The suburbs of Santa Clarita call to all types of people looking to escape city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Santa Clarita 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 Santa Clarita ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Santa Clarita area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Santa Clarita proper, although San Marino certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Santa Clarita are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones.
We examined the 21 biggest suburbs of Santa Clarita 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 Santa Clarita in terms of quality of life.
The 10 worst suburbs around Santa Clarita for 2023
Now don’t freak out.
What’s the worst suburb of Santa Clarita? Palmdale ranks as the worst suburb of Santa Clarita for 2023 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Santa Clarita 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 Santa Clarita 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 Santa Clarita Suburbs To Live For 2023
/10
Population: 167,987
Median Income: $70,858 (5th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.6% (5th highest)
Median Home Value: $332,400 (3rd lowest)
More on Palmdale:
We’ll get the ball rolling with Palmdale, the absolute worst place to live around Santa Clarita according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Palmdale beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 5th worst in the Santa Clarita area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 3rd 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 Palmdale.
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: 171,820
Median Income: $61,454 (2nd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.3% (7th highest)
Median Home Value: $303,400 (2nd lowest)
More on Lancaster:
Welcome to Lancaster. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 27.4 miles to Santa Clarita. Income levels here are the 2nd lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $61,454 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: 3,902,440
Median Income: $69,778 (4th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.6% (6th highest)
Median Home Value: $705,900 (8th lowest)
More on Los Angeles:
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Santa Clarita suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Los Angeles 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 Santa Clarita suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
/10
Population: 24,086
Median Income: $64,581 (3rd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.4% (11th highest)
Median Home Value: $525,200 (5th lowest)
More on San Fernando:
If you live in San Fernando, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 3rd lowest Santa Clarita suburb for median household incomes.
Not only that, but this is the 11th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Santa Clarita. Remember, we looked at 21 cities for this study.
San Fernando is about 8.8 miles to downtown.
/10
Population: 196,512
Median Income: $74,488 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.8% (4th highest)
Median Home Value: $865,400 (14th lowest)
More on Glendale:
Glendale has the distinction of being a Santa Clarita suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Glendale has the 14th lowest home values in the metro Santa Clarita area, where the median price is $865,400. The median income is $250,001.
Glendale has an unemployment rate of 7.77% which ranks 4th worst.
6. Westlake
/10
Population: 4,858
Median Income: $60,690 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 0.3% (2highest)
Median Home Value: $126,400 (lowest)
More on Westlake:
Westlake has 4,858 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 9.160148209139564%.
/10
Population: 138,771
Median Income: $89,661 (10th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.2% (12th highest)
Median Home Value: $863,100 (13th lowest)
More on Pasadena:
Ah, Pasadena. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Santa Clarita.
It’s the place with the 12th most out of work residents in the Santa Clarita metro area (5.22%).
/10
Population: 107,364
Median Income: $82,246 (9th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.9% (8th highest)
Median Home Value: $837,900 (11th lowest)
More on Burbank:
Burbank is a city about 19.0 miles from Santa Clarita, but Santa Clarita 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. Burbank has the 8th most uninsured people, 9th worst incomes, and has the 8th highest unemployment rate (6.89%) in the entire Santa Clarita metro area.
Homes only cost $837,900 for a reason. That’s cheap for Santa Clarita standards.
/10
Population: 16,373
Median Income: $78,024 (7th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 4.3% (19th highest)
Median Home Value: $448,300 (4th lowest)
More on Fillmore:
If you absolutely have to live near Santa Clarita, then Fillmore might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Santa Clarita suburb.
About 4.32% of residents are out of work.
/10
Population: 35,678
Median Income: $78,719 (8th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.9% (3rd highest)
Median Home Value: $782,500 (9th lowest)
More on West Hollywood:
Rounding out the ten worst Santa Clarita suburbs to call home is West Hollywood.
Located 23.0 miles outside the city, West Hollywoods is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 3rd highest unemployment rate (7.88%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Santa Clarita for 2023
To figure out how bad a Santa Clarita 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 Santa Clarita.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 21 suburbs to evaluate around Santa Clarita.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 21 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 Santa Clarita.” We’re looking at you, Palmdale.
We updated this article for 2023, which reflects our tenth time ranking the worst suburbs around Santa Clarita.
Summary: The areas around Santa Clarita where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2023
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Santa Clarita with Palmdale casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Santa Clarita aren’t all bad. San Marino takes the cake as the best place to live around Santa Clarita.
- San Marino
- South Pasadena
- Hidden Hills
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 Santa Clarita Suburbs
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palmdale | 167,987 |
| 2 | Lancaster | 171,820 |
| 3 | Los Angeles | 3,902,440 |
| 4 | San Fernando | 24,086 |
| 5 | Glendale | 196,512 |
| 6 | Westlake | 4,858 |
| 7 | Pasadena | 138,771 |
| 8 | Burbank | 107,364 |
| 9 | Fillmore | 16,373 |
| 10 | West Hollywood | 35,678 |
| 11 | Simi Valley | 126,809 |
| 12 | Moorpark | 36,201 |
| 13 | Thousand Oaks | 127,274 |
| 14 | Beverly Hills | 32,903 |
| 15 | Santa Monica | 92,828 |
| 16 | Calabasas | 23,410 |
| 17 | Malibu | 10,915 |
| 18 | Agoura Hills | 20,362 |
| 19 | Hidden Hills | 2,182 |
| 20 | South Pasadena | 26,837 |
| 21 | San Marino | 12,620 |
Uhhh… Santa Clarita is a Suburb of Los Angeles. It doesn’t have it’s own suburbs. Weird article.