Mass migration to Sacramento
It’s no secret that Bay Area real estate prices are through the roof and in some areas, still rising. According to the National Association of Realtors, the median home price in San Francisco was $1.38 million as of December 2017. In San Jose, that figure stood at $1.165 million. Even in laidback Oakland, the median selling price was $690,000. These valuations put homeownership out of reach for significant numbers of prospective buyers, including tech professionals.
Consequently, Bay Area residents, millennials chief among them, are looking elsewhere for their piece of the American Dream. And while it faces some competition from cities such as Seattle and Austin, Texas, our northeastern neighbor Sacramento, is a prime home search target. In fact, according to a May 2017 California Department of Finance report, the Capital City is the fastest-growing large city in the state. It’s exurbs and suburbs — such as Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove and Davis — are expanding swiftly as well.
Why Sacramento?
In the greater Sacramento area, you can easily find new homes in the $340,000 to $700,000 range. In southerly regions of the city, three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes are on offer for as little as $280,000. And as of this writing, in Rancho Cordova, a stand-alone new home is listing for less than $70,000. (No, I’m not kidding.)
What’s more, Sacramento is chock-full of leisure, entertainment, dining and other lifestyle opportunities.
San Francisco’s restaurant scene notwithstanding, the dedicated foodie might be just as content, if not happier, in the Sacramento region. The self-described Farm-to-Fork capital is home to 150 crops grown over 1.5 million acres, according to Visit Sacramento. The 5-year-old Farm-to-Fork Festival, held each September, starts with a restaurant week and ends with an outdoor extravaganza in which attendees come face to face with area vintners, brewers, chefs, ranchers and farmers. Not surprisingly, downtown and Midtown Sacramento are chockfull of eateries that honor the sustainability ideal.
When it comes to potables, wine enthusiasts can look forward to winery tours and tastings from Davis to Folsom to the Gold Country and the Sierra.
“There’s all sorts of wineries up in the Amador County region,” says Laura Kilgore, director of marketing at Lennar Sacramento. She says these attractions are less than 90 minutes from the Sacramento area “and Napa itself is just two or three hours away.”
Craft beers are also on tap at breweries throughout the area, so there’s no shortage of opportunities to whet your whistle.
Entertainment opportunities abound as well. Sacramento’s Downtown Commons is a 1.5 million-square-foot development of retail, restaurant and entertainment venues. Its glittering centerpiece is the Golden 1 Center. Operating for just the past 16 months, it is touted as the greenest sports and entertainment center in the U.S. In addition to the Sacramento Kings basketball team, the venue hosts top musical and comedy acts, such as Kevin Hart and Miranda Lambert, ice shows and even the WWE.
Brand new to Midtown (as of January 2018) is the Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, home of the city’s beloved B Street Theatre. Equipped with two stages and stateof-the-art performance and rehearsal facilities, it boasts a multifaceted schedule of plays, music and dance performances, speaker series and other entertainment. Residents of the Sierra can look forward to Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival and Music Festival performances.
Outdoor enthusiasts will also have a lot to keep them occupied.
“Sacramento is a big outdoor area because we’re so close to the Sierra,” says Kevin Carson, Northern California president of The New Home Company, which has developed homes in Davis, Elk Grove and El Dorado Hills and has new properties underway in Folsom and Rocklin.
“There’s a lot of bicycling because you have the American River Parkway which runs all the way from Folsom to downtown Sacramento. All the communities we’re building in the (Sacramento and Davis areas) connect via walking and biking trails.”
When it comes to hiking, you can’t do better than the Cosumnes River Preserve, Auburn State Recreation Area and the South Fork American River Trail. Moreover, the network of neighborhood parks in Sacramento and its northern suburbs suitable for casual picnicking and family recreation is remarkable.
For water lovers, the range of activities at Folsom Lake, with more than 10,000 surface acres of water and 75 miles of shoreline, is impressive. The lake supports swimming, boating, water skiing and more. On the American River, residents can take advantage of Lake Natoma, a regulating reservoir for Folsom Dam. While motor boats are not allowed, activities such as crew and paddleboarding are more than welcome.
Of course, taking in world-class dining and entertainment opportunities requires a decent income. The Sacramento area offers no dearth of employment opportunities. As the state capital, of course, the city is home to a broad range of government jobs, positions that are typically stable and offer quality benefits. In the immediate Sacramento area, Kaiser is a major employer and is planning to expand its operations. UC Davis and Sutter Health are also part of the employment landscape. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, architecture and engineering, computer-related professions, business, finance and science-related jobs complete the picture.
If the mass migration from the Bay Area is fueled in part by outof-reach housing prices, it’s also true that many of the area’s tech giants are choosing to establish facilities in Sacramento and even Reno.
Hewlett-Packard in Roseville and Oracle in Rocklin offer healthy salaries, job security, growth and promotional opportunities.
Cupertino’s Apple, having established a data warehouse in the Reno suburbs, broke ground in January on a warehouse facility within the city limits. According to a tweet by CEO Tim Cook, the two facilities represent a $1.6 billion investment so far and are expected to account for 20,000 jobs over the next five years.
Tesla is constructing by stages what it terms a gigafactory near Sparks, Nev. While just 30 percent completed, it has already began producing batteries for Tesla vehicles. The company expects the facility at completion to be among the largest in the world and to support nearly 10,000 jobs.
Not to be outdone, Mountain View’s Google has also purchased property in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, possibly to develop a data center.
Finally, despite abundant job opportunities, some recent transplants elect to keep their Bay Area jobs, commuting in by car or train.
Job opportunities, outdoor recreation, leisure and entertainment make the Sacramento region a desirable place to search for a new home. Less traffic congestion and a more leisurely pace are also attractive qualities. Some recent transplants report a high degree of satisfaction. And the charms of the Bay Area are just a commute away.