What makes Sacramento so cheap? (San Francisco: crime rate, new home, neighborhood)

[LostinCal]

I was just checking the cost of living and Sacramento's overall cost of living is only 106! (100 being the national average). What makes Sacramento so cheap, at least compared to the rest of California?

[MidtownSacto]

1) Not near the coast
2) Lots of open space to develop

[NewToCA]

Actually, if you look at the City Data Sacramento home page, it shows a cost of living index of 98.9 for Sacramento, vs 100 as the national average.

//www.city-data.com/city/Sacram...alifornia.html

[ClubQuinn]

High crime rate

[wburg]

We don't have the nice weather, or as many social amenities and opportunities that come with a high-population area, or proximity to dramatic natural features like the ocean or mountains. We also still have some room to grow, so there is less demand and more supply.

Our crime rate is relatively high, but that is a recent phenomenon, and we were similarly inexpensive when our crime rate was lower, so I wouldn't consider that a factor in our affordability.

[honestopinion]

Originally Posted by ClubQuinn

High crime rate

Exactly.

[sacramento916]

Also depends on where you are looking. Different cities around the area can be pretty expensive. But if you are looking at the run of the mill working class neighborhood in Sac, yes, it's pretty cheap.

We're in the middle of a big valley with tons of flat land all around to build. It's not going to be expensive, unless you are some great historic metropolis.

[KC6ZLV]

The crime rates in most other large California cities isn't much better.

The climate in Sacramento isn't bad. Usually, it only gets down into the 20s in earliest hours of winter mornings and although it gets hot, heat waves only last a few days. When I say hot, I'm talking about hot. If you have problems with 90 degrees you either sit in front of the computer and don't get enough exercise or you need a medical checkup.

The houses are inexpensive because the economy blew up and builders overbuilt.

What is more important than that cost of living index is the wages vs cost of living. Do you want to live in an area where you make $45K a year and has $160K houses, or do you want to make $75K a year and still not have enough to buy a house because they are going for $600K?

There are plenty of things to do and see in Sacramento. Probably a little short on the club scene, if that is your thing. But there are plenty of restaurants, cafes, libraries and museums to hang out in and see. It too far from too much. Getting to the coast is a bit of a trip, but Sacramento is next to the Sierra Nevada. In around 30 minutes you can find yourself in the Motherlode where there are historic gold mining towns, rivers, hiking and other outdoors activities. If you are in San Francisco and decide you don't want to do anything in San Francisco, it takes you an hour just to get out of there and over to someplace with some elbow room.

[NewToCA]

Well, as one who visited Sacramento quite a bit in the late 1970's through mid-1980's, one thing I've noticed is that over the past few years it seems to have "repositioned" itself relative to other cities/areas throughout the country.

For example, being young back then and having a new family, I used to take a look at some of the new home construction on the weekends I was here. Generally, I'd say the prices were about 90+% of similar home and area prices with metro Washington DC, and about 70-80% higher than places such as Columbus or Cleveland, Ohio. Today, I'd say that Sacramento is about equal to Cleveland or Columbus, and about 50-60% of metro Washington DC.

So overall, one thing I've noticed is that relative to the rest of the country, we seem to have gotten a bit less expensive.

[BeauCharles]

It has an inland location plus the housing bubble burst and current oversupply. Its cost of living index was much worse five years ago (and higher than the national average by a good bit).