The 10 Worst San Jose Suburbs

The 10 Worst San Jose Suburbs To Live For 2024

We’ll get the ball rolling with Watsonville, the absolute worst place to live around San Jose according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Watsonville beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the worst in the San Jose 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 Watsonville.

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

This city is 27.8 miles to San Jose. Income levels here are the 4th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $105,371 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 San Jose suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Gilroy 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 Jose suburbs.

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

If you live in East Palo Alto, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 3rd lowest San Jose suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 5th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near San Jose. Remember, we looked at 30 cities for this study.

East Palo Alto is about 20.9 miles to downtown.

Santa Cruz has the distinction of being a San Jose suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Santa Cruz has the 11th lowest home values in the metro San Jose area, where the median price is $1,318,776. The median income is $250,001.

Santa Cruz has an unemployment rate of 6.17% which ranks 2nd worst.

Newark has 47,470 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 4.024153365425216%.

Ah, Capitola. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around San Jose.

It’s the place with the 28th most out of work residents in the San Jose metro area (2.04%).

Milpitas is a city about 10.2 miles from San Jose, but San Jose 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. Milpitas has the 16th most uninsured people, 13th worst incomes, and has the 8th highest unemployment rate (4.51%) in the entire San Jose metro area.

Homes only cost $1,346,828 for a reason. That’s cheap for San Jose standards.

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

About 4.86% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst San Jose suburbs to call home is Fremont.

Located 15.2 miles outside the city, Fremonts is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 16th highest unemployment rate (4.05%), and poverty is far above the area average.