Name: Redding, CA
Rating: 0.0

Get crime, demographics and other data for any location in Redding, CA

( 46 Ratings )

Living in Redding, CA

Ranks better than 75% of areas Follow

Population

92,025

Median Age

38.2 Years

Redding Area Facts

Redding has a Livability Score of 75_/100, which is considered excellent
Redding crime rates are 36% higher than the California average
Cost of living in Redding is 14% lower than the California average

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What do the locals think about Redding?

59%

Family friendly

54%

Public transit is accessible

41%

Walkable to grocery stores

54%

Yards are well-kept

64%

Lots of parks

28%

Walkable to restaurants

Friendly neighbors

Safe at night

Pet friendly

Streets have sidewalks

59%

A quiet area

41%

Sense of community

Based on 39 votes from AreaVibes users. Take the poll

Redding Reviews

Write a review about Redding Tell people what you like or don't like about Redding…

Great for Families and Outdoor Activities 4.5 rating By Anonymous ( May 04, 2020) Redding is a great place to live and raise a family. Wonderful people and amazing outdoor activities. Definitely a smaller town feel than some larger urban areas but with that comes a unique charm. If you love the outdoors, this is a great place to be! Minutes away from world-cla ...Read More ss biking, hiking, boating and much more. Read Less

Redding is going downhill quickly 2 rating By Anonymous ( May 03, 2020) I’ve lived in Redding my whole life. It used to be quite charming. There are still some pros to the town. It’s still wonderful if you love nature but want to still live in a city. There’s tons of places to enjoy nature within 20 (Or less) minutes of town. Traffic is rarely ...Read More crazy, even on the busiest days it’s not nearly as bad as Sacramento traffic. Just about anywhere you need to be in town is a 15 minutes drive. However, the town has been over run with crackheads, and there are very few neighborhoods considered safe from that. And although real estate here is lower than most places in CA it’s still too high unless you have a well paying job. Read Less

Redding is wonderful! 5 rating By Anonymous ( Apr 27, 2020) Redding is an amazing place to live. There are countless recreation opportunities, cultural opportunities, and great places to eat! Walking through Downtown Redding and watching the development occur is so inspiring.

While things have changed in recent years, Redding feels safe ...Read More r than ever. Housing prices are still reasonable and the local government is working hard to make things better. Read Less

Might as well rename Redding to "Bethel" 1 rating By Anonymous ( Jul 25, 2019) I was born and raised in Redding, and at one time, it was a great place to live. This all changed in the mid 2000s.

Redding is over run with an extremely large population of criminal transients, drug addicts (mostly Heroin and meth), adherents of a delusional mega church cult (B ...Read More ethel church), other religious and alt right fanatics, and other radical fringe.

The only positive in this place is probably the scenery, tons of outdoor activities, and a somewhat better cost of living than the rest of California (but not much).

The jobs here consist of largely service oriented, retail and restaurant, medical, and government. Even the most pedestrian and mundane, low pay, no hours jobs are extremely hard to come by, for a couple of reasons:
A HUGE influx of recent arrivals to Redding because of the mega cult church (which is a huge con job by the way), and the fact that you really need to know the "right" people, and have many connections to even find a job at McDonald's.

The town is extremely backward, regressive and closed minded, and if you find yourself even slightly left leaning, you'll find yourself alienated as well as your safety possibly threatened.

As for the mega church. Their belief is that Redding has been given to them by God as a literal "heaven on earth", or kingdom, and the goal is to either gain new cult members or run off existing non members and shut down their businesses. In short...they want to control the entire city. One way that they're going about this, is starting real estate companies, and basically driving up the cost of living to unaffordable levels for existing residents. They own 90% of the downtown area, which is nothing but juice bars and coffee shops. They also practice a controversial "gay conversion therapy".

If you are planning on retiring or moving here, I would strongly advise against it. Read Less

Show All Reviews

Redding is wonderful! 5 rating By Anonymous ( Apr 27, 2020) Redding is an amazing place to live. There are countless recreation opportunities, cultural opportunities, and great places to eat! Walking through Downtown Redding and watching the development occur is so inspiring.

While things have changed in recent years, Redding feels safe ...Read More r than ever. Housing prices are still reasonable and the local government is working hard to make things better. Read Less

Might as well rename Redding to "Bethel" 1 rating By Anonymous ( Jul 25, 2019) I was born and raised in Redding, and at one time, it was a great place to live. This all changed in the mid 2000s.

Redding is over run with an extremely large population of criminal transients, drug addicts (mostly Heroin and meth), adherents of a delusional mega church cult (B ...Read More ethel church), other religious and alt right fanatics, and other radical fringe.

