Working in Sacramento, Looking for Place to Settle Down (Orange: low crime, how much)

[Jyro]

Hi there, I've been a lurker on these forums for a while now out of curiousity, and I suppose it's time to pose a question of my own. I'm going to start working in Sacramento, and want to find a place for my fiance and I to settle down for the long-run. Here are a few of our preferences:

-Housing up to $450,000 or so. We're both educated professionals in our late 20's, and can afford a moderate lifestyle, so slightly expensive ammnetities and such aren't an issue.
-Safe, with low crime rates.
-Good schools (keeping the future in mind here)
-Don't mind a bit of a commute, preferably no more than an hour from central Sacramento.
-Nowhere overly urban, we like our open space and nature.
-Dog friendly
-No organized religion based community please. I'm an atheist, and my fiance is a very relaxed Christian.
-Liberal is a big plus, though not necessary. We're an interracial couple, and appreciate tolerance, and also have relatively liberal views.

Oh, and within driving distance from lakes/and rivers would be great as well, our lab and golden retriever love to get their paws wet, and if there is the opportunity for duck hunting, I'd be beyond happy.

I was thinking maybe Placerville? My mom grew up there, and she loved it. Of course, that was years ago, I have no idea if it has changed at all. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this, I appreciate it!

[NewToCA]

How much land would you like to have here? That is a pretty big limiting factor in what options would best fit you. If you want 1/4 acre or more, that would really specify fewer areas.

[Jyro]

Not much land at all actually, though that would be nice. Something the size of the average backyard is perfectly fine, though if land is available with a home, I would definitely at least consider it.

[NewToCA]

OK, just for my own taste I'd probably start out by looking at homes in the Folsom and Rocklin areas.

I'd also look at Auburn if you prefer "small town" living.

[edwardius]

It sounds like Davis would be your best match. Its the neighborhood where the wealthy liberals live. The commute from Davis to Sacramento is going to be less than the commute from Rocklin, Folsom or Auburn and the schools will be better. Rocklin, Folsom, Placerville and Auburn are all fairly republican.

[CityGirl72]

Folsom

You sound just like me and my husband. It's republican yes, but we are "relaxed" Christians and Democrats, and have nothave any issues at all. If you want Liberal - you will need to look at East Sac (near city center) or Davis. That's where the "Educated Hippies" live

[mattinsac]

You said you were bi-racial. Folsom, Rocklin and Roseville aren't really diverse. You might find some asian kids in Folsom, but even there there might not be a lot of kids who look like your kid in Folsom.

You might want to check out some of the schools in the Elk Grove Unified School District. Elk Grove is diverse. Its also more liberal than Folsom, Rocklin, Roseville or Auburn. More importantly no school district in the area has had as much success with minority kids as Elk Grove.

The state of California ranks schools by api scores. It also breaks down test scores by ethnicity at a school if there are numerically significant members of that group. Why its important to look at subgroups is that white kids do better on the api than minority kids, so if you just look at api scores alone, you are going to be directing your kids to schools with very few students who look like your kid.

If you look at the subgroup api's no high school in the area has higher api scores for African American kids than Pleasant Grove High. In general, the Elk Grove schools have the best success with educating minority kids.

2009 Growth API School Report - Pleasant Grove High

At Folsom High there isn't a numerically significant number of African American kids to even bother keeping track of there performance. There were just 29 African American kids in the school.

2009 Growth API School Report - Folsom High

At a lot of the schools in Folsom, Roseville, Rocklin or Auburn there aren't enough students of various ethnicities for the state to even bother to break down test scores by that race or ethnicity. Compare for yourself. Click on some of the schools in these areas and then bring up the test scores for the subgroup of children of your child's ethnicity.


County List of Schools

County List of Schools

[bluevelo]

Um, even in good weather, Placerville is a lot more than an hour out from downtown Sacramento. If its raining, or snowing, as it does up there, if you need to regularly go downtown you're going to find it miserable to do so.

[JenniferLynn]

A liberal duck-hunter? Interesting. If you must live in a liberal city, then Davis is your best bet. However, housing is expensive there. Sure, you can afford it, but know you will get less house for your money there than if you chose another city.

Yes, Placer County is more conservative, but not overtly so. Loomis is a great small town with lots of rural space in and around it. And it's close to Folsom Lake. The commute to Sac is about 45 min depending on traffic. There won't be any snow between Loomis and Sac.

If you want a larger city than Loomis, consider Folsom or Roseville. Both have tons of amenities.

[wburg]

Liberal gun owners are more common, I think, than most people realize. And I think more of the duck hunting is towards the east into the Delta.

Placer County has more Republican voters per capita than any other county in the state, except perhaps Orange County. I'm not sure how they could be more overtly conservative unless they started sticking Democrats' heads on pikes at the county line.