Moving from San Antonio to Sacramento (Rancho Cordova, Folsom: apartment, rent, student loans)

[satosac]

I am a single female moving from SA to Sac. I am trying to keep a low budget in order to aggressively pay down my student loans. I will be working on J street and would live close to downtown if I could bike and it was safe. I really prefer to live in the middle of no where (Yuba City?), closer to the foothills and commute. I lived in Colo for about 10 years and miss the mtns. My budget closer to the city is 1100 and further from the city 900. I don't really care for nite life... Spend some time in dive bars and most of the other time playing outside. I'll be frank and I don't care for culture or urban space appreciation. If living downtown parking would be a huge issue for me. I don't want to park on the street (I have a Jeep).

Any area recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

[edwardius]

Based upon your interests, it sounds like you might be more interested in living closer to the CSUS Aquatic center than actually living downtown. The Aquatic Center is at Hazel and where there is a damn formed on the American River to create Lake Natomas. They have people sailing, water skiing, doing crew plus a lot of other stuff. Its not in the mountains per se, but its recreation that is based upon doing things, not just sitting around drinking beer.

ASI Aquatic Center

You might also enjoy taking some of the trips/classes through Peak Adventures. While Peak Adventures is based at the main CSUS campus, there trips and classes are all over Northern California.

Peak Adventures


You said you like to ride you bike. But different people have different levels of bike fitness. Its about 23 miles from the CSUS Aquatic Center to downtown and probably less depending on where you work on J Street and which routes you take. The American River Bike Trail is also just a really pretty and very fast route to ride (almost no stop signs, generally flat). Depending on your level of fitness, you might choose to ride from some place in between the Aquatic Center with cheap rent (college greens, Rancho Cordova)

http://www.sacregion511.org/bicyclin..._Biketrail.pdf

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/tran...itybikemap.pdf

Online Bike Maps - 511 Sacramento Region Travel Info

and find recommendations of good cycling routes in the area from fellow cyclists here.

Bike Trails, Paths & Routes From Over 40 Countries at Bikely.com

Maps of neighborhoods in Sacramento, and communities in Sacramento County.

http://maps.cityofsacramento.org/pdf...20streetsE.pdf

http://www.saccounty.net/coswcms/gro...sac_003580.pdf

If you aren't yet ready to ride the entire way, there is a light rail line (gold line) that runs roughly parallel to the American River down Folsom Blvd. You can put your bike on light rail or take light rail on days when the weather sucks.

System Map - Sacramento Regional Transit

[Archan]

You will love leaving all that humidity behind you. I've been to San Antonio many times and the humidity can just knock you out.

[wburg]

Plenty of people bike or walk to work downtown from nearby neighborhoods and leave their cars at home. 1100 a month is definitely enough for an apartment with parking spaces, although you could probably find something less. If you like dive bars you'll love Sacramento's central city, there is culture here but it's pretty easy to avoid if you're more into PBR. Check out the Raven, the Round Corner, Old Tavern, Q Street Bar & Grill (aka Benny's), the Monte Carlo, or, for advanced players, Henry's or the Chambers Room.

Yuba City/Marysville is an hour or so away from Sacramento, it's a killer of a commute and will cost you a fortune in gas and wear & tear. It's pretty easy to get out of Sacramento and into open country--either down into the Delta, out towards the coastal mountains, or in towards the Sierras.

Folsom is a cute suburb but it's one of the more expensive places to live, and there aren't many dive bars to be found.

[edwardius]

Rent for a comparable sized apartment is going to be more expensive downtown than in Folsom and a lot more expensive than in College Greens or Rancho Cordova. The only way that living downtown is cheaper is if you get rid of the Jeep. But if you did that, you're going to have problems getting up to the mountains.

[satosac]

Thank you all for the advice! At the moment, I'm thinking Folsom will be the best option for me. How does the lightrail system work? I've never had the option to use public transportation, it seems daunting! Also what are sidewalk conditions like in bad weather? Does the city clean up if it's icy or snowy? Are people biking friendly downtown, or will they run you over like here in SA?

[edwardius]

You are not going to get a lot of snow and ice in Sacramento. We might have gotten snow 2 or 3 times total in the past 30 years. Its also fairly rare for temperatures to drop below freezing and if does over night, generally the puddles that might freeze are going to melt by 10 or 11 am.

You can find out more about RT and how much tickets and monthly passes sell for here. Your employer may also subsidize the cost of riding RT, (most of the government agencies do it, some of the other employers do so as well)

Sacramento Regional Transit District Home Page

If you bike commute to work, you can also get $20 a month back for doing that.

See here specifically

League of American Bicyclists * News

and more information about that type of stuff generally by checking in here.

Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates - Home Page