The 10 Worst San Francisco Suburbs

The 10 Worst San Francisco Suburbs To Live For 2023

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

And in the world of worst rankings, Richmond beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 3rd worst in the San Francisco area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 5th 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 Richmond.

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

This city is 49.4 miles to San Francisco. Income levels here are the 2nd lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $78,243 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 Francisco suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see San Pablo 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 Francisco suburbs.

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

If you live in Oakland, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 5th lowest San Francisco suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 9th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near San Francisco. Remember, we looked at 44 cities for this study.

Oakland is about 44.1 miles to downtown.

San Leandro has the distinction of being a San Francisco suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, San Leandro has the 9th lowest home values in the metro San Francisco area, where the median price is $658,400. The median income is $250,001.

San Leandro has an unemployment rate of 5.62% which ranks 12th worst.

Rohnert Park has 44,420 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 10.377826930889722%.

Ah, San Rafael. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around San Francisco.

It’s the place with the 2most out of work residents in the San Francisco metro area (4.92%).

Novato is a city about 36.1 miles from San Francisco, but San Francisco 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. Novato has the 18th most uninsured people, 15th worst incomes, and has the 15th highest unemployment rate (5.4%) in the entire San Francisco metro area.

Homes only cost $839,700 for a reason. That’s cheap for San Francisco standards.

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

About 10.3% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst San Francisco suburbs to call home is Cotati.

Located 45.1 miles outside the city, Cotatis is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 25th highest unemployment rate (4.73%), and poverty is far above the area average.