College Greens East, Sacramento, CA

The thing that sets College Greens East apart from the rest of this pocket is the light rail. The SacRT Gold Line runs along Folsom Boulevard on the southern edge, and the College Greens station puts a roughly twenty-minute train ride into downtown Sacramento within walking distance of a lot of these blocks. That is a genuine commuting option most of the surrounding ranch neighborhoods do not have. The housing is standard mid-1960s ranch stock, single-story, on regular lots, with the original rooflines mostly intact and interiors that have been updated block by block. California State University Sacramento sits just to the west, which keeps the area close to campus and gives the stretch near the station a heavier rental and student-housing mix than the interior streets. The American River Parkway is a short trip north for anyone who wants the trail. The tradeoff is that Folsom Boulevard and the rail line bring their own noise and traffic, and the student-housing turnover near the station is real. Land here for the train, then walk it back to a quiet ranch street a few blocks in.