According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city covers . 98.61% of it is land, and 1.39% of it is water. Depth to groundwater is typically about . Much of the land to the west of the city (in
Yolo County) is permanently reserved for a vast flood control basin (the
Yolo Bypass), due to the city's historical vulnerability to floods. As a result, the contiguous urban area sprawls only west of downtown (as
West Sacramento, California) but northeast and east, into the
Sierra Nevada foothills, and to the south into valley farmland. The city is at the confluence of the
Sacramento River and the
American River and has a deep-water port connected to the
San Francisco Bay by a channel through the
Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. It is the shipping and rail center for the
Sacramento Valley.
Trees Sacramento has long been known as the "City of Trees" owing to its abundant
urban forest. The city has more trees per capita than any other city in the world. The first recorded use of the term was in 1855, and it was popular by the early 20th century. It was not always so: it was at first called the "City of Plains" because of the lack of trees, but soon afterward there were
cottonwood trees planted, and
eucalyptus varieties were imported to dry out
swampland. Later,
locust trees, and
willows were planted along streets, then
elms, then
palm trees, then
fruit trees in the late 1910s. In the early 21st century, the tree cover is well above that of the average tree cover of other major cities in the United States and the rest of the world, with the main species being the
London plane. Other species are being introduced to increase diversity and to help cope with the effects of
climate change on vegetation in the future.
Treepedia, a project run by
MIT using
Google Maps' street-view data to calculate tree coverage in cities, ranked Sacramento the greenest city of 15 studied in the US, and third globally, after
Vancouver and
Singapore. A prominent
water tower bore the slogan "City of Trees" until 2017 when it was repainted with the words "America's Farm-to-Fork Capital" (referring to the
farm-to-fork movement, which promotes the consumption of locally-grown food). After 4,000 displeased citizens signed a petition protesting the change, officials agreed to include both slogans on the water tower.
Cityscape City neighborhoods is the home of numerous corporate regional headquarters. The city used to group neighborhoods into four areas. As of 2011, the groupings were: • Area One:
Alkali Flat,
Boulevard Park, Campus Commons,
Sacramento State, Dos Rios Triangle, Downtown, East Sacramento, Mansion Flats, Marshall School,
Midtown,
New Era Park, McKinley Village,
Newton Booth,
Old Sacramento,
Poverty Ridge, Richards, Richmond Grove, River Park, Elmhurst, Sierra Oaks,
Southside Park. • Area Two: Airport, Carleton Tract, Freeport Manor, Golf Course Terrace,
Greenhaven Hollywood Park,
Land Park, Little Pocket, Mangan Park,
Meadowview, Parkway,
Pocket,
Sacramento City College,
South Land Park, Valley Hi / North Laguna, Z'Berg Park. • Area Three: Alhambra Triangle, Avondale, Brentwood, Carleton Tract,
Colonial Heights, Colonial Manor,
Curtis Park,
Elmhurst, Fairgrounds,
Florin, Fruitridge Manor, Glen Elder, Glenbrook, Granite Regional Park, Industrial Park, Lawrence Park, Med Center, North City Farms,
Oak Park,
Packard Bell, South City Farms,
Southeast Village,
Tahoe Park,
Tahoe Park East,
Tahoe Park South, Tallac Village, Vintage Park, Churchill Downs, and Woodbine. • Area Four:
Ben Ali,
Del Paso Heights, Gardenland, Hagginwood, McClellan Heights West,
Natomas (north, south, west),
North Sacramento, Northgate,
Robla, Swanston Estates, Terrace Manor,
Valley View Acres, and Woodlake. and
Downtown are seen from the
Sacramento River. Other neighborhoods in the city include Cal Expo, Capital Avenue, College/Glen, Creekside, Elder Creek, Erikson Industrial Park, Gateway Center, Gateway West, Glenwood Meadows, Hansen Park, Heritage Park, Johnson Business Park, Johnson Heights, Metro Center, Natomas Corporate Center, Natomas Creek, Natomas Crossing, Natomas Park, Newton Booth, Noralto, Northpointe, Norwood, Oak Knoll, Old North Sacramento, Parker Homes, Point West, Raley Industrial Park, Regency Park, Richardson Village, Richmond Grove, Sierra Oaks, Sports Complex, Strawberry Manor, Sundance Lake, Upper Land Park, Village 5, Village 7, Village 12, Village 14, Village Green, West Del Paso Heights, Westlake, Willowcreek, Wills Acres, Winn Park, and Youngs Heights.
Notable areas Capitol Mall Capitol Mall connects West Sacramento and Downtown Sacramento. Some notable landmarks on this road include the Tower Bridge, Old Sacramento, and the California State Capitol Building. Capitol Mall is considered to be the business district of the city. Skyscrapers such as the
Wells Fargo Center and
U.S. Bank Tower, two of the tallest buildings in the city, are located on Capitol Mall and are home to several major companies. The street is also home to major festivals such as the annual Farm to Fork Festival. Sacramento's historic
Japantown once occupied much of today's Capitol Mall, spanning 4th street from K to P streets. The area suffered from the forced
eviction of its Japanese residents during WW2 and never recovered, resulting in the remaining properties taken through eminent domain to create the grand promenade of today's
Capitol Mall. The
Nisei Memorial Hall at 4th and Q remains the last remaining property associated with Sacramento's former Japantown.
