First off, Sacramento has a wide variety of communites, with a large variation in condition. For instance, my family lives in south Sacramento in an area called Pocket or Greenhaven. It's a nice community, with few lower-income areas. A bit more south is the Meadowview area, which is a much lower-income area. So you really need to check things out. As a reference point, I lived right near Kennedy High School. Morning commute to downtown by car on I-5 around 8 am was 15-20 minutes. Is your job going to have parking downtown? If not, you may need to pay for a parking space or look into public transportation. I rarely took light rail or buses because it was more convenient for me to drive. I went to high school in Carmichael (near the Watt exit of Highway 50), and the morning commute was not bad. If you go a little more east on 50, you have Sunrise and Zinfandel exits, and traffic is always bad here.
Crime can be a problem depending on where you live. I didn't go out much to clubs or whatnot, but as was said earlier, there are a few to choose from. Having lived in the Bay Area now for 6 years, the biggest difference I would say is the layout. Things in Sacramento are much more spread out. I would say the Bay Area does not have any real defined suburbs, where as Sacramento has many outlying areas. I would think it might just take some research on your part to decide on a location.