike "dontbelievehim" I'm posting factual measurable information with these lists. These lists are from legitimate sources. Zillow.com and Wallenthub

The Income levels I posted are the least likely to change over the next year.
The median home value levels are the most likely to change over the next year.(These prices are from over the last 6 months).

[Chimérique]

I would easily live in any of the Below: All connected by Freeways or Light Rail Train, All within 30minutes of Downtown Sacramento

WEST OF DOWNTOWN SAC - Highway 50, I-80
West Sacramento - Middle Class City, directly across the Sacramento River from downtown
Davis - College Town-University of California, Middle/Upper Class, self-contained City, connected to Sacramento(12 miles) and Bay Area by Capitol Corridor Trains (12 a/day)
Woodland - Middle class town

NORTHEAST of DOWNTOWN SAC - I-80-Business and I-80 are 2 different Frwys; Highway 160, Highway 50
Arden-Arcade - Lower/Middle/Upper class suburb of Sacramento - Borders American River
Carmiachel - Middle/Upper Class suburb of Sacramento - Borders American River
Citrus Heights - Lower/Middle/Upper Class City - some Hills
Roseville - Middle/Upper Class City - Connected to Sacramento and Bay Area by Capitol Corridor Train - Hills
Granite Bay - Upper Class, borders Folsom Lake - Hills
Rocklin - Middle/Upper Class City - Hills
Lincoln - Middle Class City - Hills
Auburn - Cool mountain town - Mountains, borders upper American River

EAST OF DOWNTOWN SAC - Highway 50, and Highway 16
Rancho Cordova - Middle class and Lower class neighborhoods, Job Center - Borders American River
Rancho Murrieta - Upper End
Jackson - Cool Mountain Town - Hills and Mountains
Folsom - Middle/Upper Class, very nice self-contained City, borders Folsom Lake and American River - Hills
Cameron Park - Upper Class/High End/McMansions - Hills
El Dorado Hills- Upper Class/High End/McMansions - Hills
Shingle Springs - Upper Class/High End/McMansions - Hills/Mountains
Placerville - Cool Mountain town - Mountains

SOUTH OF DOWNTOWN SAC - I-5 and Highway 99
The Pocket - City of Sac, Middle/Upper Class, borders Sacramento River
South Land Park - City of Sac, Middle/Upper Class
Laguna - Middle/Upper Class, City of Sac, borders Sacramento River
Elk Grove - Middle Class/Upper Class city
Galt - Middle Class town

Older Nice Neighborhoods in the City of Sacramento surrounding downtown
Midtown, McKinley Park, Tahoe Park, Curtis Park, Land Park

[Peasy973]

Chimérique thanks for the info about Sactown. For all of the years I lived in CA, I've never been to Sacramento. I plan on going later this year hopefully before the summertime when it really gets hot.

[Californiaguy2007]

I like your "Positive Outlook" on the Central Valley,especially since their are some people who hate the Central Valley and try to make it out to be some Third World-Redneck/Hillbilly-Ghetto,when in fact the Central Valley has a lot of Nice Livable Communities and yup many communities are improving.

Yup...Sacramento might possibly be the priciest city in the entire Valley,but still more affordable compared to the Bay Area,The Coast and Southern CA.

I really like living in the Central Valley and seeing all the Mountains and rows of Agriculture Fields when I go biking or walking,and the beautiful sunny skies of summer and snowcapped winter peaks,and also an interesting wildlife as well with so many variety of birds.

Originally Posted by dontbelievehim

Fresno is improving
Bakersfield is improving
Sac is improving
Even Stockton is fixing itself
The central valley as a whole is becoming more livable.

Sac is the nicest big city, but it will cost you. Just visit them all and go with your gut. Good luck

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

[b]I would easily live in any of the Below: All connected by Freeways or Light Rail Train, All within 30minutes of Downtown Sacramento

NORTHEAST of DOWNTOWN SAC - I-80-Business and I-80 are 2 different Frwys; Highway 160, Highway 50
Arden-Arcade - Lower/Middle/Upper class suburb of Sacramento - Borders American River
Carmiachel - Middle/Upper Class suburb of Sacramento - Borders American River
Citrus Heights - Lower/Middle/Upper Class City - some Hills
Roseville - Middle/Upper Class City - Connected to Sacramento and Bay Area by Capitol Corridor Train - Hills
Granite Bay - Upper Class, borders Folsom Lake - Hills
Rocklin - Middle/Upper Class City - Hills
Lincoln - Middle Class City - Hills
Auburn - Cool mountain town - Mountains, borders upper American River

Chimérique, although we love the Monterey area and are heavily biased toward it, I have considered moving to Auburn and surrounding areas. Why would I do that and am crazy thinking of moving from Monterey? Well, I ask myself that question as well. But the answer is similar to others like theCity who are looking for more affordability. In our case, we hate the idea of leaving Monterey but know financially it is probably in our best interest. At our current life stage with three kids getting ready to enter college we have other financial obligations to consider. So I've recently been checking out some of the properties in this NE area of Sac near the foothills.

My wife's two greatest concerns are traffic into Sac if our kids go to Sac State. Its 37 miles from Auburn and during rush hour that could be a crazy long commute.

Second, the air quality has always been a concern of ours. I know there are many threads discussing this topic already. And I don't want to beat a dead horse, really. But the air is a concern, nonetheless. I've heard the inversion layer can trap in smog from the Bay and farming chemicals causing days when it is recommended not to exercise outdoors. We are very much an outdoor family. So staying indoors when smoggy would be tough.

That being said we have several friends who have lived there and enjoyed it. So I know it can be a good quality of life. There are definitely enough positives aspects for us making it something worth considering at this stage of our lives.

And yes, that would mean leaving this. I just went paddleboarding today in Carmel:





Derek

[janellen]

Derek, Auburn is up in elevation from Sacramento proper, so the air quality shouldn't be so bad. I went there in August when the air quality in Sac isn't so great and the sky was pretty darn blue up in Auburn. Also, the El Dorado Hills area is quite nice and it's closer to Sac for your kids. My brother lives in Sacramento, and one time when I was driving back home from visiting him, I took a road called Latrobe that runs south from El Dorado Hills, and boy was that pretty country. I saw a lot of deer and wild turkeys on that drive, plus two bald eagles.

I can certainly understand not wanting to leave Monterey, but if you have to, you've sure picked out a good alternative.

[Chimérique]

Derek,
There are very few places that can match the air quality of the Monterey Coast, so just about anywhere you move to will have "bad air", lol.

Seriously, I know how nice Monterey is as I used to live there in 1967 as toddler! I often forget that Seaside, Ca was our very first California residence before we settled in San Diego. We lived in Seaside for 1 year while my dad attended the Defense Language Institute (aka Army Language School) in Monterey to learn Vietnamese and Chinese during the Vietnam War. That was so long ago, I often forgot that my earliest memories of Monterey is when I actually lived there!