Are you thinking about moving to Santa Clarita and want to know both the pros and the cons of living here? In this episode of Living In Santa Clarita, I’m going to tell you about some of the great—and not-so-great—things about life in the Santa Clarita Valley. We’ll look at everything from schools and outdoor activities to traffic so you know exactly what to expect.

 

The Pros Of Living In Santa Clarita

If you’re considering making a move to Santa Clarita, you’ll need to know about this area. I'm not just going to give you all the great things about living in Santa Clarita, but I'm also going to share some aspects of living here that people don't like quite so much. Before we get to the cons, let’s start with the top three reasons why people love living here.

Education And Safety

The number one reason why people come to the Santa Clarita Valley is that we have great schools here. Our city is home to some of the top-ranked schools in the nation. It’s because of these great educational opportunities that people start looking at the Santa Clarita Valley as a place to call home.

The second reason why people live here—and this one is just as important—is safety. Santa Clarita is one of the safest cities in the nation, and the Santa Clarita Valley has been ranked #17 in the nation for safety and #5 in the state of California. So if you're looking for a safe place to live, Santa Clarita fits the bill. Great schools and safety: how can you beat that?

Outdoor Activities

The third reason why people love living in the Santa Clarita Valley is all the outdoor activities we have. Not only do we have paseos that go throughout the area but we also have great bike paths. I just read some articles and found out that we have about 100 miles of biking paths in Santa Clarita. How can you beat that?

In addition, there's a dirt track that people go to where there are jumps and all kinds of things. There’s also tons of hiking, and we also have Castaic Lake. While it's not actually in our city limits, it's just a hop, skip, and jump 10 minutes outside the city limits. We have an upper lake where you can go boating, waterskiing, wakeboarding, and do any kind of watersports behind a boat. There’s also the lower lake where you can go paddleboarding or kayaking.

In addition to the bike track, there's also this great aquatic center that the city put in for locals to enjoy on a nice hot summer day—because we do have some hot days here in the summer.

The Cons Of Living In Santa Clarita

While there are plenty of pros of living in Santa Clarita, you should know about the cons, too. If you're seriously considering moving here, you want to know about the good and the bad. Let’s look at my three cons of living in Santa Clarita.

Nightlife

Did you know that in Santa Clarita, California, there really isn't much nightlife? If you just tons of restaurants and great restaurants out here, but once you're done going out for dinner, there's not a whole lot to do. So if you want a party and you're wanting to have some great nightlife, this may not be the place for you.

However, if you want to go out once in a while, it’s a short drive of 20 to 45 minutes to get to more places. So while there's a lot of nightlife nearby, there's just not a whole lot within Santa Clarita. We do have the Canyon Club, a great club that has live music on the weekends. We also have a few little hole-in-the-wall bars with some music and dancing on the weekends.

Traffic

My second con about living in Santa Clarita would have to be the traffic. I hate the traffic. If you are commuting and you have to take the 5 or the 14 freeway, it will be especially crowded during rush hour times. This is typically from 7:00 am to 9:00 am and 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. It's not going to be fun.

I'm just going to tell you now: get some books on tape, get Audible, or find some fun podcasts. It's going to be taking some time to get through the traffic, and it's just not a fun drive. If you can avoid rush hour, the drive is not too bad.

When you’re driving around town, we do have some traffic as well. This is because Santa Clarita Valley has grown, and there are a few intersections that just may take a couple of lights to get through. However, when you compare it to other areas in LA County or Orange County, traffic really isn't so bad. For us here in Santa Clarita that have been here for a while, though, we hate the traffic.

The Homeless Population

One more thing you need to be prepared for is that we do have some homeless population here in Santa Clarita. It has grown over the last 10 years or so, though it's nothing compared to most parts of LA County. However, we do have some homeless.

Of course, you don't really see them as much because most of them have their encampments down in the washes. You won’t see people living on the side of the freeway or on the side of the road. Still, we do have some homeless encampments here in Santa Clarita, and it is something that the city as a whole is trying to address. Overall, this is probably one of our biggest cons.

Is Santa Clarita Right For You?

I hope this video gives you some insight into the pros and cons of living right here in Santa Clarita. If you think this city is right for you and you’d like more information, make sure to reach out to me and I’d be happy to connect with you.

Make sure you also subscribe to my channel so you never miss an episode of Living In Santa Clarita, my show all about the Santa Clarita Valley. Stay tuned to see what I feature next!