Ontario California

[on_two_wheels]

From a departmental viewpoint, can't really help ya. However, cost of living is like anything else...ya get what you pay for. Ontario is a very average city in terms of quality from what I've seen. However, it borders Rancho Cucamonga which has a much better reputation, seems to be a lot cleaner, and slightly more refined. It's got possibly the best shopping center in the I.E. (vic gardens) when it's nice out and lots of great dining and entertainment. Can you say "Dollar beer night at the Quakes ballpark?" I knew ya could.

All that said, you could easily live in a wide variety of locales while working in ontario. They can offer better quality of living, closer to the beaches/diving, better shopping, etc. Or you can live further from those things and have lower cost of living and better deals on real estate. However, resale always being an issue, Rancho Cucamonga is probably the most in demand for the inland empire.

Don't let the OC and LA county folks that define themselves by where they live fool ya. The people aren't any better or worse. There's extremely rich people in the IE and extremely poor people in OC. Some places just hide it better.

 

[dwaters]

Yes, Ontario is one of the most solid cities in the IE (Inland Empire) as far as finance as it has been on the conservative side for decades and has a good business base. As far as home, yes there is the low income housing, mid.range, and upper middle class areas and as stated Rancho Cucamonga and other areas close have more desirable living areas..(but they were hit harder in our current state of affairs). You can still buy 4 bedroom homes with large lots, good neighborhood, and schools for less than $500g ... try that in the OC...not! Yes, the weather can be warmer than the OC (summers up to 105 but not as bad as the low & high desert areas).
And, yes, less than 2 hours drive I can dive SanDiego, Laguna, jump on a boat to Catalina, get to Ventura, and go skiing in the mountain, off-roading in the desert, and a whole lot more.
And yes the department is one of the requested transfer to so that should tell you something.
I will contact a friend of mine who is a captain in Ontario to get more info...he is on vacation this week.

 

[fnfalman]

Rahaauge (sp?) gun range is also close by.

Good dive shops are slightly hard to find in that area.

 

[Hatul]

Inland So Cal is not bad. Real estate is much cheaper than here, I'm sure and the warmth is not so bad. It's about an hour from the ocean.

Adam

 

[diver_doug]

I live in Cucamonga which is about 10 minutes north of Ontario. Depending on where you live in Ontario, the area will be somewhere between fairly nice and pretty crappy. Honestly, if you can afford it, I'd recommend moving to Cucamonga/Alta Loma since it is a nicer area and is only 10-30mins away from Ontario depending on how deep into Ontario you need to go, and how far north of Ontario you live. The nice thing about this area is that it is only about an hour to a lot of cool things. Hour to the mountains, hour to the beach (including Laguna, which has some of the best Socal diving), hour to the desert, hour to L.A., hour to disneyland, hour and a half to Six Flags, 2 hours to San Diego, etc. Also, the Ontario/Cucamonga area itself has tons of restuarants, shopping centers, malls, couple of minor league sports teams, Fontana Speedway (if you like races), etc. Weather is overall good...winter avgs about 50°F-65°F during day, 40-50 at night; summers avg about 85-105 during the day, 70-85 at night. Overall it's a nice area to live.

 

[StreetDoctor]

Sounds awesome, thanks for all the information! I don't believe they have a residency requirement so living there isn't a huge concern but I'm so sick of the midwest anything is better than here right about now =) I have some family in long beach and I've wanted to move west ever since my first visit there as a kid. Thanks again!