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East Sacramento, Sacramento, California

Sacramento's family neighborhood under a century old canopy: Fabulous Forties streets, McKinley Park and its rose garden at the center, strong elementary schools within walking distance, and downtown about four miles away.

Best for a Specific Need Angle: Best for families Price band: Premium Data checked October 29, 2026
McKinley Park in East Sacramento, Sacramento, in spring green
McKinley Park, the streetcar resort that became East Sacramento's front yard. Photo by Pena645, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

At a Glance

Affordability 4/10 Median sale price, East Sacramento$775,000Homes.com Home Trends, last 12 months, October 2026 Year over year change, East SacramentoAbout flat across Homes.com snapshotsHomes.com snapshots returned October 29, 2026 read down 1% and up 1% for the same $775,000 level; no single year change is cleanly verified for publication day Average apartment rent, one bedroom, East Sacramento$1,595 per monthZumper rent research, October 2026 Median rent, all types, East Sacramento$1,995 per monthZumper rent research, rolling 30 day basis, October 2026, on 27 rentals Median sale price, single family, East Sacramento$789,000Homes.com Home Trends, last 12 months, October 2026 Median list price, East Sacramento$799,000Homes.com Home Trends, last 12 months, October 2026 Premium money for Sacramento, in a seller's market with about two months of supply, where the park and the schools do a lot of the justifying.
Walkability 7/10 Walk Score, East Sacramento72 out of 100Walk Score neighborhood page, October 2026 Transit Score, East Sacramento36 out of 100Walk Score neighborhood page, October 2026 Bike Score, East Sacramento88 out of 100Walk Score neighborhood page, October 2026 The park, the schools and the corner groceries walk easily, and the flat streets ride beautifully. The bus is the weaker leg here.
Housing Variety 7/10 Housing stock, East Sacramento11,298 housing units, median construction year 1950, 57.6% detached single family; Fabulous Forties Period Revival houses on large lots, post war cottages, small apartment buildings and newer infill; about half of occupied homes owner occupied and half renter occupied on the same Census based seriesPoint2Homes Census based demographics, October 2026 Grand Forties houses at one end and small cottages at the other, with apartments tucked between. A family can start small here and trade up without leaving the canopy.
Daily Life 9/10 A 32 acre park with a rose garden, two neighborhood elementary schools, a Sunday farmers market, a beloved Italian grocery on Folsom Boulevard, and the river trail at the east edge. Daily life here has somewhere to go every day of the week.
Commute 7/10 Distance to Capitol Mall, Downtown SacramentoAbout 4 milesHomes.com neighborhood guide, October 2026 Sacramento State, from the neighborhood east edgeAdjacent to the east, beside the American RiverHomes.com neighborhood guide, October 2026; no mileage is claimed for this leg Drive to Sacramento International Airport14 milesHomes.com neighborhood guide, October 2026 Downtown is a short drive, the university is next door, and the airport run is straightforward. Transit riders will plan around the bus schedule.

California cost notes. California income tax runs from 1 percent to 12.3 percent, plus 1 percent on taxable income over $1 million, for a 13.3 percent top rate. Property tax starts at the Proposition 13 base of 1 percent of assessed value, with assessed values rising no more than 2 percent a year while a home is owned and reassessed at market value when it sells; in Sacramento County the effective rate typically runs 1.0 percent to 1.3 percent once voter approved bonds and assessments are layered on, which puts a buyer at the $775,000 median at roughly $7,750 to $10,075 a year before the $7,000 homeowners exemption, which saves roughly $70 to $80 a year. A new buyer should also expect a supplemental bill after purchase when the county reassesses at the sale price. Sales tax in the City of Sacramento totals 8.75 percent.

Map of East Sacramento in context, with a pin on the neighborhood, downtown Sacramento to the west, the American River to the north and Sacramento State to the east
East Sacramento in context, pin on the neighborhood, with Downtown Sacramento about four miles west, the American River to the north, and Sacramento State to the east. Map: Esri, HERE, Garmin, © OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS user community.

The Story

East Sacramento began as a ride. In July 1871 the City Street Railway Company opened East Park, a 30 acre resort at the end of its horse drawn streetcar line, just outside the city limits, to give people a reason to ride east. The park worked. Houses followed the tracks, developers followed the houses, and a patch of farmland at the edge of Sacramento became one of the city's most settled and most loved neighborhoods, anchored by the park that started it all.

