California State University Sacramento, Sacramento, CA

This boundary draws around the Sacramento State campus rather than any conventional neighborhood, the university grounds folded into a bend of the American River just east of downtown. It is one of the greenest spots in the whole city, with a renowned campus arboretum, groves of redwoods, and direct frontage on the American River Parkway. The signature crossing is the Guy West Bridge, a pedestrian suspension span that deliberately echoes the Golden Gate and links the campus to the trail on the far bank. Tens of thousands of students fill the grounds during the school year, and on-campus and edge housing serves them, but most actual residential life happens next door in College Town and River Park. For those two neighborhoods, the university is the anchor that defines them: jobs, events, Hornet athletics and the stadium, and easy parkway access all originate right here. As a place to live in its own right, it is a campus first and everything else second, which means your quiet and your traffic both run on the academic calendar rather than the ordinary rhythm of a residential block.