El Dorado Hills, CA
El Dorado Hills
Conveniently resting along Highway 50 in the lower Sierra Nevada foothills in Western El Dorado County, the community of El Dorado Hills is about a 25 minute drive East of Sacramento, only about an hour and fifteen minutes drive West of South Lake Tahoe, and practically walking distance to Folsom Lake and the American River. Featuring the natural and beautiful landscape of rolling hills and open space, El Dorado Hills has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years and has become one of the most desirable Northern California areas to call home.
The El Dorado Hills activity guide provided by the El Dorado Hills Community Service District (CSD) boasts the greatest example of why El Dorado Hills is such an attractive area to live. El Dorado Hills is a community that provides its residents an array of activities and events to enjoy such as concerts, youth and adult recreation, senior activities, camps, dance classes, and so much more. A good example of this is Serrano's Summer "Saturday Night at the Movies" outdoor film series. Parents and kids bring blankets, lawn chairs, and picnic dinners and view family-friendly films under the twinkling stars. See also the El Dorado Hills Community Service District website for more information on El Dorado Hills and all its available recreation opportunities.
Just like the array of recreation available, El Dorado Hills also provides plenty of top ranked schools for families to choose from. In order to go to these prestigious schools, those families would need a wonderful neighborhood to live in. Hence, El Dorado Hills glady provides many types of homes and neighborhoods for families to choose from. The El Dorado Hills and Serrano VIDEO below provides a great overview of living opportunities from luxury homes in Serrano, The Summit, and the Promontory, to quaint vintage El Dorado Hills areas like Waterford, Fairchild Village and Stonegate, to 55 and over Active Adult Gated communities like Four Seasons and Versante.
VIDEO About El Dorado Hills Homes and Neighborhoods
About El Dorado Hills, California
El Dorado Hills is an unincorporated town, legally defined as a census-designated place with a total population of 42,108 in the 2010 Census. The El Dorado Hills Census Designated Place (CDP) was redefined in the 2010 Census, but available information on the new CDP currently is limited to redistricting data. Other geographic data on this page refer to the 2000 CDP, which was approximately half the size of the 2010 CDP. Between 2000 and 2010 the population within the new CDP area grew by 77%. The population attributed to El Dorado Hills grew by 134% through the combination of actual population increase within in the 2000 CDP boundaries and expansion of the boundaries. The 2000 CDP encompassed 17.9 square miles (46 km2) of land along the western boundary of El Dorado County, California. El Dorado Hills is located in El Dorado County 22 miles (35 km) east of California's State Capitol, Sacramento.
El Dorado Hills residents and businesses are most closely affiliated with El Dorado County, a generally rural area. However, El Dorado County is part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area because it is socially and economically integrated with the much larger Sacramento County and especially the City of Folsom. El Dorado Hills, or EDH as it is otherwise known, is recognized nationally for its high median household income, ranking 77th in CNN Money Magazine's best places to live in 2007.
El Dorado Hills History
The modern history of El Dorado Hills dates back to the early 1960s when original developer Alan Lindsey began its development as a master planned community. The original master plan, prepared by architect Victor Gruen, covered the area generally north of U.S. Highway 50, and part of the area south of US 50 now considered to be part of the community. El Dorado Hills was envisioned as a large-scale master-planned community that would be completely planned from its inception as a group of residential "villages." Other land uses in the master plan included a business park, two 18-hole golf courses, community parks, schools, a community shopping center, and small commercial centers in each village. The master plan emphasized open space between villages and opportunity for outdoor recreation.
Between the late '60s and mid-1990s growth occurred at a moderate pace as new families relocated from Sacramento, Southern California and the Bay Area. This growth consisted primarily of residential housing, as retail developments were limited to two shopping centers on the corners Green Valley & Francisco and El Dorado Hills Blvd and Hwy 50. Each neighborhood created during this time period was given a name and referred to as a "village" by local inhabitants. The original villages of El Dorado Hills include Park, Ridgeview, Saint Andrews, Crown, Governors, Stonegate, Franciscan, Marina, and Lake Hills Estates. In the 1980s and 1990s the major part of Lake Hills Estates north of Green Valley Road, was reorganized into Lake Forest Village, containing the neighborhoods of Waterford, The Summit, Green Valley Hills, Winterhaven, Marina Woods and Windsor Point. Additional villages that have developed subsequently include Fairchild, Sterlingshire, Highland Hills, Highland View and the master-planned community of Serrano.
