Victorville? (San Diego, Glendale, Lancaster: crime rates, houses, unemployment)

[Guitarmaan]

Can anyone advise me on Victorville? My wife and I are going on a roadtrip tomorrow to check out inland affordable Cali areas such as Lancaster and Palmdale. We're from Phoenix.

I'm interested in crime stats, weather, the drive to LA or SD, housing cost and jobs.

Should we visit Victorville? And what about Hesperia?

[genjy]

Victorville and Adelanto are reputed to be less safe than Apple Valley, Oak Hills, and Hesperia.

They are basically all the same mass of desert development--you might as well hit up all of those communities and see for yourself while you are up there (if you decide to go).

Some of the main commercial throughways you might want to sight-see are Bear Valley Road and 7th St in Victorville and Main St. in Hesperia.

[Guitarmaan]

Hesperia has some very cheap housing. There must be a reason for that. Is the area a little unsafe or is there high unemployment? Just wondering

[Hazel Eyes]

I have a friend that lives in Phelan and she said the crime is bad in Victorville and you don't want that school district...

[MotleyCrew]

We fled Hesperia in 1991 and never looked back. It was fast becoming a cess pool when we were there and we heard that gangs were overunning Victorville then. Can't imagine what it is like today. I did see in the news that Victorvill High School had a huge gang fight not long ago. They can keep it.

[genjy]

Originally Posted by Guitarmaan

Hesperia has some very cheap housing. There must be a reason for that. Is the area a little unsafe or is there high unemployment? Just wondering

That and I don't think there are a lot of good paying jobs up there. Victor Valley College and the couple small hospitals might have the highest paying jobs.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Guitarmaan

Can anyone advise me on Victorville? My wife and I are going on a roadtrip tomorrow to check out inland affordable Cali areas such as Lancaster and Palmdale. We're from Phoenix.

I'm interested in crime stats, weather, the drive to LA or SD, housing cost and jobs.

Should we visit Victorville? And what about Hesperia?

I'd visit all of them tbh.

I (ready for flaming) am a High Desert fan. I lived in Ridgecrest (much further north than you are looking, but you might consider it if you don't need to be THAT close to LA for any reason) for 3 years.

I have no problem with the Victor Valley and/or the Antelope Valley, keep in mind, I've never lived in either, but have done plenty of travelling through and shopping in both to have at least a naive opinion.

Some people find them to be horribly ghetto cesspools. I don't see it. I see a bunch of nice new tract homes that were purchased by middle (or lower-middle) class commuters, some of which have been abandoned or neglected since the housing bubble popped (or they regained their sanity re: commuting down the hill). I see older/larger properties that scream "do whatever you want" on me. I see regular people. I see poor people. I'm fine with it, and would live in any of those cities.

There are "bad" parts of each city in the desert, just as there are bad parts of every city in the world. There are safe havens for the well-to-do.

I personally wouldn't let city-wide crime rates affect my decision on which one to live in, but for information's sake anyway:

According to the latest crime-stats listed here on C-D:
Lancaster: below average crime (2011) (comparable rate to Chandler, AZ)
Palmdale: below average crime (2011) (comparable rate to Chandler, AZ)
Adelanto: slightly above average crime (2006)
Hesperia: below average crime (2011) (comparable rate to Chandler, AZ)
Apple Valley: below average crime (2011) (comparable rate to Chandler, AZ)
Victorville: above average crime (2006) (comparable rate to Glendale, AZ)

Hot summers, cool winters, rare snow (maybe 1x/yr), very little rain.

LA is about 1.5-2 hours away, San Diego a little over 2 hours. Don't even think about going to LA on a Sunday afternoon or a Monday afternoon after a 3 day weekend (or doing rush hour), that is, unless you like sitting in a parking lot (ditto for Vegas on Friday afternoons).

Houses are still cheap at the moment, but many who have jobs commute down the hill (LA/OC/IE).

Good luck!

[genjy]

Those Antelope Valley guys over at the LA County forum bashing the High Desert? I would say you take a look both places yourself in person.

The Antelope Valley is quite literally the High Desert of LA County. People move to both areas for essentially the same reasons.

[Biz901]

Originally Posted by MotleyCrew

We fled Hesperia in 1991 and never looked back. It was fast becoming a cess pool when we were there and we heard that gangs were overunning Victorville then. Can't imagine what it is like today. I did see in the news that Victorvill High School had a huge gang fight not long ago. They can keep it.

1991 was a long time ago...

There are areas in Victorville that are VERY safe (as in I have multiple related families that haved lived there and have experienced -0- crime form 1994 forward) and Law Enforcement shut down ALL of Victorville's resident gangs 5+ years ago, and have well-funded gang task force specifically created to deal with gangsters that occassionally make themselves known....

Crime is down, across the board, and things are turning for the better

Now Adelanto, that is another story...

[Ulysses61]

I lived in Victorville for 14 years and thank God bailed in 2003. It was a cesspool then and even worse now.. A gang-ridden, hideous, dangerous HELL HOLE.