Have you lived in or visited Sacramento County, California? Tell us about it!
Sacramento
June 2018 — I grew up in Sacramento, California in the 1990’s. It is a large town and the states capital. It is a very nice city and even though i grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood there was very little crime. There are many parks and good school districts. It is close to San Francisco and the Six Flags theme park in Vallejo. There are many surrounding cities that were growing at the time like Roseville, El Dorodo, and Folsom. I have many special memories growing up in Sacramento playing on competitive basketball and soccer teams. I made some of my best friends there and had my first kiss. When I moved back to Sacramento after college the crime rate had gone up and many families had begun to move north. There is a very good job market in Sacramento and a lot of business opportunities. The Sacramento Kings NBA basketball team resides there and they have recently built a new arena which is very nice downtown. There is a community college named American River and a state university as well. The American River runs through Sacramento which makes fishing and river rafting popular activities. There are many bars and clubs downtown and the nightlife is always a good time. Sacramento has a minor league baseball team called the River Cats and although I am not a huge fan of the sport the games are very fun to go to. There is also a minor league soccer team called the Sacramento Republic. There are two large water parks in the area which are both refreshing during summer time. There is a large international airport which makes it very easy to reach vacation destinations. Politics are an important part of Sacramento’s culture and there are often large rallies over relevant issues. Sacramento is a good place to raise a family. The community has good values and a lot of activities. Working out is a popular pass time and there are many nice gyms and sports complexes around the town. I enjoyed growing up in Sacramento and I would recommend it to anyone looking to build a home.
Galt
June 2018 — I grew up in Galt in the 1990s. Back then it had half the population and half as many fast food joints. Gas was less than a dollar. There wasn’t any internet. And given the lack of a movie theater, bowling alley, arcade, or any real source of entertainment, we kind of just stood around during the formative years. It’s a small farm town and by that I mean, the bigger high schools in the towns around us had a day every year called “Hick Day” where they dressed up like stereotypical farmers and hillbillies and they named it after us. Galt in recent years has tried to appeal more to the tourists; Galt now stands for Great American Little Town and they like to play up the things that make us unique. Unfortunately, all we really have is the flea market, a ridiculous amount of festivals of which our Strawberry Festival is the most well known and sandhill cranes. The cranes have their own festival too but there aren’t any cranes there, just pictures of them and the metal cutout of one in the new roundabout. You can maybe spot them at the local nature preserve though. Despite suffering the downsides most small towns do, there’s something charming about it. I, at least, love my hometown and have never really considered venturing too far from it. I love the holiday parades and the the decorations they put up for Christmas that literally haven’t changed my entire life and the way small shops and businesses are all cluttered around the center of town. It comforts me to visit all the familiar stores and restaurants that I know and love. There’s something to be said for a small community where you know people everywhere you go and things are familiar. Other members of the community, even ones you don’t know, may share beloved traditions with you. There are town stories and legends and customs that are passed down through the generations; my own parents moved to Galt long before I was born. I guess for me there’s truth in the idea that home is where your heart is. While I do live about half an hour outside of Galt now, I still consider it my town.
Sacramento
May 2018 — I currently live in Sacramento, California. Sacramento is a city of contrasts and in-betweens: it is neither a big city nor a small town, nor the middle of nowhere. It is artsy, but without any well-known museums or galleries, there are many foodies here but no famous restaurants. Most people live outside of the downtown area in very suburban areas. Immediately outside the city center there are older suburbs with houses from the 1950s or 1970s where people can still sometimes walk to a café or bar, but farther outside there are huge suburbs that are long avenues and strip mall after strip mall. People tend to live far from the strip malls and with the lack of sidewalks most drive to do their most simple tasks. The best place in Sacramento is the downtown but there are few affordable places to live left there as many Bay Area transplants who were out-priced from their homes begin to move up north. One of the benefits often lauded of Sacramento is that in an hour you can get to the beach and an hour in the other direction you can get to the mountains, but there is something rather depressing that one of the biggest perks of your city is how easy it is to leave it.
Elk Grove
May 2018 — Elk Grove, California is located 12 miles south of Sacramento and is in Sacramento County. There is a population of approx 100,000 people and is both a rural and urban community with over 100,000 acres of farm land. Elk Grove still has its small time feel where many people have remained in the community. There are new shopping centers opening that has brought a lot of business and revenue to the city. Elk Grove is known for their Elks and you can find Elk statues all around town that are painted in patriotic colors and designs. While there are no sports teams in Elk Grove, there are many agriculture based clubs (such as the local FFA chapters), whom are highly supported by the community. Elk Grove is a very community oriented city where fundraisers for the local schools are popular. Elk Grove FFA is one of the most respected organizations in the community where many people attend Barn Dances, Tri-tip feeds and animal auctions.
Rancho Cordova
May 2018 — Rancho Cordova is a suburb of Sacramento, the state capital of California. There are many large employers in Rancho Cordova, including health insurers, government agencies, and a variety of professional services companies. Along the main streets, these huge office buildings are what you see. It is extremely suburban. The landscape is dominated by housing developments and strip malls. Traffic is intense, and a drive that takes 10 minutes without traffic can take 25 minutes during rush hour. A lot of parts of Rancho Cordova are very nice neighborhoods, however a lot of neighborhoods are so dangerous they don’t receive pizza deliveries. Rancho Cordova keeps getting bigger, but isn’t changing much. More office buildings get built and more huge housing developments break ground, but overall it is a somewhat run down and boring suburb of a vibrant, exciting city.
Sacramento
May 2018 — I moved to Sacramento a few years ago. It wasn’t long after I moved here that I realized that this city is nothing like the city I grew up in. People here are generally rude, inconsiderate, and unfriendly. Law enforcement seems to spend more time harassing the homeless than they do anything else (supposedly to maintain a certain image of the city to tourists), which causes the crime rate to stay exceptionally high. And, according to articles published in local newspapers, statistically, Sacramento ranks at number one in the country for having the worst drivers. Considering how frustrated I get anytime I am on the road, combined with the number of traffic accidents I read about almost everyday, this comes as no surprise. Traffic is always a nightmare no matter what time of day or what day of the week it happens to be. The weather is either one extreme or another. It is rare for the weather on any given day to be “comfortable”, as temperatures in the summer time can reach over 110 degrees, and nights in the winter time can be as cold as 30 degrees or even lower. When I first moved to this city, I did so because rent prices were significantly lower than any other city I had lived in in this state, but over the past couple of years, rent has increased by around 10%, which eliminates the only positive trait this city had. To sum it all up, Sacramento is a dangerous city that tries desperately to make itself look like anything but that. And with rent increasing faster here than almost anywhere else in the state, there is really no benefit to living here unless you enjoy being miserable.
Sacramento
May 2018 — Being the capital of California, Sacramento is the heart of California’s functioning government. The downtown and midtown has busy nightlife, but drive 20 min out, and you are greeted by beautiful countrysides of Northern California. What I like about Sacramento is the diversity in the city. Country bars and punk rock bars are next to each other and every place is a new experience. They are rebuilding where all of the abandoned/condemned building were so modern-esque buildings are appearing monthly. A few things I do not like about the city is the homeless situation. Lots of transients find there way here because it’s the last major city until Portland and Reno. There is also a housing problem, even though we have so many open spaces around the city, no new building are being built to expand the housing market. I love the city and also go to University here, and I have never had a terrible moment.