The move is the easy part. The fortnight afterwards is where people lose time — mostly to things that look simple until you discover the answer depends on exactly which side of a boundary your new address sits on.
The Sacramento region is unusually full of those boundaries. Here is the practical list, in the order it matters.
First: work out which electricity company you have
This surprises almost everyone arriving from elsewhere in California, because it is not PG&E by default.
SMUD — the Sacramento Municipal Utility District — is a publicly owned utility serving Sacramento County and parts of Placer County. If you have moved into the city of Sacramento, Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights, Elk Grove or Rancho Cordova, this is almost certainly you. Folsom residents voted to join SMUD in the 1980s, so Folsom is SMUD too.
PG&E serves much of the surrounding area, including the Yolo County side — West Sacramento, Davis, Woodland — and parts of Placer County.
Roseville Electric is a third option again: the city of Roseville runs its own municipal utility.
So three neighbours a few miles apart can be with three different electricity providers, and the rates and rebate programmes are not the same. Check your specific address with the provider rather than assuming from the town name — the boundaries do not follow city limits tidily, particularly in Placer County.
Natural gas is a separate question from electricity and is generally PG&E across the region, so many Sacramento County households have SMUD for power and PG&E for gas. Two accounts, two set-up calls.
Water, sewer and rubbish depend on your jurisdiction
These are not regional services. They come from whichever authority your address belongs to, and the key distinction locally is incorporated city versus unincorporated county.
Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Arden-Arcade and Orangevale are unincorporated Sacramento County — services come from the county, not a city hall. The city of Sacramento, Elk Grove, Folsom, Citrus Heights and Rancho Cordova are incorporated and run their own.
Practical upshot: when you search for "how do I set up water", add your actual jurisdiction, not "Sacramento". And find out your collection day and which bins go out when — it varies by area and the schedules shift around public holidays.
The DMV deadline people miss
If you have moved to California from another state, this one has a clock on it.
You must register an out-of-state vehicle within 20 days of becoming a resident or bringing the vehicle into California, according to the DMV. That is a genuine deadline with a genuine penalty, and twenty days passes quickly in the middle of unpacking.
You will also need a California driver licence once you are living here and driving. Apply promptly rather than waiting — appointments book out, and the DMV's own guidance is the place to confirm what your situation requires.
Expect to need a smog certification for most out-of-state vehicles, and expect the appointment system to be the slow part. Book it in your first week, not your third.
This section does not apply if you have moved within California — your licence and registration carry over, and you simply update your address.
Change your address properly
A USPS forwarding order is a safety net, not an address change. It expires, and it tells nobody.
Update separately:
- Bank, credit cards and anywhere a card is stored for billing
- Insurers — car insurance rates are location-based, so this one can change your premium
- Employer and payroll
- The DMV, separately from the vehicle registration above
- Doctor, dentist, veterinarian — and request records transfers
- Voter registration
- Subscriptions and deliveries
Set the USPS forward as well, to catch what you forget.
If you have bought rather than rented
Two things that catch people arriving from out of state:
A supplemental property tax bill is likely coming. California reassesses a property when it changes hands, and the difference between the old assessment and the new one arrives as a separate bill some months after closing. It is not a mistake and it is not included in your mortgage escrow unless you have arranged that. Budget for it.
Find out whether you are in a flood zone, and what that means for your insurance. Parts of the Sacramento basin sit behind levees, and lender requirements vary by zone. Your lender and insurer are the right people to answer this — not your movers, and not a blog — but it is worth asking the question early rather than at renewal.
Practical things that make the first fortnight better
- Unpack bedrooms first, before the kitchen and before the living room. Everyone sleeps better and the house feels inhabited sooner.
- Find the circuit breaker, the water shut-off and the HVAC filter in the first week, not during the first problem.
- Register with a doctor before you need one.
- Learn your bin day.
- If you arrived in summer, work out the air conditioning properly. A Sacramento July in an unfamiliar house with a thermostat you have not figured out is a miserable introduction.
Getting oriented
The region is bigger and more spread out than it looks on a map, and it is organised around the rivers and the freeways rather than a single centre.
Give yourself a weekend to drive it — Midtown, Old Sacramento, the American River Parkway, and whichever direction your commute runs. The Parkway in particular is the thing most new arrivals say they underestimated: a continuous stretch of river and trail running right through the middle of the region.
Sources: California DMV, New to California · SMUD