More and more people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Pomona to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
So the question arises: what suburbs of Pomona are the worst?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Pomona ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Pomona area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Pomona proper, although South Pasadena certainly tries.
We examined the 93 biggest suburbs of Pomona 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 Pomona in terms of quality of life.
$71,208 median income · $493,150 median home price
Located in
San Bernardino County, California
We’ll get the ball rolling with Colton, the absolute worst place to live around Pomona according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Colton beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 9th worst in the Pomona area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 4th 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 Colton.
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
$67,415 median income · $487,988 median home price
Located in
San Bernardino County, California
Welcome to San Bernardino. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 27.3 miles to Pomona. Income levels here are the 7th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $67,415 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 | Compare
$60,943 median income · $652,495 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Pomona suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Maywood 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 Pomona suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$56,615 median income · $680,366 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
If you live in Cudahy, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the lowest Pomona suburb for median household incomes.
Not only that, but this is the worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Pomona. Remember, we looked at 93 cities for this study.
Cudahy is about 25.0 miles to downtown.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$59,996 median income · $675,536 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
Huntington Park has the distinction of being a Pomona suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Huntington Park has the 17th lowest home values in the metro Pomona area, where the median price is $675,536. The median income is $214,167.
Huntington Park has an unemployment rate of 9.5% which ranks 4th worst.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$72,990 median income · $762,159 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
South El Monte has 19,287 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 20.9%.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$78,465 median income · $637,961 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
Ah, Compton. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Pomona.
It’s the place with the 7th most out of work residents in the Pomona metro area (8.0%).
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers | Compare
$61,020 median income · $688,070 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
Bell is a city about 24.5 miles from Pomona, but Pomona 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. Bell has the 9th most uninsured people, 4th worst incomes, and has the 20th highest unemployment rate (6.9%) in the entire Pomona metro area.
Homes only cost $688,070 for a reason. That’s cheap for Pomona standards.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$74,844 median income · $688,936 median home price
Located in
Los Angeles County, California
If you absolutely have to live near Pomona, then Lynwood might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Pomona suburb.
About 9.8% of residents are out of work.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$88,857 median income · $588,566 median home price
Located in
San Bernardino County, California
