Moving to Sacramento?

They're looking at the most conservative areas of Sacramento! It's definitely Trump country over there. Have her look at the map of election results from 2020 to give her an indication of the political leanings of places they are looking at. They should consider Davis. Great schools, good community, diverse schools (there are 41 different languages spoken at my kid's elementary school). It's a university town, and has the politics to match. There is definitely club soccer, but for hockey, they'd have to drive 20-30 minutes to Vacaville (https://vacavilleicesport.com/). Not sure about club volleyball (it's a school sport starting in 7th grade), but there is for baseball, softball, basketball, rowing, and many other sports. The airport is easy to get to. There's a train that goes into the Bay Area. There's an outstanding Farmers Market. It's easy to get to Sacramento. I think that the kids would be fine making friends. In elementary school, I found that the friendships change from year to year as you are exposed to different kids in your classes, and the same goes for middle school. My kids have made friends with new kids each year. I think that your sister would find it to be a very welcoming place!

This is not a subject I know a lot about, but we do have some friends who live in El Dorado Hills.

EDH is a suburb.  My impression is that while it is majority White, there are plenty of diverse families in the vicinity as well. Our friend mentioned that his boss is originally from India.

If I were in your relatives' position, I would investigate the local "Democratic Club", people who live in the "purple" areas of California who vote Democratic and are more progressive.  Other friends of ours who lived in the Auburn area founded their own Democratic Club, thereby meeting a friend group.

You may have already considered this...but have you thought of Davis? It checks many of the boxes. UC Davis is there so for most of the year there is mega diversity. I believe they would be embraced. Political climate is definitely left leaning. They are sports crazed and I've yet to see a weekend without  multiple sports activities for youth going on around the various fields. The schools are good. Without traffic (if there is such a thing anymore) it's a 25 minute drive to Sac. Small town. Great greenbelt. Little crime. 2m buys a lot of house.

Having just moved from Sacramento to Berkeley, I thought I'd share some thoughts with you. Granted, these will be gross overgeneralizations based on a sample of one, so please treat them as such. 

Unless they move to Sacramento proper, they are in Trump country. No way around that. Blue lives matter stickers are par for the course, and that's in its mildest form. PARTICULARLY in Folsom and Roseville. Affluence does not equal progressive views, and as a left-leaning Middle Easterner, I would really not recommend moving there. Sure, they have good schools (I have a toddler, so no direct experience, but my niece and nephew who are multi-racial are in school in Granite Bay), but they are the opposite of diverse. It's not to say the kids wouldn't be welcome, but the schools are overwhelmingly white and wealthy. 

My only piece of advice if they go down this path is to try to move closer to the actual city. The scene in the city is a lot more diverse, and there are some great neighborhoods (Tahoe Park, Land Park, Midtown) where they might still find a place in their budget. And the weather will be MUCH better than in Minnesota. And there's a great network of public pools where we spent a lot of time.

We gave Sacramento a year (we lived in Oak Park). I personally didn't find my people and ultimately felt that I had to move. But if they're not happy where they are I think it's worth a try.  

I work part time in Sacramento and it’s very Trump Country. Lots of “F Joe Biden” flags and stickers, and hardcore anti-mask and anti-vaxxers. Even some people in the immigrant community that I’ve met are right wing. It’s a deal breaker for me. 

I moved from Oakland to Roseville over a year ago. I have family that live here so I was expecting it to be overly conservative. Actually I have found it to be 50/50, I also looked up a NYT poll and it reflected that as well. I live in a newer development of Roseville and there are many people from the Bay Area and all over. There is racial diversity, though the majority is still very white. The schools are excellent which is why we moved to the suburbs over Sacramento. My children have been welcomed into their schools and made many new friends, my son was in 4th grade when moving and commented that the kids were more friendly, though it did take him a little while to form his own solid group of friends. Also because it is a new development there are always new kids coming into the neighborhood, so new kids don't get to be the newest kid for long.  I found the neighborhood to be much more friendly than while living in Oakland. My kids do gymnastics, but I know there is club sports for golf, soccer and baseball. I don't know about volleyball. There is an ice rink for figure skating and hockey. 

I work in a satellie office in the Bay Area for a large State agency headquartered in Sacramento.  I have colleagues in Sacto and take work-related trips there every so often, so I'm somewhat familiar with Sacto.

There is a significant Middle Eastern population in our agency, so I think there's a significant population in Sacto; however, I don't know where they live--probably all over, including the suburbs you mentioned.

My impression is that Sacto is purple politically.  There are a lot of Trump supporters, even among people of color (I personally know) and middle income people, surprisingly.

Davis is probably much more liberal politically.  But Davis is significantly more expensive.

Traffic is quite congested within Sacto.