What letter grade would you give California's economy and living conditions, and why? (San Diego: sales, renting)

[It is 57 below zero]

This thread is not meant to be a rant. It's mostly just about opinions of how you guys feel about living there. What grade would give the state's living quality, from A through F?




How do you deal with the high cost of living there?

Do you feel safe in the area where you live (in terms of crime)

How do you feel about the weather?

Do you have issues with dealing with traffic and overcrowding all the time?

Is it hard dealing with the heavily limited supply of water from the drought?

Do you ever feel as though most of the laws are very strict? (if you ever had any mistakes with the law)



What about the state could be improved?

[shooting4life]

I voted D, the only saving grace is the weather. I have made my feelings on the host of other issues well known.

[elhelmete]

A+ in every way. There is no other answer.

[sourdough]

in order……
not going into personal finances accept to say planned well an can afford cost of living in my area. a B
sure we feel safe, low crime here. thats a B
weather is an A
retired so traffic is not a big problem and able to work around the commuter/working class crowds a C
water usage cut back, for now a B but if the *hit hits the fan I'm planning now and will be somewhere else
I don't feel restricted by laws other than local building codes and lack of enforcement there of. a D
State improvements I'd like to see… english language only, illegals deported and the anchor babe thing stopped, today.
I voted B but B- or C+ if I could have.

[AndyChrono]

I voted B. The state has its problems sure, but the budget is balanced, economy is growing, and the weather is still great. As to your individual questions:

Cost of Living: B
The main driver of high living costs here in CA is housing which means it's something you can leverage to your advantage. Avoid renting unless absolutely necessary. Renting just means your monthly expenses are something you can never get back. If you buy instead, then your monthly mortgage payments are actually building equity which you can make back later with possible gains if you decide to sell your house. The exploding home values can thus be leveraged to turn your monthly payments into an investment generating returns instead of just an expense.

Crime/Safety: B
Not gated community safe. But crime is much lower than the state and national averages where I live.

Weather: A+
Best in the country if not the world. Even the most ardent bashers of California will begrudgingly admit that the weather is great.

Traffic/Crowding: B-
I lived in Asia as a student and intern for a couple years so the situation here in CA is nothing compared to over there. But for those not used to it I can see why it would be annoying.

Water Issues: B-
Not really a huge deal for me personally since I don't really care about having a perfect lawn/garden. I basically told the gardener to only come every other week, adjust my sprinkler timers, etc. As long as you don't blow past the lower rate tiers you'll be fine.

Laws: B
Never had any issue with the state laws personally, but I've heard from some small business owners how onerous the requirements and regulations are. The main regulation I have to deal with is the bi-annual SMOG check, but since I live in Socal I don't mind it so that the air here doesn't turn into Beijing. I suppose taxes could fall into this category as well, but the higher income and sales taxes are offset by the lower property taxes from Prop 13 so that's more or less a wash, maybe a bit on the high side. But I don't really mind this either because I was the beneficiary of CA resident tuition when I got my degree from UCLA. If you consider 4 years at a private university instead of UC, the state of CA basically saved me 120-160k in possible student debt plus interest. Suffice to say, if you add up all the state taxes I'm paying (income, sales, gas, property) then it would still take me several decades to completely pay that off.

As for what the state could improve.
*K-12 education in many places are pretty awful and need help.
*Illegal immigration is a touchy subject. Deporting is probably politically impossible given the demographic changes. So the only things left would be the status quo or a pathway to citizenship. Personally I think you could do something like have them pay a fine (installment payments if necessary) for breaking the law, and then instead of the usual 5 year naturalization, make it 10 years. Have a second option where they can serve in the military to have that reduced to the normal 5 years. After all, if you are willing to put your life on the line for this country, you should be a citizen.

[wac_432]

[quote=It is 57 below zero;41059032]This thread is not meant to be a rant. It's mostly just about opinions of how you guys feel about living there. What grade would give the state's living quality, from A through F?[quote]

A

How do you deal with the high cost of living there?

I make a lot of money. If we needed more, my spouse could work as well, or run her own business as she's done in the past.

The only thing that is expensive is the place to live. Fruits and veggies are grown here year-round, so you can find very cheap fresh groceries. We barely need to drive so gas prices don't matter. The weather means we almost never run the heat or A/C.

Surfing, hiking, and just hanging out outside costs nothing (maybe buy a latte or something on occasion) and there's a ton of free things to do outside in the community.

Property taxes are low.

So COL is not really an issue, besides housing, which is easier to plan for.

Do you feel safe in the area where you live (in terms of crime)

Yes. Crime in my town is 1/2 the national average, and everyone knows everyone else in my neighborhood. Basically a loud yell will bring out half the neighbors in an instant, and police response time is measured in seconds. Also, everyone else has nicer-looking stuff and we're surrounded by millionaires, so we're not really appealing even for property crimes.

The few violent crimes, over the years, in my town, have generally been perpetrated by transients against each other in very well-known areas that are easy to avoid.

