Left or plan on leaving California, why? (Sacramento, Oakland: crime rate, pros and cons)

[sbn2008]

Moved to California for a month, left because I couldn't find a job. Drove back to Illinois the morning after someone was almost murdered outside of my apartment, which was in a "nicer part" of town

[Consider_Again]

I took a job in OC and have been renting for a few months getting a feel for SoCal. Even though we could afford to buy here, we are choosing not to. I honestly do not see the attraction; for equal money I would pick OC over Houston, but I would never choose SoCal over Denver-all other things being equal.

OC has lots of high tech/engineering jobs that pay higher than average salaries, hence why I am here. But after living the OC lifestyle for awhile, I see this isn’t working for me. I did not take the poll because more than one option applied and I could only choose one.

[Charles]

More are moving out of California than in - Los Angeles Times

[RangerDuke08]

Very interesting topic ... was at a bar the other night in Denver and bumped into 3 individuals who recently moved to Colorado from California. One of which stated he loved Colorado and didn't want to move back to California, partly because it was too expensive and partly because Colorado was more down to earth. Second individual said, she didn't know yet, she just moved here 3 months ago but would like to stay for good. Third individual was like WTF how can you guys stand this cold! Mind you it was below zero and he voiced that he wants to study and work in Colorado but once he makes the dough he will return to California, where he mentioned he adored the fast-paced lifestyle, the diversity, the beaches and beautiful women.

I myself grew up in Colorado and moved out to California for an education and the abundant opportunities. I'm not sure if you know but for every 100,000 Californians that move out to Colorado, 50,000 Coloradans move to California. Assuming the ratio of total population 40 million to 5 millions that's actually a greater influx to California. But I myself moved back as well and never looked back. It was well simply too expensive, though the wage is higher and there were more opportunities, there in result was less time to "live". Out here we enjoy the great outdoors as much as you do, but we actually get to go out and play everyday. I do miss the beach, I was a coast guard and went to UC-Santa Barbara to say the least and certainly miss the beautiful women left and right, but I'd give some to gain some. To me, well Colorado is increasingly following the trends of California and might as well become a colony of California in 20 years, but for now it's still very much Colorado.

[JustJulia]

We moved away because even with falling house prices, we couldn't afford a house in Lake Forest in the $400Ks or $500Ks. We have three children, so a little condo in Foothill Ranch wouldn't have worked for us. There were cheaper houses nearby, but they were in run-down neighborhoods. We liked living in Lake Forest because we have family there, but we just couldn't see ourselves making it there. We feel like we missed the boat. My husband was offered a promotion in Illinois, and we could afford to buy a comfortable, 4-bedroom house in Naperville, rated one of the best places to live in the U.S. It's nothing flashy--certainly not some 5000-square-foot Ladera Ranch monstrosity--but our neighborhood is beautiful and safe, and my kids go to some of the best schools in the country. We are happy here. The only thing we miss is our family.

[BennyPhoenix]

The new taxes that the state democrats are trying to sneak by should make quite a few people leave. For anyone who isn't aware of this you need to read the front page of today's LA times.
One item that everybody should be really pissed off about is that if you have ANY work done on your home and the bill is over $600 then YOU must withhold taxes and forward them to the state. So, if you have some plumbing repairs fo over that amount you must compute the tax and deduct it from what you give the plumber. Then you file the appropriate forms and mail them to the Franchise Tax Board with the money you withheld. The plumber must declare on his taxes the amount you paid him and the amount you withheld. If the amounts are different by only $1 you will get a letter from the Franchise Tax Board, the plumber will too. The letter is called a line item audit. If they dont like your explanation for the $1 difference then it will be escalated. All it will take to generate this audit is $1. That's how their computers work.

Yes. Many more people will be leaving.

[gsilver]

The proverbial 'straw that broke the camel's back' was losing my job.

Other major reasons are the sprawl and traffic, the population density, the costs of living (just about every place that I've looked at to rent within my price range has been a dump), a commute longer than I could handle, big crowds, wanting to own a place eventually, wanting to have open space being walkable, wanting an area to explore rather than just set trails, to get away from all of the giant "NO TRESPASSING", "NO PARKING. VIOLATORS WILL BE TOWED", "RED LIGHT VIOLATION MINIMUM FINE $271" signs, wanting a place that felt "real", where people actually live, and know eachother, and to have a good social network, wanting seasons, wanting a landscape instead of building in all directions, wanting clear air...

A big part of it is that I'm living in too large of a city. The other part is inherent to California. I was planning on moving away long before the job loss.

I'm going back to New Mexico.

I'm counting the days until the rent runs up as we speak.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by gsilver

losing my job, the sprawl and traffic, the population density, the costs of living (just about every place that I've looked at to rent within my price range has been a dump), a commute longer than I could handle, big crowds, wanting to own a place eventually, wanting to have open space being walkable, wanting an area to explore rather than just set trails, to get away from all of the giant "NO TRESPASSING", "NO PARKING. VIOLATORS WILL BE TOWED", "RED LIGHT VIOLATION MINIMUM FINE $271" signs, wanting a place that felt "real", where people actually live, and know eachother, and to have a good social network, wanting seasons, wanting a landscape instead of building in all directions, wanting clear air...

Ya but, you can ski in the morning and surf in the afternoon.

[sheri257]

Originally Posted by RangerDuke08

I'm not sure if you know but for every 100,000 Californians that move out to Colorado, 50,000 Coloradans move to California.

Not true. According to the Census Bureau, Colorado had a net migration of 8,000 people from 2000 to 2004. Meaning ... only 2,000 more people moved there than those who moved out each year.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p25-1135.pdf

So the numbers wouldn't be very high for Californians either.

[KaraG]

We left for many reasons:
- housing bubble was about to burst
- family members in housing related industries losing jobs
- environmentalists blocked needed roads for decades that would ease traffic & provide escape routes in fire danger areas (241 for example)
- high taxes
- bad climate for small business
- too many roadblocks for new businesses wanting to start up/build plants instead of encouraging businesses in times of job losses
- NIMBY attitude that delayed/prevented everything (not in my backyard)
- wildfires
- renters losing homes without warning when landlords got foreclosed on
- general prediction of horrifying future economy as home prices drop and homeowners can't tap their equity to continue their overspending while seeing growing job losses and the liberal legislature encouraging tax increases

That's all. We figured if the economy is going to be rough for a while, we could weather it out easier in a less expensive area that is friendly to business/jobs.