Sacramento or San Francisco?? (San Jose, Oakland: homes, neighborhoods, live)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Well SF is a much better city, but if he's conservative and doesnt have a lot of money I'd definitely go with Sacramento. Its close to a lot of things, and it sounds like he'll probably just want to live in the suburbs. I would definitely go with Sacramento.
Agreed. I just want to clarify for the OP that I'm not advocating living within SF proper. In fact, I advocate not doing so. It's just too unbelievably expensive and you shouldn't have to live to work.
I'd check outlying SF suburbs first: the Concords, Fremont's, etc, etc. And then I'd check out Sacramento and its suburbs second. Then have him weigh the prices and job markets together.
Thank you all for you suggestions! Well, here's more info about my friend: He's a very conservative Republican, and has lived his whole life in pretty boring, conservative suburban areas of Pennsylvania. (Total opposite of me! lol!) His dad is a pastor, mind you.
So I'm not sure a huge, vibrant, liberal, fun city is up his alley, lol. But who knows? Maybe that's the kind of change he's looking for?? Since he wants a drastic change, new location, new life, etc...maybe he'd end up loving the difference?? Who knows?
I do think he'd be perfectly happy in a quiet, simple area that's affordable, though.
You might look at Placer County, due east of Sacramento. Sacramento itself is very liberal compared to most of the Sacramento Valley, while San Francisco is very liberal compared to, well, pretty much the entire planet. Placer County is very conservative--Placer, along with Orange County, has the highest proportion of Republican voters in the state.
The "big city" in the county is Roseville, a former railroad town that has grown to about 100,000. It is relatively affluent and safe, not quite cheap but inexpensive by California standards. Other cities include Auburn (the county seat), Colfax, Rocklin and Lincoln.
The county ranges from the edge of Sacramento in the Valley all the way up to the Nevada state line. Terrain varies from rolling hills in the west to the granite peaks of the Sierras in the east. Many of the towns in Placer are remnants of California's early gold mining era and the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. Most of the small towns still smack of "old west" flavor, and there is a significant amount of history tourism. It's a very different (and admittedly more recent) sort of tourism than one gets in Pennsylvania, but it has its charms. If he likes the outdoors, Placer County might have a lot of appeal.
San Francisco is a mind-blower of a city, but if your friend comes from a conservative background, things like gay parades might not be to his liking. Fine to visit, perhaps, but probably not where he'd prefer to live, and definitely much more expensive.
Right now the local economy in Pittsburg Pennsylvania, is doing dramatically better than the economies in either Sacramento or SF. Unemployment in Sacramento is above 11.5% and above 9% in SF.
Northern California has been hit pretty hard by the collapse of housing bubble. Right now Pennsylvania has a much better economy.
As between the two, SF is real city like Manhattan. Sacramento is more of a giant suburb that is about a 100 miles from SF.
If your friend is looking for professional sports, concerts and a lot of cultural events, a lot of that stuff just isn't available in this region unless you are willing to drive to SF or Oakland.
If that stuff isn't as important to him, than Sacramento might be better fit. Sacramento is more affordible. Of the people who move from the bay area to Sacramento, the ones who like Sacramento the most are the people who wanted to live in better neighborhood with better schools than the neighborhood the lived in in the bay area.
Of the people who moved from Sacramento to the bay area, the people who seemed to like that move the most were the single professional people. Generally they had much better employment choices in the bay area, they might be paid more at work and there were more and better neighborhoods for meeting people.
If the reason for this move is that your friend just ended a long term relationship and wants to start over fresh, I would look specifically at the City of SF over either Sacramento or Roseville. It just has a really high density of singlle people. If SF is too liberal, then I would look at San Diego or maybe Manhattan Beach or Huntington Beach in LA.
Sac is not a giant suburb.. Oakland and San Jose are big suburbs too, but close to SF. I guess Baltimore is a suburb of DC. Sac has its own seperate economies and is geographically far enough to not be included in SF sphere-of-influence.
The entire Bay Area is very expensive, I know having lived in the San Jose area recently myself. I am going to be moving to Sacramento soon. You can generally get a decent house (rent) in the Sacramento area for what it would cost to rent a nice apartment in the bay area, or so it seems to me at least.
One important thing is that the climates of the S.F. area and Sacramento areas are actually pretty different. To me San Francisco always seems cool or cold, its a place where temperatures above 75 degrees are fairly uncommon even in the summer while the Sacramento area has high temperatures in the summer (up to the 100's) and gets a little colder in the winter, personally I prefer the heat since its what I grew up in.
