Sacramento County encompasses approximately 994-square miles in the middle of the 400-mile long Central Valley, which is California's prime agricultural region. The County is bordered by Contra Costa and San Joaquin Counties on the south, Amador and El Dorado Counties on the east, Placer and Sutter Counties on the north, and Yolo and Solano Counties on the west. (Map of Bordering Counties)

Sacramento County extends from the low delta lands between the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers north to about ten miles beyond the State Capitol and east to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The southernmost portion of Sacramento County has direct access to the San Francisco Bay.

As of 2006, the estimated population was more than 1.4 million by the U.S. Census Bureau; it is also California's second largest inland city. Sacramento is the core cultural and economic center of its four-county metropolitan area (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties) with a combined population of more than 2 million. The Sacramento Metropolitan Area is the largest in the Central Valley, and is the fourth-largest in California, behind Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay and San Diego.

Greater Sacramento has been cited as one of the five "most livable" regions in America in 2004, and the city was cited by TIME magazine as America's Most Diverse City in 2002.

• 30 parks with 6 million trees and 4 public golf courses
• Sacramento River - longest river within California, flowing south for 447 miles
• American River - in 1848, gold was found, which lead to the Gold Rush
• Leading agricultural crops - milk, wine grapes, Bartlett pears, field corn, turkeys

• Average temperature
• • maximum - 73.6 F 
  • minimum - 49 F
    
    
• Average rainfall - 19.6 inches

• 36.87 miles of light rail system
• 3 mainline railroad tracks
• 10.4 million passengers passed through Sacramento International Airport
• 870,000 short tons of cargo shipped annually

• 19 major public & private colleges & universities
• • California State University, Sacramento - major local university and one of the 23 campuses in the California State University system
  • University of California, Davis is located nearby (west of the capital) and one of the 10 campuses in the University of California system
    
    
• 16 public school districts
• 15 major art and historical museums
• 26 public libraries
• 10 hospitals

• 1,266 persons per square-mile
• 69.6 of eligible voters are registered to vote