What is the best place to live for early-thirties single woman (San Francisco: sales, credit card)

[tracy02113]

Hi. I may be moving to Sacramento for a new job. I would be traveling within a sales territory from Northern Sacramento, Tahoe and Reno. My primary business would be in Sacramento area. I would be working from home and my car mainly.

I lived in San Francisco before and absolutely loved it. I am not familiar with Sacramento at all. I currently live on the East Coast and am trying to decide if I should make this move.

Any perspective on life for a young, single woman in Sacramento would be so appreciated. I was curious where a good area to live.. Some neighborhood that is cultured, hip, funky, nice bars, lounges and restaurants.

Thanks for any perspective you have. Even if it to say don't move.

Thanks!

[CityGirl72]

The first thing to know is Sacramento is nothing like San Francisco, not weather wise, and not culture wise. Sac is said to be like a midwestern type town, it's slower and more "family friendly"

Yes we have culture but it's not blatant. Which is why people always think it's boring here.

I lived in Midtown from age 23 to 33, and loved every day of my life there. I highly reccomend it, it's about as progressive, liberal and cultured and kitchy as anywhere around Sac.

www.midtowngrid.com

[shelato]

What were the things you liked about San Francisco? What are the types of activities you think you would like to find in Sacramento? If you don't move to Sacramento what other areas are you considering?

In some respects Sacramento is a lot like San Francisco, but more affordable. In other respects its really different. Sacramento is much closer to Tahoe than San Francisco. Napa is about the same distance from Sacramento or San Francisco. If what you liked about San Francisco was what Northern California has to offer, I think Sacramento is a very good substitute for SF.

But the Sacramento region is much smaller than the bay area. If you were in your 30's looking to date other professionals, I think the dating pool is a lot deeper in the bay area, than Sacramento. In SF high housing prices mean that a lot of people delay marriage. That tends to mean the supply of high quality eligible males stays fairly large even for women in their 30's. You also have a lot of careers that tend to attract a lot of highly educated males, which again makes SF a good place for a woman to find a guy. In Sacramento housing is much more affordable. People in general tend to marry earlier in Sacramento vs the bay area.

But it also depends on what your actual alternatives are. If I was single in my early thirties, I would probably take DC over Sacramento. But if I was living in Norfolk, I would probably go with Sacramento. In some respects Sacramento is the Bay Area what Norfolk is to Washington DC. DC and SF have about 9 million people in the region. Sacramento has about 2 million and Norfolk has about 1.6 million. DC and SF are expensive, Norfolk and Sacramento are much more affordable.

[bluevelo]

shelato, that's interesting. I'm 48, male and single... is Sacramento a good place for a guy my age that's divorced with small kids (they live on the East Coast)?

[shelato]

It depends upon what you are looking for and what you bring to the table. Overall the bay area is better educated than the Sacramento region. If you are a female with a graduate degree looking for a male with a graduate degree, I think the Bay Area is better choice. Similarly if you are female with a college degree looking for a male with a college or a grad degree, again the bay area seems to be a better choice.

In my experience it seems like its more important for women to date someone with as much or more educational attainment as themselves. (Yes there are exceptions, but I am talking about overall trends)

With guys its seems like they are much more willing to trade down in educational attainment if they can find someone who is younger or more attractive than them. Male lawyers have no problems with dating the legal assistants, but female lawyers generally frown on that behavior.

If I was a male with a grad degree, I would move to Sacramento vs the bay area. I think there would be less competition from other educated males. I think the gender ratios here also really favor guys here vs the bay area.

[webdev]

Originally Posted by tracy02113

Any perspective on life for a young, single woman in Sacramento would be so appreciated. I was curious where a good area to live.. Some neighborhood that is cultured, hip, funky, nice bars, lounges and restaurants.

Thanks for any perspective you have. Even if it to say don't move.

Thanks!

As some mentioned midtown area would be more your style. Again its no San Francisco but its the more urban trendy area of town.

Originally Posted by shelato

It depends upon what you are looking for and what you bring to the table. Overall the bay area is better educated than the Sacramento region. If you are a female with a graduate degree looking for a male with a graduate degree, I think the Bay Area is better choice. Similarly if you are female with a college degree looking for a male with a college or a grad degree, again the bay area seems to be a better choice.

In my experience it seems like its more important for women to date someone with as much or more educational attainment as themselves. (Yes there are exceptions, but I am talking about overall trends)

.

There are plently of younger college educated professional people who live in Sacaramento. Many of them just dont live downtown. Midtown and downtown is the hip and trendy area of Sac and there are some nice places to live downtown. Most of the young professional, however, probably live in the burbs of Sacramento such as Eldorado Hills.

I will agree with some of the other comments. If you like downtown living but want to be around a lot of young college educated professionals Im not sure if downtown Sacramento would be your cup of tea.

[JohnnyS999]

My daughter and her boyfriend would love to live in San Francisco but just can't afford it. So their next best option is mid-town, thats where they live. I suppose if I were in your shoes I would check out midtown. Living in places like suburbia is out of the question, all of a sudden you become a right wing single purpose (taxes) follower. I know because I bought a house and lived in Granite Bay for 12 years. The values at the high school were out of whack where the kids expect to have their cars bought for them, not just any car, also a credit card in their name, etc. I grew up in middle class South San Francisco and I'm glad I did. Didn't matter if your family didn't have the money to keep up with the rest, our values weren't shallow. I'm so glad I moved out of Granite Bay.

[clovers5195]

I lived in Sacramento from the ages 20-26 and loved it. I consider moving back but at 28 am trying to experience all I can before probably ending up there or So Cal.

Midtown and Land Park areas were my favorite because I did find diversity and culture there...I would avoid Elk Grove, Arden Arcade...basically anything outside the city because it's just a bunch of track homes that all look the same with all the same stores you would find at the mall or a shopping center anywhere else in the US. (Boring is what I'm getting at)
Sacramento has festivals nearly every month, plus SF and Lake Tahoe are close enough for day trips-just 1.5 hours away!

Midtown offers several art museums, Second Saturday art walk is always fun!, many bars and lots of live music to be heard. I felt comfortable walking/riding bikes in the midtown area and its shaded with lots of trees so on those hot summer days, it felt at least 10 degrees cooler. Jacks Urban Eats, Pascuchi Restaurant...really-anywhere you will find anything you want especially around K St., L St or Capitol.

Land Park area is more expensive but beautiful, the homes are well kept and very clean and easy access to freeways and not far from midtown/downtown. Go to Espresso Metro on 11th Ave, best espresso I've ever had!

I highly recommend it if you can stand the heat!