Best suburbs of Sacramento

We scored all 33 towns and communities of 10,000+ people in the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA metro area on what most people weigh when they pick a suburb: what homes cost compared with local pay, household income, poverty, commute times, education, homeownership and how many families with kids live there. Folsom, Granite Bay and Rocklin come out on top.

top 10 upper half lower half Sacramento. Dot size shows population.

The top 25

#	Place	Score	Population	Median home	Home vs income	Household income	Commute	Poverty	Miles away
1	Folsom, CA	80	91,983	$755,200	5.4×	$139,804	26.6 min	5.3%	19
2	Granite Bay, CA	75	21,673	$1,135,900	6.2×	$184,606	25.3 min	5.1%	21
3	Rocklin, CA	73	76,821	$703,400	5.7×	$124,168	26.1 min	5.6%	20
4	El Dorado Hills, CA	72	51,026	$909,500	5.5×	$165,349	32.0 min	3.5%	24
5	Elk Grove, CA	71	185,007	$630,100	5.0×	$125,924	30.8 min	8.0%	11
6	Roseville, CA	70	167,302	$661,400	5.5×	$119,288	27.3 min	5.9%	16
7	La Riviera, CA	65	11,492	$459,200	4.7×	$97,975	25.8 min	10.8%	6
8	Lincoln, CA	61	57,367	$651,000	5.8×	$111,990	29.8 min	6.9%	23
9	Antelope, CA	60	48,301	$489,800	4.9×	$99,067	29.1 min	10.6%	12
10	Galt, CA	60	26,964	$487,500	5.2×	$94,393	31.2 min	8.0%	23
11	Vineyard, CA	57	43,751	$596,000	5.7×	$105,313	29.0 min	11.6%	10
12	Rancho Cordova, CA	56	87,554	$477,600	5.3×	$89,585	26.7 min	12.2%	13
13	West Sacramento, CA	55	56,216	$525,800	5.6×	$93,188	24.7 min	12.8%	4
14	Orangevale, CA	54	35,958	$565,100	5.7×	$99,832	28.4 min	10.4%	16
15	Fair Oaks, CA	54	32,799	$683,000	5.8×	$116,975	29.7 min	7.2%	13
16	Rio Linda, CA	54	16,335	$458,300	4.8×	$96,364	28.7 min	14.4%	8
17	Woodland, CA	53	62,513	$548,200	6.1×	$90,180	24.5 min	8.2%	17
18	Rosemont, CA	49	23,766	$460,700	5.1×	$90,046	27.7 min	16.6%	6
19	Cameron Park, CA	48	18,315	$667,900	6.5×	$102,289	29.6 min	7.0%	27
20	Diamond Springs, CA	48	10,927	$423,400	5.5×	$77,219	21.1 min	15.6%	35
21	Citrus Heights, CA	44	86,348	$454,600	5.5×	$82,314	28.0 min	8.6%	13
22	Florin, CA	44	50,211	$386,900	5.4×	$71,111	26.8 min	15.7%	7
23	Auburn, CA	40	13,847	$672,500	8.1×	$82,674	21.2 min	13.0%	31
24	Carmichael, CA	37	76,948	$579,500	6.7×	$85,914	27.1 min	12.6%	9
25	South Lake Tahoe, CA	37	21,115	$682,400	8.3×	$82,002	16.5 min	9.3%	84

Show all 33 places

#	Place	Score	Population	Median home	Home vs income	Household income	Commute	Poverty	Miles away
26	Parkway, CA	34	15,397	$374,700	5.8×	$64,375	24.7 min	22.5%	5
27	Arden-Arcade, CA	33	94,994	$560,200	7.2×	$77,321	25.9 min	16.9%	5
28	North Auburn, CA	33	13,480	$530,400	7.5×	$71,056	27.1 min	11.1%	33
29	Davis, CA	32	66,110	$866,100	9.6×	$90,045	22.3 min	26.5%	15
30	Foothill Farms, CA	30	36,435	$414,000	6.1×	$68,260	28.3 min	17.6%	10
31	Lemon Hill, CA	27	15,312	$349,900	7.2×	$48,762	25.2 min	32.0%	4
32	North Highlands, CA	25	47,957	$367,600	5.6×	$65,495	30.7 min	19.6%	9
33	Placerville, CA	22	10,685	$473,100	7.0×	$67,274	28.1 min	15.9%	38

Most affordable homes

La Riviera 4.7 years of income, $459,200
Rio Linda 4.8 years of income, $458,300
Antelope 4.9 years of income, $489,800
Elk Grove 5 years of income, $630,100
Rosemont 5.1 years of income, $460,700

Most families with kids

Lemon Hill 51.2% of households
Elk Grove 43.1% of households
Vineyard 42.0% of households
Parkway 40.7% of households
Galt 40.6% of households

How the score works

For each measure we rank the 33 places from worst to best within this metro area, then combine the ranks with these weights: home value compared with household income (20%), household income (15%), poverty rate (15%), average commute (15%), share of adults with a bachelor's degree (10%), homeownership (10%), households with children (10%) and population growth since 2020 (5%). Unincorporated communities have no official growth estimate, so they get the middle value for that part. A score of 100 would mean first on every measure.

Everything comes from the Census Bureau: the American Community Survey 2020-2024 and the 2025 population estimates. We leave out crime and school ratings because comparable official data for every town does not exist; check local school district and police data for the places on your shortlist.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best suburbs of Sacramento?

On our data-only score, Folsom, Granite Bay and Rocklin rank highest among 33 places of 10,000+ people in the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA metro area.

What is the most affordable suburb of Sacramento?

La Riviera has the lowest ratio of median home value to household income (4.7 years), with a median home of $459,200.

Which Sacramento suburb has the shortest commute?

South Lake Tahoe, where the average commute is 16.5 minutes each way.

Back to the Sacramento city profile, or see the best suburbs of other big cities.

Places are incorporated cities, towns and villages plus census-designated places with 10,000 or more residents, assigned to the metro area by county (OMB 2023 delineations). Distances are straight lines from the center of Sacramento. The Census Bureau caps published medians at $250,000 for income and $2,000,000 for home values, shown with a plus sign.