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Stockton, CA

Population: 301,443

51

Key findings

Stockton has a Livability Score of 51_/100, which is considered poor
Stockton crime rates are 93% higher than the California average
Cost of living in Stockton is 22% lower than the California average
Stockton real estate prices are 53% lower than the California average
Rental prices in Stockton are 25% lower than the California average

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Compare Stockton, CA Livability

What do the locals think about Stockton?

21%Family friendly 37%Public transit is accessible 37%Walkable to grocery stores 32%Yards are well-kept 26%Lots of parks 32%Walkable to restaurants 21%Friendly neighbors 26%Safe at night 42%Pet friendly 68%Streets have sidewalks 16%A quiet area 16%Sense of community

Based on 19 votes from AreaVibes users. See all Stockton poll results.

Stockton Real estate & Rental prices

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Stockton Demographics

Population301,443 Median Age31.8 Have Kids (under 18)53%

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Stockton, CA

Ranked as one of the largest cities in the US, Stockton accommodates more than 300,000 people and is located in San Joaquin County’s seat. The city was established in 1849 and is the 13th largest city in the state of California. Many people tend to ask whether Stockton, CA is an ideal place to live. Well, the city has some high points and some low points as well. Stockton residents enjoy fresh organic farm produce and fine wine since there are plenty of farms and picturesque vineyards.

Before relocating to Stockton, examining the different neighborhoods might be a good idea as many have high crime rates. The overall crime rate in Stockton is higher than both the California and US average. Stockton is one of the more expensive cities to live in America. Daily expenses are higher, more so where groceries and utilities are concerned. The unemployment rate is relatively low, and the real estate prices are a bit higher, but lower overall when compared to other places like the Bay Area or San Francisco.

Route 99 and I-5 makes Stockton easily accessible from any part of California. When it comes to moving around the city, residents rely more on their vehicles. The town has bus systems that are reliable and offers plenty of bus routes. There are airports in the city like the Stockton Metropolitan Airport that enables the residents to access direct flights to places like Phoenix, San Diego, and Las Vegas. San Francisco International Airport is also near the city, and one can drive for an hour and a half.

The majority of the residents living in Stockton are migrants from other states and countries. Therefore, the diverse culture is evident for newcomers. An average number of the residents belong to a religious affiliation with Catholicism topping the list.

The city has fewer students compared to other cities in California but has approximately schools serving elementary and secondary students. The University of the Pacific is the top-ranked higher learning institute. There are other universities in Stockton, like Humphreys University and National University.

There are so many places to tour in Stockton, CA. The entertainment industry experiences an enormous growth with the Bob Hope Theatre paving a remarkable path to nightly entertainment. While in the city, one could take time to witness the Delta waterway. Stockton has a good number of parks and plenty of golf courses. Beach enthusiasts have to drive for two hours to access significant beaches.

Relocating to Stockton enables you to foster a remarkable living in one of the most beautiful places to live in the United States. The heritage shared by the residents makes living comfortable and welcoming for newbies.

Top Rated Schools in Stockton

Name	Grades	Students	Proficiency
Elkhorn	4 - 8	286	90%
Middle College High	9 - 12	242	87%
Stockton Unified Early College Academy	9 - 12	375	87%
Brookside	KG - 8	771	61%
Pacific Law Academy	9 - 12	197	60%
Lincoln High	9 - 12	2,925	55%
Aspire Benjamin Holt College Preparatory Academy	6 - 12	724	53%
Manlio Silva Elementary	KG - 6	847	52%

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Stockton Reviews

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

Review Stockton

Truly a miserable place

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We had to move here because of my partner’s job and we cannot wait to leave. The dining options are practically nonexistent. Crime and homelessness are high, and there is a deep general feeling of hostility.

1 0

Stockton is highly unlivable and over priced.

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My partner and I moved to Stockton approximately 10 years ago for work.

There are so many bad people. It's hard to avoid the crime here because it will find you. In the first three years I over heard three separate shooting that all were homicides along with all of the idiotic unloading of clips into the air for major holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, gender reveals, quinceaneras, graduations, or just your average weekday night.

