Great schools and restaurants woven into the neighborhood. Grand lots in the Fab 40s and McKinley Park, and homes that still hold their value.
East Sacramento is a neighborhood most people would like to live in. With its tree-lined streets, great schools, and restaurants integrated into the neighborhood, East Sac is a magnet for those who appreciate a charmed lifestyle. While neighborhoods like the “Fab 40s” and McKinley Park boast larger homes on grand lots, there are also plenty of more modest homes that still hold and increase in value. Rare turn-of-the-century homes do exist, but most homes in East Sac were built between 1920 and 1960.
Joseph Olson · on East Sacramento
Every active listing in East Sacramento, updated hourly. See one you like? Call me and I’ll tell you what the photos leave out.
Sacramento’s classic streetcar suburb just east of Midtown: tree-lined streets, McKinley Park, the Fab 40s, and homes built mostly from the 1920s through the 1940s.
East Sacramento sits immediately east of the central city, bounded roughly by Business 80 (the Capital City Freeway) on the west and north and Highway 50 on the south, with Sacramento State and the American River to the east. Its homes carry ZIP codes 95819 and 95816. The city’s broader East Sacramento planning area also includes College/Glen, the Sac State campus and River Park.
Development began in the 1890s along a streetcar line, and through the 1920s homes spread east over former farmland. The East Sacramento Chamber of Commerce dates most of the neighborhood to the 1920s through the 1940s.
The Fab 40s, the streets from roughly 38th to 47th between J Street and Folsom Boulevard, grew up at the end of the streetcar line, which is why the old turnaround at 46th and J left one of the widest streets in the area. Ronald Reagan lived at 1341 45th Street while he was governor.
The Fab 40s are known for generous lots, wide streets and English, Spanish, Colonial and Renaissance Revival homes. The rest of East Sac mixes stately houses with brick homes, bungalows and cottages. The John T. Greene house at 3200 H Street, built in 1915, is a Greene & Greene design. Across the planning area, about three-quarters of the roughly 14,900 homes are single-family.
East Sac is one of Sacramento’s most competitive neighborhoods. Redfin’s median sale price was $816,000 for the three months ending August 2026, up 0.9% from a year earlier. The typical home went under contract in about 13 days, sold for about 1.5% over list, and nearly half sold above asking. Zillow’s typical home value was about $777,000 in August 2026.
East Sacramento is in the Sacramento City Unified School District. Theodore Judah Elementary (K–6, 3919 McKinley Boulevard) is the neighborhood’s historic school, and Phoebe A. Hearst, Caleb Greenwood and David Lubin elementary schools also serve the area. The McKinley Library sits inside McKinley Park. Check the assigned schools for a specific address with SCUSD’s School Finder.
Walk Score rates East Sac 72 for walking, 88 for biking and 36 for transit. SacRT’s Gold Line light rail runs along the southern edge with stations at 39th Street, 48th Street, 59th Street and University/65th Street, and Highway 50 and Business 80 are minutes away.
McKinley Park, with its rose garden, pool and duck pond, is the neighborhood’s center. Selland’s Market-Café on H Street is a longtime neighborhood favorite, and smaller restaurants and shops are scattered along Folsom Boulevard and J Street.
The East Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1996, hosts Taste of East Sacramento each spring, Savor East Sac in summer and Shop East Sac during the holidays. In December, Fab 40s residents light up their homes for a decades-old holiday lights tradition that draws visitors from across the region.
Facts checked October 2026. Sources: City of Sacramento, East Sacramento Community Plan · Wikipedia · East Sacramento Chamber of Commerce · Redfin market data · Zillow · Walk Score · The Cultural Landscape Foundation, McKinley Park · Sacramento Public Library, McKinley · Theodore Judah Elementary, history · Mercy General Hospital (Wikipedia)
McKinley Park began as East Park in 1871, when the Sacramento Street Railway Company bought 33 acres here. The city bought the land in 1902, and the park was named for President William McKinley. Today the roughly 32-acre park, bounded by Alhambra Boulevard, H Street, 33rd Street and McKinley Boulevard, is the center of East Sacramento life.
Its rose garden, planted in 1928 by the city’s first parks superintendent, Frederick Evans, is a neighborhood favorite. The McKinley Library opened in 1918 and moved in 1936 into the art deco Clunie Memorial Clubhouse, where it still has its original walnut paneling. The park also has a pool, a playground, tennis courts, a ball field, a duck pond and the mid-century Shepard Garden and Arts Center, which opened in 1958.
Mercy General Hospital opened on February 11, 1925, on a seven-acre tract between J and H Streets at 39th and 40th. It was built by the Sisters of Mercy, who came to Sacramento in 1857 and opened their first hospital in the city in 1897.
A century later the 342-bed hospital, now part of Dignity Health, is a major cardiac surgery referral center for the region. It has a 24-hour emergency room, a family birth center, and cancer, neuroscience, orthopedic and spine programs, and it marked its 100th anniversary in 2025.
Theodore Judah Elementary began on January 26, 1927, as a one-room bungalow called the David Lubin Annex, after parents petitioned for a school from the bleachers at McKinley Park. Its permanent buildings went up from 1937 to 1939 as a Public Works Administration project designed by architect Charles F. Dean, who also worked on Memorial Auditorium.
The school district calls it the oldest continuously operating elementary school building in Sacramento, and it is on the city’s historic register. Its original apricot paint with sea-green trim has been restored. The K–6 school is named for the engineer behind the first transcontinental railroad, and a time capsule buried there is scheduled to be opened in 2027.
East Sacramento is just east of Midtown and downtown, roughly between Business 80 and Highway 50, with Sacramento State and the American River to the east. Its ZIP codes are 95819 and 95816.
The Fab 40s are the East Sac streets from roughly 38th to 47th between J Street and Folsom Boulevard, known for large lots, wide streets and Revival-style homes.
Redfin’s median sale price was $816,000 for the three months ending August 2026, and homes typically went under contract in about 13 days.
The Gold Line light rail runs along its southern edge.
East Sac is in Sacramento City Unified. Theodore Judah Elementary is the neighborhood’s historic school. Confirm assigned schools for any address with SCUSD’s School Finder.
Its 1928 rose garden, the McKinley Library in the art deco Clunie Clubhouse, a pool, a duck pond and the Shepard Garden and Arts Center.
MidtownCraftsman, Victorian and high-water bungalows under mature trees. Chalk It Up! and Second Saturday.
Sierra OaksTraditional ranches, mid-century modern, Mission style and Gatsby-worthy estates. The American River Parkway for recreation.
Curtis ParkBuilt around a pedestrian-friendly park. Craftsman, Tudor and Mission homes under Valley Oaks.
Tell me what you’re looking for. I’ll tell you what it’s really like to live in East Sacramento, and which streets I’d look at first.
“The best part of this job is helping people on a human level.”Joseph Olson