How old are Sacramento's houses? What the Census counts show
Just over half the homes in the City of Sacramento were built before 1980. That's from the Census Bureau's newest five-year housing survey, and it squares with what I saw from crawlspaces for 24 years. Below are the numbers by decade and by ZIP code, how the suburbs compare, and what each era tends to mean when you sell.
Where these numbers come from
The figures are from the American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024 five-year estimates, table B25034, "Year Structure Built." The Census Bureau publishes the raw tables through its ACS summary file, and that's where I pulled them. A few caveats before you lean on them.
It counts housing units, not just houses. Apartments, condos and mobile homes are in there, whether owned, rented or sitting empty.
Every number is a survey estimate with a margin of error. The city total is 212,485 units, give or take 1,579, and small areas wobble more than that.
The year comes from whoever filled out the survey, and people round. I'd sometimes find a house listed as 1925 with a 1940s addition bigger than the original. Still, the decade is a fair guide to what's behind the plaster.
One more quirk: the survey window runs from 2020 through 2024, so the "2020 or later" row only covers a few years of building. It looks small partly for that reason.
Sacramento city, decade by decade
Highlighted rows were built before 1980, which is 113,852 units, or 53.6% of the city's 212,485. Survey estimates covering all housing types.
| Decade built | Share of housing units |
|---|---|
| 2020 or later | 1.6% |
| 2010 to 2019 | 6.7% |
| 2000 to 2009 | 15.0% |
| 1990 to 1999 | 7.8% |
| 1980 to 1989 | 15.3% |
| 1970 to 1979 | 13.0% |
| 1960 to 1969 | 10.7% |
| 1950 to 1959 | 12.2% |
| 1940 to 1949 | 6.8% |
| 1939 or earlier | 10.8% |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates, table B25034.
The prewar stock is bigger than people expect. About 23,003 units in the city date to 1939 or earlier. That's more than everything built here since 2010, which adds up to 17,768.
Before the 2000s, the two big building decades were the 1950s and the 1980s. Houses from the 1950s make up 12.2% of today's stock, and those from the 1980s 15.3%. The 1990s were thin inside the city, at 7.8%, while Elk Grove and Folsom each got 27.0% of their current housing in that decade.
The city against the county and the suburbs
| Place | Housing units | Median year built | Built before 1960 | Built before 1980 | Built 2000 or later |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Sacramento | 212,485 | 1977 | 29.8% | 53.6% | 23.4% |
| Sacramento County | 598,385 | 1981 | 19.9% | 48.4% | 22.4% |
| Citrus Heights | 34,946 | 1977 | 11.1% | 61.9% | 7.3% |
| Rancho Cordova | 29,313 | 1979 | 12.6% | 51.4% | 30.3% |
| Folsom | 30,868 | 1997 | 4.5% | 12.6% | 41.7% |
| Elk Grove | 57,004 | 2000 | 2.0% | 9.3% | 50.0% |
| California | 14,644,735 | 1976 | 26.7% | 56.0% | 19.1% |
Source: ACS 2020-2024 five-year estimates, tables B25034 and B25035. The percentages are my arithmetic from the published counts.
Citrus Heights surprises people. Its houses aren't old by Land Park standards, but 40.0% of its housing went up in the 1970s alone, and 61.9% predates 1980, the highest pre-1980 share in the table. Elk Grove runs the other way. Half its housing is from 2000 or later, and fewer than one unit in ten predates 1980.
Where the city stands out is the deep end. Some 29.8% of its units were built before 1960, against 19.9% for the county as a whole, and that older core is where my work calendar was always fullest.
Inside the city, the age is concentrated
Citywide averages blur the old neighborhoods together. Split the same Census table by ZIP code area and you can see where the pre-1960 housing sits.
