Move from San Diego to Sacramento?? (San Francisco, Davis: rent, buying a home, employment)

[mitani]

Hello,

My family and I currently live in San Diego, CA with our 2 young kids. We both love this city but it has been really expensive lately and buying a home is almost impossible. I though why not more to Sacramento as it seems to have more affordable housing market. I am fully aware that the weather is not close to San Diego...But I am looking for the long run to raise a family, own a house, career...

I will be moving to Sacramento for a job relocation (healthcare industry) and need your guys input if this is a good move or not? Any advice? Thoughts?

- Buying or renting: Will be renting first year or so then buying
- Employment situation and location: job relocation
- School consideration: Must be a good school district.
- Pets: No pets
- Urban, suburban or rural preference: Urban
- Need or desire for public transportation: No need


thanks for your feedback!

[fbt263]

Originally Posted by mitani

Hello,

My family and I currently live in San Diego, CA with our 2 young kids. We both love this city but it has been really expensive lately and buying a home is almost impossible. I though why not more to Sacramento as it seems to have more affordable housing market. I am fully aware that the weather is not close to San Diego...But I am looking for the long run to raise a family, own a house, career...

I will be moving to Sacramento for a job relocation (healthcare industry) and need your guys input if this is a good move or not? Any advice? Thoughts?

- Buying or renting: Will be renting first year or so then buying
- Employment situation and location: job relocation
- School consideration: Must be a good school district.
- Pets: No pets
- Urban, suburban or rural preference: Urban
- Need or desire for public transportation: No need


thanks for your feedback!

Weather: very good in Sacramento. Okay, not quite 60-80 year round like SD, but pretty close to ideal. Will be 70 all week, this week, for example. Not exactly roughing it weather-wise in Sac. Biggest difference is slightly more rain in winter. No biggie.

Job: Plenty of healthcare jobs around. Kaiser, UC Davis Health System, Sutter, Dignity/Mercy are the big players.

Buy/rent: Rent first to get a feel for the place.

School: Good school districts are around, but mostly in burbs.

Urban living: Better urban living here than in San Diego, in my opinion. Try to get into schools that feed into McClatchy High School if you need more of an urban lifestyle and a good school.

I think Sacramento is a good choice for you and your family.

[JVinci]

I'll say this right now, Sacramento summers are brutal. Living in a valley we sit and fry until the delta breeze decides to show us mercy. When me and the girlfriend visit her sister in Mission Valley, I can't help but drool over the weather. Meanwhile in Sac, it's 10 days straight of 105.

The winters are cold, but tolerable. We'll get like a 3-4 week stretch of mornings in the 30's but warm up to high 40's, low 50's. But for the most part 50's.

We don't get a lot of spring and fall here. It's either cold or hot. Currently its winter and we have random spring-like weather which makes me feel like this is what people who live in the bay or in San Diego must have it all the time.

Sorry to be so negative on the weather. I've lived here my whole life and once you've gone through a couple years of the season's, you'll get used to it. Maybe I'm just more jealous of San Diego weather than anything!

[wburg]

Sacramento gets, on average, 10-12 days per year of over 100 degree heat. But many people are used to San Francisco degrees, which are smaller because rents there are so much higher.

[fbt263]

Originally Posted by JVinci

I'll say this right now, Sacramento summers are brutal. Living in a valley we sit and fry until the delta breeze decides to show us mercy. When me and the girlfriend visit her sister in Mission Valley, I can't help but drool over the weather. Meanwhile in Sac, it's 10 days straight of 105.

The winters are cold, but tolerable. We'll get like a 3-4 week stretch of mornings in the 30's but warm up to high 40's, low 50's. But for the most part 50's.

We don't get a lot of spring and fall here. It's either cold or hot. Currently its winter and we have random spring-like weather which makes me feel like this is what people who live in the bay or in San Diego must have it all the time.

Sorry to be so negative on the weather. I've lived here my whole life and once you've gone through a couple years of the season's, you'll get used to it. Maybe I'm just more jealous of San Diego weather than anything!

San Diego has slightly better weather than Sacramento, but you are greatly downplaying Sac weather and frankly misrepresenting the truth.

Sacramento has maybe 15-25 days per *year* >100 degrees. 10 days straight is very unlikely. And keep in mind, even on those hottest of days, night time lows will be in the 60s-70s. No humidity either. Really not all that bad and better than 99% of places. No June gloom here, by the way. In fact, Sacramento is the sunniest spot on earth from June-Sept. Sunniest Places and Countries in the World - Current Results

Winters are more brisk than SD, but just like SD, it flat out does *not* snow here. Period.

So there is no spring or fall? hmmm. So it just jumps from 30 to 100 in a span of days? Right.

If you want a good breakdown of Sacramento weather, look past JVinci's post and go here: https://weatherspark.com/averages/31...-United-States

Very good climate overall.