By the 1990 census, El Dorado Hills had an estimated population of 6,395 residents. Growth slowed during the early part of the '90s due to an economic recession throughout California, but resumed at a staggering pace by the mid 1990s. Businesses, particularly those interested in escaping the high costs of Silicon Valley began to set up operations in the El Dorado Hills Business Park south of Highway 50. In 1995, the Parker Development Company acquired 3,500 acres (14 km2) along the eastern boundary of El Dorado Hills to create Serrano, one of the largest master planned communities in Northern California. Serrano was the site of an innovative case of recycled water irrigation on a large scale.
El Dorado Hills Geography and Environment
El Dorado Hills (EDH), as defined by the 2010 Census Designated Place, is at the western border of El Dorado County, between the City of Folsom and the unincorporated community of Cameron Park. The northern limits of the CDP are Folsom and the South Fork of the American River, where river rafters use Skunk Hollow and Salmon Falls as takeout landings. West of Latrobe Road, the south edge of the CDP follows railroad tracks formerly used by the Southern Pacific between the cities of Folsom and Placerville. East of Latrobe Road the south edge follows topography running roughly east/west.
The 2010 CDP has a land area at least double the size of the 2000 CDP, which included 17.9 square miles (46.4km²). Updated data from the 2010 Census was not yet available at the time of the latest edit of this page.
US 50 is the major east-west highway running through El Dorado Hills. The portion of EDH north of US 50 is mainly residential. The portion south of US 50 includes the 885-acre El Dorado Hills Business Park and the Town Center Commercial area, as well as additional housing.
The subsurface environment of El Dorado Hills is relatively free of groundwater and soil contamination, based upon an area wide analysis of the potential for pesticide contamination and evaluation of underground storage tanks.(Earth Metrics, 1989)
El Dorado Hills Demographics
El Dorado Hills was mainly a bedroom community from its origin in 1962 until nearly the end of the 20th century. Around the year 2000 its population growth and commercial development accelerated. Development began in its Town Center area to form a true downtown business area, and its Business Park experienced increasing rates of construction and occupancy. Total population within the El Dorado Hills Community Services District (CSD) was certified as 35,276 in January, 2006 by the California State Department of Finance. The El Dorado Hills Fire Department reported a population of 42,078 in its service area at the end of 2007. The Fire Department's district covers a larger geographic area than the CSD and is more nearly equivalent to the El Dorado County definition of the El Dorado Hills Community Region.
The El Dorado County General Plan defines the El Dorado Hills Community Region to be about 44 square miles (110 km2) in size. In 2008 El Dorado County will redefine the area to be considered as the Census Designated Place (CDP) for El Dorado Hills in the 2010 Census to be more consistent with actual community size. Detailed demographic data has not been updated since the census of 2000, in part because El Dorado Hills remains unincorporated. Also, the Census data applies to a much smaller area (17.9 square miles) is currently recognized as El Dorado Hills. As of the census of 2000, there were 18,016 people, 5,896 households, and 5,206 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,006.3 people per square mile (388.6/km²). There were 6,071 housing units at an average density of 339.1 per square mile (131.0/km²). SACOG's estimate for December, 2003 was 9,713 dwelling units.
The Census Bureaus's assessment of racial makeup of the CDP was 90.11% White, 0.77% Black or African American, 0.46% Native American, 4.11% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, 1.37% from other races, and 3.01% from two or more races. 4.97% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 5,896 households out of which 50.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 79.5% were married couples living together, 6.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 11.7% were non-families. 9.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.7% had someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.06 and the average family size was 3.26. In the CDP the population distribution was 33.2% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 25.6% from 45 to 64, and 7.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 99.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.0 males.
According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the CDP was $113,927, and the median income for a family was $125,230. Males had a median income of $75,369 versus $45,978 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $40,239. 1.7% of the population and 1.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 1.5% of those under the age of 18 and 2.2% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. El Dorado Hills is among the highest income communities of its size range in the nation, though this is seldom noted because of its unincorporated status. El Dorado Hills would rank 3rd highest by median household income in a list of places with population greater than 40,000, following only Potomac, Maryland and Danville, California.
