Sacramento, CA

[clouparker]

Does anyone have advice about renting in Sacramento as a UC Davis grad. student who will be teaching? Is it a bad/good idea to do so? The potential housing in Sacramento looks much better and is more affordable, so I'm leaning that way. But is the commute (by bus or car) a real pain in the ass?

Also, any suggestions for neighborhoods or general areas to live in? My husband and I have two small dogs, so that's a factor.

THANK YOU!

[prolixity]

Does anyone have advice about renting in Sacramento as a UC Davis grad. student who will be teaching? Is it a bad/good idea to do so? The potential housing in Sacramento looks much better and is more affordable, so I'm leaning that way. But is the commute (by bus or car) a real pain in the ass?

Also, any suggestions for neighborhoods or general areas to live in? My husband and I have two small dogs, so that's a factor.

THANK YOU!

A little late to the game but for future reference:

Sacramento traffic bottlenecks on the Causeway (I-80) in West Sacramento. You will, I guarantee - will, spend needless hours of your life trying to cross the American River floodplain to get to Davis. If you plan on living outside of Davis (though I recommend only living in the city), check out Woodland (tweaker/trailerpark ghetto) and Dixon (hickville, with hispanic gang influence).

[urbanist]

Respectfully disagree with the last post.

The commute from Sac to Davis really isn't that bad. My partner does it four days per week and doesn't mind too much. There is a bus from the UC Davis Medical Center (in Sacramento) to the campus in Davis that takes about 30 minutes, and monthly passes are $45. She chooses to walk for exercise to the bus from where we live in Midtown, so that part takes another 30 minutes, but it would easily be under 15 minutes by bike from here or many other desirable neighborhoods. There is also Amtrak which only takes 15 minutes but the monthly pass costs around $130.

Oh yeah and despite what you will hear, the traffic on I-80 is not that bad. It gets backed up from time to time, but at least 95% of the times I drive it I never have to slow down below 65 mph at any point. As a student, you will have the benefit of generally commuting outside traditional rush hour times. Then again, I have lived in LA and New York so I know what REAL traffic is like. I do hear from Davis grad students who grew up in places like Vermont that the traffic is really bad here, so I guess it depends where you are from.

Lastly, in regard to neighborhoods, I would recommend Midtown, or East Sacramento. Those have the most expensive rent in the city but you will still pay less and find better housing than in Davis, and they are close to the Med Center bus. Oak Park, where the UC Med Center is located, is a little more rough around the edges but I know some people who enjoy living there. Tahoe Park/Colonial Heights, just east of Oak Park, are more affordable and safer alternatives.

[LauraV]

I'm planning on moving to Sacramento and applying for Sac and Fresno, hoping I get into both or at least Sacramento.  I heard the college isn't downtown Sacramento, and where I am it is now. So that would defiantly be a plus. But I'd like to learn more about the school area as well and possible decent low cost room rentals/apartments near by that are reasonably safe too.

[steveshooman]

@LauraV CSUS is in East Sacramento, which is the area of Sacramento I would live in if I moved to the City proper (I live in a suburb). I'm sure students who attend there can speak to the rental situation better than I, but it's a nice area and still fairly walkable, depending on which part you live in.