Moving to Sacramento in summer from NC with school aged kids, job at ucdmc, east sac it Davis? (Stockton: rental, HOA)

[Melodyf]

Hi! My husband just accepted a position at the UC Davis medical center in Sacramento and we plan to move this summer. We have been living on the east coast for 10 years, Maryland, DC, northern VA, and are currently living in Chapel hill, NC. We are hoping to find a rental initially so we can get a better idea of the area. I have never been to the area we are moving to, and we are trying to decide where to live. We would love to be in a safe, family friendly area, with parks, shops, restaurants, good elementry schools, close to hospital, and a place to meet people/neighbors easily. Schools are a huge concern. I have a son who will be in first grade and a daughter who is preschool age. I grew up in a college town with a smaller town feel and enjoyed it. We have also loved living in Chapel Hill. Friends have recommended east sac or Davis...any advice on which one? Davis schools seem better, but the homes on east sac seem more charming and surrounded by parks/shops etc. both seem pretty expensive. Any good east sac schools? San Juan district also seems good, so maybe Arden park area? I don't even think I will be able to make a trip out there, so trying to make decisions remotely. If at all possible we would like to avoid my son switching schools so we would potentially like to rent where we would possibly buy a home after getting a better idea of the area. Is living in east sac and commuting to Davis for school too long? It would be great if my husband's commute could be short too.
Thank you in advance for any advice/suggestions!

[wburg]

You can't really live in East Sacramento and have your kids live in Davis, they are in two different counties. It will be a lot closer to your workplace and East Sacramento fits the definition of the neighborhood you are describing. Sacramento neighborhoods tend to be very distinct and self-contained, and East Sacramento's proximity to Sacramento State as well as the UCDMC campus means it actually has a lot of "college town" feel while not being quite as dominated by the college as Davis is. It's an expensive neighborhood, there is no getting around that.

[Malloric]

East Sac has pretty good elementary/middle schools, not as good as Davis but pretty good. For high school, most people go to private schools or move. It's not a big enough neighborhood to support a high school. San Juan isn't in East Sacramento, it's the Arden-Arcade area, so I guess it's important to distinguish between east Sacramento and East Sacramento. San Juan is mixed, it has both very good and very bad schools. For Arden-Arcade, east of Watt in general has the better schools.

[caligirlz]

Is your husband's job at UCDMC in Sacramento on Stockton Blvd, or is it at the campus in Davis?

[Melodyf]

In Sacramento

[NinaN]

Yes, you need to live where your kids go to school. We have "open enrollment" but I would NEVER count on getting into a school not in your school boundaries. The question isn't so much commuting to get a kid to school (unless you choose private), but commuting to work from where you live and kids go to school.

School Rankings for the Sacramento metropolitan area, California - for school ratings. Looking for High School 10s? Davis, Granite Bay, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Rocklin and a couple charter schools. In terms of housing, Davis is most expensive followed by Granite Bay, El Dorado Hills, Folsom and Rocklin.

Good luck with your move.

[caligirlz]

Originally Posted by Melodyf

In Sacramento

In that case, any neighborhood around East Sac would be fine except for Oak Park. Also, check out midtown, Curtis Park or Land Park. I'm sure there will be other recommendations. If you are willing to consider the suburbs, Folsom, EDH & Roseville have highly rated schools. Some parts of these towns have walkable neighborhoods to shopping & restaurants.

[u225615]

Davis schools are highly regarded. However, based on API (Academic Performance Index) scores there are a number of elementary and middle schools in Sacramento County with better scores.

Just an FYI...API is a score that the California Department of Education assigns to schools based on student performance on standardized tests. Parents generally want schools with higher APIs (it's not a perfect measure but then what is)

I can understand the attraction of east Sac with the anti cookie cutter homes and walkable neighborhoods. However, as mentioned suburbs do offer advantages principally good K-12 schools.

Gold River is a suburb near highway 50 with good access to UCD Med Center and served by excellent San Juan District schools from K-12 (Discovery Center K-8 and Rio Americano High). It also has its own shopping area. It does have an HOA and uniformity is the rule but it's an immaculate neighborhood with a private security patrol.

[nmnita]

First of all, I think too many people put too much emphasis on test scores, but that is just my opinion. If he is working in East Sac I would concentrate on areas around Rio Americano high school. San Juan school district has always had a fairly good reputation. The area around Folsom is always a top priority but the commute will be a little rough.

Good luck. I am sure you will enjoy living in the Sac area. If we were to return to CA (which isn't going to happen) the Sac area or just north or east would be our choice. We loved living in Sac (many years ago)

[NickB1967]

For your kids schools, you can't live near where you work. Not in that area. Unless you are looking at private schools.