The suburbs of San Bernardino call to all types of people looking to escape city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround San Bernardino to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
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 Saturday Night Science to determine which San Bernardino ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the San Bernardino area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to San Bernardino proper, although El Cerrito certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of San Bernardino are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones.
We examined the 34 biggest suburbs of San Bernardino 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 San Bernardino in terms of quality of life.
The 10 worst suburbs around San Bernardino for 2023
Now don’t freak out.
What’s the worst suburb of San Bernardino? Hesperia ranks as the worst suburb of San Bernardino for 2023 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around San Bernardino 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 San Bernardino too.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
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 San Bernardino Suburbs To Live For 2023
/10
Population: 99,287
Median Income: $58,578 (2nd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 10.1% (4th highest)
Median Home Value: $279,600 (4th lowest)
More on Hesperia:
We’ll get the ball rolling with Hesperia, the absolute worst place to live around San Bernardino according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Hesperia beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 2nd worst in the San Bernardino 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 Hesperia.
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
Population: 132,924
Median Income: $61,206 (4th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 10.6% (highest)
Median Home Value: $257,400 (2nd lowest)
More on Victorville:
Welcome to Victorville. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 26.9 miles to San Bernardino. Income levels here are the 4th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $61,206 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.
/10
Population: 29,664
Median Income: $46,834 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.5% (9th highest)
Median Home Value: $255,300 (lowest)
More on Banning:
Back up the highway we go for the third worst San Bernardino suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Banning 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 San Bernardino suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
/10
Population: 53,299
Median Income: $62,144 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.8% (6th highest)
Median Home Value: $291,100 (5th lowest)
More on San Jacinto:
If you live in San Jacinto, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 6th lowest San Bernardino suburb for median household incomes.
Not only that, but this is the 6th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near San Bernardino. Remember, we looked at 34 cities for this study.
San Jacinto is about 29.5 miles to downtown.
/10
Population: 75,311
Median Income: $61,758 (5th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 10.1% (2nd highest)
Median Home Value: $292,500 (6th lowest)
More on Apple Valley:
Apple Valley has the distinction of being a San Bernardino suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Apple Valley has the 6th lowest home values in the metro San Bernardino area, where the median price is $292,500. The median income is $141,827.
Apple Valley has an unemployment rate of 10.12% which ranks 2nd worst.
/10
Population: 78,106
Median Income: $70,910 (14th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.2% (14th highest)
Median Home Value: $333,900 (8th lowest)
More on Perris:
Perris has 78,106 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 12.087444928245692%.
/10
Population: 103,799
Median Income: $69,934 (13th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 10.1% (3rd highest)
Median Home Value: $350,000 (9th lowest)
More on Rialto:
Ah, Rialto. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around San Bernardino.
It’s the place with the 3rd most out of work residents in the San Bernardino metro area (10.09%).
/10
Population: 53,894
Median Income: $60,874 (3rd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.4% (10th highest)
Median Home Value: $325,800 (7th lowest)
More on Colton:
Colton is a city about 6.3 miles from San Bernardino, but San Bernardino 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. Colton has the 16th most uninsured people, 3rd worst incomes, and has the 10th highest unemployment rate (7.36%) in the entire San Bernardino metro area.
Homes only cost $325,800 for a reason. That’s cheap for San Bernardino standards.
/10
Population: 37,871
Median Income: $67,483 (9th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.8% (8th highest)
Median Home Value: $423,300 (19th lowest)
More on Montclair:
If you absolutely have to live near San Bernardino, then Montclair might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst San Bernardino suburb.
About 7.76% of residents are out of work.
/10
Population: 104,684
Median Income: $83,430 (2lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.2% (13th highest)
Median Home Value: $416,300 (16th lowest)
More on Jurupa Valley:
Rounding out the ten worst San Bernardino suburbs to call home is Jurupa Valley.
Located 13.8 miles outside the city, Jurupa Valleys is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 13th highest unemployment rate (7.21%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around San Bernardino for 2023
To figure out how bad a San Bernardino suburb is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.
It’s Saturday Night Science.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2017-2021, 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 dropouts
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
We defined a suburb as any town within 30 miles of San Bernardino.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 5,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 34 suburbs to evaluate around San Bernardino.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 34 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 San Bernardino.” We’re looking at you, Hesperia.
We updated this article for 2023, which reflects our tenth time ranking the worst suburbs around San Bernardino.
Summary: The areas around San Bernardino where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2023
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding San Bernardino with Hesperia casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around San Bernardino aren’t all bad. El Cerrito takes the cake as the best place to live around San Bernardino.
- El Cerrito
- Eastvale
- Claremont
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 San Bernardino Suburbs
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hesperia | 99,287 |
| 2 | Victorville | 132,924 |
| 3 | Banning | 29,664 |
| 4 | San Jacinto | 53,299 |
| 5 | Apple Valley | 75,311 |
| 6 | Perris | 78,106 |
| 7 | Rialto | 103,799 |
| 8 | Colton | 53,894 |
| 9 | Montclair | 37,871 |
| 10 | Jurupa Valley | 104,684 |
| 11 | Moreno Valley | 208,371 |
| 12 | Highland | 56,733 |
| 13 | Pomona | 151,592 |
| 14 | Big Bear Lake | 5,068 |
| 15 | Ontario | 175,223 |
| 16 | Loma Linda | 24,712 |
| 17 | Yucaipa | 54,312 |
| 18 | Riverside | 314,858 |
| 19 | Beaumont | 52,081 |
| 20 | Grand Terrace | 13,079 |
| 21 | Calimesa | 10,053 |
| 22 | Fontana | 208,087 |
| 23 | Chino | 90,279 |
| 24 | Redlands | 72,649 |
| 25 | Corona | 157,844 |
| 26 | Upland | 78,624 |
| 27 | La Verne | 31,423 |
| 28 | Chino Hills | 78,229 |
| 29 | Norco | 26,176 |
| 30 | San Dimas | 34,775 |
| 31 | Rancho Cucamonga | 173,946 |
| 32 | Claremont | 36,312 |
| 33 | Eastvale | 68,539 |
| 34 | El Cerrito | 25,898 |