Rounding out the ten worst Pomona suburbs to call home is Rialto.
Located 21.6 miles outside the city, Rialto is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 9th highest unemployment rate (7.7%), 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 Pomona suburbs are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Pomona for 2026
To figure out how bad a Pomona 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 Pomona.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 3,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 93 suburbs to evaluate around Pomona.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 93 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 Pomona.” We’re looking at you, Colton.
We updated this article for 2026, which reflects our eleventh time ranking the worst suburbs around Pomona.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Worst Pomona Suburbs
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Worst Score | Population | Median Income | Median Home Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colton | 16.29 | 53,772 | $71,208 | $493,150 |
| 2 | San Bernardino | 17.29 | 222,724 | $67,415 | $487,988 |
| 3 | Maywood | 17.43 | 24,317 | $60,943 | $652,495 |
| 4 | Cudahy | 17.43 | 22,087 | $56,615 | $680,366 |
| 5 | Huntington Park | 17.71 | 53,108 | $59,996 | $675,536 |
| 6 | South El Monte | 18.00 | 19,287 | $72,990 | $762,159 |
| 7 | Compton | 19.86 | 92,698 | $78,465 | $637,961 |
| 8 | Bell | 20.71 | 32,476 | $61,020 | $688,070 |
| 9 | Lynwood | 20.86 | 64,578 | $74,844 | $688,936 |
| 10 | Rialto | 22.86 | 104,143 | $88,857 | $588,566 |
| 11 | Montclair | 23.07 | 37,810 | $77,659 | $660,566 |
| 12 | Bell Gardens | 23.29 | 38,229 | $62,298 | $690,424 |
| 13 | South Gate | 25.14 | 91,483 | $74,571 | $700,783 |
| 14 | Commerce | 26.00 | 11,993 | $77,064 | $696,480 |
| 15 | El Monte | 26.57 | 106,109 | $68,030 | $765,444 |
| 16 | Ontario | 26.86 | 180,547 | $88,941 | $672,742 |
| 17 | Midway | 27.50 | 3,511 | $63,381 | $248,338 |
| 18 | Paramount | 28.86 | 52,050 | $75,250 | $648,287 |
| 19 | Montebello | 30.21 | 61,045 | $79,971 | $827,435 |
| 20 | Riverside | 30.57 | 319,069 | $91,045 | $646,784 |
| 21 | Baldwin Park | 31.14 | 70,138 | $80,663 | $722,511 |
| 22 | Jurupa Valley | 31.42 | 107,011 | $97,550 | $672,514 |
| 23 | Stanton | 31.43 | 39,402 | $84,707 | $793,738 |
| 24 | Azusa | 32.14 | 49,031 | $90,721 | $715,154 |
| 25 | Hawaiian Gardens | 32.14 | 13,691 | $76,341 | $647,289 |
| 26 | Loma Linda | 32.64 | 25,122 | $82,353 | $640,816 |
| 27 | La Puente | 33.14 | 37,142 | $86,602 | $723,135 |
| 28 | Fontana | 33.36 | 214,169 | $102,821 | $639,032 |
| 29 | Bellflower | 34.00 | 76,819 | $78,722 | $801,999 |
| 30 | Grand Terrace | 36.43 | 13,078 | $83,628 | $587,468 |
| 31 | Long Beach | 36.57 | 455,548 | $87,430 | $857,861 |
| 32 | Rosemead | 37.43 | 50,013 | $73,566 | $913,339 |
| 33 | Santa Fe Springs | 38.07 | 18,871 | $88,238 | $783,370 |
| 34 | Westminster | 38.79 | 89,860 | $85,541 | $1,097,353 |
| 35 | Anaheim | 39.43 | 344,521 | $95,227 | $950,504 |
| 36 | Chino | 39.57 | 92,652 | $104,682 | $761,426 |
| 37 | Temple | 41.07 | 5,901 | $91,180 | $284,500 |
| 38 | Pico Rivera | 41.43 | 60,272 | $88,201 | $753,243 |
| 39 | Artesia | 41.86 | 15,889 | $101,004 | $878,198 |
| 40 | Garden Grove | 44.36 | 170,964 | $92,174 | $1,013,183 |
| 41 | Glendale | 44.50 | 190,748 | $88,393 | $1,201,880 |
| 42 | Monterey Park | 45.07 | 59,132 | $81,855 | $934,098 |
| 43 | Santa Ana | 45.14 | 312,534 | $93,999 | $866,066 |
| 44 | Norwalk | 45.43 | 99,789 | $100,085 | $763,283 |
| 45 | Covina | 45.64 | 49,888 | $98,671 | $804,341 |
| 46 | West Covina | 45.79 | 107,037 | $101,065 | $852,373 |
| 47 | Los Alamitos | 45.93 | 11,794 | $97,155 | $1,583,957 |
| 48 | La Habra | 46.29 | 61,970 | $100,106 | $911,595 |
| 49 | Fullerton | 46.79 | 140,968 | $104,286 | $1,050,945 |
| 50 | Corona | 46.93 | 159,670 | $109,242 | $764,386 |
| 51 | Downey | 48.57 | 110,939 | $90,699 | $888,710 |
