Santa Ana? How bad is it? (Irvine, Tustin: work, housing, crime)

[Santa Ana? How bad is it?]

Someone very special to me is moving into Santa Ana from Irvine because its more affordable. I have heard BAD things! 3 young men, what is thier fate? I am worried. They come from Nor Cal.

[blessings11]

The north end of town is not bad, the schools are terrible though. As long as you are not trying to rear children here it's okay. We home school so it the schools don't affect our children. We are planning to move away from California (like so many others) because of the cost of living. We have never had a problem with crime here, our nieghborhood is diverse and very quiet.

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Enlightenme deleted my "off-topic" post [mod cut - sarcasm that can be considered offensive]

Santa Ana is a very appealing city for Mexicans, but uniquely illegals. It has become a haven for illegals primarily because of Santa Ana's low cost housing. Hence the average occupancy rate of a housing unit is about 4/unit. This is one of the highest rates in the country. For more info on this... search "Santa Ana" on "Wikipedia dot com."

Latino gangs such as the MS 13 are deadly. Most of the homicides are gang-related, but theft and vandalism can happen to anyone, at any time.

Some areas of the city are very nice. However, I advise your friends to practice caution in all parts.

A nice gift for them might be a Spanish-English dictionary. *wink*wink

[dusesean1986]

Santa Ana is like walking on hot coals, loin cloth, spear in hand, with bare feet. lol

[dusesean1986]

So bad, someone has a screen name as the title of this thread.

[rivkadr]

It depends on the area. Don't raise any kids in this town, as previously mentioned. The Santa Ana neighborhood I'm in, which is right on the edge of Tustin is decent -- start heading even just a half mile west and it starts to get more and more junky looking. The farther south you go, too, the crummier it gets. I avoid Santa Ana itself as much as possible, and stick to Tustin -- it's a much nicer city. I would tell your friends to stick to North Santa Ana, and to scope out the neighborhood that they're looking to move into carefully.

[DixieInOC]

pay a little more and stay in Irvine.

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

Just go to:[url] http://www.city-data.com/city/Santa-Ana-California.html [url] and that should tell you all you need to know.

[series]

Gangs and drive by shootings is what I think about when someone says Santa Ana. I use to work in that town but would never live there.

[bkeast]

I used to live by Santa Ana and went to college there, and it was pretty darn bad, from what I saw. Very run down with tons of gang activity and low-lifes (at least the parts that I saw). I shopped at a Target there once and it was awful; I couldn't wait to get out of there! I'm not trying to start any crap, but I went to a fast food restaurant there once after school, and between the workers and the customers, I was the only person who spoke English. I don't know about the grade schools, but Santa Ana Community College is a joke. When I moved and switched to a different school, I realized how pathetic it really was; it's literally the size of a small high school. Hope this info helps you.