Commute from Sac to Stockton? (Sacramento, Elk Grove: salary, to live in, prices)

[misterdammit]

So my fiance has a job offer in Stockton, but neither of us want to live there. We like Sac. How's the commute from Sac to Stockton?

[wburg]

Awful. It's not that there is a lot of traffic but it's like an hour or so from Sacramento to Stockton. It depends on whether you consider working in Stockton to be worth 10-12 hours of your week and $150 of your weekly paycheck.

[misterdammit]

I read that there are trains that go from Sac to Stockton...are those safe and/or reliable? Or is there a bus system from Sac to Stockton? We REALLY don't want to live in/near Stockton, lol.

[CityGirl72]

What part of Sac are you in? That will determine the length of commute.

Plus is it a good job? Is the money worth it? If not and you want to stay in Sac - then have her look for a different job

[wburg]

misterdammit: The San Joaquin trains run from Sacramento to Stockton, but there's only one stop in each city: downtown Sacramento, Lodi, and downtown Stockton. Which means driving or light-rail into the downtown station, plus whatever public transit is offered in Stockton (my guess: not much.) They're safe and relatively on-time (assuming UP doesn't throw any weirdness into the mix.) I don't think there is a Sacramento/Stockton bus, other than Greyhound.

The bottom line is that Sacramento and Stockton are just really not close together. A friend of mine commuted to Stockton for a year or so (when gas was $2 a gallon) and he considered it quite miserable and quite expensive.

[misterdammit]

Well, my fiance really wants to take the job, not so much for the money, but just to have a chance to work with this particular company (apparently they're great!). The money is okay, and once I found a job I'm sure we could afford it. I'm just thinking he'll get very tired of the drive very soon! Also, with gas prices the way they are, his annual salary will be cut by like $5000 if he drives every day, and we're not rich people. Apparently other people in this office commute from Sac to Stockton, though, so he may be able to join a carpool or something.

[humboldtrat]

Stockton is all bad. There are some nice areas in the northwestern part of Stockton, such as around Hammer Ln, March Ln and Ben Holt Dr off I-5.

[Kingsnkali]

There are many people that do the commute between SAC and SCK. Bettter to live in like Elk Grove if you're going to try it though. Definitely be close to Highway 99 or I-5. The days of the longer range commuter are coming to a close with the high cost of gas. You could have 10% to 20% of your hourly labor going right into the gas tank each day. It just doesn't make economic sense at a certain point. Plus, you will deal with some big time fog at times in the winter along that route.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by humboldtrat

Stockton is all bad. There are some nice areas in the northwestern part of Stockton, such as around Hammer Ln, March Ln and Ben Holt Dr off I-5.

I meant to say "Stockton is NOT all bad" .