These Are The 10 Worst Neighborhoods In San Diego For 2018

This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.

Source: Wikipedia User Tomcio77, User: | CC BY-SA 3.0

San Diego’s neighborhoods conjure up too many stereotypes to count. You’ve got hipster areas, preppy places, neighborhoods where college kids thrive, and of course, ghettos.

It seems as if there’s a neighborhood for everyone in San Diego.

And while the city consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in the country thanks in part to a strong economy and tons of entertainment, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine in San Diego. Some neighborhoods aren’t as great as others.

So the question arises, which San Diego neighborhoods are the worst, and which are the best?

Today, we’ll use science and data to determine which San Diego hoods need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the San Diego area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the neighborhoods to be amazing, although Marina ranks way above the rest.

We examined 86 of San Diego’s neighborhoods to find out the worst places to live. These places don’t quite measure up to San Diego’s reputation.

Here are the 10 worst neighborhoods in San Diego according to data:

Read on to see how we determined the places around San Diego that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger.

Once you’re done, you can look at the bottom of the story for a complete chart of every neighborhood we looked at from worst to best.

Looking for places to avoid outside of the city? You can also check out the worst suburbs of San Diego.

For more reading on California, check out:

How we determined the worst San Diego hoods

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 places have the least amount of those things. We threw the following criteria into this analysis in order to get the best, most complete results possible. We used this set of criteria for each neighborhood in San Diego:

High unemployment (Less jobs)
Low median income (Less pay)
Low population density (No things to do)
Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)
High crime (Estimated)

Then, we ranked each neighborhood in San Diego for each of these criteria from worst to best.

Next, we averaged the individual rankings for each criteria into a ‘Worst Score’.

The neighborhood with the lowest ‘Worst Score’ ranks as the worst neighborhood of San Diego.

Read on below to learn more about these terrible places around San Diego to live. Or skip to the end to see the list of all 86 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.

This list is a scientific analysis based on real data and is completely unbiased. Hold on to your pants.

1. San Ysidro

Population: 28,224
Median Income: $42,956
Median Home Value: $199,794

2. Nestor

Population: 15,358
Median Income: $53,097
Median Home Value: $181,867

3. Mount Hope

Population: 9,024
Median Income: $37,857
Median Home Value: $250,880

4. Palm City

Population: 7,257
Median Income: $59,131
Median Home Value: $183,720

5. Tijuana River Valley

Population: 2,803
Median Income: $55,500
Median Home Value: $267,250

6. Memorial

Population: 14,984
Median Income: $27,644
Median Home Value: $238,364

7. Emerald Hills

Population: 7,038
Median Income: $42,021
Median Home Value: $219,060

8. Bario Logan

Population: 10,057
Median Income: $28,429
Median Home Value: $178,175

9. Mountain View

Population: 12,285
Median Income: $29,547
Median Home Value: $251,850

10. Egger Highlands

Population: 10,099
Median Income: $52,382
Median Home Value: $230,980

The ‘hoods around San Diego that are really hoods

Well there you have it — the worst of the neighborhoods in San Diego with San Ysidro landing at the bottom of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in San Diego aren’t all bad. Marina takes the cake as the best place to live in San Diego.

We ranked the neighborhoods from worst to best in the chart below.

For more California reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Worst San Diego Neighborhoods

