Top 5 Worst Neighbourhoods to Live in Surrey BC

How I Picked These 5 Areas

This list is part data and part opinion, and I'd rather say that up front than pretend otherwise. The data side is a crime concentration figure for each town centre compared against the Surrey city average, taken from third-party neighbourhood crime estimates I pulled when I recorded the original video in December 2021. I've left those numbers at their original vintage rather than quietly re-dating them, and I want to be straight about 2 limits on them. They were modelled estimates rather than police counts, and the pages I pulled them from are no longer online, so nobody can re-check them today. The opinion side is everything else: the housing mix, the state of the buildings, what the streets feel like at different times of day, and whether I'd personally want to live there.

Nothing official has replaced those neighbourhood figures, and that's not an oversight on my part. Neither the Surrey Police Service nor the City of Surrey publishes crime normalized to named neighbourhoods or town centres. The police reporting is broken into 5 large districts, and the city's open data covers 5 property offence types at hundred-block level. So the honest position is that the ranking below reflects where crime clustered in 2021 plus what I see on the ground, and the only current, citable, city-wide number is this: Statistics Canada put Surrey's Crime Severity Index at 89.05 for 2025, up 1.8% on 2024, against 92.37 for British Columbia as a whole and 75.01 nationally. Surrey sits below the provincial average and above the national one, and its violent crime index fell 16.8% year over year.

One thing matters more than any number here. Every area on this list is a pocket of a few blocks inside a much larger community, and in 4 of the 5 cases the wider community is somewhere I'd happily recommend. I've given the exact street boundaries for each one so you can see how small these areas really are. If I name a place you love, please don't take it personally.

1. Guildford Town Centre: Contrasting Attractions

Location and Overview

Guildford is one of Surrey's 6 communities and sits at the northernmost eastern point of the city. This entry isn't the whole Guildford community. It's specifically the area between 100th and 108th Avenue and 148th and 154th Street, essentially the blocks directly surrounding the mall. That pocket sees higher crime and more visible homelessness than most other parts of Surrey, and it follows a pattern you'll see repeat down this whole list: where there's commercial space, shopping, restaurants, and a transit exchange, that's where the incidents concentrate.

• Crime concentration: 46% above the Surrey average, and the least severe of the 5 areas here.
• What works: Guildford Exchange is a major transit connector, highway access is easy, and the SkyTrain isn't far.
• What doesn't: Visible homelessness and petty crime in the blocks around the mall.
• Rents: Higher than most of Surrey. A 1-bedroom unfurnished apartment was averaging $1,730 a month at the time of the original 2021 video, and Guildford rents have moved a long way since, so treat that as a historical marker rather than a current quote.

I can speak to the odd activity around the mall from experience. Across all the time I've spent there I've been approached by a few interesting characters in the parking lot and on the way in, but nothing has ever actually happened to me. That's roughly the honest version of this area: it's uncomfortable more often than it's dangerous.

The Trade-Off

It isn't all doom and gloom. The shopping and dining beside the mall are genuinely good, the highway is right there, and the rental market is strong enough that this is a far more appealing place to own a rental property than to live in yourself. That "own here, live elsewhere" split applies to most of the areas on this list. The higher crime and visible homelessness are real, but the location and the rental demand counterbalance them, and that's exactly why Guildford sits at number 1 rather than higher up.

2. Bridgeview: A Neighbourhood in Transition

Location and Historical Context

Bridgeview sits inside the Whalley town centre and stretches south from the Fraser River to King George Boulevard, running along the South Fraser Perimeter Road from 132nd Street down to 96th Avenue. It's the low-lying land between the Port Mann Bridge to the east and the Pattullo Bridge to the west. Here's the fun fact most people don't know: Bridgeview is where Surrey's original bad reputation came from, back in the 1960s and 1970s. If you still hear someone attach that old stigma to the whole city, this is the pocket it started in, and an enormous amount has changed everywhere else since.