As far as outdoor activities.. if this is what you like, the Sac area has the Sierra Nevada mountains right next to it, there is a ton of traffic every weekend coming from the Bay Area to Sac to go up to the mountains so it seems a lot of people there prefer the outdoor activities up here although there are outdoor activities near S.F., such as along the coast north of there and then the Santa Cruz mountains to the south but there is no snow there in the winter and it can often be overcast and kind of depressing for parts of the year (even in the summer) whereas the Sierra Nevadas are sunny all summer for the most part.
Its all about what you like (and can afford) so its a good idea to check it out for yourself since the two areas are very different.
I grew up in San Francisco, but have lived in Sacramento for the past 5 years and am a realtor here. So I think I should give you some insight.
San Francisco
Pros
-World Class city. Comparing SF to Sac is comparing a Porsche to a Accord when it comes to culture, the breadth of experiences/entertainment available. San Francisco is a world class city that attracts tourists, investors from all over the world. You will meet very interesting people there and will have very interesting times. You will never be short of things to do.
-Job market. San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most powerful economic engines in the country. The breadth of jobs and availability are going to beat Sacramento any day.
-Very liberal city. If you are a liberal, you will love it in SF.
-Climate. Next to the sea, beautiful hills, vistas, wide range of climates in the bay area.
Cons
-VERY EXPENSIVE. You said your friend is poor. Well, he find himself a lot poorer once he moves to SF. It is a very expensive city. A one bedroom apt easily tops $1800/month.
-Living quarters are usually small and old
Sacramento
Pros
-Nice place to raise a family. Nice family oriented neighborhoods, slower pace of life.
-Has good amount of culture/entertainment for a smaller city.
-Most affordable large city in California. It is the only city in Central CA that can be considered a large city. It is by far more affordable than SF, LA or SD.
-More balanced politics. Many liberals and conservatives here. It is balanced with more liberal city core and conservative suburb.
Cons
-Lack of culture compared to SF. But that's not a fair comparison. Very few cities in the world period can compare to SF.
-Job market is more limited here and the economy is not as vibrant as other parts of CA.
Right now the local economy in Pittsburg Pennsylvania, is doing dramatically better than the economies in either Sacramento or SF. Unemployment in Sacramento is above 11.5% and above 9% in SF.
Northern California has been hit pretty hard by the collapse of housing bubble. Right now Pennsylvania has a much better economy.
As between the two, SF is real city like Manhattan. Sacramento is more of a giant suburb that is about a 100 miles from SF.
If your friend is looking for professional sports, concerts and a lot of cultural events, a lot of that stuff just isn't available in this region unless you are willing to drive to SF or Oakland.
If that stuff isn't as important to him, than Sacramento might be better fit. Sacramento is more affordible. Of the people who move from the bay area to Sacramento, the ones who like Sacramento the most are the people who wanted to live in better neighborhood with better schools than the neighborhood the lived in in the bay area.
Of the people who moved from Sacramento to the bay area, the people who seemed to like that move the most were the single professional people. Generally they had much better employment choices in the bay area, they might be paid more at work and there were more and better neighborhoods for meeting people.
If the reason for this move is that your friend just ended a long term relationship and wants to start over fresh, I would look specifically at the City of SF over either Sacramento or Roseville. It just has a really high density of singlle people. If SF is too liberal, then I would look at San Diego or maybe Manhattan Beach or Huntington Beach in LA.
Sacramento is not a giant suburb.
San Jose is more like a giant suburb than Sacramento. Sacramento has an old city core that has a lot of character, so do many surrounding neighborhoods.
Many Bay Area people label Sac as a big suburb because they only drive by on their way to Tahoe and see tract homes in Natomas and think that's all of Sac.
Thank you all for you suggestions! Well, here's more info about my friend: He's a very conservative Republican, and has lived his whole life in pretty boring, conservative suburban areas of Pennsylvania. (Total opposite of me! lol!) His dad is a pastor, mind you.
So I'm not sure a huge, vibrant, liberal, fun city is up his alley, lol. But who knows? Maybe that's the kind of change he's looking for?? Since he wants a drastic change, new location, new life, etc...maybe he'd end up loving the difference?? Who knows?
I do think he'd be perfectly happy in a quiet, simple area that's affordable, though.
Didn't see this earlier.
He'll probably be more happy in Sacramento. Placer county is probably good for him. It's a little away from the city. But you said he is not wealthy. Placer is one of the more expensive areas in the metro area here.
Another option is possibly around the Carmichael/Fair Oaks area where it is closer to the city of Sacramento, but still fairly quiet and conservative.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $53,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
