More and more people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Garden Grove to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
So the question arises: what suburbs of Garden Grove are the worst?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Garden Grove ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Garden Grove area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Garden Grove proper, although Manhattan Beach certainly tries.
We examined the 107 biggest suburbs of Garden Grove 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 places are a little too far downwind of Garden Grove in terms of quality of life.
$72,990 median income · $762,159 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
We’ll get the ball rolling with South El Monte, the absolute worst place to live around Garden Grove according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, South El Monte beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 10th worst in the Garden Grove area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 24th 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 South El Monte.
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$56,615 median income · $680,366 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
Welcome to Cudahy. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 18.0 miles to Garden Grove. Income levels here are the lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $56,615 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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$59,996 median income · $675,536 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Garden Grove suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Huntington Park 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 Garden Grove suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$60,943 median income · $652,495 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
If you live in Maywood, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 4th lowest Garden Grove 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 Garden Grove. Remember, we looked at 107 cities for this study.
Maywood is about 19.5 miles to downtown.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$78,465 median income · $637,961 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
Compton has the distinction of being a Garden Grove suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Compton has the 4th lowest home values in the metro Garden Grove area, where the median price is $637,961. The median income is $242,014.
Compton has an unemployment rate of 8.0% which ranks 8th worst.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers | Compare
$74,844 median income · $688,936 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
Lynwood has 64,578 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 18.0%.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$61,020 median income · $688,070 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
Ah, Bell. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Garden Grove.
It’s the place with the 24th most out of work residents in the Garden Grove metro area (6.9%).
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$77,659 median income · $660,566 median home price
Located in
San Bernardino County, California
Montclair is a city about 25.2 miles from Garden Grove, but Garden Grove probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Montclair has the 26th most uninsured people, 18th worst incomes, and has the 26th highest unemployment rate (6.8%) in the entire Garden Grove metro area.
Homes only cost $660,566 for a reason. That’s cheap for Garden Grove standards.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$79,479 median income · $690,986 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
If you absolutely have to live near Garden Grove, then Pomona might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Garden Grove suburb.
About 6.6% of residents are out of work.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$62,298 median income · $690,424 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
Rounding out the ten worst Garden Grove suburbs to call home is Bell Gardens.
Located 17.0 miles outside the city, Bell Gardens is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 43rd highest unemployment rate (5.9%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is California’s statewide median.
California statewide median: $99,122