• Crime concentration: One of the safer areas on this list. Its placement here isn't about crime at all.
• Housing mix: Almost entirely detached homes, with next to no condos or townhomes anywhere in the area.
• Condition: Mostly industrial buildings and older, run-down houses, with very little gentrification so far.
• Who's buying: Investors and builders picking up cheap land, knocking the old house down, and putting up a custom spec home.

That first bullet is the whole reason this entry is unusual. Bridgeview is one of the safer areas on this list. It's on the list for something else entirely.

The Flood Plain

Bridgeview sits in a flood plain, and that's the real reason it ranks. If you live in the Lower Mainland you probably remember the flooding at the end of 2021 that shut the highway down for days and put a large chunk of Abbotsford farmland under water. It caused genuine alarm at the time, and honestly it feels like most people have already forgotten it. The City of Surrey's own Fraser River floodplain page describes a 776-hectare floodplain of mixed industrial and residential land behind 22km of dyke, and singles out the low flood bench near the Pattullo Bridge as the stretch that has historically flooded during the spring freshet, including in 1972. That's this pocket. Note that the city still calls it South Westminster, the historic name for the area, so searching "Bridgeview" on the city site won't surface it. Bridgeview hasn't had a serious event in recent memory, but it's a flag worth checking against a specific address rather than a verdict on the whole neighbourhood.

The Trade-Off

The cheap land that makes this a rough area is the same thing that makes the numbers work for a builder, so there's a real investment case here even while it's a hard place to recommend to a family. The absence of townhomes and condos is the other half of that: with almost no attached product, entry pricing is a detached house, and even a run-down one is still over a million dollars. That combination, a floodplain flag plus no affordable way in, is what puts Bridgeview at number 2 despite being one of the safer areas on this list.

3. Cloverdale Town Centre: A Mixed Bag

Location

Cloverdale's western border runs along 160th Street, connecting with 48th Avenue as the southern border. Langley is to the east, Guildford and Fleetwood to the north. The specific pocket I'm pointing at is between 172nd and 180th Street and 54th and 60th Avenue, just on the other side of Highway 10. You might reasonably ask how Cloverdale can be one of the best communities in Surrey and also appear here. Both are true. Cloverdale is the 3rd largest of Surrey's 6 communities, and the downtown core is a tiny slice of it.

• Crime concentration: 39% above the Surrey average.
• What's driving it: This is the heart of the town centre, with long-term low-income housing and the street issues that come with a commercial core.
• The specific mechanism: The Cloverdale bottle depot at 55th and 176th sits in this pocket, and Elements Casino is a few blocks the other way. Bottle depots draw a homeless population for obvious reasons, and casinos don't tend to improve the crowd either.
• Redevelopment: A handful of very old, deteriorated condo and townhome buildings are waiting to be bought and torn down. A strata wind-up, the legal process for dissolving a strata corporation so the land can be sold and redeveloped, is slow and complicated, so those buildings will be eyesores and low-income housing for years yet.

Housing and Community Issues

Some new townhomes have gone up here in the last couple of years, which sounds like good news until you look at where they were sited. They're right beside Highway 15 and the downtown core at the same time, so buyers get the traffic noise and the street issues together. I'm also not a fan of how they were built. They're the narrowest, most vertical townhomes I've seen, and the project includes 1-bedroom townhomes, which is genuinely rare and a tough resale proposition.

The Trade-Off

The area I'm pointing at is a small piece of Cloverdale, and I like Cloverdale as a whole a great deal. There are excellent restaurants, businesses, and shops in downtown Cloverdale that make for a good afternoon or evening out. It just isn't somewhere I'd want to live full time. Something is being built here, so this isn't a stagnant pocket, the siting is just poor. Real pros and real problems in the same few blocks is exactly what number 3 looks like.

