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Not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Glendale.
So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?
Today, we'll use science and data to determine which Glendale 'burbs need a little tender loving care - the sore thumbs of the Glendale area if you will. Realistically, you can't expect all the suburbs to live up to Glendale proper, although Hermosa Beach certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Glendale are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones..
We examined the 82 biggest suburbs of Glendale to find out the worst places to live. And while you won't necessarily find them on the worst places to live in California lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Glendale in terms of quality of life.
Here are the 10 worst suburbs around Glendale for 2022:
What's the worst suburb of Glendale? Huntington Park ranks as the worst suburb of Glendale for 2022 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Glendale that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don't blame the messenger.
Or, if you're thinking of moving to elsewhere in California check out the best places in California overall or the worst.
And remember, there are some good places to live around Glendale too.
Editor's Note: If you see a slight difference between the worst in state rankings and this suburb ranking, it's because of the methodology. We needed a way to include more places, so we eliminated crime and commute times as criteria for this analysis.
For more California reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In California
- Cheapest Places To Live In California
- Most Dangerous Cities In California
The 10 Worst Glendale Suburbs To Live For 2022
We'll get the ball rolling with Huntington Park, the absolute worst place to live around Glendale according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Huntington Park beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 3rd worst in the Glendale area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 9th worst when it comes to home values.
But hey, at least it's cheap to live there. But there's a reason for that... it's Huntington Park.
You won't feel bad about not having a great income for the area, there aren't a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.
/10
Welcome to Compton. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 19.9 miles to Glendale. Income levels here are the 14th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $58,703 a year, which doesn't go a long ways even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
/10
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Glendale suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Cudahy on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that's an understatement.
In terms of numbers, it's in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school drop out rate is poor compared to other Glendale suburbs.
But at least there are nice parks to bring the kids during the day.
/10
If you live in Palmdale, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 24th lowest Glendale suburb when it comes to residents making money.
Not only that, but this is the 12th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Glendale. Remember, we looked at 82 cities for this study.
Palmdale is about 29.4 miles to downtown.
/10
Lynwood has the distinction of being a Glendale suburb. Which means that's about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Lynwood has the 7th lowest home values in the metro Glendale area, where the median price is $422,200. To put that into perspective, in Hermosa Beach, the median income is $250,001, which is the best in the area.
Lynwood has an unemployment rate of 9.68% which ranks 2nd worst.
/10
Bell Gardens has 41,770 residents that probably know it's a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you've ever been there, you don't need to look at the data.)
Incomes are towards the bottom and the poverty rate sits at 26.62392645457845%.
/10
Ah, Bell. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Glendale.
It's the place with the 9th most out of work residents in the Glendale metro area (7.63%).
/10
Commerce is a city about 14.0 miles from Glendale, but Glendale probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.
You'd be hard pressed to find a worse place to live. Commerce has the 7th most uninsured people, 8th worst incomes, and has the 4highest unemployment rate (5.56%) in the entire Glendale metro area.
Homes only cost $429,800 for a reason. That's cheap for Glendale standards.
/10
If you absolutely have to live near Glendale, then Maywood might be a place for you to consider as it's only the 9th worst Glendale suburb.
About 6.81% of residents are out of work.
/10
Rounding out the ten worst Glendale suburbs to call home is South Gate.
Located 16.7 miles outside the city, South Gates is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 4th highest unemployment rate (8.83%), and poverty is far above the area average.
/10
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Glendale for 2022
To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2016-2020, this is the criteria we used:
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school drop outs
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
FYI: We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Glendale.
Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 82 suburbs to evaluate around Glendale.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 82 in each category, where 1 was the "worst".
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality of life index.
And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index the "Worst Suburb near Glendale." We're lookin' at you, Huntington Park. You can download the data here.
Read on below to learn more about what it's like to live in the worst of the worst. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from worst to best.
Summary: The areas around Glendale where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2022
Well there you have it -- the worst of the 'burbs surrounding Glendale with Huntington Park casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Glendale aren't all bad. Hermosa Beach takes the cake as the best place to live around Glendale.
- Hermosa Beach
- Manhattan Beach
- Redondo Beach
For more California reading, check out:
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- Worst Places To Live In California
Detailed List Of The Worst Glendale Suburbs
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Huntington Park | 57,761 |
2 | Compton | 95,804 |
3 | Cudahy | 23,606 |
4 | Palmdale | 153,240 |
5 | Lynwood | 69,625 |
6 | Bell Gardens | 41,770 |
7 | Bell | 35,301 |
8 | Commerce | 12,738 |
9 | Maywood | 27,127 |
10 | South Gate | 94,905 |
11 | South El Monte | 20,791 |
12 | Pomona | 151,124 |
13 | El Monte | 113,917 |
14 | Paramount | 53,949 |
15 | Azusa | 49,584 |
16 | Montebello | 62,697 |
17 | La Puente | 39,780 |
18 | Inglewood | 109,309 |
19 | Bellflower | 76,339 |
20 | Hawaiian Gardens | 14,212 |
21 | Los Angeles | 3,973,278 |
22 | Hawthorne | 85,410 |
23 | Lawndale | 32,533 |
24 | Baldwin Park | 75,659 |
25 | San Fernando | 24,244 |
26 | Duarte | 21,399 |
27 | Long Beach | 462,081 |
28 | Santa Fe Springs | 17,643 |
29 | Carson | 91,354 |
30 | Rosemead | 53,850 |
31 | Gardena | 59,401 |
32 | Covina | 47,787 |
33 | Norwalk | 104,524 |
34 | Pico Rivera | 62,507 |
35 | La Habra | 62,787 |
36 | Fullerton | 141,061 |
37 | Los Alamitos | 11,521 |
38 | Temple | 4,709 |
39 | Monterey Park | 60,597 |
40 | Downey | 111,263 |
41 | Signal Hill | 11,430 |
42 | Artesia | 16,456 |
43 | Whittier | 84,821 |
44 | San Gabriel | 40,108 |
45 | West Covina | 105,808 |
46 | Burbank | 103,411 |
47 | Monrovia | 37,636 |
48 | Pasadena | 142,017 |
49 | Buena Park | 82,228 |
50 | Santa Clarita | 212,519 |
51 | La Verne | 32,346 |
52 | Lomita | 20,212 |
53 | Alhambra | 84,509 |
54 | Glendora | 51,087 |
55 | San Dimas | 33,812 |
56 | Calabasas | 23,842 |
57 | Simi Valley | 125,768 |
58 | La Mirada | 48,260 |
59 | West Hollywood | 35,506 |
60 | Lakewood | 79,676 |
61 | Beverly Hills | 33,709 |
62 | Santa Monica | 91,600 |
63 | Brea | 44,182 |
64 | Walnut | 29,764 |
65 | Diamond Bar | 55,870 |
66 | Cypress | 49,137 |
67 | Arcadia | 57,053 |
68 | Torrance | 144,430 |
69 | El Segundo | 16,575 |
70 | La Habra Heights | 5,318 |
71 | Cerritos | 49,388 |
72 | Hidden Hills | 2,218 |
73 | Sierra Madre | 10,829 |
74 | Agoura Hills | 20,269 |
75 | Rolling Hills Estates | 8,025 |
76 | La Palma | 15,657 |
77 | South Pasadena | 25,478 |
78 | San Marino | 13,020 |
79 | Palos Verdes Estates | 13,359 |
80 | Redondo Beach | 66,663 |
81 | Manhattan Beach | 35,064 |
82 | Hermosa Beach | 19,147 |