What locals are saying about Elk Grove being rated in top 100 livable American cities

Today the City of Elk Grove took to social media to promote its placement on Livability.com's list of the Top 100 American Places to Live. As expected, there were plenty of comments from residents affirming their love of community, and some not so favorable.

On the city's Instagram feed (see image above), as of this posting, there were over 200 "likes" and 38 comments. Aside from realtors going on this post to promote their home-finding services, let's take a look at some of the comments starting with the positive.

All the comments are verbatim. 

High-ranking schools, sound environments for raising children, and traffic is not to the level of Bay Area…yet (and hopefully never).

So glad we moved here. My favorite things are the diverse population, and the many trails/parks.

Elk Grove Park! I absolutely love it❤️

this town has changed since the 80's. Way more places to eat and go. As soon as that Nordstroms Rack gets here I'll be in complete heaven lol

Family culture and diversity 👏 Looking forward to future w upcoming projects (Project Elevate, Zoo, Dignity Hospital)🙌

We'll end the positive Instagram comments with this one, not surprisingly posted by a realtor, followed by a reply that speaks of Elk Grove's summertime weather. 

👏 Love Elk Grove!

Until next week when it’s 108 🥵

There were a few wobbler-type comments that mixed the good with the bad. 

There’s no malls here … there’s diversity and some good schools as well but make sure u park in ur garage cuz catalytic converters always get stolen.

Perhaps the most revealing comments were replies to this question:

My fiancé and I are looking to move to Elk Grove in the next 8 months. Would anyone be willing to share their experiences living here?

Here are some of the replies:

i am born and raised here in elk grove and we are now raising our kids here. I really like it here. There are downsides like any city, the growth is ridiculous for me, since being a kid it is now huge because families move here from the bay and many other places. I think that tells you a lot. Yes there is a lot of chains for food but there is also small business everywhere and rural life is so close with tons of local festivals and markets in the rural areas.

 It’s diverse but conservative. The main negative is the traffic! There is always traffic. 😂

 it’s safe, diverse, and tons of city style parks. However, there’s no charm sadly, too many chains and the local government doesn’t seem to regulate that, ie, propose ordinances that require future businesses be locally owned, etc… which other towns do, like Davis. There’s also no nature here, it has a Nebraska vibe in terms of topography… of lack there of. At least it’s close to Sac, which is filled with charm. I’d say overall, EG isn’t exactly worth the cost of living. Just moved here to be close to family 2 years ago, and I wish I would have had someone tell me there’s things.

I’m bummed that this page, which I do like, would choose this picture (see picture above) since it does NOT reflect the city. The water shown is useless and is for the residents of a gated community. It’s ornamental, and the most action it sees is a tired paddle boat that’s tied up to someone’s dock they hardly use. Wish @cityofeg would be a bit more transparent with the image they chose.

Here are some comments on the city's Facebook page: 

Even with all the litter on the ground everywhere? Even with all the stray shopping carts in the neighborhoods?

Even with all of the dilapidated trail paving?

I’m really surprised.

I can't afford to live in the city, but I work for EGUSD and my kids attend schools in Elk Grove, so we spend most of our waking hours in the city. Hands down for me it is the beautiful parks all over the city.

For Elk Grove to be on this list it should be affordable to rent and buy a home. Neither exist!

It’s the chain restaurants, endless cookie cutter houses with 3-car garages, consumer culture and city bureaucracy that really does it for me.

And we'll finish with this Instagram comment which could be considered a heads-up to keep an eye out for drunk drivers in Elk Grove. 

Sergio Robles lives in Elk Grove CHEERS!