Customer service is terrible at most establishments and institutions. No one seems to care about anything unless they are trying to sign you up for some MLM scheme or trying to rob you. People here seem to be extremely dedicated to thier cliques. It is hard to come into this town as an outsider and make connections. The commnity is generally unwelcoming.

There are few reasonable paying jobs which is maddening given the high cost of living. There is a specific just keeping your head above water feeling you get living in Stockton due to the out of control housing/rental costs.

Most of the year it is so damn hot all day you need to stay indoors or get out of town to hide from it. Air quality is terrible here and only gets worse when fire season is raging.

We heard so many negative things about Stockton when moving there and we really tried to give the place a chance and having lived in similar cities around the country we thought it couldnt be that bad. It was exacly as everyone said. Roads are terrible, public transit lacking copared to other cities, lots of homless folks and no real desire from the community to help these people (Lack of opportunity and High Cost of living).

After 10 years of nonstop problems with crime (petty and serious), entitled neighbors, property managment companies, shady community members, and a seemingly nonstop "friends" who turn out are just trying to get you to join an MLM scheme we decided to move and have no regrets in doing so.

11 -4

The cost of living is supposed to be low

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The cost of living is supposed to be low.. The rent is ridiculously high with jobs that pay the minimum wage. I could understand why the crime rate is high. Half of Stockton resident's are homeless you need 3 incomes to live in a 3 bedroom house, Or you have to work out of town that puts you in a 4-5 hour commute daily.. I do not understand how the rent could be so high here. It is not the worst place to live. It is actually great you are in the middle of everything from San Francisco Bay to Lake Tahoe. The Job's do not pay much and City of Stockton has taken all activities for kids.. With parents having to work out of town long hours of commute. To barley make income to get by. has alot of kids unsupervised to much time to get in trouble.. If we want to stop the crime and raise good kids, parents need more time with kids and less time on the road!! Its sad that our Mayor has not figured this out. He just needs to drive to Dublin from Stockton at commute hours then he would understand.. The problem!!

4 -1

Worst city for crime!

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We were there for four years for work and we had to move away because there are crimes there in the city. The place we lived seem to be a nice area but there was crimes came to our neighborhood. Gangsters down the road and cars got break in almost every night and day.Worst for us was the Forth of July night. There were many idiots shot guns in the air. We had to move away from Stockton because this incident. If you forget to leave any thing out door, it will be gone in the next morning. One more thing, people there are not so nice!

5 0

Stockton CA. Sucks!!!!

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Stockton, CA. has a lot of Crime, my car was stolen, and the cops did nothing about it. Everyone is a gang banger or a want to be gang banger! The people are clickish. There are a lot of drug dealers, and drug abusers. The roads are very bad, and when they are repaired, they are done poorly! The cops don't do their job! The government is not interested in beautifying Stockton, just creating tax revenue by building homes at the expense of overcrowding. The city fails to plan for the increase in population new homes bring, so you will find much congestion in the main parts of town everyday. THE AIR IS TERRIBLE!!!, and there are Chemtrails polluting our skies daily. The best place to be if you live in Stockton is in your own home!!! The weather in the summer is getting worse every year. Dry, and Hot with a lot of smog!!!!! You will hear gunshots, and ambulance sirens everyday, so if you want to curse yourself daily..... then move to Stockton, CA. Take this from a resident of Stockton since 1983.