| 52 | Duarte | 48.64 | 22,184 | $105,483 | $801,444 |
| 53 | Whittier | 50.07 | 86,165 | $97,201 | $821,843 |
| 54 | Monrovia | 51.50 | 37,571 | $96,021 | $992,558 |
| 55 | Alhambra | 52.57 | 81,022 | $88,024 | $937,892 |
| 56 | Upland | 52.57 | 79,257 | $105,830 | $825,789 |
| 57 | San Gabriel | 52.57 | 38,392 | $90,488 | $1,121,301 |
| 58 | Chino Hills | 53.71 | 77,927 | $126,334 | $996,262 |
| 59 | Pasadena | 53.71 | 136,969 | $105,192 | $1,209,228 |
| 60 | Rancho Cucamonga | 53.93 | 175,411 | $111,895 | $792,765 |
| 61 | Buena Park | 54.79 | 82,871 | $110,550 | $940,507 |
| 62 | La Verne | 55.50 | 30,600 | $103,761 | $951,548 |
| 63 | Signal Hill | 55.50 | 11,468 | $113,298 | $708,079 |
| 64 | San Dimas | 56.07 | 33,789 | $105,321 | $927,055 |
| 65 | Glendora | 56.64 | 50,926 | $113,569 | $893,350 |
| 66 | Norco | 56.79 | 25,054 | $127,566 | $918,950 |
| 67 | Tustin | 57.79 | 78,981 | $112,503 | $1,189,731 |
| 68 | Seal Beach | 59.36 | 24,722 | $85,964 | $848,899 |
| 69 | Costa Mesa | 59.93 | 110,330 | $111,505 | $1,413,322 |
| 70 | Orange | 60.36 | 138,266 | $117,113 | $1,143,788 |
| 71 | Diamond Bar | 61.21 | 53,355 | $108,281 | $1,028,880 |
| 72 | Placentia | 62.93 | 52,826 | $115,929 | $1,117,228 |
| 73 | Irvine | 63.50 | 311,690 | $136,719 | $1,557,982 |
| 74 | Lakewood | 66.43 | 79,850 | $119,177 | $882,502 |
| 75 | Arcadia | 66.43 | 55,170 | $113,516 | $1,414,451 |
| 76 | Walnut | 66.50 | 27,611 | $129,449 | $1,197,951 |
| 77 | Fountain Valley | 66.64 | 56,258 | $115,237 | $1,394,237 |
| 78 | La Mirada | 67.79 | 47,180 | $109,288 | $887,479 |
| 79 | Claremont | 67.79 | 36,595 | $125,647 | $1,039,337 |
| 80 | Brea | 68.79 | 47,469 | $131,129 | $1,140,406 |
| 81 | Cypress | 69.14 | 49,498 | $130,215 | $1,085,691 |
| 82 | Huntington Beach | 69.21 | 195,240 | $120,919 | $1,366,658 |
| 83 | Lake Forest | 69.79 | 86,281 | $135,175 | $1,208,686 |
| 84 | El Cerrito | 70.71 | 25,994 | $127,876 | $1,142,479 |
| 85 | Cerritos | 72.00 | 47,867 | $135,439 | $1,094,901 |
| 86 | La Habra Heights | 72.79 | 5,478 | $179,583 | $1,399,870 |
| 87 | San Marino | 76.00 | 12,216 | $214,167 | $2,837,216 |
| 88 | Eastvale | 76.58 | 70,633 | $160,069 | $949,255 |
| 89 | Yorba Linda | 76.71 | 67,170 | $157,582 | $1,419,513 |
| 90 | Villa Park | 77.86 | 5,748 | $202,245 | $2,343,977 |
| 91 | La Palma | 79.14 | 15,272 | $117,989 | $1,203,550 |
| 92 | Sierra Madre | 80.29 | 10,940 | $143,547 | $1,437,492 |
| 93 | South Pasadena | 80.79 | 26,068 | $127,175 | $1,692,678 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 93 suburbs within 30 miles of Pomona.
Summary
Summary: The areas around Pomona where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2026
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Pomona with Colton casting itself ahead of the pack.
The worst suburbs of Pomona are Colton, San Bernardino, Maywood, Cudahy, Huntington Park, South El Monte, Compton, Bell, Lynwood, and Rialto.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Pomona aren’t all bad. South Pasadena takes the cake as the best place to live around Pomona. 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 Pomona FAQs
What is the worst suburb of Pomona?
Colton ranks as the worst suburb around Pomona for 2026, according to Saturday Night Science. San Bernardino and Maywood are next on the list.
What are the worst suburbs of Pomona?
The worst-ranked suburbs around Pomona are Colton, San Bernardino, Maywood, Cudahy, Huntington Park, South El Monte, Compton, Bell, Lynwood, and Rialto. We scored all 93 places within 30 miles.
Why does Colton rank as the worst suburb?
Colton posts the roughest combined numbers of the 93 suburbs we scored: a median household income of $71,208, a median home value of $493,150, and a poverty rate of 13.7%.
What is the best-ranked suburb near Pomona?
South Pasadena lands at the opposite end of this ranking, making it the best-ranked suburb near Pomona by these measures. Our separate best suburbs of Pomona 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.
