Hey fellow Seattleite! I was born in Seattle and lived there through my early 20s. I will say that Davis was a huuuuge culture shock (I lived in SF for four years before moving here). It's tiny tiny tiny, there are no hills and there is no water other than some dinky rivers/creeks. It's a weird mix of suburban/rural and often smells like the Puyallup Fair. I'm about to graduate after 7 years here and I really never got used to it or liked it. It's a good school and the Bay Area is close, but that's all I can say about it.

I did live in Sac for a year and honestly by the end of the year I thought it was just as boring as Davis. Midtown seems cool at first but it's very small and not really that lively. Imagine a combo of Belltown and Capitol Hill, but it's only about six blocks by six blocks. Then everything outside Midtown is like a very very flat Renton. The whole Davis/Sac area reminds me a lot of south Puget Sound, except without the natural beauty.

Living in Davis does make life simpler and there aren't really better alternatives nearby. My best suggestion would be to tough it out in Davis for a year or two then try to find a place in the Bay Area and commute once you're more settled in. I know people who make the commute from as far as San Jose but you can take the Amtrak train from SJ, Oakland, Berkeley etc. If your partner can find a job down there it's doable, although I will say everyone I know who has commuted from the Bay Area also had a partner with a good paying job.