Rank	Neighborhood	Population	Median Income	Median Home Values
1	San Ysidro	28,224	$42,956	$199,794
2	Nestor	15,358	$53,097	$181,867
3	Mount Hope	9,024	$37,857	$250,880
4	Palm City	7,257	$59,131	$183,720
5	Tijuana River Valley	2,803	$55,500	$267,250
6	Memorial	14,984	$27,644	$238,364
7	Emerald Hills	7,038	$42,021	$219,060
8	Bario Logan	10,057	$28,429	$178,175
9	Mountain View	12,285	$29,547	$251,850
10	Egger Highlands	10,099	$52,382	$230,980
11	City Heights East	38,231	$32,900	$204,865
12	Southcrest	9,991	$35,976	$248,317
13	Oak Park	10,194	$49,305	$242,800
14	Lincoln Park	5,673	$24,823	$293,300
15	Valencia Park	6,494	$53,938	$252,050
16	Chollas View	8,741	$47,978	$220,940
17	Encanto	15,197	$60,528	$287,870
18	Grant Hill	11,789	$31,630	$269,200
19	Gaslamp Quarter	1,154	$43,549	$151,067
20	City Heights West	31,511	$35,183	$275,856
21	Jomacha-Lomita	8,501	$60,629	$269,440
22	Sky Line	11,585	$60,598	$264,929
23	Webster	9,629	$52,982	$276,543
24	Mission Bay	60,822	$62,891	$368,211
25	Grantville	13,121	$62,949	$271,077
26	East Village	13,144	$54,178	$327,989
27	El Cerritos	5,344	$54,190	$293,925
28	Rolando	7,452	$37,258	$382,000
29	Paradise Hills	24,176	$66,767	$223,127
30	Cortez Hill	2,029	$31,154	$217,475
31	Darnall	9,119	$61,918	$281,550
32	Normal Heights	16,097	$52,826	$328,816
33	Midtown District	10,734	$54,962	$314,400
34	Core	3,527	$30,600	$130,600
35	Mission Valley	6,793	$66,122	$269,360
36	Alta Vista	8,831	$82,322	$293,186
37	Moreno Mission	9,036	$55,822	$339,290
38	Allied Gardens	8,839	$72,696	$286,609
39	College Area	20,534	$49,312	$394,253
40	Linda Vista	24,028	$54,891	$365,835
41	Bird Land	5,034	$73,619	$342,240
42	Kearny Mesa	3,029	$77,260	$315,600
43	Mira Mesa	68,906	$86,281	$393,867
44	North Clairemont	14,399	$63,424	$427,507
45	Bay Terrace	22,415	$69,229	$274,647
46	Talmadge	9,342	$59,904	$364,989
47	La Jolla Village	6,202	$55,518	$376,300
48	Serra Mesa	28,167	$71,772	$356,360
49	Torrey Pines	3,273	$84,302	$528,967
50	Gateway	2,994	$66,375	$297,900
51	Balboa Park	12,292	$59,691	$432,976
52	Tierrasanta	20,048	$93,940	$399,744
53	North Hills	41,687	$58,116	$410,820
54	Bay Ho	12,392	$74,812	$502,550
55	Horton Plaza	703	$39,780	$445,200
56	Lake Murray	20,485	$73,700	$411,139
57	West University Heights	9,247	$62,100	$502,090
58	South Park	4,566	$64,185	$471,057
59	Clairemont Mesa	37,903	$68,531	$412,457
60	Park West	4,584	$45,645	$474,733
61	Miramar	2,209	$51,981	$1,000,001
62	Bay Park	15,818	$73,152	$530,207
63	Sorrento Valley	9,186	$93,176	$509,688
64	University City	47,710	$74,229	$428,450
65	Midtown	18,785	$64,076	$475,689
66	Little Italy	2,878	$58,514	$361,150
67	Rancho Bernadino	44,745	$94,008	$507,963
68	Del Cerro	5,683	$89,060	$527,186
69	San Carlos	14,101	$87,392	$503,544
70	Rancho Penasquitos	61,808	$114,380	$536,858
71	Kensington	5,804	$82,378	$533,543
72	Loma Portal	23,060	$72,406	$537,371
73	Ocean Beach	10,144	$78,213	$609,880
74	Sabre Springs	14,605	$114,320	$517,100
75	Columbia	1,674	$87,491	$404,233
76	Old Town	11,102	$76,511	$534,482
77	Scripps Ranch	35,713	$117,010	$648,226
78	Roseville	6,451	$94,807	$724,470
79	North City	12,283	$136,225	$919,786
80	Wooded Area	7,752	$118,100	$724,000
81	Carmel Valley	38,768	$138,534	$736,158
82	Pacific Beach	28,891	$77,693	$568,121
83	Carmel Mountain	9,210	$104,236	$516,660
84	Del Mar Heights	6,885	$123,528	$902,141
85	La Jolla	28,561	$114,679	$926,721
86	Marina	4,653	$80,250	$526,667