For those planning to move out west — California has much to offer. They, of course, have those celebrity mansions in Beverly Hills. There are the awesome beaches, and historic sites in the Bay area. There are great mountain ranges, and plenty of activities for an outdoor enthusiast to enjoy. Some of the best colleges in the country such as Stanford, USC, and UCLA are perched among all of this beauty.
However, California also boasts miserable traffic, heavy pollution in some areas, wild gang violence, and over-populated prison systems. Here is a list of the 10 worst neighborhoods in California. The list looks at crime, poverty, pollution, poor education, and an overall lower quality of life.
1) Emeryville
Scouring the internet for bad neighborhoods in California, one can’t help but notice that the city of Emeryville seemed to be on nearly every list. Looking into the area some more, it’s not surprising why.
Situated just north of Oakland, one statistic that stands out is that the FBI listed Emeryville as the second most dangerous city in the Bay Area. The Bay Area has its mega wealthy, as well as some of the worst neighborhoods in the country, and Emeryville ranks high on that list.
It is only a small town of 10,000 people, but packs a violent punch, despite being headquarters to both Pixar and Jamba Juice; not exactly scary names in business.
To be fair, Emeryville, in and of itself, may not be terribly bad, nor its residents. However, its proximity to Oakland is certainly something of which to be aware.
Of the 729 people arrested in Emeryville in 2013, 67 percent of them were from Oakland. This crossover contributes to a lot of problems for this community. While the number of homicides tends to be low, the number of violent crimes such as armed robbery, stabbing, beatings and rapes are excessively high.