4. Surrey City Centre (Whalley): A Community Mid-Change

Location and Urban Transformation

Whalley sits at Surrey's most northwestern point, bordered by Guildford and Fleetwood to the east, Newton to the south, and the Fraser River to the north and west. The part in question, City Centre, runs along King George Boulevard from 96th to 112th Avenue and from 132nd to 140th Street. Whalley was once regarded as the most dangerous part of the Lower Mainland, including a street known as tent city that persisted until 2018. That has genuinely changed, with heavy redevelopment and a lot of city money going in.

• Crime concentration: 41% above the Surrey average. This is the downtown core of the city, so the same pattern applies.
• What works: SkyTrain access, Central City Mall, SFU's campus, and the UBC campus that's coming.
• What doesn't: Visible homelessness and ongoing drug issues that redevelopment hasn't solved.
• Best fit: Students, young professionals, and anyone who doesn't drive. In my opinion it isn't a great fit for families.
• Development: Multiple concrete towers under way, with some projects selling out in a single day.

The Trade-Off

City Centre has improved a lot and still has a way to go. If I'd made this list 3 years earlier it would have been sitting at the top. It's the clearest own-here-live-elsewhere case on the page: I wouldn't choose to live in it, and it's one of the better places in Surrey to buy a rental property right now, with the city growing fast enough that it's projected to overtake Vancouver as the most populous city in BC. The homelessness and crime are real and they still overshadow a lot of the positives, which is why it lands at number 4: big upside, big hurdles.

5. Newton Town Centre: The Toughest Area Right Now

Geographic Overview

Newton is bordered by Whalley and Fleetwood to the north, Cloverdale to the east, South Surrey to the south, and North Delta to the west. Once again this isn't the whole of Newton, it's the pocket around King George Boulevard and 72nd Avenue. As Whalley was cleaned up through the 2010s, a lot of the street population moved here, and the crown Whalley used to hold has effectively been handed over.

• Crime concentration: 56% above the Surrey average, the highest figure on this list.
• Cleanliness: Severe garbage and illegal dumping alongside the visible homelessness.
• Community: Newton has absorbed a large share of Surrey's population growth, much of it newcomers to Canada settling in this part of the city.
• At night: This is not a pocket I'd suggest spending time in after dark.

The dumping point isn't secondhand for me. I worked for the City of Surrey years ago, and Newton was the area we were called out to most often to clear garbage and illegal dumping. Someone tossing a mattress, a small demolition outfit dropping material in a vacant lot to save a few dollars, or just residents littering their own streets. It reads as a lack of care for the neighbourhood, and it's the thing that stuck with me longest.

The Trade-Off

Let's be clear that this is one small area. Newton also contains genuinely prestigious neighbourhoods like Panorama Ridge and Sullivan Heights, which are a striking contrast to the town centre and are areas I'd happily show a family. The town centre's 56% figure is a big number though, and this is the specific pocket where I'd think twice about spending time, particularly at night. For the moment, it's the most concerning part of Surrey.

Quick Comparison

Crime comparisons are 2021 third-party neighbourhood estimates, reproduced at their original vintage rather than re-dated. They were modelled figures, not police counts, and the source pages are no longer online. No official neighbourhood-level equivalent has ever been published for Surrey. The current city-wide figure is a Crime Severity Index of 89.05 for 2025 (Statistics Canada), against 92.37 for British Columbia and 75.01 nationally.

The Rest of Surrey: Every Main Subdivision

The 5 pockets above are a tiny fraction of the city. Surrey is a patchwork of distinct neighbourhoods, each with its own character, history, and reputation, and knowing how the city is organized makes the list above far easier to put in proportion. Here's the overview you'll run into as you research places to live.

