Elk Grove Ranks 78th in Survey on Where to Build 'Lifelong Home'

Carmel Ind. was praised by former Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis for its
performing arts center in July 2016. |  

April 20, 2017 |

Carmel, Ind., ranked in top 10, praised by former Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis |  

A recent survey conducted by Goodcall.com that ranked American cities based on "where to build a lifelong" custom home showed Elk Grove to be in the top 20-percentile of communities nationwide.

The study, 2017 Best Cities to Build Forever Homes, found that Elk Grove ranked 78th out of 404 cities examined. Earlier this year, GoodCall® conducted a survey titled Best Place to Buy a Forever Home that ranked Elk Grove slightly higher at 74th place out of 404 cities.

While the Buy survey looked solely at purchasing a home, the Build survey examined the best cities to construct a custom home. Among the factors taken into consideration were the cost of building a custom home, cost of living, home value recovery from the recession, crime rate, net migration, unemployment, and education obtainment.

Topping the list was Edmond Okla. that, as the Goodcall report noted was "propelled by its relatively low cost for a custom home (an average of $526,460), low crime rate (17 per 1,000 residents), and 22% gains in home value since the recession."

Elk Grove, which came in 78, was followed by Folsom at 85, Roseville at 214, and Sacramento was at 347. In a separate component of the study nearby Tracy showed a real estate value recovery rate of 56-percent since 2009 which earned it the top spot in that category nationally.

Other cities in the top 10 included Carmel, Ind. Observers of the Elk Grove City Council may recall former Elk Grove Mayor praising the central Indiana community in the summer of 2016. See video below.

Davis praised the city after visiting there as part of his attendance at the 2016 U.S. Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis, Ind. Carmel has regularly been recognized by Money magazine and several other publications as one of the nation's best small cities.

"They built this performing arts center as really a means to drive economic development in their city, and it is incredible," Davis said. "As a result of this, they have attracted some of the top talent in the country to come and call that performing arts center home, and it put them on the map."

Davis also noted that in surveys conducted by Elk Grove, arts and cultural amenities are consistently ranked at the top.

"The arts is something that every time we conduct a survey...of what you would like to see inside the Civic Center, and the arts is always at the top of the list."

While he praised Carmel, Ind. and seemingly come to the realization the importance of cultural amenities as an economic driver, during his four-year tenure as Elk Grove's first directly elected Mayor, Davis eschewed the development of a performing arts center at the Civic Center. Instead, Davis ramrodded the development of the $31 million Civic Center aquatics center, which will be the second in Elk Grove and is expected to be opened by next summer.

Elk Grove does not have a performing arts venue and has no immediate plans for one.