Is Sacramento (or east Orange County) a better fit for me? (San Diego: neighborhoods, construction)

[caligirlz]

Originally Posted by pistola916

Like I mentioned on another thread, the hot summer weather is overblown. It drastically cools off after sunset.

Depending on where you live in California, and even in Sacramento County, or surrounding counties.

[fbt263]

Originally Posted by HILife09

Moving to Sac would be a huge shock to you coming from DC. There are far less things to do here, and it can be a very depressing place to be at times for a younger person. I would definitely stay in DC or go to so cal (for the nice weather). It gets very hot in sacramento in the summer and can be quite cold in the winter. I hope to be moving to so cal very soon as well. Best of luck in your decisions.

Ha. Sacramento climate is overall excellent and FAR superior to DC and 98% of places in the USA for that matter. Here 34 F is considering a deep emergency freeze ("cover your tomato plants!!") and a heavy rainstorm is cause for panic and closes schools. SoCal coast is a bit more mild, but not by much. Sac had excellent weather and is statistically one of the sunniest places on the planet (google it). But don't put it past LA snobs to look down on it! Whatever, keeps my rent reasonable.

Sacramento is not as busy as DC, but is still very much a city with plenty to do. Diverse, laid-back, net liberal. All apply to Sac. And the fact that you can EASILY do daytrips to places like Yosemite, Tahoe, and SF doesn't hurt.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by HILife09

I'm not talking about national standards, I'm discussing CA standards. In comparison to CA weather, Sac summers are very hot and oppressive. The cooler evening and morning temps are meaningless since the majority of people are working or sleeping during those times (countless days in the summer temps are near 90 until 8-9 pm). Winters are cold, it was 34 this am... that's cold anywhere. Yes DC summers are more oppressive than Sac, but DC is a much more entertaining and lively city. I'd rather live in a great city like DC than enjoy a slightly cooler summer in a CA city with much less to do.

Sacramento weather in general including it's summers is one area I will argue until pigs fly. Sort of silly not to compare Sacramento to the rest of the nation, especially with similar cities the size of Sacramento.

Sacramento's summer cooler evenings, nights and morning temps are meaningful to my A/C bill and my outdoor exercise routines and my general mood and disposition knowing that it will cool down considerably and consistently in the summer.

34F as an average temp through the day is cold, not for 1 hour in the morning as is the case for Sacramento which isn't even the normal average low temp. Sacramento's winter low average is in the low 40's. Again, there are many cities throughout the whole north, east, south and west with much colder winter temps than Sacramento. Nationally, people think Seattle and Portland have mild winters and Sacramento winters are warmer than those cities.

Also, there is no place in SoCal that can top Sacramento's beautiful fall colors.

[wburg]

HILife doesn't seem to be aware that it snows rather heavily in Washington DC during the winter, and summer is downright humid. The temp hit 34 degrees, but if you look outside, the sun is shining and the sky is clear...not quite the same as Washington DC where 34 degrees during the winter is a hot streak, and that's when the snow turns to slush. DC also has a reputation as a pretty dead place at night due to all those government offices...

[Curmudgeon]

Good grief! There is so much more to Sacramento besides the weather regardless of what the "Weather Nazi" claims. I would consider its weather relatively mild albeit fairly hot in the summer and cold and wet in the winter. Still, it's milder than DC.

How do I know? I lived in Sacramento for 20 years before retiring and moving. As a child I lived just outside Quantico for three years and as an adult was stationed at the Pentagon for several years. While I didn't much mind the weather, Sacramento's is quite a bit more comfortable.

Now then, Sacramento has plenty to see and do, decent entertainment venues, good theaters - live and cinema, plenty of sports, some really good restaurants with tons of diverse selections, lots of history and is relatively robust socially. It's also growing in most respects both downtown and in midtown.

I think Sacramento is decidedly worthy of consideration and I was mostly raised in OC (Newport Beach).

[HILife09]

Originally Posted by wburg

HILife doesn't seem to be aware that it snows rather heavily in Washington DC during the winter, and summer is downright humid. The temp hit 34 degrees, but if you look outside, the sun is shining and the sky is clear...not quite the same as Washington DC where 34 degrees during the winter is a hot streak, and that's when the snow turns to slush. DC also has a reputation as a pretty dead place at night due to all those government offices...

Why don't you walk around downtown Sacramento at night. It is without a doubt one of the most dead cities in America. You can defend the city all you want, but the reputation it has outside of the region is quite poor and justifiably so. Outside of a few nice restaurants and bars in midtown, it really has nothing unique about it. For a young person it is definitely not the place to be.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by HILife09

Why don't you walk around downtown Sacramento at night. It is without a doubt one of the most dead cities in America. You can defend the city all you want, but the reputation it has outside of the region is quite poor and justifiably so. Outside of a few nice restaurants and bars in midtown, it really has nothing unique about it. For a young person it is definitely not the place to be.

If you lived in Sacramento and actually went out you would see there are least a dozen larger clubs in the downtown/midtown - these areas sort of blend concerning clubs, maybe 20-30 different bars.

Sacramento has a larger more defined and walkable Gay District, certainly more concentrated and walkable than anything in the Eastbay(Oakland Berkeley), San Jose, and Orange County.

[wburg]

Originally Posted by HILife09

Why don't you walk around downtown Sacramento at night. It is without a doubt one of the most dead cities in America. You can defend the city all you want, but the reputation it has outside of the region is quite poor and justifiably so. Outside of a few nice restaurants and bars in midtown, it really has nothing unique about it. For a young person it is definitely not the place to be.

I've been walking around downtown Sacramento at night for over 20 years, not to mention living there. I'm aware that the reputation of Sacramento among people who don't live here and don't know what they're talking about is poor, but people who do live here and know their way around tend to like it quite a bit. And I see a lot of young people when I'm walking around who don't seem to agree that it's "definitely not the place to be." Sure, if you're walking in the part of downtown with the state offices, you're likely to not find much to do at night, but that's no different than walking around closed federal offices in DC at night.

Besides, the OP says she is easygoing and enjoys "nature, good weather, working out, travel, meditating, etc." and is 30, sounds like she's probably not looking for a metric ton of energetic nightlife. Good weather is a relative term, and we haven't heard back re what she considers "good weather" but she sounds like she'd enjoy what Sacramento has to offer--once she realized it isn't a small town.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

If you lived in Sacramento and actually went out you would see there are least a dozen larger clubs in the downtown/midtown - these areas sort of blend concerning clubs, maybe 20-30 different bars.

Sacramento has a larger more defined and walkable Gay District, certainly more concentrated and walkable than anything in the Eastbay(Oakland Berkeley), San Jose, and Orange County.

I can't help myself. I have to ask, what does that have to do with what the OP is seeking to make it warrant a paragraph? Or did I miss something in her posts? If so, what?

[bluevelo]

I lived in the DC-Richmond corridor for most of the 1990s. Summers are hot, humid, and oppressive compared to the very dry 100F heat waves we have here in Sacramento... and we usually cool down at night. Its a very rare stretch of more than a couple of days where a blocking high pressure ridge keeps the Delta breeze from cooling down the city proper at night.

There's a TON of things for a 30something person to do around Midtown, and compared to LA, Seattle or the Bay Area Sacramento - even its most expensive areas - is a bargain and the OP will have no issues finding a great rental, or if they like the area, a decent house on an income in the low six figures. Even in Midtown.

Do we offer what LA or Seattle does? No, but we also don't offer the traffic in either place either. The one thing you can't buy more of in life is time, and unless you are very wealthy, you are going to spend a lot of time in LA sitting in traffic, in your car, waiting to "go somewhere" just like everyone else.