How do you feel about the weather?

It is incredible. We can drive to thunderstorms or snow if we want to experience it.

Do you have issues with dealing with traffic and overcrowding all the time?

Not in everyday life. If we go into one of the big cities, we have to plan around traffic. but that isn't really that hard to do.

Is it hard dealing with the heavily limited supply of water from the drought?

We have plenty of water reserves where I live. Our water bill went up $10/month. It's no big deal. The farmers in the Central Valley are suffering, but the local farms here are doing just fine. Even if it were to NEVER RAIN AGAIN, we could simply build one desalination plant to supply ALL local urban water needs and stop farming. Food prices would rise (more for the rest of the country/world), so would water prices, but it wouldn't be a show-stopper.

Do you ever feel as though most of the laws are very strict? (if you ever had any mistakes with the law)

No, I think they're GREAT! I always buy CA produce when I can--especially rice--because I know the states strict environmental protection laws mean that the food and water won't be tainted with toxins or heavy metals. It really brings peace-of-mind. I saw a bag of cheaper rice from Georgia in the market the other day and was like "Nooooo.... I don't think so." Who knows what arsenic/crap is in that stuff?

I would be tied up in knots worrying about cancer or toxic poisoning if we lived in some unregulated s--thole like Texas or Kansas where who knows what's in your water, air, or food!

Also, when we send our kids to school, we don't have to worry about asbestos, or the school collapsing in an earthquake like in China, because of the laws requiring retrofits.

What about the state could be improved?

Regulating CO2 is silly. Nobody else is going to do it, so we shouldn't hobble our own economy. Most of our coastal areas are high above sea level and we don't get Hurricanes. Those f--kwads in Florida are doomed, and they don't regulate, so why should we try to save those idiots from themselves?

We should put more money into schools and infrastructure to attract wealthy foreigners. It's great having poor illegals to do all the unskilled labor for peanuts, but we could always use more Chinese millionaires and their kids to sell stuff to / soak for the cash they're stealing from their home countries to come here and live in free, sunny, CA.

Honestly, though, the best part of CA can't be improved upon; we are geographically blessed with a Med. climate that EVERYONE wants without being broke-azz poor like the countries bordering the Med. Also awesome surf, skiing, and natural beauty combo that you can't find anywhere else. That's going to keep the state rich and successful pretty much forever, as those facts are immutable. Smart rich people want to live where it's nice. It's nice here. Game over.

[Mr5150]

Originally Posted by It is 57 below zero

This thread is not meant to be a rant. It's mostly just about opinions of how you guys feel about living there. What grade would give the state's living quality, from A through F?




How do you deal with the high cost of living there?

Do you feel safe in the area where you live (in terms of crime)

How do you feel about the weather?

Do you have issues with dealing with traffic and overcrowding all the time?

Is it hard dealing with the heavily limited supply of water from the drought?

Do you ever feel as though most of the laws are very strict? (if you ever had any mistakes with the law)



What about the state could be improved?

Your posting history suggests another rant.

Consider that if a place is not that great it won't be expensive. Less than 2% of CA suffers from being crowded and bad traffic. Probley a lower percentage than the fair state of Illinois. Been there. I live in CA and while the weather is far superior to Illinois, traffic, crime and crowding does not exist in the vast majority of CA. I don't live on the 2% of the surface area of CA. Expensive? Sure, if you live in LA, San Diego or the SF Bay Area live is desirable and expensive.

Just saying a few facts. My wife and neighbor tell me you could not pay them enough to move back to Illinois. Same for my brother in law

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by It is 57 below zero

This thread is not meant to be a rant. It's mostly just about opinions of how you guys feel about living there. What grade would give the state's living quality, from A through F?
How do you deal with the high cost of living there?
Do you feel safe in the area where you live (in terms of crime)
How do you feel about the weather?
Do you have issues with dealing with traffic and overcrowding all the time?
Is it hard dealing with the heavily limited supply of water from the drought?
Do you ever feel as though most of the laws are very strict? (if you ever had any mistakes with the law)
What about the state could be improved?

Not meant to be a rant? I'm sorry but your history suggests quite the opposite.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Answering this I tried to step out of any biases I have as native with an upper middle class background who's done fair to midland in tech and owns a home. I tried to put myself in the shoes of a Millennial from a lower middle class to middle class background with some student debt and who is not any sort of tech superstar.

Based on that, I deemed the Golden State a C student.

[It is 57 below zero]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

Not meant to be a rant? I'm sorry but your history suggests quite the opposite.

What did I say on this particular post that suggested any hate?

In most of my other posts, I just said that it takes a lot to live there and be comfortable. I never meant to suggest any hate, and I didn't say I disliked the state, or that it was bad; overall, I just think that most people there find themselves dealing with a lot of stress.

Here, I just want to know how others feel about living there and dealing with it on here. This thread is only intended to be a poll about experience living there.