Which one? Folsom, Roseville, Rocklin, Lincoln, Yuba City (Sacramento, Citrus Heights: appointed, new home)

[ironsteel]

We are looking to relocate from a suburb in MA to the Sacramento area. We visited the area including Folsom and Roseville but didn't find enough time to visit Rocklin, Lincoln and Yuba City. We have a 17-month old and having to know that a good school system is in place in 4.5 years will be a plus too.

Folsom was listed as one of the top places to live in the US in CNN Money last year. And the year before that, Lincoln was a finalist. When we visited Roseville, I thought it was more modern than Folsom but more industrial.

Can someone from the area give us a feel of the neighborhoods and school systems for the cities listed above?

Thanks.

[KidBlue]

Roseville has older sections and lots of new homes. It's got lots of industry and shopping, so if you are looking for more of a residential community, I would stick with Lincoln and Rocklin (Loomis too). Folsom has lots of new homes but does not have a major mall close. I would also go just a little further out and check out El Dorado Hills. The schools are great and there is little industry. They are currently building about 1,000 homes on Latrobe Road and the immediate area. I think you would find Yuba City not as nice an area as the Rocklin or Folsom areas.

It probably depends on where you are working in Sacramento. I would live in the area that requires the least commute time on the freeways. Both 80 and 50 can be terrible.

You can check out schools on the California Department of Education Web site (won awards for the last few years). Go to the main site at www.cde.ca.gov and click on Data Quest. You can develop your own reports and choose a variety of factors. If you want to view test scores, check out Ed Data on the CDE Web site. Remember that CA tests almost all students and has some of the most tough standards in the nation, so test scores may seem lower, but the standards are higher.

Let me know if you have specific questions after you search some more.

[Guingirl]

It really depends on where you are working and commuting in the city. The area has grown so much over the last few years that you have to really plan when you work and live. Commutes can take from 45 to an hour communting from the 80/50 corridors (80 - Rocklin, Roseville and 50 Folsom), 1 hr from Yuba City on I-5.

There are industrial parts of Roseville, but for the most part it can be pretty exclusive. East Roseville is really the place to be it is really kind of exclusive, but not as bad as Granite Bay.

Lincoln as I put in my post to spencer, used to be a little town (read home towny - the only thing that was up there for a long time was Gladding McBean which still has a big quarry driving out the north part of town).

Lincoln - Built up very quickly, has the modern conveniences in (shopping, grocery stores etc), but doesn't have the transportation inferstructure needed to support the amount of people that live in that corridor. They supposedly have a plan called SACOG for the six county area, but it is still going to take awhile.

Rocklin - has Stanford Ranch which has a mix of housing. Lincoln, Rocklin are really close to the regional mall The Galleria that has offshoot shopping across the street and the area. It has different types of housing levels, they are pretty much still on five foot lot lines so they are pretty close but you can find some with bigger backyards. My dh and I lived up there for 9 years (moved out to Natomas- to be closer to the airport). From Rocklin the airport is about 30-45 min commute and with him doing it twice a week, it wasn't really an option for us to stay up there.

Public education in California is really a farce (thanks to the CTA). There are ratings for different schools at just4kids.org and put in the area.

Good luck to you and let me know if you have any specific questions.

[ironsteel]

To KidBlue and GuinGirl:
Thanks for your replies. I think we prefer a residential/suburb area. Currently, Folsom looks attractive to us. It has no major malls but we can get to The Galleria in Roseville. So that's not an issue.

Should I consider visiting Yuba City? If it's not like Folsom, then it would probably not meet our expectations.

We like to go Asian food shopping, so a convenient access to an Asian food market would be a plus. We also like to have Asian restaurants around.

I shall look at the resources you gave me and I'm probably going to have more questions.

Thanks.

[Guingirl]

Honestly, Yuba City was really known to be very rural although they are starting to develop that area as well. Its nothing like Folsom. Folsom has a lot of the conveniences. We were actually up there today. Had to take yet another trip up to Apple Hill (google it!) to get my yummy apples. There are about 30 growers and some wineries just a short little drive up to Placerville.

You may not even need to go to the mall because in Folsom there are a LOT of big box stores up there (Best Buy, Sams, Staples, Cost Plus, Pier One, Babies R Us, Old Navy - to name a few). There are also a lot of really good restaurants up there as well. Fats is a local restaurantuer that has a few restaurants around town that are very nice asian cuisine.

