Best PlacesSacramento, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Sacramento metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Basil D Soufi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Sacramento ranks 153rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on taxes and childcare costs. It does better on biking, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Sacramento metro
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.
The best areas in Sacramento
The towns and districts of the Sacramento metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Wilton, Sloughhouse & Herald
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and it is quieter.
Folsom, El Dorado Hills & Orangevale
More adults hold degrees and more residents vote.
Roseville, Antelope & Lincoln
Crime runs lower and more households have young kids.
Rocklin, South Lake Tahoe & Auburn
Tree cover is thicker, though biking is worse.
Downtown Sacramento
Transit reaches more jobs and streets are more walkable.
Elk Grove & Florin
Fewer homes sit empty, though health care is harder to reach.
Woodland
Scores close to Elk Grove & Florin, except that disaster risk is higher here.
Arden-Arcade, Carmichael & North Highlands
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Elverta
Heat risk is higher and schools score lower.
Sacramento shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Sacramento's strengths and weaknesses
Sacramento lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Biking, transit, and high incomes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Taxes, childcare costs, and long commutes hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Sacramento to another than it does between Sacramento and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Sacramento ranks high
- BikingBetter than 96% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Household income$106,564 median, better than 92% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of metro areas
Where Sacramento ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,410 a month, better than only 9% of metro areas
- Short commute27.1 minutes each way, better than only 12% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 14% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 17% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Sacramento
A household needs to earn about $155,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sacramento home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,564, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Sacramento's effective rate of 0.75%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sacramento
Sacramento's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sacramento.
Who works in Sacramento, and how
Work in Sacramento centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Sacramento
Sacramento has less late-night activity than most metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Sacramento and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Sacramento growing, and who is moving in?
Sacramento has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from San Francisco, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Sacramento go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Sacramento, month by month
Sacramento sees roughly 151 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 49° | 39° |
| April | 76° | 60° | 46° |
| July | 96° | 75° | 59° |
| October | 82° | 64° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Sacramento
Sacramento International sits about 11 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Sacramento
Schools across Sacramento average a B−, better than 54% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Donner Trail ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Creekside CharterA+ · 82% proficient
- Oakhills ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ridgeview ElementaryA+ · 69% proficient
- Olympus Junior HighA · 67% proficient
- Willma Cavitt Junior HighA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Davis Senior HighA+ · 89% proficient
- Mira Loma HighA+ · 80% proficient
- Pacific Crest AcademyA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sacramento school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
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 Sacramento against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Sacramento suits
Common questions about living in Sacramento
Is Sacramento a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sacramento ranks 153rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on biking, transit, and high incomes, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sacramento expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $596,734. The overall cost of living runs about 16% above the national average. Set against a $106,564 median income, cost of living beats 55% of metro areas.
Is Sacramento safe?
Sacramento is safer than 20% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $449 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sacramento?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 39. That works out to about 151 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Sacramento?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wilton, Sloughhouse & Herald, Folsom, El Dorado Hills & Orangevale, and Roseville, Antelope & Lincoln. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Sacramento good for families?
Schools beat 54% of metro areas, crime safety beats 20%, and childcare runs $1,410 a month.
Is Sacramento good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 55% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 48% of metro areas. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Sacramento with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sacramento. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 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.
Sacramento detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sacramento: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sacramento: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sacramento: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sacramento: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sacramento detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.