Rancho Cucamonga, California may seem like a great place to live, but there are many reasons to not move to the city. Here, we are going to go over 17 reasons not to move here, and hopefully, we can help you decide if you should or shouldn’t move to Rancho Cucamonga, California!
1. The High Cost of Living
When it comes to the cost of living at Rancho Cucamonga, almost every single part of the cost of living
is far above the national average. The housing market alone is far over double the national average, but we will cover that more later.
Besides houses, groceries, utilities, transportation, and, miscellaneous expenses are all more expensive in Rancho Cucamonga than the national average. The overall national average for cost of living is 100, while in Rancho Cucamonga the overall cost of living was 140.8. The only aspect of the city that is below the national average when it comes to the cost of living is the health, which includes hospital visits, dentists, and doctor’s visits.
2. The Cost of Homes is also Skyhigh
As previously mentioned, the cost of housing is double the national average. Within the city, the average cost of a home will cost a staggering $778K, which is 19.4% higher than it was last year. In fact, over the past 2 years, the price of homes within the city has gone from $549K to $778K, which is a difference of $229K. This is massive growth, and the change over the past 10 years is just as large.
The worst part is that it looks like the cost of homes will just continue to rise and has shown no signs of slowing down. Renting isn’t a much better option, as the city has some of the highest rent rates within the area at nearly $2,000 every single month. This is around $600 per month higher than the national average.
3. The City is Located Very Close to an Airport
While both a positive and a negative depending on how you handle planes being around you, the city is just an 8-minute drive from the Ontario International Airport. It is just 3 miles away and with nearly 70 planes coming and going every day, you will have to deal with a lot of noise coming from the said planes.
In fact, it doesn’t matter where you are in the city, since the sound of airplanes can travel up to 70 miles. So, whether you are trying to work, teach, take a nap, or even if it is night and you are sleeping, the sound of planes is going to be a fairly constant part of your life in Rancho Cucamonga.
4. Extremely High Tax Rates
When it comes to taxes, Rancho Cucamonga is above the national average for both sales tax and property tax. The California average already has one of the highest base sales tax rates, however, the San Bernardino county rate adds an additional 1.75% on top of California’s 6%, making the sales tax for Rancho Cucamonga a staggering 7.75%, which is higher than the national average of around 6.5%.
Adding to this fact is the property tax rate. In the city, there is a 1.15% property tax, which is nearly double the national average of just 0.69%. This means if you have an average-priced home, you will pay around $9,000 in property taxes compared to the $5,000 it would cost if you had the national average.
5. A Smaller Job Market
With housing, cost of living, and gas prices being so incredibly high in the area, you would hope that there would be plenty of jobs and that they would be able to pay well enough to afford to live here, however, this can be a struggle for many. One resident said,
“I think the cost of living in this arena makes it not worth it. The only jobs here are dead-end, s*** pay warehouse jobs, and if you wanna make more money you’ll have to deal with hour+ drives one way into LA or OC.”
Rancho
So, if you are planning on making the move to Rancho Cucamonga, make sure that you have a good-paying and stable job before making the move as without one it can be very difficult to live here.
6. Commuting Takes Forever
If you do manage to find a good job, it will likely be in Los Angeles and you will have to make the long drive each and every morning. The 41-mile journey doesn’t seem too bad until you remember that despite the highways saying that you can be driving at 70 miles per hour, it still will take you well over 1 hour, and sometimes nearly 2. There is a multitude of reasons for this, and I will cover them in a bit, but part of it is the fact that many from throughout the nearby cities make that same commute at the same time as you.
This means that you will be driving into the city with nearly 6 million others each morning. LA only has 3.8 million people living in it, yet over 4 million people work there, so you get to make that commute with everyone else who has to get into the city. It is this mass influx that causes many of the other driving-related problems.
7. Standstill Traffic is Constant
One of the major problems that stem from having nearly 1 million people enter a city at roughly the same time is the fact that you are going to end up dealing with traffic. This is before you even add in the additional fact that there are already nearly 4 million living there.
From California’s 34th Congressional District to the city’s center, a distance of just 3 miles, you will be stuck in very slow traffic and can expect to wait for nearly 20 minutes depending on the time of day. Going closer to the ocean will take you even longer as going to the coast takes nearly two hours when you don’t have to deal with rush hour.