The only positive in this place is probably the scenery, tons of outdoor activities, and a somewhat better cost of living than the rest of California (but not much).

The jobs here consist of largely service oriented, retail and restaurant, medical, and government. Even the most pedestrian and mundane, low pay, no hours jobs are extremely hard to come by, for a couple of reasons:
A HUGE influx of recent arrivals to Redding because of the mega cult church (which is a huge con job by the way), and the fact that you really need to know the "right" people, and have many connections to even find a job at McDonald's.

The town is extremely backward, regressive and closed minded, and if you find yourself even slightly left leaning, you'll find yourself alienated as well as your safety possibly threatened.

As for the mega church. Their belief is that Redding has been given to them by God as a literal "heaven on earth", or kingdom, and the goal is to either gain new cult members or run off existing non members and shut down their businesses. In short...they want to control the entire city. One way that they're going about this, is starting real estate companies, and basically driving up the cost of living to unaffordable levels for existing residents. They own 90% of the downtown area, which is nothing but juice bars and coffee shops. They also practice a controversial "gay conversion therapy".

If you are planning on retiring or moving here, I would strongly advise against it. Read Less

Worst mistake of my life 1 rating By Anonymous ( Mar 07, 2019) If you are researching Redding as a possible area to live do yourself a great kindness and cross it off the list. A friend that was enamored with the mega-church in Redding gushed to me how awesome Redding was when I was looking for an area to relocate to because I was tired of ...Read More the cold of the north. She didn't live there. Living in Redding is different than watching podcasts of a church. I took the bait made the impulsive move, buying a house far too soon before I really knew what a nightmare the place was. I then got stuck in the nightmare for years.

There are some pretty parks in Redding and I used to enjoy walking in them. But I was assaulted in one by 3 white teenage girls that decided that decided to launch an attack on me The randomness of the assault done for kicks apparently as they cackled when they walked away has stayed with me for years. I'd already regretted my move there as the climate was hideous and the town was very hard to find work but after that experience I investigated the crime rate and found out I'd landed in an extremely unsafe part of the US.

I had the worst work experiences of my life there. The people were friendly on the surface but because of the religious weirdness with the mega cult there was a lot of division in town. People tried to figure out if you were one of the fanatics or not. It seemed to make people less trusting of newcomers. I initially found Redding charming my first drive through but the human wreckage under that white washed city begins to stink after awhile. And like the cult the whole town is hiding some ugly truths about what a horrible place to live that Redding is. Read Less

Don't live here 0.5 rating By Anonymous ( Dec 22, 2018) 15 years ago Redding was a safe, friendly virtually crime free place to live. Not any more. Now, early release criminals, vagrants and drug addicts openly steal from stores, knowing that nothing will be done if they are observed doing so. Talk to Walmart, the Cypress CVS drug s ...Read More tore, Lowes or Pennys employees. They won't try to stop the thieves because it results in violence. Talk to the security guards at Walmart and Safeway. They will tell you they are just for show and not allowed to pursue any thieves in the store. They will tell you that the store could be sued by the thieves if they grab one of them. The stores don't want that kind of bad publicity. The police won't respond to shoplifting reports because they are "too low on their list of priorities." The criminals know all this, and are robbing the stores blind. Walmart is now locking up more and more of their merchandise behind glass cabinets, due to millions of dollars of annual theft. Even men's athletic socks are locked up. Cars in Shasta mall, Safeway stores and hotel parking lots are routinely broken into and robbed. Drugs are openly sold on the streets. Homeless camps filled with early release criminals and drug addicts infest public parks and along the Sacramento River walking path, as well as under bridges like the one across Churn Creek in front of Lowes. Schools are erecting tall fences in failing attempts to keep the vagrants off school properties at night. School custodians are continually finding syringes, condoms and feces left overnight on school properties. Home robberies are frequent. Small businesses are leaving due to vagrants standing around their entrance ways, scaring off customers. Jack In the Box on Bueneventura and 273 is infested with foul smelling vagrants. They lay on the grass in front of the restaurant watching you as you go in, or buy a coke and then nurse it in the restaurant for hours, just to stay in A/C comfort. They use the bathroom to shoot up drugs. Talk to the RPD. They will tell you that their hands are tied due to various pro-criminal propositions passed in CA, and due to lack of personnel and funding. They will tell you that drug houses selling meth and heroin are everywhere. There isn't enough prison beds to contain all these criminals, and if arrested, are released immediately. They then never show up for their trial, and nothing is done about that due to lack of funding. The criminals all know this. They come from all over CA because Redding lacks the resources to combat them. You will see vagrants and drug addicts sleeping in bus stops, on the grass at the Cypress Safeway store, in local parks, and begging on the streets at exits from stores. Before you decide to live here, ask the police about how their hands are tied and how badly they are underfunded. Ask them how bad the Meth and drug problems are. Ask employees at Walmart, CVS pharmacy and Lowes on Cypress. Do your research before deciding to live here. Read Less

