Charity Lindsey
4 min readJun 19, 2018

Snapshot of San Bernardino, California

The City of San Bernardino is the namesake of the largest county in the United States. That seeming claim to fame aside, to many outside California, the city was as anonymous as any non-coastal metropolis prior to the Dec. 2, 2015, terrorist attack that set the world’s gaze on the home to one of the U.S.’s deadliest shootings.

But for those who live and work in San Bernardino, it is more to them than both a place of tragedy and the poorest city of its size in California. Despite being “a symbol of the nation’s worst urban woes” and a “broken city,” as the Los Angeles Times called it in June 2015, San Bernardino’s population continues to surge and it still provides many people with jobs and affordable housing. While it may no longer be a middle class, “All-American City,” San Bernardino sustains a great deal of character and potential.

Source: City of San Bernardino

Ranking as the eighth most populous city in Southern California, San Bernardino hosts about 216,000 inhabitants, accounting for 10 percent of its county’s total population, a significant amount considering that San Bernardino County is composed of 24 cities and nearly triple as many census-designated places and unincorporated communities. Moreover, San Bernardino is the 17th most populous city in the state, and the 100th most populous in the country, according to data from the United States Census Bureau.

This chart displays the population growth in San Bernardino between 2000 and 2016. Made with data from Southern California Association of Governments.

San Bernardino has seen greater population growth than many major cities, which has led to a more densely populated area; however, despite more than 3,600 people per square mile living in the city, many must commute great distances for work. Nearly 80 percent of the population drive alone to work, revealing that very few — likely only those that have no other means — opt for public transportation, walking or biking. While the average time it takes people to commute to work has stayed just about the same over the last decade (around 30 minutes), the number of people driving alone has continued to steadily increase, which doesn’t reflect any new “green” thinking, data from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) shows.

An analysis of traffic in and out of the San Bernardino helps shed light on the commuting flows between the city’s residential areas and its population’s workplace areas. Its SCAG profile shows the top places of work for residents, which, after the city itself, include Riverside, Los Angeles, Ontario, and Fontana. The cost of living in all of these cities is higher than that of San Bernardino, which is typically a key factor contributing to long-distance commutes.

A heat map representing the top workplace areas of San Bernardino residents.

Many of the top cities that travel to San Bernardino for work are the same as those that the city’s residents travel to, including Riverside, Ontario, and Fontana. This could support the idea that residents of the greater area select the cities they want to live in based more on amenities, character, and the built environment.

San Bernardino is unique in its demographics, with its population being 65 percent Hispanic at a median age of 30.2 years old. Its education statistics show a steady decline in high school graduates, lessening the overall education of the city and county’s workforce. This is quite clearly tied to the financial burdens of the families in San Bernardino, as 62 percent earn less than $50,000 a year, according to SCAG data.

The city has historically been a major transportation link between the east and west coasts, by way of rail, freeway, and two nearby international airports. These, along with its proximity to L.A., make San Bernardino a link to national markets, and since a new Transit Center opened in 2015, the city has become even more well-connected. Despite this exposure and business networking, San Bernardino only recently exited bankruptcy after filing for protection in 2012 with a multi-million dollar deficient. The city suffered a cut to its redevelopment funding, but the city website claims that economic development, as well as the rebuilding of public safety and quality of life, are “at the center of the plan to recovery.”