Why, Oh Why, Is Rolling Hills Estates A 'Redneck' Town?

You’d expect California’s most Redneck towns to be in central and northern California, and maybe even the mountain communities near Southern California’s larger cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, but a recently compiled list by Roadsnacks.net is more than over the top.

Marina del Rey, yes, Marina del Rey logs in at No. 23 and Rolling Hills Estates snags the 41st spot.

Go figure!

Well, according to RoadSnacks, they combined “science and data” using “the official bible of literature,” the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which defines a redneck in the following way:

“A white person who lives in a small town or in the country especially in the southern U.S., who typically has a working-class job, and who is seen by others as being uneducated and having opinions and attitudes that are offensive.”

Based on that premise, RoadSnacks then developed the following ‘redneck’ criteria:

• Small towns
• Least amount of high school graduates

“and the stereotypical categories”

• Number of bars per city
• Number of mobile home parks per capita
• Number of tobacco stores per city
• Number of places to get fishing gear
• Number of guns and ammo stores per city
• Walmarts, Golden Corrals, Bass Pro Shops, and dollar stores nearby

As you can imagine, the naming of Big Bear Lake as No. 3 isn’t as surprising as RHE even being named to the list. And the marina’s low population and entertainment/nightlife concentration probably give it its catapult into California’s Top 100.

But, RHE, really?

Even with its small population of 8,078 as listed on RoadSnacks, it’s hard to imagine how the small incorporated city on the Hill could actually be included on the list.

But then, it does join such other notables as Woodside, Sausalito, Cambria, Indian Wells, Capitola, and Tiburon.

So, how far off can data and science be? You decide.