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The park's second act came from a woman who refused to let it stay a streetcar company's side project. In 1902 the Tuesday Club, led by its president Carrie Miller, persuaded the City of Sacramento to buy the park for $12,500, and Miller herself raised the money to close the deal. She then got volunteers to build it out as a real public park, with a playground, sports fields, and a running track. Renamed McKinley Park for President William McKinley, assassinated in 1901, the park gained its signature feature in 1928, when the city's first parks superintendent, Frederick N. Evans, planted a rose garden on the old running track's oval. Today the Frederick N. Evans Memorial Rose Garden holds nearly 1,200 rose bushes and hosts weddings, quinceaneras, and quiet morning walks under wrought iron arbors.

The houses around the park tell the next chapter. In the 1890s the Sacramento Electric Power and Light Company extended streetcar tracks eastward, and developers Charles Wright and Howard Kimbrough sold the new suburb as just a 15 minute ride from downtown. Their Tract 24, surveyed in 1913, became the Fabulous Forties, large lots with landscaped setbacks and ambitious Period Revival houses in Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, and Mediterranean Revival styles, built mainly in the 1920s and 1930s for the city's growing upper middle class. The name comes from the numbered streets themselves, 40th through 49th between J Street and Folsom Boulevard in the common telling, though the original Tract 24 covered 40th through 47th and some locals draw the line at 38th through 48th. Even the boundary is a neighborhood argument. The Forties' most famous address is 1341 45th Street, the 1925 Tudor Revival house Ronald and Nancy Reagan leased as the Executive Residence for most of his governorship, April 1967 to January 1975, after leaving the old Governor's Mansion. The city designated it a historic landmark in November 2024.

East Sacramento also carries a loss that shaped the whole city. The Moorish Alhambra Theatre, opened September 24, 1927 at what is now Alhambra Boulevard, seated about 1,850 and was the city's showplace, with a courtyard, fountain, and California's first permanently installed Vitaphone sound system. When a 1973 bond measure to buy it failed, it was demolished for a Safeway supermarket. The outrage launched Sacramento's preservation movement under the slogan "Remember the Alhambra," and the theatre's original fountain still runs on the south side of the Safeway parking lot. That mix, grand houses, a park saved by its neighbors, a beloved building lost, and schools like Theodore Judah that grew from a one room bungalow in 1927, is why families stay here for decades.

The Frederick N. Evans Memorial Rose Garden at McKinley Park in spring
The Frederick N. Evans Memorial Rose Garden in spring, planted in 1928 on the site of the park's old running track. Photo by Ingawh, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

  • July 1871: City Street Railway Company opens East Park, a 30 acre resort at the end of the horse drawn streetcar line, outside city limits (The Cultural Landscape Foundation; Historical Marker Database).
  • 1890s: Sacramento Electric Power and Light Company extends streetcar tracks eastward; Charles Wright and Howard Kimbrough market the suburb as just a 15 minute ride from downtown (Lee M. A. Simpson, East Sacramento, 2004).
  • 1902: City of Sacramento buys East Park for $12,500, through the Tuesday Club campaign led by Carrie Miller, and renames it McKinley Park for President William McKinley, assassinated in 1901 (Comstock's magazine, May 2025; The Cultural Landscape Foundation).
  • 1911: East Sacramento is annexed into the City of Sacramento (City of Sacramento housing history; SACtoday).
  • 1913: Survey map of Wright and Kimbrough Tract No. 24, the subdivision that became the Fabulous Forties (City of Sacramento DPR continuation sheet for 1445 45th Street, recorded April 2026, citing Sacramento County Records).
  • 1920s and 1930s: Fabulous Forties rises to prominence as grand Period Revival houses are built (Visit California).
  • January 26, 1927: Theodore Judah School opens as a one room wooden bungalow, the David Lubin Annex (City of Sacramento historic register nomination, April 20, 1994).
  • September 24, 1927: Alhambra Theatre opens at 1025 31st Street, now Alhambra Boulevard, Moorish style, about 1,850 seats (Alhambra Theatre, Sacramento; Nacht and Lewis).
  • 1928: Frederick N. Evans, Sacramento's first parks superintendent, plants the McKinley Park rose garden in the park's southeast corner on the former running track site (The Cultural Landscape Foundation; Comstock's magazine, May 2025).
  • 1937 to 1939: Permanent Theodore Judah School building constructed in two units as a Public Works Administration project; Sacramento's last standing PWA school (City of Sacramento historic register nomination, April 20, 1994).
  • December 13, 1946: Rose garden named the Frederick N. Evans Memorial Rose Garden by City Council (City of Sacramento, Evans Memorial Rose Garden master plan amendment, January 26, 2010).
  • April 1967 to January 1975: Ronald and Nancy Reagan lease 1341 45th Street, a 1925 Tudor Revival house, as the Executive Residence for most of his governorship (Ronald Reagan Presidential Library).
  • 1973: Alhambra Theatre demolished for a Safeway supermarket after a bond measure to buy it fails; only its fountain survives (Alhambra Theatre, Sacramento; Clio).
  • October 18, 2018: McKinley Park added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (McKinley Park, Sacramento).
  • November 2024: City of Sacramento designates 1341 45th Street a city historic landmark (Ronald Reagan Presidential Library).