4 -1

Evaluations of a place based solely on personal experience are imprecise

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Attractions5/10

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I'm 65 and I lived in more that 2 dozens places on the East and West coasts. I've traveled while working to 26 countries. I've lived in Stockton since December 1981 and in the same house since January 1982. My wife and I raised four children here and I presently have 5 grandchildren living 5 minutes from my home. Stockton is very much a city of neighborhoods. How you live, your safety, noise level, traffic, school quality, people one meets,; in fact, almost every aspect of life is determined by your neighborhood. There are three school districts in the city but child success isn't determined just by school district. There is a quality junior college, a small respected private university, and an adjunct branch of a nearby state university. If Stockton lacks anything educationally, its a diversified choice of private k-12 schools. There are Catholic primary and high school, Protestant primary and high school but only one private non-denominational primary school and no high school. There are two high quality museums and a children's museum in Stockton.I live an an average neighborhood. I had a car window broken and in another vehicle a stereo robbed...more than 25 years ago. My son had a few bicycles stolen but so did I 50 years ago on Long Island. Stockton has more than its share of crime but crime is far more likely to occur in those parts of the city judged below average. Crime is not limited to Stockton Three weeks ago, a man I knew was shot and killed at a Taco Belle in Manteca. Stockton traffic is tolerable almost always but it can get a little congested by people traveling to and from work. Over the past 30 years, Stockton has become a bedroom community to Sacramento (45 minutes north) and the Bay Area (over 90 minutes to west). Stockton drivers can be careless rushing through amber lights and even stop signs resulting in nasty accidents but accidents aren't limited to Stockton. Stockton drivers aren't anywhere as rube as drivers anywhere in the Bay Area or Los Angeles. As a pedestrian, my wife was hit by a car and died 2 days later in Sonora. My house has never been robbed. My business was never robbed. I've experienced no vandalism. When I am out and about, people I don't know routinely nod or say hi (I smile a lot): Stockton is NOT New York.The single most important thing to remember is that Stockton has gang violence in below average neighborhoods and one would be wise to avoid then, even when driving, especially after dark. My son was political canvasing perhaps 6 years ago in one such neighborhood and he was mugged but not hurt. My grandson was sitting on a levee after midnight and he was mugged. When he resisted the three teens beat him up. Both incidents occurred in areas where neither should have been after dark. I grew up in NYC and came to California in fall 1974. I was taught urban awareness at a young age. I know I'm not invincible and there is never a time when I'm not aware of my surroundings. I never racially profile people, and I don't cross the street to avoid people. If Stockton has short comings, it is with local quality of life. Stockton city government seems opposed to any sort of nightlife. We have two cineplexes, no independent movie house playing art or foreign films, no quality nightclubs or small music venues, too many chain restaurants almost all that close at 9:00 PM or before on weeknights. There is a lot of music in Modesto and sacramento but driving 45 minutes seems inconvenient. Many people in the city seek entertainment around church-related event. We have small college basketball, volleyball, and baseball, and, professional baseball and hockey teams. We have 4 private golf courses, 3 municipal golf courses, and, each is quite different and quite nice. The city has a marvelous symphony, a professional opera every 18 months, a talented amateur theater group, a musical chorale, and, every conceivable type of youth and adult sports league. It has a new sports complex with roller rink, and a year round ice rink. Stockton is a port city on the eastern edge of the delta: Fishing, water fowl hunting, boating, sailing, water skiing, and jet skiing are popular during warm moths. The Lodi wine region is 10 minutes north of my house with at least 50 wineries to visit. Yosemite National Park is 3 hours to south-southeast, Monterey Bay is 90 minutes to south-southwest, San Francisco is 90 minutes to west, Lake Tahoe is 3 hours to northeast, Reno is 3,5 hours to northeast, and the Motherlode Gold Country is a hour to the east. Los Angeles in is 6 hours by freeway south. It requires a short drive to be out of the city in any direction.Stockton has embraced racial and ethnic diversification, with substantial, Hispanic, Southeast Asian, Sikh, Jewish, African American, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino populations. I've seen virtually no racially motivated difficulties in the city and except for routine gang violence, everyone seems to get along fine. As with most cities, local government is inept and corrupt (they've never seen a development they didn't love regardless how crappy it maybe and regardless of how slimy the developer might be). Water front development beginning in the late 90s and 2000s bankrupt the city but that portion of the downtown looks nice. The rest of original downtown is largely a mess. In my opinion, shopping opportunities are marginal with the focus on big box stores (3 Wal-Marts, 2 Targets, Costco, Lowes, Home Depot). These superstores have driven smaller entities out of business. There are two small indoor Malls, a lame Sears, JC Penny, and Macy; Dillards is the one upscale department store. It takes effort to find unique presents and if one seeks anything unusual one shops on the internet. There is one B&N bookstore that closes at 9:00 PM.If Stockton has faults it's with diversity of opportunities for recreation, night life, and cultural enrichment. There are many things to do but they tend to be limited in type, number, and scale. Stockton has 300,000 people and san Joaquin County almost 1 million. The primary industry is agriculture and from March to October organic and fresh vegetables are abundant. But the ag industry is not technology so available jobs are typically modest paying or seasonal. There are many retailing jobs but again these don't pay well. Stockton has marginal industrial development. Recently, we've seen the arrival of insurance facilities and because of its central location warehousing is a substantial employer. Stockton generally suffers from a lack of imagination and an inability for future planning. Thinking is almost always short term and little effort seems focused on unintended consequences. People aren't stupid; they observe this and become cynical. Perhaps a dozen families get what they want out of local government and usefulness of the larger population hardly merits serious consideration. For better or worse, the city seems content to have married itself to agriculture regardless of its short comings as an employer or desires to promote opportunities beyond itself. It is difficult for community non-profits to raise money and its been that way for decades. I honestly don't see this changing in the future. In the 1960s, the urban renewal wrecked downtown and the antagonism of community development for adaptive reuse of wonderfully unique pre-WWII buildings led to the destruction of a magnificent 19th century domed court house and dozens of other buildings. As late as 2000, city planners preferred demolishing old buildings and leaving empty lots as a means of 'banking' land for future development. The idea was beyond stupid. The city lost its chance to recreate a pre-war downtown district decades ago. Government permitted developers to open new malls in the mid-1950s far from downtown and consequently downtown fell into terminal decay. This led to a efforts to rehabilitate the waterfront and ultimate city bankruptcy.Evaluating cities as this web site tries to do is truthfully rubbish. To know and understand any city requires spending a lot of time there and understanding its culture. Stockton is a quiet city with plenty to do if you like the opportunities offered. It is one of the least expensive places to live while priding relatively easy access to surrounding areas. It rarely floods, doesn't have earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, or hurricanes. Traffic congestion occurs but it's short-lived. People are pleasant enough. And the city police aren't out of control. Being widely traveled I can say for sure: Stockton is neither the best nor worst place I've lived or visited. If moving here, I'd consider renting in an average neighborhood before chosing a permanent residence.

