What is your opinion of Woodland, CA? (Sacramento, Davis: house, neighborhoods)

[things and stuff]

Is this a decent town? Demographics show that it is around 50% hispanic and 6% asian. Does that sound about right? Is there any vibrancy to the little "downtown" that they have? Is it considered to be safe by people from the Sacramento and Woodland areas?

Do you think Woodland would be friendly to someone who likes to ride bikes a lot?

Thanks in advance.

[ryuns]

Originally Posted by things and stuff

Is this a decent town? Demographics show that it is around 50% hispanic and 6% asian. Does that sound about right? Is there any vibrancy to the little "downtown" that they have? Is it considered to be safe by people from the Sacramento and Woodland areas?

Do you think Woodland would be friendly to someone who likes to ride bikes a lot?

Thanks in advance.

I don't live in Woodland, but my wife works there and a lot of her co-workers (who make up a decent portion of our friends) live there. Woodland is...pretty okay. There is some crime, but few people consider it dangerous. It's affordable, and it's commute distance from both Davis and Sac. There are some nice neighborhoods, including older neighborhoods and new neighborhoods (and some less nice neighborhoods, of course). It's fairly small but self-contained, with pretty much everything you need in town. The downtown is pretty similar to, if a little more lively than, a lot of other Central Valley downtowns--some cute shops, good restaurants, some vacant storefronts, but not depressingly so in the main area. Not a ton of people out and about at all hours but reasonably lively and vibrant. My friends there have a pretty limited number of normal haunts, but they're cool places, and that may be all you need. My friends do complain that they'll attend some event that seems like a really fun idea, and it will end up being poorly attended. It's mostly families out there, pretty blue collar, the average income isn't super high, and there's stuff to do in neighboring Davis and Sac, so that's probably to be expected.

It's not incredibly bike-friendly and there aren't a *ton* of bikers, but it's not going to be out of the ordinary by any means.

Just to give you a random snapshot--my wife's a plant breeder and works with a bunch of upper-middle class scientists. Of my wife's co-workers, the majority live in Woodland, are married, quite a few have children, most of them own a detached single family house. A few live in Davis, either for the schools or because their job got relocated from Davis. A few live in Sacramento--either their spouses work there (like my wife's husband [me], and her boss's wife) or choose to live there for lifestyle reasons: her gay, married, child-free colleague lives in Land Park, one of our single friends lives in Midtown. Before I was around, my wife lived in Davis til she graduated, got the Woodland job, moved there, got a little bored, then moved back to Davis. To be fair, she moved back to Davis because that's where potential roommates lived and she's not social enough to get out of the house much if she's living alone.

What potentially brings you to Woodland?

[NickB1967]

Originally Posted by things and stuff

Is this a decent town? Demographics show that it is around 50% hispanic and 6% asian. Does that sound about right? Is there any vibrancy to the little "downtown" that they have? Is it considered to be safe by people from the Sacramento and Woodland areas?

Do you think Woodland would be friendly to someone who likes to ride bikes a lot?

Thanks in advance.

That is about right. Woodland is not a *bad* place, but it isn't a *great* place either. About 60,000 souls, what used to be called "blue collar" work predominates, such as agribusiness and trucking.

There are a smattering of people who commute into downtown or Natomas Sacramento to work, but the place really doesn't have an advantage in terms of schools, amenities, etc., over Natomas.

No, there really isn't any vibrancy to their downtown. Woodlanders, "brown" and "white" alike, are too busy ekeing out a living and looking after their kids to create the kind of "hipster grotto" that say, Midtown Sacramento has.

[shelato]

During the day time I think Woodland would be a great place to ride around by bike, especially closer to downtown. What I don't know about if you were interested in bike commuting say to and from work somewhere in Woodland, how great some of the neighborhood are after dark. I am not saying that there are bad here, I just really don't know because I haven't had an occasion to be in Woodland after dark. But of what I saw of Woodland's downtown I thought it had some charm.

[things and stuff]

That daily commute from Woodland to Sac or Davis must be 1hr each way parking spot to parking spot. I'm a big believer in living near work.

I was just curious about the place. I'm an IT consultant and can do most of my work remotely. I'm looking to get out of the south but would like an affordable place for our family to live that isn't dangerous or so dead that the hubby and I can't walk or ride bikes to the neighborhood bar.

The mid west is full of these cities and towns but it's just too damn cold and/or flat.

[shelato]

Are you looking for a 1 hour bike commute or are you anticipating driving. You should have no problem driving to either Davis or downtown in less than hour from Woodland. If you need to commute to Davis and or Sac in an hour, you might want and prefer West Sac, Dixon or Winters to Woodland. Well I know I would.

[things and stuff]

LOL, no. I won't necessarily be commuting. My husband may need to commute to Sac. He will be using automobiles.

I just figured rush hour traffic from one town to the next in a large metro would be congested at points.

[shelato]

Davis and Woodland are both west of the Yolo Causeway, Sacramento is east of the Yolo Causeway. The Yolo Causeway a huge seasonal flood channel that fills with water when river flows on the Sacramento are so high that they might flood Sacramento. The causeway kind of cuts off both Woodland and Davis from the rest of the greater Sacramento region. That is part of the reason Woodland is still more ag orientated than the rest of Sacramento region and why the local Woodland economy is a little weaker than the rest of Sacramento region and why its relatively affordable. Traffic on Interstate 5 is really only a problem at rush hour in Sacramento from Natomas to downtown.

Depending on where he is working in downtown Sac he might be able to take the Yolo bus, which might be worth it to save on having to pay for parking in downtown Sac. Since you haven't bought a place yet in Woodland, you might want to look at the Yolo bus routes from Woodland to Sac, I suspect the bus commute might be under an hour depending on both where you live and where he works.

[LoriBee62]

Originally Posted by things and stuff

Is this a decent town? Demographics show that it is around 50% hispanic and 6% asian. Does that sound about right? Is there any vibrancy to the little "downtown" that they have? Is it considered to be safe by people from the Sacramento and Woodland areas?

Do you think Woodland would be friendly to someone who likes to ride bikes a lot?

Thanks in advance.

Funny, I thought you already knew everything there was to know about California.

[caligirlz]

Woodland is fun to visit. They have a cute & fairly active downtown which reminds me a little of my old hometown/downtown. They even used to have a restaurant like the Buckhorn Grill, but a different name (I can't find it online now, so it must've closed).

You might want to check with the local bicycle shop, Foy's (530) 662-4306