Roseville/South Rocklin vs Elk Grove

[Alan Gregg]

There's no doubt about it that Roseville and south Rocklin would be the better choice over Elk Grove for numerous reasons. The Roseville area is far more charming (Old Town Roseville), better planned, near Folsom Lake, has better schools, I would think lower crime and is an easier drive to the Lake Tahoe, Reno and the upper Gold Country. On the negative side it can be a worse commute, but if you buy near Sierra College Boulevard (which turns into Hazel Avenue in Orangevale and Rancho Cordova), your commute should not be so bad. The further east you can afford to go in the Roseville area, will allow you to use Auburn-Folsom Road, which provides a direct commute into Folsom Blvd and Rancho Cordova.

[webdev]

Originally Posted by Oneway

Hello all,

We are planning to relocate to Sacramento Area in the next month or two. We will be renting for the first years and plan to buy a house after that. I have 2 kids one is in elementary and one is going to middle school next year. There are 3 things that we consider the schools, property location (safety/property value) and commute distance. I will be working at Rancho Cordova area.

I know Roseville/South Rocklin has good school mostly and slightly more expensive that Elk Grove; Folsom is good but it would be too expensive for us. We are looking closely on Roseville/South Rocklin but Elk Grove is attractive on price/newer houses and the commute distance would be closer.

I only visited Sacramento once so I have no really good information other than reading online forums.

Your opinion is much appreciated.

Thank you,

Oneway

If you are working in Rancho and Folsom is too expensive have you tried Orangeville, or "New rancho" south of 50? There are nice homes in Rancho Cordova south of 50 and its a nice neighborhood. Just not a lot of retail around because its all new. That whole area will merge with Folsom (south of 50) in a few years. That area of Rancho is closer than Elk Grove but its the same school district. Places like Kavala Ranch/Anatolia. Also look at Gold River. Gold River has HOA's but its kept up its value pretty good and its a nice area very close to Rancho.

Rocklin/Roseville would be one hell of a commute to Rancho.

[u225615]

Originally Posted by webdev

If you are working in Rancho and Folsom is too expensive have you tried Orangeville, or "New rancho" south of 50? There are nice homes in Rancho Cordova south of 50 and its a nice neighborhood. Just not a lot of retail around because its all new. That whole area will merge with Folsom (south of 50) in a few years. That area of Rancho is closer than Elk Grove but its the same school district. Places like Kavala Ranch/Anatolia. Also look at Gold River. Gold River has HOA's but its kept up its value pretty good and its a nice area very close to Rancho.

Rocklin/Roseville would be one hell of a commute to Rancho.

I agree about the commute... if you can find a nice neighborhood near work with good schools why add to the already congested roadways. Spend the extra time you would spend in the car with family instead.

Based on average list prices if a person can afford Roseville/Rocklin (the nice parts because Roseville has some iffy areas) they should be able to afford Folsom. Folsom has lower crime than Roseville and high performing schools including a high school with higher SAT scores than Roseville and Rocklin High Schools.

Originally Posted by Alan Gregg

There's no doubt about it that Roseville and south Rocklin would be the better choice over Elk Grove for numerous reasons. The Roseville area is far more charming (Old Town Roseville), better planned, near Folsom Lake, has better schools, I would think lower crime and is an easier drive to the Lake Tahoe, Reno and the upper Gold Country. On the negative side it can be a worse commute, but if you buy near Sierra College Boulevard (which turns into Hazel Avenue in Orangevale and Rancho Cordova), your commute should not be so bad. The further east you can afford to go in the Roseville area, will allow you to use Auburn-Folsom Road, which provides a direct commute into Folsom Blvd and Rancho Cordova.

Roseville and Rocklin have their strong points. However, you can find good schools in Elk Grove such as Elizabeth Pinkerton and Katherine Albiani Middle Schools with API scores that compare favorably to those in Roseville while saving some extra cash on lower home prices (to spend on orthodontics for the kids, travel and such) EGUSD serves a lot more students and the district boundaries are far flung including rich and poor areas so you have to filter out more neighborhoods.


As far as less crime ...IMO pretty close crime indexes as posted below...

Originally Posted by Cornhusker_CA

I gathered crime index data from homefacts.com. 100 means US average, lower is better.

Rockin 35.20
Folsom 38.90
Sunnyvale 41.03
Santa Clara 53.20
Milpitas 54.57
Walnut Creek 60.84
Roseville 63.19
Fremont 64.67
Elk Grove 66.66
Tracy 68.34
Pleasant Hill 84.07
San Jose 88.65
Gilroy 95.55
Lodi 94.15
Union City 102.25
Concord 111.79
Pittsuburg 113.00
San Leandro 132.13
Hayward 149.02
Berkeley 154.50
Modesto 157.26
Fresno 171.07
Salinas 178.31
Sacramento 192.05
East Palo Alto 196.94
Vallejo 242.08
Stockton 281.80
Richmond 298.85
Oakland358.07

[bluevelo]

I would pick Roseville/Rockin over Rancho/Elk Grove any day of the week if you can't afford Folsom/El Dorado Hills.

Elk Grove is NOT nice; and in a few years is going to be overrun with gang bangers/Section 8 as the foreclosed houses are bought up by investors and rented out to the underclass.

[NinaN]

Be careful reviewing crime statistics. In major shopping areas (malls, etc.) there is always more crime because large parking lots seem to present a prime opportunity to theives. With the Galleria and surrounding shopping areas in Roseville, it will skew the crime stats up. Look closely at the Sheriff's crime maps to see what type of crime and where it's happening. The area you want to live might not be as bad as the stats show.

[u225615]

Originally Posted by NinaN

Be careful reviewing crime statistics. In major shopping areas (malls, etc.) there is always more crime because large parking lots seem to present a prime opportunity to theives. With the Galleria and surrounding shopping areas in Roseville, it will skew the crime stats up. Look closely at the Sheriff's crime maps to see what type of crime and where it's happening. The area you want to live might not be as bad as the stats show.

Spot on NinaN...this is where crime maps come to play. The below links have been posted by others in these forums...
Sacramento,Elk Grove and Folsom...
CrimeMapper - The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California

Roseville...
CrimeMapping.com - National Map