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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 Pasadena.
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 Pasadena 'burbs need a little tender loving care - the sore thumbs of the Pasadena area if you will. Realistically, you can't expect all the suburbs to live up to Pasadena proper, although West University Place certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Pasadena are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones..
We examined the 28 biggest suburbs of Pasadena to find out the worst places to live. And while you won't necessarily find them on the worst places to live in texas lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Pasadena in terms of quality of life.
Here are the 10 worst suburbs around Pasadena for 2021:
What's the worst suburb of Pasadena? Galena Park ranks as the worst suburb of Pasadena for 2021 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Pasadena that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don't blame the messenger.
Or, if you're thinking of moving to elsewhere in texas check out the best places in texas overall or the worst.
And remember, there are some good places to live around Pasadena 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 Texas reading, check out:
The 10 Worst Pasadena Suburbs To Live For 2021
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We'll get the ball rolling with Galena Park, the absolute worst place to live around Pasadena according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Galena Park beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 3rd worst in the Pasadena area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 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 Galena 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.
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Population: 7,800
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Median Income: $57,829 (10th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 12.1% (highest)
Median Home Value: $114,000 (4th lowest)
More on Hitchcock: Data
Welcome to Hitchcock. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 27.3 miles to Pasadena. Income levels here are the 10th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $57,829 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.
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Back up the highway we go for the third worst Pasadena suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Anahuac 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 Pasadena suburbs.
But at least there are nice parks to bring the kids during the day.
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If you live in South Houston, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 2nd lowest Pasadena 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 Pasadena. Remember, we looked at 28 cities for this study.
South Houston is about 4.7 miles to downtown.
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Humble has the distinction of being a Pasadena suburb. Which means that's about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Humble has the 7th lowest home values in the metro Pasadena area, where the median price is $122,900. To put that into perspective, in West University Place, the median income is $250,001, which is the best in the area.
Humble has an unemployment rate of 7.39% which ranks 7th worst.
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Population: 2,441
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 4)
Median Income: $54,750 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 3.9% (2highest)
Median Home Value: $127,400 (8th lowest)
More on Arcola: Data
Arcola has 2,441 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 17.432321575061525%.
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Ah, Baytown. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Pasadena.
It's the place with the 5th most out of work residents in the Pasadena metro area (8.18%).
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La Marque is a city about 22.1 miles from Pasadena, but Pasadena 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. La Marque has the 15th most uninsured people, 5th worst incomes, and has the 2nd highest unemployment rate (10.83%) in the entire Pasadena metro area.
Homes only cost $117,000 for a reason. That's cheap for Pasadena standards.
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If you absolutely have to live near Pasadena, then Webster might be a place for you to consider as it's only the 9th worst Pasadena suburb.
About 6.6% of residents are out of work.
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Rounding out the ten worst Pasadena suburbs to call home is Houston.
Located 16.5 miles outside the city, Houstons is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 14th highest unemployment rate (5.86%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Pasadena for 2021
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 2015-2019, 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 Pasadena.
Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 28 suburbs to evaluate around Pasadena.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 28 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 Pasadena." We're lookin' at you, Galena 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.
The areas around Pasadena where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2021
Well there you have it -- the worst of the 'burbs surrounding Pasadena with Galena Park casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Pasadena aren't all bad. West University Place takes the cake as the best place to live around Pasadena.
- West University Place
- Bellaire
- Sugar Land
For more Texas reading, check out:
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- Richest Cities In Texas
- Safest Places In Texas
- Worst Places To Live In Texas
Detailed List Of The Worst Pasadena Suburbs
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Galena Park | 10,983 |
| 2 | Hitchcock | 7,800 |
| 3 | Anahuac | 2,149 |
| 4 | South Houston | 17,587 |
| 5 | Humble | 15,864 |
| 6 | Arcola | 2,441 |
| 7 | Baytown | 76,635 |
| 8 | La Marque | 16,627 |
| 9 | Webster | 11,222 |
| 10 | Houston | 2,310,432 |
| 11 | Alvin | 26,299 |
| 12 | Dickinson | 20,754 |
| 13 | Santa Fe | 13,274 |
| 14 | La Porte | 35,246 |
| 15 | Kemah | 3,057 |
| 16 | Stafford | 17,206 |
| 17 | Deer Park | 33,855 |
| 18 | Mont Belvieu | 5,885 |
| 19 | Nassau Bay | 4,048 |
| 20 | Manvel | 10,179 |
| 21 | Seabrook | 13,927 |
| 22 | Friendswood | 39,688 |
| 23 | Pearland | 122,078 |
| 24 | El Lago | 2,710 |
| 25 | Meadows Place | 4,653 |
| 26 | Sugar Land | 118,709 |
| 27 | Bellaire | 18,815 |
| 28 | West University Place | 15,603 |