Too much crime . . gone down the tubes. 1 rating By WildlifePhotog ( Aug 19, 2017) I moved to Redding in 1982. I loved it here. Redding has become a cesspool of drug addicts, homeless on the streets, mentally ill people who cannot get help, and transients on nearly every corner. The most amazing tourist attraction is the Sundial Bridge, but it's not safe to go ...Read More there alone. The trail system here is amazing, but it's not safe to walk it or bike it because of the transients. I want to leave here soon. I've had enough. We have a "catch and release" system here. They arrest, book, and let them go before the ink is dry on the reports. Not enough room in the jail. It's a GORGEOUS area, lots of beauty here, but ruined by the crime. Read Less

Don't Move Here 1 rating By sunnydays9088 ( Jan 22, 2015) I lived in Redding for 20 years too long and I watched it go from boring to seedy to just plain bad. Glad I got out when I did.

CONS
*Drug use, especially meth, is prevalent and wide spread. Lost a lot of friends to this problem.
*There are a lot of homeless people here; distur ...Read More bingly, many of these are mentally disabled people with no caretakers and no place to call home.
*Education system in Redding is terrible. "Higher education" is the local community college, unless of course you travel 3 hours south to Chico.
*As a previous poster mentioned, there are a lot of weird religious groups here; mostly consisting of protestant Christians. These groups have become larger in number over the past several years & are considered to be radical in their practice by many.
*No diversity. Redding is not the place to come to unless you ascribe to the religious beliefs mentioned above and are white as well. The city is an unfortunate mix of old, set-in-their-ways folks, drug users, and a few regular folks just struggling to get ahead.
*Not a lot of nightlife/shopping/unique restaurants here. They have a little mall, a lot of chain restaurants and that's about it.
*No jobs. Expect to find food service/retail to be about the only options here

PROS
*The area itself is plentiful in natural beauty and lots of opportunities for outdoor activities...hiking, camping, skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, lake-going...lots of stuff to do outside.
*Those who like a change of seasons will find that the area gets more rain and snowfall than southern CA does.

Unfortunately, that is about it. You couldn't pay me enough to move back...the area is slipping fast. Read Less

Hot city....lizards need apply 2 rating By Loves2travel ( Jul 04, 2013) I have liven in Redding my WHOLE life and I can tell you this.....this city is HOT, but does boast all seasons. The lakes (Shasta & Whiskeytown) are nice. We have Mt.Shasta (approx 1 hour away) close to ski/snowboard. Lots of outdoor activities.
However....lots of meth, disabili ...Read More ty/social security....job prospects are limited. Shopping is meek at best, however there is a little Macy's at the mall.
Downtown area is cleaning up and getting a nightlife-esque feel.....not many things for people to do here, unless you join into an outdoor club of sorts.

It can be difficult to meet people in this town unless you are affiliated with a church it seems. Very clicky sub groups of people....lots of people come here to be "big fish in a little pond." Many new people to town describe this town as one that has champagne taste on a tap water budget....I suppose this is everywhere?

You need to have thick skin and sunscreen to love this town. Read Less

Redding, CA: Gateway to Northern Adventures! 3.5 rating By Anonymous ( Jul 27, 2010) One of my most memorable family vacations was to Redding, California. While it seemed like a strange final destination at first, Redding provided a great jumping off point for all kinds of adventures. We went whitewater rafting on the Sacramento River, checked out the caves at Mt ...Read More . Shasta (very cool!), and toured Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park, which is home to boiling mud pots and geysers in California's answer to Yellowstone. The best part is that, because a lot of these places aren't as famous, there are a lot fewer visitors. It was much easier (and cheaper) to make reservations out of Redding.

Along with being a beautiful gateway city to northern California, Redding is a great place on its own. There are a number of wineries in the area which are well-worth a visit, and a couple restaurants are absolutely delicious. (Try the steaks at Jack's Grill for delicious local fare.) We stayed at the Holiday Inn, which was comfortable and affordable, and that seems to characterize most of the town. Redding is the place to go for outdoor adventure and a reasonably priced vacation. Read Less

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