How many are thinking of leaving California? (San Jose, San Francisco: unemployment, universities)

[bbluth]

I agree with humanoid--And where else can you enjoy this weather all year! I too was born in LA and grew up in LA County. Left the state once for 3 years, and I'll never leave again.

Originally Posted by Humanoid

I was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Southern California (mainly LA and Ventura county) and am pretty much committed to living the state at this point despite the fact that all my family (and wife's family) are in the state.

I lived for a bit on the east coast while I went to graduate school and worked and some what recently moved back and totally regret it.

Some pros and cons I see to living in Southern California are:

pros:
- Very beautiful natural landscapes, etc
- A lot of diversity, you can get pretty much any food you want in Los Angeles.
- The people are generally pretty "chill", they don't get in your business etc.

cons:
- The cities are butt ugly. Its concrete from San Diego to Ventura with the same ugly architecture repeated again and again.
- Housing is far too expensive.
- High taxes
- And now...the job market is horrible.

What about you?

[gypsy77]

A person should ask himself, "How much time am I outside enjoying the weather?"

About 17 minutes per day during the week and about 45 minutes per day on weekends on average. Most people in SoCal aren't surfing, golfing and playing tennis everyday - even though the weather totally supports it.

What's the typical Southern California office worker doing on his lunch hour on a sunny 72 degree day in February? He's inside playing cards, going online, reading the newspaper, reading a book, hitting on the office assistants, etc. Just like the guy in Buffalo.

True, so true. The weather has been perfect here all week, and all I've done is work in an office with no windows, go to my car, go home, and spend the evening cleaning my house. Then I'll wake up tomorrow and do it all over again. I guess the weather would be much more important for people who are independently wealthly and can "play" all day. I can't, so what does it matter if it's cold or warm outside? Thanks for putting that into perspective! I will try to remember that when I'm cursing the 3rd month in a row of cold and snow! But I'll probably sitting in an office with no windows anyway!

[Huckleberry3911948]

sure i think about it but then i read the CDF posts on the current weather in chicago.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by gypsy77

I guess the weather would be much more important for people who are independently wealthly and can "play" all day.

Or if you have to work outside, construction, street repair, etc. If you have to work outdoors then SoCal or warm weather places are much more desirable.

[indigo2]

I grew up in MN and have been in CA for 23.5 years. Trapped is how i feel now. Rents are astronomical although mine is reasonable but I want a more modern apartment. My job is what's keeping me here. I am a much different person than I was even 5 years ago. If and when my job ends (I'm a contrator in IT) I will be traveling a bit checking out different states. WA, OR and possibly NC are on the short list. There is nothing really keeping me here. It may be the luck of the draw If i get a job offer somewhere as I have been looking for 3 years now. I left MN for a job and the weather.

[gypsy77]

Originally Posted by gypsy77
I guess the weather would be much more important for people who are independently wealthly and can "play" all day.


Or if you have to work outside, construction, street repair, etc. If you have to work outdoors then SoCal or warm weather places are much more desirable.

True. But if cost of living is low enough, some people who work construction take the harsh winter months off work. I know a few of them. But I know what you mean, having an outdoor job would really make weather a big issue. For me personally, from someone who works in an office environment, I'd much rather have a higher standard of living, than struggle to make ends meat on a sunny day. The "CA Dream" is turning out to more of a financial nightmare if you ask me. I was born and raised here and have a good job! I can't imagine what other people are having to go through. Cost of living in CA is off the charts. And unless you have a white collar job, wages here are still very low, compared to the cost of living. It jsut doesn't make sense. I'm in my 30's, married and have a 2 year old. My husband and I both work full-time, and live paycheck to paycheck and are barely getting by. There is something very wrong with this situation. I didn't realize you had to have a surgeon's salary to rent a small house in the Sacramento Foothills. This is getting ridiculous. Example: 3/1 house for rent in Rocklin, CA $1900/mo, tenant pays all utilities. Are you kidding me? I'm out of here!

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by gypsy77

True. But if cost of living is low enough, some people who work construction take the harsh winter months off work. I know a few of them. But I know what you mean, having an outdoor job would really make weather a big issue. For me personally, from someone who works in an office environment, I'd much rather have a higher standard of living, than struggle to make ends meat on a sunny day. The "CA Dream" is turning out to more of a financial nightmare if you ask me. I was born and raised here and have a good job! I can't imagine what other people are having to go through. Cost of living in CA is off the charts. And unless you have a white collar job, wages here are still very low, compared to the cost of living. It jsut doesn't make sense. I'm in my 30's, married and have a 2 year old. My husband and I both work full-time, and live paycheck to paycheck and are barely getting by. There is something very wrong with this situation. I didn't realize you had to have a surgeon's salary to rent a small house in the Sacramento Foothills. This is getting ridiculous. Example: 3/1 house for rent in Rocklin, CA $1900/mo, tenant pays all utilities. Are you kidding me? I'm out of here!

I hear ya. Remember when you were a kid and believed that if you got good grades, stayed in school, and went to college, you'd be able to have a nice life? My wife and I both did that and make enough between us to live quite well almost anywhere else in the country, yet here we are paying as much to rent an apartment as most people's mortgages are outside of California.