California statewide median: $774,582
California statewide median: 6.6%
California statewide median: 12.0%
On the map
Where the worst Garden Grove suburbs are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Garden Grove for 2026
To figure out how bad a Garden Grove suburb is to live in, we used Saturday Night Science to identify the kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.
Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2020-2024, 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 Garden Grove.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 3,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 107 suburbs to evaluate around Garden Grove.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 107 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 Garden Grove.” We’re looking at you, South El Monte.
We updated this article for 2026, which reflects our eleventh time ranking the worst suburbs around Garden Grove.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Worst Garden Grove Suburbs
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Worst Score | Population | Median Income | Median Home Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South El Monte | 18.43 | 19,287 | $72,990 | $762,159 |
| 2 | Cudahy | 18.57 | 22,087 | $56,615 | $680,366 |
| 3 | Huntington Park | 19.00 | 53,108 | $59,996 | $675,536 |
| 4 | Maywood | 19.29 | 24,317 | $60,943 | $652,495 |
| 5 | Compton | 20.71 | 92,698 | $78,465 | $637,961 |
| 6 | Lynwood | 21.71 | 64,578 | $74,844 | $688,936 |
| 7 | Bell | 22.43 | 32,476 | $61,020 | $688,070 |
| 8 | Montclair | 23.86 | 37,810 | $77,659 | $660,566 |
| 9 | Pomona | 24.86 | 147,943 | $79,479 | $690,986 |
| 10 | Bell Gardens | 25.00 | 38,229 | $62,298 | $690,424 |
| 11 | South Gate | 26.71 | 91,483 | $74,571 | $700,783 |
| 12 | Ontario | 27.14 | 180,547 | $88,941 | $672,742 |
| 13 | Commerce | 27.29 | 11,993 | $77,064 | $696,480 |
| 14 | El Monte | 27.57 | 106,109 | $68,030 | $765,444 |
| 15 | Midway | 28.50 | 3,511 | $63,381 | $248,338 |
| 16 | Inglewood | 28.86 | 104,569 | $72,750 | $763,568 |
| 17 | Paramount | 30.14 | 52,050 | $75,250 | $648,287 |
| 18 | Azusa | 31.64 | 49,031 | $90,721 | $715,154 |
| 19 | Montebello | 31.71 | 61,045 | $79,971 | $827,435 |
| 20 | Lawndale | 31.71 | 30,781 | $85,441 | $777,393 |
| 21 | Baldwin Park | 32.86 | 70,138 | $80,663 | $722,511 |
| 22 | Hawthorne | 33.07 | 85,191 | $75,848 | $883,585 |
| 23 | Stanton | 33.57 | 39,402 | $84,707 | $793,738 |
| 24 | Hawaiian Gardens | 34.14 | 13,691 | $76,341 | $647,289 |
| 25 | La Puente | 34.71 | 37,142 | $86,602 | $723,135 |
| 26 | Bellflower | 35.57 | 76,819 | $78,722 | $801,999 |
| 27 | Long Beach | 37.86 | 455,548 | $87,430 | $857,861 |
| 28 | Santa Fe Springs | 38.64 | 18,871 | $88,238 | $783,370 |
| 29 | Chino | 38.79 | 92,652 | $104,682 | $761,426 |
| 30 | Rosemead | 38.86 | 50,013 | $73,566 | $913,339 |
| 31 | Laguna Woods | 39.93 | 17,289 | $59,269 | $471,410 |
| 32 | Westminster | 40.36 | 89,860 | $85,541 | $1,097,353 |
| 33 | Anaheim | 40.43 | 344,521 | $95,227 | $950,504 |
| 34 | Gardena | 40.57 | 59,422 | $84,803 | $792,922 |
| 35 | Carson | 41.21 | 92,871 | $108,703 | $799,422 |
| 36 | Artesia | 41.64 | 15,889 | $101,004 | $878,198 |
| 37 | Pico Rivera | 42.57 | 60,272 | $88,201 | $753,243 |
| 38 | Temple | 44.79 | 5,901 | $91,180 | $284,500 |
| 39 | Norwalk | 45.29 | 99,789 | $100,085 | $763,283 |
| 40 | Covina | 45.79 | 49,888 | $98,671 | $804,341 |
| 41 | Corona | 46.07 | 159,670 | $109,242 | $764,386 |
| 42 | West Covina | 46.07 | 107,037 | $101,065 | $852,373 |
| 43 | Monterey Park | 46.43 | 59,132 | $81,855 | $934,098 |
| 44 | Santa Ana | 46.86 | 312,534 | $93,999 | $866,066 |
| 45 | La Habra | 46.93 | 61,970 | $100,106 | $911,595 |
| 46 | Los Alamitos | 47.21 | 11,794 | $97,155 | $1,583,957 |
| 47 | Fullerton | 47.36 | 140,968 | $104,286 | $1,050,945 |
| 48 | Duarte | 48.07 | 22,184 | $105,483 | $801,444 |
| 49 | Downey | 49.14 | 110,939 | $90,699 | $888,710 |
| 50 | Whittier | 50.36 | 86,165 | $97,201 | $821,843 |
| 51 | Monrovia | 51.79 | 37,571 | $96,021 | $992,558 |
| 52 | Upland | 52.07 | 79,257 | $105,830 | $825,789 |
| 53 | Chino Hills | 53.29 | 77,927 | $126,334 | $996,262 |
| 54 | San Gabriel | 53.50 | 38,392 | $90,488 | $1,121,301 |
| 55 | Pasadena | 54.14 | 136,969 | $105,192 | $1,209,228 |
| 56 | Alhambra | 54.57 | 81,022 | $88,024 | $937,892 |
| 57 | Lomita | 54.64 | 20,225 | $93,810 | $921,951 |
| 58 | Buena Park | 55.07 | 82,871 | $110,550 | $940,507 |
| 59 | Signal Hill | 55.21 | 11,468 | $113,298 | $708,079 |
