Where are you from originally? (Fresno, Sacramento: cost of living, housing, nursing)

[Just Rachel]

Born in Kellogg, Idaho. Moved to the S.F. Bay Area when I was 3. Left there for the far northern California mountains in 1975. Hope to never, ever return to any city with a population of more than 5,000 again.

[impala666]

Born in Shrewsbury
Moved to London at 18
Vallais Switzerland at 25
Back to London 30
Big Sur 49
Malibu 50
Where next ?? Wait to see what the property prices do in London then poss London for a while then Retirement in dear old Switzerland.

[Happy Cells]

Shallow Alto aka 'Palo Alto', born and raised.

[OC Investor2]

Born in Philly, Pa, Moved to Pittsburgh, Then the Jersey Shore, Then Ohio, Then Oklahoma, Then Kentucky, Back to Philly, Finally to Orange County 13 years ago.

I still feel like a stranger in a strange land, and I've been in CA longer then anywhere else in my life.

[Jiayan Chou]

Born in gejiu,Yunnan,China.

[JustJulia]

Born in Key West, Florida, while my dad was in the army. Moved to Wilmington, California when I was two--my mom is a California native and my dad lived in Torrance almost all his life, so they just came home when Dad finished his service. My dad's parents moved to Torrance when Grandpa left the navy, and they still live in the same house they bought for $14,000. Mom and Dad met in high school.

My little sister was born at Little Company of Mary in Torrance, and we moved to Lake Forest shortly thereafter, when I was seven. Our house in Wilmington was tiny and the neighborhood was not very nice, but our house in Lake Forest was brand-new and the neighborhood was filled with children (mostly boys, though, so I got really good at football).

We moved to a larger house in Lake Forest when I was 14. I stayed at the same high school, where I met my husband. My parents still live in that house.

I went to Saddleback College and UCI. When I got married, we moved around a lot, following jobs and better apartments.

Northridge - one year (dirty and hot)
Newbury Park - one year (beautiful)
Orange - three years (not bad)
Costa Mesa - one year (not bad, but our apartment was tiny)

We then moved to Colorado for three years, believing we'd never be able to afford a real house. (Looking back, we probably could have bought then.) We didn't look into the job market well enough, though, and both of us had to settle for jobs that paid much less than we were worth, even by non-California standards.

We came back to visit family one Thanksgiving (both sets of parents and one sister each still live in Lake Forest) and decided to come back. Rented a house for three and a half years, but reasonable, affordable mortgages are just not in the picture there, not for a family of five. (Yeah, we had kids along the way, two of whom were born in California.) We don't want to live in the desert, so my husband accepted a promotion and transfer to Illinois. We bought our first house earlier this year.

[LosBanosGrown]

How funny, we moved out of Los Banos because of the ridiculous housing prices and the congestion. I was born there. So we decided to sell our house and move to Texas. It is going on three years and we plan on moving back to LB in the next few months. I hear its cleared up some. Texas has too many goofy laws and I am not one to deal well with stupidity.

[JustPassinThru]

Born in Chicago
Moved to CA at age 13
Lived in Los Angeles and Ventura counties for 50 years
Bumped my head one day and moved to AZ
Can see things clearly now and am planning my return home to SoCal

[CaliDawn]

I was born and raised in western Virginia, and lived there until 2006, when I moved to southern California (initially San Bernardino County; currently live in Riverside County).

[AKgirlinCA]

Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska...now in OC going to college and trying to figure out where & what's next.