[JVinci]

Originally Posted by fbt263

San Diego has slightly better weather than Sacramento, but you are greatly downplaying Sac weather and frankly misrepresenting the truth.

Sacramento has maybe 15-25 days per *year* >100 degrees. 10 days straight is very unlikely. And keep in mind, even on those hottest of days, night time lows will be in the 60s-70s. No humidity either. Really not all that bad and better than 99% of places. No June gloom here, by the way. In fact, Sacramento is the sunniest spot on earth from June-Sept. Sunniest Places and Countries in the World - Current Results

Winters are more brisk than SD, but just like SD, it flat out does *not* snow here. Period.

So there is no spring or fall? hmmm. So it just jumps from 30 to 100 in a span of days? Right.

If you want a good breakdown of Sacramento weather, look past JVinci's post and go here: https://weatherspark.com/averages/31...-United-States

Very good climate overall.

Oh boy, please do not even try and put Sacramento and San Diego in the same breath when it comes to weather. There literally is no comparison. You make it sound like I'm insulting you as a person if I comment on my personal experience with the weather.

Lets take a look at your link. Averages for a day don't really tell the whole story. If it's 100 degrees from noon to 4pm, but cools down to 90 till 10pm, then that wasn't a 100 degree day. But it sure felt like it. If I'm living here, and wanted to do something outside, it probably isn't happening unless I wake up at 7am and finish by 11am.

From your graph, it was over 90 degrees at some point throughout the day from May till October. That's half the year! I'm sorry but if it's a 95 degree day, that's a hot day. San Diego residents complain when it's in the 80's (anecdotal, not to generalize).

I think we got to the same point on Winter.

What is ideal spring and fall weather? It varies from person to person, but I think anything from 65-75 is perfect. And for this, I am talking about averages for the day. If it gets to 79, that's ok, I'll take. Looking at the graph, we had approximately 6 weeks of spring and what looks like a pitiful 4 weeks of fall like weather. Draw the line where you may, but I think I made my point when I said we don't get much of a spring or fall.

And just so you can visually see, here's a side by side comparison of San Diego and Sacramento. Less fluctuations, lower high temps, higher low temps, etc. I'm sorry, but San Diego weather is just flat out better.

[NinaN]

Weather is a bit personal. I have always found San Diego to be too cold for me. I don't mind the heat, I would prefer the sunshine without the foggy gloom and I can stand the month or so when it's pushing 100 degrees. But that map above should give you a good perspective.

From a school standpoint, here's a great map to look at. The more urban you are, the harder it is to find highly rated middle and high schools. It's a matter of opinion on this board whether the ratings are that important, but it's a place to start. School Rankings for the Sacramento metropolitan area, California

[wburg]

I suppose it depends on how you define "urban"--plenty of places on that map where schools are terrible are neighborhoods of low-density single-family homes.

[sacite]

As much as I love Sac, the weather isn't part of it. I have grown to accept and then adapt to Sac weather, to the point that the heat does not bother me at all anymore. In fact, most longterm natives complain about it far more than I do. As active as I am, it is always somewhat of a concern. It will take you some getting use to in comparison to SD, which feels close to perfect nearly every time I've been. But you will adapt.

As far as urban environment goes, in my personal opinion Sac/midtown feels more dense than anywhere in SD. I've heard people state the opposite and post statistics regarding high-rise buildings, bars per capita, etc., so maybe this is a matter of opinion or perception. But Sac definitely feels more like a "city" to me, as oppose to the large "town" that SD feels like (to me).

Schools - cannot comment on them. Post secondary education is here with satellite locations for some major Universities, and there is a business/professional crowd that you will find at normal peak times downtown. As far as the kids go though, I could not offer anything of substance.

Housing - this sounds like the best reason for you to come to Sac. You are going to get a hell of a lot more here than you ever would in SD. $350,000 - $400,000 will get you a $2,300+ SQ/FT 3 or 4 BR home here in a decent area. My coworker bought in West Sac for $285K 2 yrs ago and she is a 10 min drive from downtown Sac. The house is huge, has a yard, built around 2008 and she loves it. Of course there is a variance - as there is anywhere - and you could also shell out $600-700K for that same home in certain areas of Sac. But for the most part, you can get something very reasonable in the area for the former price I named.

Healthcare industry - Sutter just completed a huge campus/Hospital extension at the edge of midtown bordering East Sac. Kaiser is reportedly building an extension in downtown Sac across from the new stadium site. Taking into consideration Sac's growing population and those new developments, the healthcare industry appears to be a good choice for someone taking up residency here.


Good luck with your choice!

[mitani]

Thanks everybody for all your information! it is of a great help and really appreciate it!

My family and I will going there for a visit next couple of weeks...Ill keep you guys posted on our experience.