Downtown Commons One of the newest districts in the city is
Downtown Commons. Formerly home to the Downtown Plaza shopping mall, the district opened in 2016 along with
Golden 1 Center. Downtown Commons, otherwise known as DOCO, is home to the Sawyer, a 16-story skyscraper with a 250-room hotel and 45 condominiums, a Macy's anchor store, an IMAX theater, and retail space with a variety of restaurants and shops.
Downtown Sacramento Downtown Sacramento is home to the
SAFE Credit Union Convention Center and Theater, Sacramento City Hall, the
Sacramento Public Library, and
K Street, a historic street home to apartments, retail, and historical buildings. In addition, Downtown Sacramento is home to several hotels including the Citizen Hotel, housed in one of the first skyscrapers built in the city.
East Sacramento East Sacramento is a neighborhood in between Midtown and Sacramento State. This neighborhood is well known for being home to McKinley Park and Rose Garden and the Fabulous Forties, home to some of the most expensive, largest, and architecturally unique homes in the city. East Sacramento was home to
Ronald Reagan during his term as Governor of California and this neighborhood was prominently featured in Greta Gerwig's film
Lady Bird.
Historic Chinatown The
Opium Wars of the 1840s and 1850s, along with the California gold rush, brought many Chinese people to California. Most arrived at San Francisco, which was then the largest city in California and known as "Daai Fau" (). Some eventually came to Sacramento, then the second-largest city in California and consequently called "Yee Fow" (). Today the city is known as "" () by mainland Chinese and as ""
Sāgāmíhndouh and
Shājiāmiǎnduó by Cantonese speakers and Taiwanese respectively.Sacramento's
Chinatown was on "I" Street from Second to Sixth Streets, called the
China Slough. At the time, this area of "I" Street was considered a health hazard because, lying within a levee zone, it was lower than other parts of the city, which were situated on higher land. Throughout Sacramento's Chinatown history, there were fires, acts of discrimination, and prejudicial legislation such as the
Chinese Exclusion Act that was not repealed until 1943. The mysterious fires were thought to be set off by those who resented the Chinese working class. Ordinances on what was viable building material were set into place to try to get the Chinese to move out. Newspapers such as
The Sacramento Union wrote stories at the time that portrayed the Chinese in an unfavorable light to inspire ethnic discrimination and drive the Chinese away. While most of Sacramento's Chinatown has now been razed, a small Chinatown mall remains as well as a museum dedicated to the history of Sacramento's Chinatown.
Newton Booth Historic District The Newton Booth Historic District, named for
Newton Booth, is located on the southeast corner of Sacramento's original 1848 street grid.
Old Sacramento , built in 1856, in
Old Sacramento The oldest part of the town besides
Sutter's Fort is
Old Sacramento, which consists of cobbled streets and many historic buildings, several from the 1850s and 1860s. Buildings have been preserved, restored, or reconstructed, and the district is now a substantial tourist attraction, with rides on steam-powered historic trains and horse-drawn carriages.
Lavender Heights The Lavender District, formally designated as Lavender Heights in 2015, is central to Sacramento’s LGBTQ+ culture and community. It is home to the Gay & Lesbian Community Center, five LGBTQ+ nightclubs such as Badlands and
Faces, and numerous LGBTQ+-owned shops, galleries, and eateries. The Poverty Ridge Historic District was considered to be Sacramento's wealthiest neighborhood from 1868 to 1947.
Climate is popular for
kayaking and
recreational boating. Sacramento has a
hot-summer Mediterranean climate (
Köppen Csa), characterized by long, hot, dry summers and short, mild, rainy winters. Most of the annual precipitation generally occurs from November to April, though there may be a day or two of light rainfall in May or October. The normal annual mean temperature is , with the monthly daily average temperature ranging from in December to in July. During especially cold winter and spring storms, intense showers do occasionally produce a significant amount of hail, which can create hazardous driving conditions. Snowfall in the city often melts upon ground contact, with traceable amounts occurring in some years. Significant annual snow accumulations occur in the foothills east of the city, which had brief and traceable amounts of snowfall in January 2002, December 2009, and February 2011. The greatest snowfall ever recorded in Sacramento was on January 5, 1888. On average, there are 76 days with a high of +, and 14 days with a high of +; On the other extreme, there are 8.5 days where the temperature remains below , and 15 freezing nights per year. Official temperature extremes range from on December 22, 1990, to on September 6, 2022; a station around east-southeast of the city dipped to on December 11, 1932. The average annual precipitation is . On average, precipitation falls on 58 days each year in Sacramento, and nearly all of this falls during the winter months. As in much of California, precipitation is highly variable from year to year, ranging from as little as in 2013 to in 1983. Average January rainfall is , and measurable precipitation is rare during the summer months. In February 1992, Sacramento had 16 consecutive days of rain, resulting in an accumulation of for the period. On rare occasions, monsoonal moisture surges from the Desert Southwest can bring upper-level moisture to the Sacramento region, leading to increased summer cloudiness, humidity, and even light showers and thunderstorms. Monsoon clouds do occur, usually during late June through early September. Sacramento is the second most flood-susceptible city in the United States after New Orleans. Sacramento has been noted as being the sunniest location on the planet for four months of the year, from June through September. It holds the distinction as the sunniest month, in terms of the percentage of possible sunshine, of anywhere in the world; July in Sacramento averages 14 hours and 12 minutes of sunshine per day, amounting to approximately 98% of possible sunshine. Since 2010, statewide
droughts in California have further strained Sacramento's
water security. ==Demographics==