Is Rancho Cordova a nice or bad area to live? (Sacramento: low income, for sale)
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The newer parts of Rancho Cordova are pretty comparable to Natomas, or the Southport region of West Sac. In all of these neighborhoods you have fairly new homes feeding into to middling schools. If you are looking to buy the least expensive homes that are less than 10 years old these are the neighborhoods you are going to be looking at. The older parts of Rancho Cordova are still more blue collar than ghetto. In Rancho Cordova, along Folsom Blvd most of the older mini malls are being filled by Korea shopkeepers. If you are interested in Korean BBQ this is an interesting place to explore. The older parts of Rancho used to filled mainly will military families when Mather was still an Air Force Base. These neighborhoods were always blue collar and when the air force left, it didn't help the neighborhood. But the proximity to American River Bike trail has tended to help stabilize the neighborhood. Rancho held up much better than North Highlands did when both neighborhoods lost there military bases in part because the highway 50 corridor continued to open new office parks. The older parts of Rancho Cordova are pretty comparable to the older parts of Roseville near the rail road tracks, to parts of Antelope and to the parts of Citrus Heights near the Rail Road tracks. None of these neighborhoods are as nice as say Folsom or Granite Bay, but they aren't as screwed up as Meadowview, Del Paso Heights, or Oak Park either.
Rancho Cordova is generally considered a bad place to live. It does have it's redeeming qualities- price, new construction.... It is the same situation for natomas, elk grove, and lincoln. Location/zipcode are undesirable but there are new nice master planned communities. The water, the rendering plant, and the proximity to a junky part of town tip the scales to a no for me. If I wanted 2500 sq' new construction master planned community for the bargain basement price I would choose (in order) Lincoln, elk grove, natomas, rancho cordova. The media re the water really doesn't help r.c.
That's great that these other communities would work better for you. However, since I have kids the quality of schools is a big factor. The school attendence boundaries for the newer areas of Rancho Cordova include Pleasant Grove High, K. Albiani Middle and Sunrise elementary (located in the Anatolia neighborhood) all part of the Elk Grove School District. The API scores are better than those found in Natomas or Lincoln (as per Greatschools.net). Also, water for these newer communities in Rancho comes from the north Vineyard aquafier and is miles away from the aquafier contaminated by Aerojet. However, this water hype does give some people something to write about. I would only consider Lincoln, Elk Grove, Natomas if my employment were nearby. Otherwise the commute would be a nightmare with the exception of residents in Natomas who work in downtown Sacramento. Commuting from my locale in Rancho would be a breeze to Folsom, El Dorado Hills, or Elk Grove. And with the exception of Natomas Park there are no other developments in these communities with a clubhouse with resort style amenities. Good schools (check), easy commute (check), safe and well kept neighborhoods (check), clubhouse, at least for Anatolia residents (check). Some people cant get past the zip code and that's fine..to each his own but i'll take these advantages over the perception that Rancho Cordova is generally a bad place to live.
The newer parts of Rancho Cordova are pretty comparable to Natomas, or the Southport region of West Sac. In all of these neighborhoods you have fairly new homes feeding into to middling schools. If you are looking to buy the least expensive homes that are less than 10 years old these are the neighborhoods you are going to be looking at. The older parts of Rancho Cordova are still more blue collar than ghetto. In Rancho Cordova, along Folsom Blvd most of the older mini malls are being filled by Korea shopkeepers. If you are interested in Korean BBQ this is an interesting place to explore. The older parts of Rancho used to filled mainly will military families when Mather was still an Air Force Base. These neighborhoods were always blue collar and when the air force left, it didn't help the neighborhood. But the proximity to American River Bike trail has tended to help stabilize the neighborhood. Rancho held up much better than North Highlands did when both neighborhoods lost there military bases in part because the highway 50 corridor continued to open new office parks. The older parts of Rancho Cordova are pretty comparable to the older parts of Roseville near the rail road tracks, to parts of Antelope and to the parts of Citrus Heights near the Rail Road tracks. None of these neighborhoods are as nice as say Folsom or Granite Bay, but they aren't as screwed up as Meadowview, Del Paso Heights, or Oak Park either.
Some areas are dangerous but there's enough modest but well kept homes in the older areas of Rancho that keep it from being "ghetto." The Sunriver neighborhood adjacent to the American River Bike Trail offers relatively low crime as well. It's inaccurate to say the newer areas of Rancho feed into middling schools...the API score for Sunrise Elementary in Anatolia, also attended by kids from Kavala Ranch and Sunridge Park, is within a few points of Natomas Station Elementary as well as Oak Chan Elementary in the highly regarded Folsom School District. These newer neighborhoods feed into Pleasant Grove High which,again, is within a few points of Folsom High School. The newer Rancho areas definitely do not feed into middling schools and there is no comparison to Natomas or Southport. Also, comparing a neighborhood to a whole community (newer areas of Rancho to Folsom) serves no purpose. However, one could state that the newer areas of Rancho are an alternative to comparable areas within Folsom in terms of crime, schools, and housing.
Ive stayed in RC a few time and never had a issue but, I did notice at night it was a wee bit shady and the vibe was not good. ..... I noticed a lot of undesirables hanging out at the gas stations and the attendant told me to be careful of the they are homeless and may rob you.
Op... The answer is here. It is a matter of personal preference, and the residents like it there, especially if you choose the right neighborhood. Is it a desirable zipcode? No.
We had problems in Rancho Cordova, and I wouldn't suggest other people to live there unless you live right at Chilli's or past CVS.
Drugs, graffiti, some adorable group of children from the section 8 housing stealing my car and leaving me with a $500+ bill ... yeah. As a rule of thumb, areas near previous bases are not stellar. This includes North Highlands.
(Also, try taking the Lightrail from the Cordova stations. There's a difference between Cordova and Midtown.)
We had problems in Rancho Cordova, and I wouldn't suggest other people to live there unless you live right at Chilli's or past CVS.
Drugs, graffiti, some adorable group of children from the section 8 housing stealing my car and leaving me with a $500+ bill ... yeah. As a rule of thumb, areas near previous bases are not stellar. This includes North Highlands.
(Also, try taking the Lightrail from the Cordova stations. There's a difference between Cordova and Midtown.)
Prior to incorporation as a city Rancho Cordova could not be recommended. Since incorporation there are viable neighborhoods offering low crime, well kept homes, and access to high performing schools(neighborhoods south of Douglas Road). The bad parts are still present but there are now perfectly fine neighborhoods including Stone Creek, Capitol Village, Anatolia, Kavala Ranch, and Sunridge Park
The largest percentage of any ZIP code within 100 miles of Sacramento.
"Homebuyers were told to expect a community of 30,000 homes with plentiful shopping, parks and public services. Today, they have a community of 3,000 homes and 8,000 people, with only a Walgreens drugstore nearby and a shuttered fire station."
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