Article Table Of Contents
Not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Ontario.
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 Ontario 'burbs need a little tender loving care - the sore thumbs of the Ontario area if you will. Realistically, you can't expect all the suburbs to live up to Ontario proper, although La Palma certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Ontario are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones..
We examined the 75 biggest suburbs of Ontario 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 Ontario in terms of quality of life.
Here are the 10 worst suburbs around Ontario for 2022:
What's the worst suburb of Ontario? San Bernardino ranks as the worst suburb of Ontario for 2022 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Ontario 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 Ontario 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 Ontario Suburbs To Live For 2022
We'll get the ball rolling with San Bernardino, the absolute worst place to live around Ontario according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, San Bernardino beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the worst in the Ontario area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 4th 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 San Bernardino.
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 Hesperia. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 29.7 miles to Ontario. Income levels here are the 4th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $54,149 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
Population: 95,163
Rank Last Year: 3 (Up 1)
Median Income: $54,149 (4th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 9.3% (2nd highest)
Median Home Value: $255,500 (3rd lowest)
More on Hesperia: Data
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Ontario suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Perris 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 Ontario suburbs.
But at least there are nice parks to bring the kids during the day.
/10
If you live in Highland, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 11th lowest Ontario suburb when it comes to residents making money.
Not only that, but this is the 8th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Ontario. Remember, we looked at 75 cities for this study.
Highland is about 25.6 miles to downtown.
/10
Rialto has the distinction of being a Ontario suburb. Which means that's about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Rialto has the 7th lowest home values in the metro Ontario area, where the median price is $330,000. To put that into perspective, in La Palma, the median income is $164,476, which is the best in the area.
Rialto has an unemployment rate of 10.63% which ranks worst.
/10
Colton has 54,215 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 15.109517528377953%.
/10
Ah, Montclair. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Ontario.
It's the place with the 13th most out of work residents in the Ontario metro area (7.21%).
/10
Moreno Valley is a city about 24.2 miles from Ontario, but Ontario 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. Moreno Valley has the 13th most uninsured people, 23rd worst incomes, and has the 4th highest unemployment rate (8.27%) in the entire Ontario metro area.
Homes only cost $335,700 for a reason. That's cheap for Ontario standards.
/10
If you absolutely have to live near Ontario, then Jurupa Valley might be a place for you to consider as it's only the 9th worst Ontario suburb.
About 7.43% of residents are out of work.
/10
Population: 106,646
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 4)
Median Income: $77,787 (36th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.4% (11th highest)
Median Home Value: $393,200 (16th lowest)
More on Jurupa Valley: Data
Rounding out the ten worst Ontario suburbs to call home is Pomona.
Located 9.1 miles outside the city, Pomonas is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 26th highest unemployment rate (6.29%), and poverty is far above the area average.
/10
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Ontario 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 Ontario.
Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 3,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 75 suburbs to evaluate around Ontario.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 75 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 Ontario." We're lookin' at you, San Bernardino. 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 Ontario where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2022
Well there you have it -- the worst of the 'burbs surrounding Ontario with San Bernardino casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Ontario aren't all bad. La Palma takes the cake as the best place to live around Ontario.
- La Palma
- Mission Viejo
- Yorba Linda
For more California reading, check out:
- Best Places To Retire In California
- Richest Cities In California
- Safest Places In California
- Worst Places To Live In California
Detailed List Of The Worst Ontario Suburbs
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | San Bernardino | 216,784 |
2 | Hesperia | 95,163 |
3 | Perris | 77,708 |
4 | Highland | 55,339 |
5 | Rialto | 103,549 |
6 | Colton | 54,215 |
7 | Montclair | 40,041 |
8 | Moreno Valley | 208,751 |
9 | Jurupa Valley | 106,646 |
10 | Pomona | 151,124 |
11 | South El Monte | 20,791 |
12 | Lake Elsinore | 64,201 |
13 | El Monte | 113,917 |
14 | Loma Linda | 24,239 |
15 | La Puente | 39,780 |
16 | Azusa | 49,584 |
17 | Stanton | 38,317 |
18 | Riverside | 327,569 |
19 | Montebello | 62,697 |
20 | Baldwin Park | 75,659 |
21 | Fontana | 212,704 |
22 | Santa Ana | 332,610 |
23 | Duarte | 21,399 |
24 | Chino | 89,170 |
25 | Westminster | 90,857 |
26 | Anaheim | 353,085 |
27 | Santa Fe Springs | 17,643 |
28 | Grand Terrace | 12,559 |
29 | Redlands | 71,680 |
30 | Rosemead | 53,850 |
31 | Norwalk | 104,524 |
32 | Garden Grove | 172,800 |
33 | Temple | 4,709 |
34 | Pico Rivera | 62,507 |
35 | Midway | 3,132 |
36 | La Habra | 62,787 |
37 | Covina | 47,787 |
38 | Corona | 168,112 |
39 | Upland | 77,348 |
40 | Fullerton | 141,061 |
41 | Artesia | 16,456 |
42 | Whittier | 84,821 |
43 | San Gabriel | 40,108 |
44 | West Covina | 105,808 |
45 | Norco | 27,021 |
46 | Monrovia | 37,636 |
47 | La Verne | 32,346 |
48 | Buena Park | 82,228 |
49 | Rancho Cucamonga | 178,060 |
50 | Glendora | 51,087 |
51 | Orange | 139,322 |
52 | Tustin | 80,815 |
53 | San Dimas | 33,812 |
54 | Chino Hills | 82,800 |
55 | Irvine | 272,694 |
56 | La Mirada | 48,260 |
57 | Claremont | 35,610 |
58 | Brea | 44,182 |
59 | Placentia | 52,049 |
60 | Lake Forest | 84,666 |
61 | Walnut | 29,764 |
62 | Diamond Bar | 55,870 |
63 | Arcadia | 57,053 |
64 | Eastvale | 65,766 |
65 | La Habra Heights | 5,318 |
66 | Cypress | 49,137 |
67 | El Cerrito | 25,280 |
68 | Sierra Madre | 10,829 |
69 | Cerritos | 49,388 |
70 | Rancho Santa Margarita | 48,280 |
71 | Villa Park | 5,883 |
72 | San Marino | 13,020 |
73 | Yorba Linda | 68,103 |
74 | Mission Viejo | 95,638 |
75 | La Palma | 15,657 |