And the house in Rocklin you describe costs as much as a 2 bedroom apartment in a nicer part of Orange County. A similar house here would probably be $2500.

[Woof Woof Woof!]

I moved away from California because I couldn't afford it anymore. I just couldn't do it. I live on such a small income now as it is. Life ain't easy.

[Humanoid]

Originally Posted by sav858

Here is some data on Million Dollar Housing units: http://www.city-data.com/forum/gener...on-dollar.html

I said wealth - real estate, that is I'm not interested in real estate values because they are inflated in California. But, I also don't feel like trying to find the data, just thought I ask if you had it.

Originally Posted by sav858

While home prices in the Bay Area have fallen, many areas are holding up relatively well compared to SoCal prices.

Look at them again in a few years.

Originally Posted by sav858

Even though income and real estate prices may not be a complete measure of wealth its basically what most people use to measure it by region. And all those stats show the Bay Area and Northeast being at the top of the list.

Looking at income and real estate prices actually doesn't tell you much. Having a high income is just another way of saying you pay a lot of taxes. Most that own businesses are smart enough only to realize the income they need and reinvest the rest. Corporate taxes are lower than individual taxes, so you keep the money in the business. Even if you are a pass through entity, you can put the money in equipment (take a 179 deduction) or fund expansion. The price of real estate by itself doesn't tell you about wealth because until say stocks, bonds etc you can have a mortgage. Someone that "owns" a 2 million house but has a 1.7 million dollar mortgage isn't anymore wealthy than the guy that owns free and clear a house worth $300,000.

Originally Posted by sav858

That's why I don't get how you can harp on the Bay Area so much when its wealthier than SoCal whether you can admit that or not. The Bay Area politics can annoy me at time but it ranks up there on a lot of wealth and quality of life measurements.

I have never denied that the bay area is "wealthy" in some sense, whether its the most "wealthy" depends what you mean by wealth. But again my comments aren't so much about what the bay area has been in the past, its what its going to become.

Originally Posted by sav858

That why do you predict what is going to happen in the future with the Bay Area? You make these out there assumptions that don't seem to be based on anything more than your personal opinion or perception instead of facts, data, or reality.

No they are based on data and government policy. Less and less funding is going into the bay area and is going else where. The bay area still gets a lot of venture capital etc but not as much as it use to. The businesses that are located there (mostly created in the 70's and 80's) haven't built new facilities in the area in a long time. They are diversifying out of the area. Even Google is diversifying out of the area. Contrary to popular belief there are many other areas in the country that are "hot" in terms of technology and the research around such.

Government policy has gotten more and more destructive towards new business since the 70's. The name of the game now is to protect established order and established wealth.

As I said before, its very ironic that one of the most liberal areas is also one of the areas with one of the worst distributions of wealth. An order has been established and its being protected.

Originally Posted by sav858

What is the "FIRE" economy? I've never have heard of this term and am just curious to what it is.

FIRE = Finance, Insurance, Real estate. Basically the least productive sectors.

[Humanoid]

Originally Posted by ndfmnlf

Sheri posted a PDF of what a nurse in California makes. You dismissed that as dubious, yet you post your own "statistic" that the median salary is $70K. What makes you think you are any more believable than her? You are both anonymous posters on the internet.

Seriously, I don't even care. about this. But your comments here are just weird. The information isn't conflicting. I never said no single nurse makes $110k, I said that is much higher than what most nurses make. Sheri posted a pdf for a particular job. Clearly, not all nurses can get this inflated (what appears to be a government union) job. The median for nurses in the bay area is $70k, if someone doesn't believe me they can look it up just like I did.

Originally Posted by ndfmnlf

From what I understand from this thread, you are saying California is expensive for most people. That may be true, but Sheri is saying some people are able to afford it, and she cites herself as an example. Why should that statement ruffle your feathers so much? Why are you so scandalized when you are told that some people can in fact afford to live in California and have the requisite income to match?

It doesn't "ruffle my feathers" at all, I can afford California just fine. But this is not relevant to my point, whether "some people" can afford it isn't the issue. Its that you can't have a functioning society if the vast majority of people can't even afford a home or a decent life style. You can't have a functioning society without teachers, mechanics, small business (the ones not making 100k+ a year...and there is a lot). But all of these people currently can't afford a modest life style in the state. What are the small percentage that can afford it going to bus their kids to Nevada and take their car to Arizona to get fixed?

The only reason more of these people aren't gone is because 1.) Many purchased before 2000 when it was fairly affordable, 2.) They have gone into massive debt to afford to live here.

So, either one of two things will happen. California will become affordable again or it won't have a middle-class. It will be wealthy and poor (mostly illegals). Sounds like a wonderland.....

Originally Posted by ndfmnlf

You even went to the extent of questioning her truthfulness when what she said is easy enough to verify. RNs do make a lot of money in California. Even the $70K income you pooh poohed is just a median;

To repeat myself. I doubt it because of what she has said else where. I have been arguing with her about real estate for awhile here on city data. Also, if you doubt the number I gave, you can do just want I did. Go on the internet and look it up.

Anyhow, listing incomes over the internet is pointless. That is why I never bother stating what I make or how much I have. But so is arguing about it.