8. The Poor Drivers
With such long drives and so many drivers being out, encountering poor and dangerous drivers will become an almost commonplace occurrence. This is especially the case in the California and Los Angeles areas, which are often considered the home of the worst drivers, though every city has them.
In fact, when finding where the worst drivers in the nation are, 8 out of the top 10 cities were located in California, with Los Angeles being rated at number 4. The reason that it doesn’t come in as the home of the worst drivers is that they aren’t the worst at speeding, they are ranked 22nd, which drops them to 4th.
9. It Is Far Away From Everything
The city itself is nicely located between just about everything. You have a major city in Los Angeles you can visit, or San Deigo if you want to go for a long drive. You are somewhat close to the ocean and beach, being about 1 hour and 30 minutes away, and you even have beautiful mountains and forests to hike through. So, why is this a problem?
Well, Rancho Cucamonga is located in between all of these cities, meaning that no matter what you want to do, you are going to have to go on a drive. This can quickly become frustrating, since getting to the most entertaining places near Rancho Cucamonga will take you about an hour.
10. The City Itself is Boring
While there are plenty of fun hiking and nature activities just outside of the city, within the city many residents find that there isn’t much to do. There are restaurants, but besides that, people find that there aren’t activities for them and their families or friends to do in their free time.
11. It is One Giant Suburbia
The city of Rancho Cucamonga is located within an area often called the Inland Empire because, within the small area, there are many different large cities. However, because of this, most of the views of the areas are completely taken up by large buildings, and it can often feel like there is no nature around.
“Within the IE itself, the landscapes are often incredibly boring and uninspiring. Everything is brown, including the homes, except during a wet winter and then you get some green hillsides and pretty wildflowers.”
Ranch Cucamonga Resident
12. The Air Quality is Pretty Bad
Because of the large number of factories that have been set around the Rancho Cucamonga area, the air quality has started to suffer. One of the most noticeable things is the sky sometimes will be brownish-grey because of all the smog coming from the factories.
The air quality also suffers, as typically the air quality is rated moderate from 11 pm to 10:30 am, and from 2 pm to 8 pm is rated as unhealthy. And over the past month, the air quality has reached extremely unhealthy levels 4 separate times. However, during the late fall and winter months, the air quality typically improves and stays within the healthy range.
13. The Blistering Heat
Along with the poor air quality, you are going to get to experience the blistering summer heat of California. From the months of May until October, you will get to experience the heat as it will almost always get to at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit, though oftentimes, it will get much hotter than this. There is a small benefit to this in that you don’t have to worry about freezing cold winters, as temperatures only drop to the mid-’40s in the winter months.
14. The Common California Droughts
While living in Rancho Cucamonga, you will have to deal with droughts almost every year. Even when the city isn’t in a drought, residents have to deal with strict water regulations that control how much water they can use and when they can use it.
The Cucamonga Valley Water District gives all details about water regulations along with what to do when there is a water shortage because they are so common within the area. These regulations go as far as limiting restaurants to only serve water if specifically requested by the patron. So, if you enjoy drinking water instead of other beverages, you don’t want to move to this city.
15. The Constant Danger of Earthquakes
Being located right along the San Andreas Fault Line, Rancho Cucamonga gets to experience plenty of earthquakes on a daily basis. If you don’t like the feeling of the ground shaking beneath you, you definitely don’t want to move to this city, as you will likely experience the feeling frequently. You will also need to make sure that your home has earthquake insurance, as you never know when an earthquake will cause a massive amount of damage to your home, and you don’t want to get stuck paying for it by yourself.
16. The Local Don’t Make Friends Easily
It can be pretty hard to make new friends in a new environment, however, it can be extra difficult here in Rancho Cucamonga because people tend to be extra flaky when it comes to meeting people. Oftentimes, this is because people are more interested in staying with the friend groups that they formed when they were younger than making new friends.
17. Nextdoor to a Powerful Sports Hub
Now, how can being located near a powerful sports hub that is constantly winning championships and competing for the playoffs be a negative thing? Well, since every sports team from baseball (Dodgers and Angels), to basketball (Lakers, Warriors, and Clippers), soccer (Galaxy and LAFC), and football (Rams and Chargers) are all constantly competing, going to one of these events is a very popular thing to do.
So, if you are interested in sports and go to one of these games, you will have to deal with the long commutes, traffic, poor drivers, along with all of the expensive aspects of a sporting event.