ZIP code tabulation areas don't follow neighborhood lines, so the names are a rough guide.
| ZIP code area | Built before 1960 |
|---|---|
| 95819 (East Sacramento) | 77.8% |
| 95818 (Land Park, Curtis Park) | 73.3% |
| 95820 | 59.7% |
| 95816 (Midtown) | 58.7% |
| 95817 (Oak Park) | 55.1% |
| 95822 | 53.1% |
| 95811 (Downtown) | 35.6% |
| 95834 (North Natomas) | 1.8% |
| 95835 (North Natomas) | 1.3% |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 five-year estimates, table B25034 by ZIP code tabulation area. Dashed line: whole city, 29.8%.
In 95818, 47.0% of housing units date to 1939 or earlier, and the median year built is 1942. Midtown's 95816 is 45.9% prewar. Those were my bread-and-butter ZIP codes, and the numbers fit what I remember: clinker brick porches, and somewhere in the attic a run of old wiring nobody had told the sellers about.
North Natomas sits at the other end. In 95835, 86.4% of housing was built in 2000 or later, and the median year in both Natomas ZIP codes is 2005. Those houses have a different issue, the flood map, and it gets its own page.
What each era tends to mean when you sell
Built before 1940
Lead paint is close to a given. EPA estimates that 87% of homes built before 1940 have some. You don't have to remove it. You do have to give the federal lead disclosure, which comes with a pamphlet and a ten-day inspection window for the buyer.
These houses also fall under the pre-1960 earthquake rule. Government Code 8897.1 requires sellers of wood-frame houses with one to four units built before January 1, 1960 to give the buyer the Homeowner's Guide to Earthquake Safety and disclose known weak spots, such as missing anchor bolts or an unbraced cripple wall.
From my side of the flashlight, the bungalows were the most fun and the most work. I'd usually find original and replaced plumbing side by side, and wiring from several different decades. Often there was a room somebody had added over a long weekend, too.
1940 to 1959
EPA's lead estimate drops to 69% for this group, which is still most of them, and the earthquake booklet still applies. Roughly half the housing in 95820 and 95822 dates from these two decades. The postwar houses were smaller and plainer than the bungalows, and in my experience simpler to inspect. Foundation bolting and cripple-wall bracing were the usual write-ups.
1960 to 1979
Lead paint falls to about 24% of homes built from 1960 through 1977, and lead paint for homes was banned in 1978. The thing I watched for in this group was wiring. The Consumer Product Safety Commission tied fire hazards to residential aluminum wiring made between 1965 and 1973. If an inspector finds aluminum branch circuits, expect a note telling the buyer to have an electrician check the connections.
By the table above, much of Citrus Heights belongs in this section. So does a good part of Rancho Cordova, where 38.8% of housing dates from the 1960s and 1970s.
1980 to 1993
No lead paint disclosure applies to anything built after 1977. EPA does say lead pipes are more likely in homes built before 1986, though, so the plumbing deserves a look. The other rule that bites here is the fixture rule. Civil Code 1101.2 applies California's water-conserving fixture requirements to property built on or before January 1, 1994, and the seller has to disclose whether old toilets and showerheads are still in place. That reaches every older decade too.
1994 and later
Fewer legal triggers, though not zero. A 2010 house still needs the smoke alarm statement and the water heater certification, and in an ordinary resale a Transfer Disclosure Statement. Past that, what matters is the age of the roof, the water heater and the furnace. A 1998 house still running its original water heater is headed for a different conversation than a 1998 house where somebody kept up.
What to do with your number
- Find your year built and the decade it falls in.
- Read the section above for that decade and every newer one. The rules stack up as you go back.
- Get the cheap required items done first: a strapped water heater, working smoke alarms, and carbon monoxide alarms where there's gas or an attached garage.
- Decide what you'll fix before listing and what you'll disclose and price in.
If the list for your era is long and you don't want to take it on, there are a few ways out. You can repair and list, list as-is with an agent, or sell a house as-is in Sacramento to a cash buyer such as Lorris Home Buyers, which buys houses in the condition they're in. Their site also covers the trade-offs of each way to sell, and it's worth a read before you pick one.
A 1926 bungalow somebody looked after can inspect cleaner than a 1985 tract house nobody touched. So treat the year as a list of questions the buyer is going to ask, and have your answers ready before the inspector's truck pulls up.