Best PlacesNorthgate Sacramento, Sacramento, CA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento ranks 2,581st of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on biking, and taxes are the weak spot.

#2,581
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento's strengths and weaknesses

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento with other neighborhoods.

Where Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento ranks high

  • BikingBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of neighborhoods
  • Nice weatherabout 152 pleasant days a year, better than 76% of neighborhoods
  • Household income$103,329 median, better than 70% of neighborhoods
  • Low vacancyBetter than 69% of neighborhoods

Where Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento ranks low

  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 21% of neighborhoods
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 22% of neighborhoods
  • Educational attainmentBetter than only 24% of neighborhoods
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 26% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento

A household needs to earn about $121,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $103,329, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$121,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,827
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $461,088 home
Median rent
$2,123
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,351
Property tax$322
Homeowners insurance$154

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento's effective rate of 0.84%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento

Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
36
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
12%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
3.1
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1824%
18 to 3426%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6418%
65 and older12%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento.


Who works in Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento, and how

Work in Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento centers on public administration and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
24%
above the national average
Unemployment
5.9%
above the national average
Job growth
+3.3%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Public administration16%
Construction12%
Transportation & warehousing11%
Admin & support services9%
Health care & social9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 73%
  • Work from home 24%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento.


What the weather is like in Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento, month by month

Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento sees roughly 152 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January58°48°41°
April75°60°49°
July97°78°63°
October80°65°52°

Flying in and out of Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento

Sacramento International sits about 8 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
SMF
Sacramento International, about 8 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
36th-busiest in the US, 85 nonstop destinations
Average drive
11 min
from the area, with no traffic

Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento

Is Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento ranks 2,581st of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on biking, a stable housing market, and the weather, and lowest on taxes and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $461,088. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $103,329 median income, cost of living beats 63% of neighborhoods.

Is Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento safe?

Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento is safer than 54% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $463 per resident a year.


Compare Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Northgate Sacramento, Sacramento detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.