Considering move from Dallas (San Francisco, Sacramento: rental homes, homes, college)

[Jaybeenes]

We are considering a move from dirty, Republican, closed-minded Dallas, TX. The posts we've read on Sacramento don't look too promising in terms of a big change in these areas. We like the price range on rental homes, but we don't want to move and feel like we're right back in Dallas. We would greatly appreciate any info/input, and possible suggestions about nearby cities or towns that aren't quite as "bad".

Thanks!

[wburg]

The posts you've read may have misinformed you. Sacramento overwhelmingly tends to vote Democrat, judging by the city's elected officials to local, state and federal posts (right now the mayor, state assembly, state senate and US Congress posts for Sacramento are all held by Dems.) In terms of closed-mindedness, Sacramento is the most diverse city in America according to Time Magazine (and a Harvard study on diversity.) It's not as liberal as San Francisco, but neither is pretty much any other part of the United States.

Nearby cities and towns are almost invariably more conservative, except maybe Davis, which is a college town, very expensive, and in its own way more hidebound (and far less diverse) than Sacramento. Those who vote Republican would find Sacramento's eastern suburbs like Roseville far more to their liking.

I don't know enough about Dallas to make a fair comparison, unfortunately, but I can answer questions about Sacramento.

[bigdave01]

Sacramento is fairly liberal, however like said above the suburbs aren't. Davis might be a good choice.

[Jaybeenes]

Any input on air quality in Sacramento? Is it mostly flat-land?

[wburg]

It's ALL flat-land. Air quality is not so great--we're in the middle of a big bowl, with lots of people driving.

[NewToCA]

Air quality is mediocre, generally better the further west you go. I believe the foothills towards the east start to trap some of the lower hanging pollution, and this causes air quality to deteriorate as you move towards the eastern side of the metro area. Areas such as Davis, to the west, have somewhat better air quality due to the Delta Breeze.

Dallas and Sacramento are not similar at all. If your most significant complaint is attitude, the cities are entirely different. Also, the sprawl of Sacramento is not nearly as severe as Dallas, and the population density is much less too.