What It Actually Feels Like

East Sacramento feels like a neighborhood that finished growing a long time ago and then decided to stay that way. The canopy comes first: mature elms, oaks, sycamores and London planes arch over the Forties streets, and the lots are wide enough that the houses sit back behind gardens rather than crowding the sidewalk. Mornings belong to McKinley Park, where runners circle the paths, parents push strollers toward the playground, and the rose garden fills with wedding parties on spring weekends. The school run is a neighborhood event in itself, with kids walking to Theodore Judah and David Lubin under the same trees their parents walked under. Afternoons drift to Folsom Boulevard, where Corti Brothers' deli counter draws a line and the corner groceries do the daily shopping, and to the river trail at the east edge, where the Guy West Bridge carries walkers and cyclists across to the American River Parkway. Evenings are quieter, porch lights on the Forties streets, the 4th of July parade route still talked about months later, and, in December, the Forties Christmas lights drawing slow traffic down 43rd Street. The tradeoff is written into the same streets: the houses are old, the lots are large, and the price of staying here keeps climbing, while the bus that could carry a teenager downtown runs thin enough that most families keep a car.

Spring in McKinley Park in East Sacramento, Sacramento
Spring in McKinley Park, where East Sacramento walks, picnics, and gathers. Photo by Ingawh, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • The family anchors are inside the neighborhood: McKinley Park and its rose garden, Theodore Judah and David Lubin elementary schools, and a Sunday farmers market at the park.
  • Bike Score 88 and flat streets (Walk Score, October 2026), with downtown about four miles away and Sacramento State next door to the east.
  • The housing range is real: verified listings on October 29, 2026 ran from a $649,950 Forties cottage to a $2,525,000 Tudor Revival, so a family can buy in small and stay in the same school zone.
  • Homes move: Homes.com puts the average at 29 days on market, against a national average of 58 days, on its last 12 months series.
  • The canopy and the lot sizes are the amenity: large setbacks, mature gardens, and streets wide enough for a parade, including 46th Street, widened as the old J Street streetcar turnaround.

Cons

  • Premium money for Sacramento: $775,000 (Homes.com, last 12 months, October 2026) sits about 52 percent above the Redfin city median of $508,258 (September 2026, via Yoffie Real Estate Group, October 13, 2026), and supply is thin at about two months.
  • Transit is the weak score: Transit Score 36 (Walk Score, October 2026), so a car stays part of most family logistics.
  • The stock is old: median construction year 1950 (Point2Homes Census based, October 2026), so budgets need room for systems, roofs, and trees.
  • The year change is unsettled: Homes.com snapshots returned October 29, 2026 disagree on whether the median is up 1 percent or down 1 percent year over year, so no direction should be quoted from this report alone.
  • The Alhambra lesson still stings: the neighborhood's grandest civic building was lost to a supermarket parking lot in 1973, and its fountain is the reminder.

Housing in Detail

Entry: the cottage tier, where a two bedroom 1946 Forties cottage at 1221 48th Street, 990 square feet, listed at $649,950 on October 29, 2026, 6 days on Redfin. Mid: the maintained family cottage, where a three bedroom 1946 home at 1511 Christopher Way, 1,217 square feet, listed at $685,000, 35 days on Redfin. Top: the Forties remodels, where a four bedroom 1993 home at 835 43rd Street, 2,982 square feet, reimagined in 2026 after 52 years in one family, listed at $2,125,000, cut from $2,250,000, and a four bedroom 1925 Tudor Revival at 1348 44th Street, 2,829 square feet with original 100 year old white oak floors, listed at $2,525,000, 18 hours on Redfin. The shape underneath: 11,298 housing units at a median construction year of 1950 (Point2Homes Census based, October 2026), 57.6 percent detached single family, with Forties Period Revival houses, post war cottages, small apartment buildings and newer infill on the same tree lined grid. No condo or townhome inside the neighborhood boundaries verified active on Redfin on October 29, 2026, so this report carries no condo entry card.

