El Dorado Hills is a census-designated place which encompasses 17.9 square miles (46 km) of land along the western boundary of El Dorado County, California, as defined for the 2000 Census. Its actual extent is larger. A new definition of the census-designated place was adopted in 2009 for use in the 2010 Census, roughly doubling the area within the El Dorado Hills CDP. This is similar to the area served by the El Dorado Hills Fire Department, about 44 square miles, containing a population estimated by the Fire Department to have been 42,078 at the beginning of 2008. Population of the smaller area of the El Dorado Hills Community Services District was 35,276 at the start of 2006. Either measure makes El Dorado Hills the largest community in El Dorado County, with about 4 times the population of the City of Placerville. It 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, the U.S. Census Bureau considers El Dorado County to be part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area because it is an outlying county socially and economically integrated with Sacramento County and 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.