Also there is an outlet mall (that I totally forgot about) that is up in Folsom as well, with an Off 5th and Nordstrom Rack.

There are quite a few Asian grocery stores to the south of Sacramento proper that you shouldn't have a problem finding what you need. There are pockets of Korean/Cambodian/Vietnamese shops stores as well in Rancho Cordova (which is in between Folsom and Sacramento)

Hope that helps!

[ironsteel]

Guingirl,

Say I had a job in Yuba City, and commuted from Folsom, would it be a real PITA? Looking at googlemaps, I would have to go pass the town of Folsom and cut up across to 65. What about commuting from Folsom to Sacramento if I had a job in Sacramento? Looks like in terms of commuting, Roseville may be a bit better since it's located close to major highways.

Oh, I had forgotten about Antelope. What do you think of it compared to Folsom and Roseville?

Thx

Thanks.

[KidBlue]

I think you will be very disappointed with Yuba City if you like Folsom or Roseville. Although Folsom doesn't have a large mall (they tried but the city wanted too much money from the anchor stores and they went to Roseville instead), there are nice outlets there and big box stores, and several good Chinese/Asian restaurants. Actually, the Sunrise Mall (at Greenback Lane and Sunrise Blvd. is closer to Folsom than the Galleria--but the Galleria is newer and nicer). Fats Asian Bistro at Hywy. 50 and Bidwell is very good and my sister and I like the China House on East Bidwell. For some mysterious reason, the food is better for dinner than for lunch.

The commute from Folsom to Sacramento is not too bad if you avoid the rush hours. There is a new light rail system that goes from Folsom to Sacramento. Depending on where you will be working, this could be a cheap way to commute. Avoide non commute hours--the people on the train are really weird at those times.

The commute from Folsom to Yuba City would be awful. Just looking at the map doesn't account for all of the traffic. I would live in the newer part of Natomas or maybe even Elverta if I had to work in Yuba City. Antelope is a smaller suburb of Roseville. It's OK too, but not nearly as nice as Rocklin or Folsom. I'm partial to Folsom, so I might not be a good judge. I liked Roseville until it got so built up. You might also like checking out all the cute shops in Placerville and the foothills. In addition to the yummy apples are lots of crafts at Apple Hill.....

Almost forgot. There are a lot of Asian restaurants and stores in Rancho Cordova (large Cambodian and Vietnamese populations--and all of Sacramento has a large Chinese/American population).

If you decide to work in Sacramento, you might also want to check out Carmichael, Fair Oaks, and Citrus Heights (the Sunrise Mall is in Citrus Heights). There are some very nice areas in these three towns, especially Fair Oaks.

Let me know if you have specific questions about various towns.

[SpencerLV]

How long would you guys say prime rush hour lasts in the Sacramento area in general? For example, in the metro DC area of VA, MD, and downtown, morning rush goes from about 6am-10am and evening rush went from 4pm-7pm (give or take).

[Guingirl]

Kid...did you read my post?? I swore I wrote mine earlier!!

I grew up in Roseville and live in North Natomas, so I am pretty partial to those areas. *cough cough* Antelope is not or never a part of Roseville. Antelope is actually in Sacramento County and used to be considered parts of North Highlands.

I wouldn't do the commute from Folsom to Yuba City...you would be pulling your hair out. If you worked in Yuba City, now would be the time that I would recommend that you look at Lincoln. Unless you have to go into Sacramento proper, you would be commuting backwards - north on 65.

The problem is just the commute from Lincoln/Roseville to Sacramento proper. Traffic starts at about 6:30am to 9am and starts back up 3:30-6:30. Also the problem with living up on the 80 corridor if you are commuting back to Roseville on a Friday, it is more compacted because you get the guys from SF going up to the mountains to ski. Its not horrible, but it just adds to the commute time. Not sure how congested it gets on 50 as I am sure that KidBlue would know better than I would.

[Matt11]

Thank You for your ans, I am looking to move to that area also . You have been very helpful. I live in the Wilm De Area right now . I lived in Ca 30 yrs ago and i m sure it has changed alot since then. I was looking at Roseville and Folsom which one do you think is a better place ?