The 10 Worst Oakland Suburbs

The 10 Worst Oakland Suburbs To Live For 2024

We’ll get the ball rolling with Richmond, the absolute worst place to live around Oakland according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Richmond beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 3rd worst in the Oakland area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 6th 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 Richmond.

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.

Welcome to Antioch. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 27.4 miles to Oakland. Income levels here are the 4th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $90,709 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Oakland suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Pittsburg 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 dropout rate is poor compared to other Oakland suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

If you live in Vallejo, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 2nd lowest Oakland suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 8th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Oakland. Remember, we looked at 68 cities for this study.

Vallejo is about 23.4 miles to downtown.

San Pablo has the distinction of being a Oakland suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, San Pablo has the 4th lowest home values in the metro Oakland area, where the median price is $586,874. The median income is $250,001.

San Pablo has an unemployment rate of 7.88% which ranks 4th worst.

Hayward has 160,602 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 9.601434354825424%.

Ah, Novato. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Oakland.

It’s the place with the 11th most out of work residents in the Oakland metro area (6.49%).

East Palo Alto is a city about 21.5 miles from Oakland, but Oakland 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. East Palo Alto has the 3rd most uninsured people, 7th worst incomes, and has the 26th highest unemployment rate (5.03%) in the entire Oakland metro area.

Homes only cost $942,015 for a reason. That’s cheap for Oakland standards.

If you absolutely have to live near Oakland, then Concord might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Oakland suburb.

About 4.9% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst Oakland suburbs to call home is American Canyon.

Located 28.1 miles outside the city, American Canyons is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 28th highest unemployment rate (5.01%), and poverty is far above the area average.