What can you tell me about Victorville?

[MountainBiking]

I don't know. VV isn't all that bad. It has problems and it has its own shady characters like ALL cities do. I've traveled with people from L.A. through VV/HD on trips to Las Vegas and I've heard the usual "who'd want to live out here?" These same people that talked smack about VV and the HD live in ugly areas of LA like Los Feliz, Covina, Santa Monica, Downey, etc. I know. I've been to their homes/apartments/communities. LMAO. One of their main complaints was the desert. I honestly believe that most people dislike the desert due to its hostile environment so they group the desert communities with their negative sentiment of the the desert in general. The company I worked for built many semi-custom homes in the High Desert and my job always took me to VV, Hesperia, Oak Hills, Phelan, Pinon Hills, Apple Valley, Lucerne Valley and Helendale. I never had a problem and I never considered the HD to be a terrible place to live or own a business.

The one thing I do agree with some of the posts above is the lack of jobs. The HD got crushed during the recession and many businesses closed down. Along with those businesses closing went the jobs. Construction employed many people in the HD and that sector tanked hard. After 6-7 years the area is still struggling with unemployment but it has improved from the crash. It just hasn't improved fast enough. Adelanto is really the only community up there that I would not live in even if I was paid to live there. Also, I would not recommend living in the HD and commute to Los Angeles for work. The constant traffic is not worth the aggravation and the lower HD mortgages compared to LA, OC and parts of the IE down the hill isn't worth it. A commute to and from Rancho Cucamonga or Riverside would not be terrible, though, IMO.

[taxtimetony]

It sucks

[Donn2390]

Originally Posted by MountainBiking

I don't know. VV isn't all that bad. It has problems and it has its own shady characters like ALL cities do. I've traveled with people from L.A. through VV/HD on trips to Las Vegas and I've heard the usual "who'd want to live out here?" These same people that talked smack about VV and the HD live in ugly areas of LA like Los Feliz, Covina, Santa Monica, Downey, etc. I know. I've been to their homes/apartments/communities. LMAO. One of their main complaints was the desert. I honestly believe that most people dislike the desert due to its hostile environment so they group the desert communities with their negative sentiment of the the desert in general. The company I worked for built many semi-custom homes in the High Desert and my job always took me to VV, Hesperia, Oak Hills, Phelan, Pinon Hills, Apple Valley, Lucerne Valley and Helendale. I never had a problem and I never considered the HD to be a terrible place to live or own a business.

The one thing I do agree with some of the posts above is the lack of jobs. The HD got crushed during the recession and many businesses closed down. Along with those businesses closing went the jobs. Construction employed many people in the HD and that sector tanked hard. After 6-7 years the area is still struggling with unemployment but it has improved from the crash. It just hasn't improved fast enough. Adelanto is really the only community up there that I would not live in even if I was paid to live there. Also, I would not recommend living in the HD and commute to Los Angeles for work. The constant traffic is not worth the aggravation and the lower HD mortgages compared to LA, OC and parts of the IE down the hill isn't worth it. A commute to and from Rancho Cucamonga or Riverside would not be terrible, though, IMO.

Good to see an honest assessment, rather than the usual ultra intelligent "It sucks!"
I moved to AV six years ago from OC and love the desert. Never experienced any problems of any kind...

[Dub D]

I'm going to be doing the reverse commute starting in a few months. Driving from the Redlands area to up there.

[MR. Tripple]

I live here. I'll tell you straight up... it sucks. No jobs, drug addicts, gang bangers, and "Ghetto" people are mostly what you see. If you want to go somewhere for entertainment, be prepared to make a day of it because you will have to drive at least 45 minutes to go down the hill. Personally, I can deal with all of that, I can't deal with the job opportunities up here. There is none, unless you want to work at Taco Bell. Desperately trying to move back to the city, but its harder than it sounds.

[4theGreatIAM]

I have lived at the beach most of my life and in the last three years have been in Rosamond, CA and even though it is pretty simple I was truly more disappointed with the sight of Victorville upon visiting. I looked up violent crime rates and other crimes in the area and it is really high and school have low ratings, but as a homeschoolers not so much a concern. Listen closely to the warnings about commuting to Hollywoodd commuting anywhere in California is very tiring especially if you're going towards LA. You're better off to look in the areas they were suggesting maybe Southwest Of hysperia. House prices are low because you get what you pay for in CA. I visit Colorado every year for two months to work and I've lived there a couple times but I do prefer the weather in California. Also you may be aware that there is a federal prison in Victorville and that's why I was looking at this information to see if we wanted to live somewhere closer to LA between Victorville and LA because my husband commutes to LA for medical care.