What's Riverside like? (Fresno, Santa Ana, Anaheim: safe area, university, salary)

[Adriel24]

I've got a "tempting" job offer from a company in Riverside. I've never been there before, and I don't know much about the area. It's a great opportunity to start my career, I'm really interested, but I need to know more about Riverside before taking the final decision. What's living there like? Is it a good place to get a job and start a career? Is it a safe place to live at all?

Thanks Guys!

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Adriel24

I've got a "tempting" job offer from a company in Riverside. I've never been there before, and I don't know much about the area. It's a great opportunity to start my career, I'm really interested, but I need to know more about Riverside before taking the final decision. What's living there like? Is it a good place to get a job and start a career? Is it a safe place to live at all?

Thanks Guys!

Yes, there are plenty of safe areas. Having a job in hand before you arrive puts you way ahead of the game.

Not knowing where you are coming from, nor what you are expecting makes it hard to describe to you. It is a city, similar to any other city with about 300,000 people. It is the center of a metro area containing 4 million people. It has a hot summer Mediterranean climate. It is about 50% Latino. There is a lot of traffic and smog. It is more affordable than LA or Orange Counties, and is just on the edge of being commutable to those for a nearly sane person, however, both LA/OC are readily accessible on weekends, as are the mountains and deserts. There are palm trees and mountains in all directions. Great fast food.

Read other posts on the forum. I grew up there, it's hard to simply describe in a few dozen words. If you have any more specific questions, fire away.

[Adriel24]

Thanks for your answer!!!

And btw, I'm from a small CDP in Mariposa County, close to the Sierra Nevada foothills.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Adriel24

Thanks for your answer!!!

And btw, I'm from a small CDP in Mariposa County, close to the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Then imagine a smaller/hillier Fresno within the LA blob.

Good luck!

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Adriel24

I need to know more about Riverside before taking the final decision.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/san-b...ng-forbes.html

[phantompilot]

Riverside has some good points and some bad points.

Good points:
University of CA campus
semi-arid Mediterranean climate
out of the main congestion of LA, but not to far to drive in for an evening or to hit the beach (likewise can drive out to the desert easily)
downtown is great


Bad Points:

a lot of it is really ghetto...poor, low-class people ruin large parts of the city
smoggy except in the winter or when the Santa Anas are blowing
basically unbearably hot and stifling from June to October.
not a lot of economic growth

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by Adriel24

I've got a "tempting" job offer from a company in Riverside. I've never been there before, and I don't know much about the area. It's a great opportunity to start my career, I'm really interested, but I need to know more about Riverside before taking the final decision. What's living there like? Is it a good place to get a job and start a career? Is it a safe place to live at all?

Thanks Guys!

DO IT! That you have an offer and you can start your career answers your question.

Not everybody starts in the "big city".

And not as much of it is as "ghetto" as people would lead you to believe.

You can always live in Corona or Orange County if you are able to......you would have that enviable thing called a "reverse commute" if you do that. I had that for a year and a half going from Anaheim to Chino (another Inland Empire city, but a bit closer to LA and Orange Counties)...it was pretty good most of the time.

[Vic Romano]

Riverside is a decent area. There are bad areas, but there are good areas too. And there are plenty of good areas around Riverside should you decide to live outside the city limits. The area was a little slower to recover from the recession, but the economy is improving right now. There are a higher percentage of Latinos, but the vicinity is pretty diverse, so that is a plus.

I say go for it! I'd say the analogy to Fresno isn't far off, but I think Riverside is a bit better than Fresno...

[GatsbyGatz]

Riverside isn't a "ghetto," it's just not a place that an upwardly-mobile individual would want to live in. No one graduates from Standord or Cal Tech and says "yeah, I want to move to Riverside!" unless that grad landed a job with a big enough salary, but again, employers with the resources to pay big salaries wouldn't be located in Inland California in the first place.

[phantompilot]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

Riverside isn't a "ghetto," it's just not a place that an upwardly-mobile individual would want to live in. No one graduates from Standord or Cal Tech and says "yeah, I want to move to Riverside!" unless that grad landed a job with a big enough salary, but again, employers with the resources to pay big salaries wouldn't be located in Inland California in the first place.

Nobody said the whole city was a ghetto, just that large portions are ruined because there are gangs, lots of crime, lots of drugs, and lots of poor people...ie, GHETTO.