1 -3

Stockton crime ridden city.

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Stockton is one of the worst city I have ever been to, I want to warn everyone to stay away from this horrible city. They stole my moving truck taking everything I own, I hate this city and so should everyone else. I think the econo lodge should be destroyed, it is filthy, a hangout for the worst form of life, extremely dangerous, it is ready for a wrecking ball, and should be burned to the ground. STAY AWAY FROM STOCKTON CALIFORNIA!!!!

3 -1

Stockton in one of the most dangerous places

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I had my moving van and everything I owned stolen in stockton, I want the whole world to know what a dangerous and corrupt place it is and to never set foot in it. Stay away from Stockton.

2 -1

horrible crime ridden city

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I was born and raised here and it is a terrible city to live in. I moved to Manteca, Ca when I turned 18 and it was slightly better, although there really was nothing to do there, however, there is slightly less crime. I moved to Sacramento at 24 and that was 100 times better than Stockton. The people in Stockton are the rudest, most selfish people you will ever meet. My sister had her cars stolen multiple times. My parents cars have been broken into. My brother in law was shot driving home from the county fair, minding his own business. The bank I had been doing my banking at was just robbed and a hostage was killed. Unless gangs and violence is your thing I urge you to look elsewhere for a place to live.

3 -1

But It's a Dry Heat in Stockton!

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Attractions7/10

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I lived in Sacramento for about five years. Sacramento is approximately an hour drive from Stockton. I used to pass through Stockton all the time when making the six hour drive to Los Angeles; Yosemite is only a short three hour drive too. Stockton is a quiet agricultural city that sits on Highway 99. Stockton is great place to visit and take a boat ride or you can ride your boat all the way from San Francisco to Stockton!

Stockton sits on the Delta and is a major shipping port. If you have things that you want to go from ocean to land via rail then Stockton is your town. They also have the Asparagus Festival every year which has all kinds of cool things to do. At the festival you can meet celebrity cooks, join in eating contests and purchase locally grown produce.

Unfortunately it is also the number one city in the country for single family home foreclosures. The summer heat is also a consideration to make when visiting Stockton--bring plenty of shorts.

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Source: The Stockton, CA data and statistics displayed above are derived from the 2016 United States Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS).

Stockton, CA

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