• Bear Creek Green Timbers: Parks and natural green space, popular with families and anyone who wants trails nearby.
• Bolivar Heights: An older residential area with a mix of single-family homes and established streets.
• Bridgeview: Along the Fraser River, with industrial development and the flood risk covered above.
• Cedar Hills: Hilly terrain and a blend of mid-century houses and newer builds.
• City Centre: The urban heart of Surrey, with shopping, entertainment, and high-rise condos.
• Clayton and Cloverdale: Family-friendly suburbs with a strong sense of community and plenty of amenities.
• Crescent Beach and Ocean Park: Coastal feel, quaint shops, and scenic waterfront.
• East Newton and West Newton: Densely populated, culturally diverse, with busy commercial zones and a lot of schools.
• Elgin Chantrell and Morgan Creek: Upmarket enclaves with large homes, golf courses, and quiet streets.
• Fleetwood: Known for schools, parks, and balanced residential development.
• Fraser Heights and Grandview Heights: Primarily residential, with newer homes and well-kept streets.
• Guildford: A commercial hub that's also home to several quiet residential pockets.
• Hazelmere and Serpentine: Rural, with farmland and equestrian properties.
• King George Corridor: A thoroughfare with a mix of condos, townhomes, and retail.
• North Surrey: A broad reference to the areas north of the city core, covering several smaller subdivisions.
• Pacific Douglas and Port Kells: Semi-rural, with Port Kells in particular known for light industrial activity.
• Panorama Ridge: Large lots, mature landscaping, and exclusive homes.
• Queen Mary Park: A mix of housing types with convenient access to amenities.
• Royal Heights: Elevated views and a blend of older character homes.
• South Surrey and Sunnyside Park: Relaxed suburban living with easy access to beaches and nature.
• Sullivan: Another popular family area, with newer development and good schools.
• Whalley: Rapidly redeveloping, and also home to some of Surrey's most pressing social challenges.
• White Rock: Technically its own city, but usually discussed alongside South Surrey given the proximity and similar coastal feel.

If you want the guided version of that list rather than the index, the Surrey neighbourhood tour of all 6 communities walks through how the city is actually structured.

Where I'd Point You Instead

A list of areas to avoid is only half useful without the other half. If you're looking for where to actually put down roots in Surrey, these are the areas that come up again and again for safety, amenities, and quality of life.

If families are the priority, the 5 best Surrey neighbourhoods for families goes deeper on catchments and price bands, and living in Newton Surrey BC is worth reading alongside this post, because it covers the 90% of Newton this list doesn't.

Schools, Amenities, and Getting Around

The Surrey School District is the largest in British Columbia, with dozens of elementary and secondary schools across the city plus well-regarded French immersion and alternative programs. Private options include White Rock Christian Academy and Pacific Academy. Catchment boundaries matter more than most buyers expect and they do change, so confirm the current catchment for a specific address with Surrey Schools before you write an offer, rather than trusting a listing description.

On the lifestyle side, Surrey has more range than its reputation suggests. Bear Creek Park and Green Timbers Urban Forest carry the trail network, Cloverdale's Millennium Amphitheatre hosts outdoor events through the summer, and the Surrey Art Gallery and Bell Performing Arts Centre cover the arts. Food runs from Indian street food along Scott Road to family-run cafes in Fleetwood, with the Surrey Urban Farmers Market for produce. For families there's the Surrey Nature Centre and the wave pool at Newton Recreation Centre, and for sport there's Northview Golf and Country Club and the trails at Tynehead Regional Park. Transit-wise, TransLink runs the Expo Line through City Centre and Guildford Exchange, and the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension will change the commute maths for several of these areas.

What to Check Before You Buy Anywhere in Surrey

• Flood and hazard mapping: The City of Surrey's high-risk flood area map and its Fraser River floodplain pages are what put Bridgeview on this list. If you're looking at anything low-lying, check the specific address against it, and read the high risk flood areas in Surrey breakdown first.
• School catchment: Confirm it with the district for the exact address, not the listing.
• The blocks themselves: Walk them at 9am, at 6pm, and again after dark. Every area on this list is a few blocks inside a much larger community, and the difference between one street and the next is bigger than any online rating will tell you.
• Strata documents: If it's a condo or townhome, the strata's depreciation report and minutes will tell you more about the building's next 10 years than any neighbourhood statistic will.

Frequently Asked Questions