Daily Life

McKinley Park starts the day: 32 acres at 601 Alhambra Boulevard, National Register listed October 18, 2018, with the Frederick N. Evans Memorial Rose Garden of nearly 1,200 bushes, Lake Kiesel, the Clunie Community Center, a library branch, tennis courts and a Sunday farmers market. Theodore Judah Elementary at 3919 McKinley Boulevard, opened January 26, 1927 as a one room bungalow and rebuilt as a Public Works Administration school in 1937 to 1939, and David Lubin Elementary at 3535 M Street anchor the school run. Folsom Boulevard does the eating and shopping: Corti Brothers at 5810 Folsom Boulevard, an Italian grocery opened in downtown Sacramento in 1947, with its deli, pastas and cheeses, plus the Save Mart center at 56th Street and Folsom Boulevard. East Portal Park, off M Street, is the neighborhood's second largest park, and at the east edge the Guy West Bridge, styled after the Golden Gate Bridge, carries walkers and cyclists from the Sacramento State campus to the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail on the American River Parkway.

Best For / Think Twice If

Best for: families who want strong neighborhood elementary schools, a large park and a rose garden inside the neighborhood, and a short drive downtown; buyers who can trade newness for canopy, lot size and a school zone they can stay in; cyclists, with a Bike Score of 88 on flat streets.

Think twice if: the $775,000 median strains the plan, because supply is thin and the city median sits far below it; you need frequent transit, because Transit Score 36 means the bus is thin; you want a new build or a condo entry point, because the verified market on October 29, 2026 was single family houses built mostly before 1950, with no in boundary condo verified active; you want a clean year over year price story, because Homes.com snapshots disagree on the direction.

Top Properties Right Now

$649,950

1221 48th St, Sacramento

2 bed | 1 bath | 990 square feet | Single-family cottage, built 1946

The entry card, a Fab 40s cottage with vaulted ceilings, exposed wood beams, hardwood floors and a fireplace, 6 days on Redfin.

Listing verified on Redfin, October 29, 2026. View on Redfin

$685,000

1511 Christopher Way, Sacramento

3 bed | 1 bath | 1,217 square feet | Single-family house, built 1946

The mid cottage, a maintained East Sacramento home with a fully renovated kitchen, hardwood floors and a wood burning fireplace, 35 days on Redfin.

Listing verified on Redfin, October 29, 2026. View on Redfin

$2,125,000

835 43rd St, Sacramento

4 bed | 3 bath | 2,982 square feet | Single-family house, built 1993

The remodel card, on the historic street where the Fab 40s Christmas lights tradition began, reimagined in 2026 after 52 years in one family, cut from $2,250,000, 14 days on Redfin.

Listing verified on Redfin, October 29, 2026. View on Redfin

$2,525,000

1348 44th St, Sacramento

4 bed | 2,829 square feet | Tudor Revival, built 1925

The top card, an iconic historic Tudor Revival in the Fabulous 40s with original 100 year old white oak floors, 18 hours on Redfin. Redfin's summary table lists 3 baths for this home while its listing description lists 4 full baths and 1 half bath, so no bath count is printed on this card.

Listing verified on Redfin, October 29, 2026. View on Redfin

Nearby Alternatives

  • Land Park: south, the park side rival, at a Homes.com median sale price of $805,000, down 1 percent year over year, last 12 months, October 2026.
  • Curtis Park: southwest, the craftsman pocket, at a Homes.com median sale price of $753,500, last 12 months, October 2026.
  • River Park: northeast, closer to the river, at a Homes.com median sale price of $732,000, down 5 percent year over year, last 12 months, October 2026.
  • Midtown Sacramento: west, the denser, more walkable grid, at a Homes.com median sale price of $712,500, up 9 percent year over year, last 12 months, October 2026.
  • Tahoe Park: southeast, the step down in price, at a Homes.com median sale price of $513,975, up 5 percent year over year, last 12 months, October 2026.

Sources

Data as of the dates shown above. Refresh due within 90 days for listings and 6 months for market data.

