Moving here
The newcomer’s guide
Roughly 178,000 people beat you here, and most of them made the same calculation: mountain views, safer-than-average streets, a median household income around $112k, and a commute that Metrolink makes survivable. Here’s the honest orientation.
Picking a neighborhood
The shortest version: Alta Loma for hillside lots, horse trails, and older trees; Etiwanda for newer houses against the trailheads (and the wind that comes with them); Victoria and Day Creek for walk-to-the-Gardens convenience; Red Hill for character and Route 66 bones; Terra Vista and Central for practical middle-of-everything living. The full neighborhood guides go deeper.
Commuting
The Metrolink station is the second-busiest in the system for a reason: 34 weekday trains to LA Union Station beat the 10 freeway every single rush hour. Ontario airport being 15 minutes away changes business travel entirely. Brightline West to Las Vegas is under construction at the same station — a genuine future amenity, with no promised date.
What it costs, what you get
You’re paying Inland Empire premium-tier prices — this is one of the IE’s most expensive cities — in exchange for the school reputations, the park system (a hundred acres at Central Park alone), and a Victoria Gardens instead of a dying mall. Summers run hot, Santa Ana winds are real, and fall fire-season closures of the foothill trails are routine. Residents plan around all three.
Start your first week with the five-stop orientation, and get the Thursday newsletter — it’s the fastest way to start living here instead of just residing.