I’m going to have to relocate to San Bernardino for work purposes. This will be for maybe 18 months at the most. What areas do I need to avoid and what areas should I be looking at for housing. I don’t mind driving an hour say from the center of town.

San Bernardino the city or the county? If you’re going to San Bernardino, avoid living in San Bernardino. That place is pretty vibrant. San Bernardino county is more pro gun than LA county, that’s for sure, so if you’re looking into getting a ccw, sb county will be pretty chill with letting you get one.

Gonna have to work in the city but want to live in the county. What are the better areas for looking at housing. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy but decent neighborhood/area. I don’t want to feel like I’m on another deployment.

What's your budget and commute tolerance?  I don't have any solid suggestions (it's drive by territory for the most part for me).  If you look at a terrain featured map, San Bernardino is in the eastern third or so of a fairly large valley.  I bring that up because the routes in/out of the valley, so to speak, can be few and subject to a lot of congestion, heavy traffic in good conditions and in the event of a serious accident, fire or bad weather, even more congested to the point of impassability at times.  The further west one goes in the valley, the more it's in what passes for a suitable commute to the greater L.A. area. or to the southwest, into Orange County.

I think it can be fairly said that much of it is not traditionally upper income, some of the "heavy" industrial base is gone (rail and steel) although transportation and warehousing is huge.  Agriculture is squeezed out although not all gone.  A lot of previously under-used lat land is going to tilt-ups or residential development.  I'd think some careful looking would be a good idea before settling in.  There are some older, nicer areas, too.

The City of San Bernardino is to be avoided, so are Rialto and Fontana.  I've heard it referred to as "the armpit of southern California".  I think that's correct.

I've seen and heard nice things about Rancho Cucamonga (to the west).

These things are always generalities and there are exceptions, if you can find them.

For 18 months, are you looking to lease/rent or buy?


San Bernardino has heat and terrible smog in the summers.  The Los Angeles smog gets blown out there by the prevailing winds and gets trapped in the basin.

The get some hellacious winds in the fall (Santa Ana winds).




San Berdoo is surrounded by mountains.  

The Cajon pass gives access to the high desert areas referred to earlier.  

There are ski areas in the surrounding mountains at Wrightwood, Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear.  Mountains are as high as 11,000 feet, steep, rugged terrain contrasting sharply with terrain in Ohio.

LOTS of other recreational opportunities, too - camping, hiking, mountain biking, dirt biking, cross country skiing, boating,... It's the Angeles National Forest and the San Bernardino National Forest.


Anyone know the daily commute time from Crestline to SBD?

If it were me, I'd start looking in the better parts of Redlands and Rancho Cucamonga.  I'd also look up towards the mountains over to the NE and NW.

Look on Zillow.com to get some pricing ideas.


I hope this helps in some way.

Thank you every little bit helps. It’s hard to get a feel for things being so far away and never having been in that area before. Looking to rent at this time due to the short time frame of my stay. It’s just the two of us and the dog so we don’t have to worry about school systems. Just a nice safe place to stay within say an hours drive from the Cal State SB campus.

We have a cabin in Lake Arrowhead which is part of San Bernardino country

Driving up, many parts are seedy, but there are decent areas

My folks had a place in Crestline many years ago.  IIRC, it's about 20 minutes from the top of Waterman (the flatlands) to Crestline.  It's 2 lanes each way to the Crestline turn-off then one lane to Crestline or continuing on Rim of the World.  There's no small number of year round commuters up there.   Daily commute time may vary, I guess.  OTOH while snow isn't bad compared to much of the country, many of the other 12-18 million SoCal residents both like to play in it and don't know how to drive in it so infrequent snow conditions screw up mountain traffic.  I'd think it would be a tolerable commute but it would be mountain driving, much of it.  My recollection is some of the area around Waterman between the base of the mountains and the freeway seemed OK.  Redlands was mentioned, I think there are possibilities there.  There's been a lot of development so even in some of the less inviting older cities, there can be nicer areas.  Most of the traffic for the commute is towards Los Angeles so going west in the valley and commuting east is less trouble than commuting towards Los Angeles.

Sounds like Redlands will be your best option. Tons of great food and local beer scene. It is a mix of old money and hipster college town and with a very involved PD for local policing, as in you won't have to worry about mostly-peaceful protests getting out of hand. They also have the best shotgun range anywhere that is open til 10pm and you can bbq or hang out with your ice chest full of adult beverages, just don't be dumb about it. Arrowhead/Crestline area is beautiful, but it just takes a wildfire and you're fucked, or snow and the flat-landers will ruin any plans you make.

Rancho Cucamonga is a nice area, but just has too much going on due to where it's at and you always get sandwiched in with traffic.

Thanks to all of you for your help with this.

If it were me, I'd start my search in the University Heights and Verdemont areas, both are just NW from the campus.  I'd try to make that work due to its proximity to the University and the nice neighborhoods.

If you want to be a bit more remote, look along Hwy 18 on the way up into the mountains towards Crestline and the vicinity; maybe even as far as Arrowhead Lake.  There are some rental properties up in there.  Zillow can help get you oriented.  A local realtor might be able to help you lease a place, too, when it starts to become a reality.  Personally, I think that commute would be BAD, but that's up to you.  Everything is a trade-off.

Take everything I post with a grain of salt, as I do not live in or near San Bernardino.

Here's a Trulia listing in the Verdemont area, 1/2 mile from the University.

hillside-village-apartments

You haven't mentioned your budget for housing, so, once again, this is just a shot in the dark.

I've moved many times in my life.  I hope some of this helps you in your move.

My employer will cover the cost of moving out there but we are on our own to find a place. We are working on a living stipend since this is not a voluntary move and on such short notice.

Have you browsed Zillow for rentals?  If not, be prepared for sticker shock.

I haven't been out that way in 20 years, but out to the east near Redlands/Cherry Valley didn't seem all that bad.

The apartments I linked to above:  2196 Kendall Dr,  $1,770/mo,  1 Bed 1 Bath .  Whether that is shocking to the OP, I have no idea.

No sticker shock here, we had a sister-in-law/brother-in-law live out by the Bay Area years ago and we would talk about everyday expense differences.  Again thanks for all the info. We are currently lining up a moving date.