North Oak Park

Cornered between Highway 50 and Highway 99, North Oak Park suffers from a low middle-class appeal. It stretches less than a square mile of urban anonymity, crowded with old Victorians, ranch homes and sketchy warehouses. It’s convenience to downtown Sacramento and Shriners Hospital gives it a well-needed perk, but most residents are overly concerned with its above-average crime rate and relative safety of their families. For students, Sacramento High School lies just outside the neighborhood limits.

If you’re looking to live in North Oak Park, you have your choice of unpolished Victorians and unkempt ranch homes. In the last decade, the district has been afflicted with a large number of foreclosures and a decline in property values. Of those who’ve stayed, make on average $20,000 to $42,000 while their residences range from $100,000 to $400,000 in price. It’s also densely populated melting pot of ethnic groups (25% white, 30% black, 30% hispanic, 15 % asian).

Aesthetically speaking, there is little to praise except for the fairly leafy sidewalks and few open spaces. The neighborhood bleeds a lower middle-class community feel. Residences come in the form of unappealing apartment buildings with barred ground floor windows. Some homes have driveways that wrap around the residence while others don’t have driveways at all (which can make street parking in these areas a bit hit or miss). Ugly chain-linked or short wooden fencing surrounds dead grass and unkempt yards while old cars with chipped paint blemish the residential streets.

North Oak Park is the mostly residential neighborhood just to the west of the UC Davis Medical Center. It is at the junction of the El Dorado and Sacramento Freeways.

North Oak Park is home to Sacramento Charter High School—which I hear is a very good school though I don’t know for sure.

The neighborhood is also home to Underground Books—a bookstore owned by the mother of current Sac Mayor Johnson (whom those who are from this neck of the woods will know from his time as an NBA player).

The homes in the area have a somewhat run down feel to them. They are a mix of older style homes with ranch homes
being the newest of those that you find here. Prices here are rock bottom with the vast majority of the homes in the area going for less than $250K and many even dropping to less than $100 K.

There is definitely a crime problem here and to the south of this area, which partly explains the low rents. Generally speak, you want to avoid the area.