  • Homes.com, East Sacramento, Sacramento neighborhood page, Home Trends, last 12 months, October 2026: median sale price $775,000, median list price $799,000, single family median $789,000, about 29 days on market, about 2 months of supply: homes.com
  • Homes.com, East Sacramento neighborhood guide, October 2026: about 4 miles to Capitol Mall, Sacramento State adjacent to the east, Sacramento International Airport a 14 mile drive, stock character: homes.com
  • Redfin neighborhood pages for East Sacramento, checked October 29, 2026: no Redfin East Sacramento neighborhood median sale price could be read on a Redfin page that day, so the labeled Homes.com last 12 months figure above headlines this report; the Homes.com snapshots returned October 29, 2026 disagree on the year change, so this report headlines the level and labels the change as about flat.
  • Zumper, East Sacramento rent research, October 29, 2026: median rent $1,995 per month across all types on a rolling 30 day basis on 27 rentals; average one bedroom apartment rent $1,595 per month; average house rent $3,025 per month: zumper.com
  • Walk Score, East Sacramento neighborhood page, October 2026: Walk Score 72, Transit Score 36, Bike Score 88, 10th most walkable neighborhood in Sacramento, population 17,090: walkscore.com
  • Point2Homes, East Sacramento demographics, Census based, October 2026: 11,298 housing units, median construction year 1950, 57.6 percent detached single family: point2homes.com
  • Redfin, city of Sacramento median sale price, September 2026: $508,258, up 3.3 percent year over year, via Yoffie Real Estate Group guide, October 13, 2026: yoffierealestategroup.com
  • Sales Tax Handbook, Sacramento sales tax rate, 2026: combined 8.75 percent in the City of Sacramento: salestaxhandbook.com
  • LegalClarity, Sacramento County tax rates, and DealMachine, Property Tax in Sacramento CA, October 2026: Proposition 13 base 1 percent, typical effective 1.0 percent to 1.3 percent, $7,000 homeowners exemption: legalclarity.org
  • The Cultural Landscape Foundation, McKinley Park, October 2026: 1871 East Park opening, 1902 city purchase and renaming, 1928 rose garden: tclf.org
  • Comstock's magazine, At 123 Years Old, McKinley Park Is the Still-Thriving Glory of East Sacramento, May 2025: Carrie Miller and the Tuesday Club campaign, the 1902 purchase for $12,500: comstocksmag.com
  • City of Sacramento, DPR continuation sheet for 1445 45th Street, recorded April 2026: 1913 survey map of Wright and Kimbrough Tract No. 24, 40th through 47th Streets, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival and Mediterranean Revival styles.
  • Visit California, Guide to the Fabulous Forties Neighborhood in East Sacramento, California: 1920s and 1930s prominence, 40th through 49th Streets between J Street and Folsom Boulevard in the common telling: visitcalifornia.com
  • City of Sacramento, historic register nomination for Theodore Judah School, April 20, 1994: January 26, 1927 opening as a one room bungalow, 1937 to 1939 Public Works Administration building, last standing PWA school in Sacramento.
  • Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Residences of Ronald W. Reagan: 1341 45th Street leased April 1967 to January 1975, city historic landmark designation November 2024: reaganlibrary.gov
  • Alhambra Theatre, Sacramento, and Nacht and Lewis, Alhambra Theater history: September 24, 1927 opening, about 1,850 seats, California's first permanently installed Vitaphone system, 1973 demolition, surviving fountain: nachtlewis.com
  • AAA Via, Corti Brothers: Sacramento's Food Mecca: Italian grocery opened in downtown Sacramento in 1947, East Sacramento store at 5810 Folsom Boulevard: aaa.com
  • Homes.com, Land Park, Curtis Park, River Park, Midtown Sacramento and Tahoe Park neighborhood pages, October 2026: median sale prices $805,000, $753,500, $732,000, $712,500 and $513,975, each last 12 months: homes.com
  • Listings verified October 29, 2026: 1221 48th St, 1511 Christopher Way, 835 43rd St and 1348 44th St, all on Redfin.
  • Pena645, McKinley Park, Sacramento in 2021 (hero photograph), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0: commons.wikimedia.org
  • Ingawh, Spring in the Rose Garden at McKinley Park (story photograph), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0: commons.wikimedia.org
  • Ingawh, Spring at McKinley Park (photograph), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0: commons.wikimedia.org
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