| 60 | San Dimas | 55.50 | 33,789 | $105,321 | $927,055 |
| 61 | La Verne | 55.93 | 30,600 | $103,761 | $951,548 |
| 62 | Glendora | 56.50 | 50,926 | $113,569 | $893,350 |
| 63 | Norco | 57.64 | 25,054 | $127,566 | $918,950 |
| 64 | Tustin | 58.50 | 78,981 | $112,503 | $1,189,731 |
| 65 | Orange | 61.50 | 138,266 | $117,113 | $1,143,788 |
| 66 | Seal Beach | 61.79 | 24,722 | $85,964 | $848,899 |
| 67 | Costa Mesa | 61.93 | 110,330 | $111,505 | $1,413,322 |
| 68 | Diamond Bar | 62.00 | 53,355 | $108,281 | $1,028,880 |
| 69 | Placentia | 63.36 | 52,826 | $115,929 | $1,117,228 |
| 70 | Irvine | 65.93 | 311,690 | $136,719 | $1,557,982 |
| 71 | San Juan Capistrano | 65.93 | 35,095 | $129,457 | $1,342,011 |
| 72 | Arcadia | 67.14 | 55,170 | $113,516 | $1,414,451 |
| 73 | Torrance | 67.57 | 142,130 | $116,217 | $1,124,932 |
| 74 | Lakewood | 67.57 | 79,850 | $119,177 | $882,502 |
| 75 | Laguna Hills | 68.00 | 30,740 | $128,851 | $1,243,180 |
| 76 | Fountain Valley | 68.07 | 56,258 | $115,237 | $1,394,237 |
| 77 | Walnut | 68.64 | 27,611 | $129,449 | $1,197,951 |
| 78 | La Mirada | 69.50 | 47,180 | $109,288 | $887,479 |
| 79 | Claremont | 69.64 | 36,595 | $125,647 | $1,039,337 |
| 80 | Huntington Beach | 70.14 | 195,240 | $120,919 | $1,366,658 |
| 81 | Cypress | 70.43 | 49,498 | $130,215 | $1,085,691 |
| 82 | Brea | 70.50 | 47,469 | $131,129 | $1,140,406 |
| 83 | Lake Forest | 70.57 | 86,281 | $135,175 | $1,208,686 |
| 84 | Laguna Niguel | 70.57 | 64,139 | $140,452 | $1,499,546 |
| 85 | El Cerrito | 72.43 | 25,994 | $127,876 | $1,142,479 |
| 86 | Rancho Santa Margarita | 74.00 | 46,990 | $152,560 | $1,029,346 |
| 87 | Cerritos | 74.71 | 47,867 | $135,439 | $1,094,901 |
| 88 | Rolling Hills Estates | 75.86 | 8,131 | $191,895 | $1,901,413 |
| 89 | La Habra Heights | 77.93 | 5,478 | $179,583 | $1,399,870 |
| 90 | Mission Viejo | 78.14 | 92,151 | $136,123 | $1,229,743 |
| 91 | El Segundo | 78.43 | 16,769 | $150,737 | $1,759,408 |
| 92 | Aliso Viejo | 80.50 | 51,113 | $142,439 | $1,012,225 |
| 93 | Eastvale | 80.92 | 70,633 | $160,069 | $949,255 |
| 94 | Yorba Linda | 81.43 | 67,170 | $157,582 | $1,419,513 |
| 95 | Laguna Beach | 82.00 | 22,710 | $143,843 | $2,949,835 |
| 96 | San Marino | 82.00 | 12,216 | $214,167 | $2,837,216 |
| 97 | La Palma | 83.00 | 15,272 | $117,989 | $1,203,550 |
| 98 | Dana Point | 83.43 | 32,790 | $141,520 | $1,736,393 |
| 99 | Rancho Palos Verdes | 84.00 | 40,864 | $179,623 | $1,824,948 |
| 100 | Redondo Beach | 85.43 | 69,291 | $150,245 | $1,500,192 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 107 suburbs within 30 miles of Garden Grove.
Summary
Summary: The areas around Garden Grove where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2026
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Garden Grove with South El Monte casting itself ahead of the pack.
The worst suburbs of Garden Grove are South El Monte, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Maywood, Compton, Lynwood, Bell, Montclair, Pomona, and Bell Gardens.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Garden Grove aren’t all bad. Manhattan Beach takes the cake as the best place to live around Garden Grove. Not sold on California? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Worst Suburbs Of Garden Grove FAQs
What is the worst suburb of Garden Grove?
South El Monte ranks as the worst suburb around Garden Grove for 2026, according to Saturday Night Science. Cudahy and Huntington Park are next on the list.
What are the worst suburbs of Garden Grove?
The worst-ranked suburbs around Garden Grove are South El Monte, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Maywood, Compton, Lynwood, Bell, Montclair, Pomona, and Bell Gardens. We scored all 107 places within 30 miles.
Why does South El Monte rank as the worst suburb?
South El Monte posts the roughest combined numbers of the 107 suburbs we scored: a median household income of $72,990, a median home value of $762,159, and a poverty rate of 20.9%.
What is the best-ranked suburb near Garden Grove?
Manhattan Beach lands at the opposite end of this ranking, making it the best-ranked suburb near Garden Grove by these measures. Our separate best suburbs of Garden Grove list covers that side properly.
How do you rank the worst suburbs?
Suburbs are scored on unemployment, income, density, home values, dropouts, poverty, and insurance coverage, using Census American Community Survey data. Real numbers, light heart — every one of these towns has people making it work.
