These Are The 10 Worst San Diego Suburbs

This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.

San Diego conjures up images of tons of things to do, quality people, and a bustling economy. The region consistently ranks as one of the best places to live across the country.

But not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround San Diego.

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 San Diego ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the San Diego area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the suburbs to live up to San Diego proper, although Fairbanks Ranch certainly tries.

We examined the 37 biggest suburbs of San Diego to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t find them on the worst places to live in California, these ten places are a little too far downwind of San Diego in terms of quality of life:

El Cajon
National City
Bostonia
Imperial Beach
Lakeside
Escondido
La Presa
Fallbrook
Lemon Grove
Winter Gardens

Read on to see how we determined the places around San Diego that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger. And once you’re done, you can look at the bottom of the story for a complete chart of worst to best.

How we determined the worst San Diego ‘burbs

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 Census’s most recent 2010-2014 American Community Survey, this is the criteria we used:

Low unemployment (Less jobs)
Low median income (Less pay)
Low population density (No things to do)
Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)
High number of high school drop outs

Then, we ranked each place that have over 5,000 people around San Diego for each of these criteria from worst to best.

The place with the lowest average rankings for these criteria ranks as the worst suburb of San Diego.

Read on below to learn more about these terrible places around San Diego to live. Or skip to the end to see the list of all 37 suburbs ranked from worst to best.

This list is a scientific analysis based on real data and is completely unbiased. Snarkiness incorporated for entertainment purposes only. Hold on to your pants.

1. El Cajon

Source: El Cajon Grand. Google Maps

Population: 101,582Median Income: $45,957
Median Home Value: $333,700

2. National City

Source: National City CA. Flickr user hotsunghui

Population: 59,543Median Income: $39,517
Median Home Value: $272,700

3. Bostonia

Source: Google Maps

Population: 16,460Median Income: $42,333
Median Home Value: $252,700

4. Imperial Beach

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 26,857Median Income: $48,117
Median Home Value: $342,600

5. Lakeside

Source: Google Maps

Population: 21,079Median Income: $62,037
Median Home Value: $321,900

6. Escondido

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 147,603Median Income: $49,409
Median Home Value: $335,900

7. La Presa

Source: Google Maps

Population: 34,739Median Income: $60,817
Median Home Value: $280,100

8. Fallbrook

Source: Google Maps

Population: 31,435Median Income: $51,765
Median Home Value: $384,100

9. Lemon Grove

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 25,963Median Income: $52,339
Median Home Value: $295,200

10. Winter Gardens

Source: Google Maps

Population: 20,346Median Income: $61,759
Median Home Value: $317,700

The areas around San Diego that you probably don’t want to live in

Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding San Diego with El Cajon landing ahead of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around San Diego aren’t all bad. Fairbanks Ranch takes the cake as the best place to live around San Diego.

For the chart below, these are ranked from worst to best.

Detailed List Of San Diego Suburbs

Place	Rank	Population	Median Income	Median Home Value
El Cajon	1	101,582	$45,957	$333,700
National City	2	59,543	$39,517	$272,700
Bostonia	3	16,460	$42,333	$252,700
Imperial Beach	4	26,857	$48,117	$342,600
Lakeside	5	21,079	$62,037	$321,900
Escondido	6	147,603	$49,409	$335,900
La Presa	7	34,739	$60,817	$280,100
Fallbrook	8	31,435	$51,765	$384,100
Lemon Grove	9	25,963	$52,339	$295,200
Winter Gardens	10	20,346	$61,759	$317,700
Spring Valley CDP (San Diego County)	11	29,841	$64,517	$339,700
Vista	12	96,181	$47,782	$346,200
La Mesa	13	58,239	$54,630	$379,000
Oceanside	14	171,400	$58,385	$350,600
Santee	15	55,435	$74,213	$336,300
Bonita	16	13,864	$87,666	$508,800
Chula Vista	17	253,031	$66,110	$359,500
Jamul	18	5,445	$109,492	$568,400
Crest	19	2,393	$74,115	$343,100
Casa de Oro-Mount Helix	20	21,076	$75,637	$564,000
Rancho San Diego	21	21,514	$80,591	$479,600
Lake San Marcos	22	4,679	$43,125	$398,300
San Marcos	23	87,808	$56,139	$378,800
Alpine	24	14,580	$78,433	$481,800
Eucalyptus Hills	25	5,352	$71,861	$365,400
Harbison Canyon	26	4,577	$81,913	$341,900
Hidden Meadows	27	3,283	$61,234	$483,800
Bonsall	28	4,138	$69,399	$598,900
Carlsbad	29	109,296	$87,416	$626,000
Encinitas	30	61,008	$92,564	$720,800
Poway	31	49,040	$96,315	$501,600
Granite Hills	32	3,438	$111,684	$477,900
Rancho Santa Fe	33	2,838	$101,250	$1,000,001
Solana Beach	34	13,146	$90,579	$959,000
Coronado	35	24,333	$90,876	$1,000,001
Del Mar	36	4,242	$103,457	$1,000,001
Fairbanks Ranch	37	3,245	$119,228	$1,000,001

Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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