is california a good place to live witout any real family in the state and what are the best places to live (San Diego: best cities, apartment) - (CA) - City-Data Forum

naye20 · 01-25-2009, 08:56 PM

well im thinking about moving out there from the east coast with my child but im kind of scared of the earthquakes. i have a half sister out there and she told me they are not the bad but i guess i have to find out myself.is it really hard to find a good job or find a nice place to live without paying my life a way? and if you do think its a nice state to live at what part should i look at

killer2021 · 01-26-2009, 12:07 AM

Quote:

is it really hard to find a good job or find a nice place to live without paying my life a way?

Yes it is very difficult. Most government agencies related to cities and CA state government in a 100% hiring freeze. Unemployment here is amongst the 5th highest in the nation. Rents are still high, even though the economy basically collapsed. I think rents are the next thing to drop. Not as many people can afford to pay 1,500/month for a 1bedroom.

Bad time to move here. Only do it if you have lots and lots of money saved up.

Your biggest task though, will be to find a job that pays decent (like 40-50k at least). Once you get that I guess everything else will fall into place.

Charles · 01-26-2009, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by killer2021

Yes it is very difficult. Most government agencies related to cities and CA state government in a 100% hiring freeze. Unemployment here is amongst the 5th highest in the nation. Rents are still high, even though the economy basically collapsed. I think rents are the next thing to drop. Not as many people can afford to pay 1,500/month for a 1bedroom.

Bad time to move here. Only do it if you have lots and lots of money saved up.

Your biggest task though, will be to find a job that pays decent (like 40-50k at least). Once you get that I guess everything else will fall into place.

And if that isn't bad enough to discourage the original poster:

Southern California Overdue for a Big Quake (http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11544819 - broken link)

Desertrose34 · 01-26-2009, 01:02 PM

Killer2021

My hubby works for the city and has for the past 1.5 years. He was hired at 32 hours and is waiting for a ft position to open up. We also hear there is a hiring freeze. Any idea when that will change?

They are also waiting on raises. Any news on that? Thanx!

whereiscarmen · 02-09-2010, 11:52 AM

Pasadena! soooo nice

clongirl · 02-09-2010, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by naye20

well im thinking about moving out there from the east coast with my child but im kind of scared of the earthquakes. i have a half sister out there and she told me they are not the bad but i guess i have to find out myself.is it really hard to find a good job or find a nice place to live without paying my life a way? and if you do think its a nice state to live at what part should i look at

You move to where you can get a job FIRST. (It's quite hard to get a job here right now though). Earthquakes would be the least of your concerns at this stage.

lrmsd · 02-09-2010, 02:03 PM

There are beautiful areas of CA. Yes it is expensive (though that depends on wher eyou are coming from). San Diego is nice,as is the bay area.
I have lived here [sfo and san diego]for ten years total,and only experienced very minor earthquakes,perhaps one that i even noticed! in ten years.

I honestly don't think about it on a daily basis,anymore than people in iowa or kansas think about summer tornadoes all the time,or floridians about hurricanes. [people still live in and move to FLA w/the hurricane situation every year....]

Areas best to live will depend on your situation-what are your skills? what environment are you coming from/used to? what are you looking for in terms of lifestyle or climate?

I recommend visiting first,to get a feel for an area or two.
It's definitely NOT a place to move sight unseen,unless you have money saved up,as others have mentioned. And even then,you really need to know more about it than you will get from reading a forum on the internet. Do your homework extensively first,is my opinion.

nmnita · 02-09-2010, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by naye20

well im thinking about moving out there from the east coast with my child but im kind of scared of the earthquakes. i have a half sister out there and she told me they are not the bad but i guess i have to find out myself.is it really hard to find a good job or find a nice place to live without paying my life a way? and if you do think its a nice state to live at what part should i look at

How old are you, who will care for your child when you are working and what kind of background do you have? Are you employed right now, what do you consider a reasonable rent to pay? Are you thinking of a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment?

There are many wonderful and pretty places to live, but they may be out of your price range, not any one place is best...I would advise you to get your resume updated, show what you can offer a company and try to get a job before you move. Oh, be prepared to pay, many a couple hundred a week in child care, depending on how old your little one is..

Nita

Kibbiekat · 02-09-2010, 07:49 PM

Your questions are very general. California is very big and diverse. What kind of place do you want to live? near mountains, ocean, farming, desert? My experience is limited, but my first answer would have to be "no" it is not a good place to live without any family nearby. My answer is based only on having lived in Fresno where everyone seems to have lived there all their lives and all of their family is there too. As an adult I lived in 2 neighborhoods there and people were not very outgoing or neighborly. I now live in the Denver area and had more neighbors come over to say hi in a week than I had in 8 years in Fresno. People here are from all over. Many don't have family nearby, so people help each other out. The larger cities in CA might be different than what I described in Fresno, but I don't know what kind of area you are looking for.

fdff · 05-01-2010, 12:07 PM

Why does everybody look at the negatives of moving here. All this person wants to know are the best cities.. in LA county Silver Lake is nice, Pasadena, Long Beach (Belmont Shores or Bixby area), Redondo or Manhattan Beach, Culver City, Marina Del Ray, Venice, Santa Monica.. Those are all really nice areas in my opinion. I am from Northern Ca, from a town between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe and I moved to Long Beach. I like the city, but I'm downtown and its really not a good area. So Belmont Shores and Bixby Knolls would be a great area.. And its much cheaper than other beach cities. I have a 1200sq ft 1br for $900. I hope that was good info, sorry for all the negative people, theres a lot of them in So Cal (my statement there just proved the point haha). Just for the record, in my opinion I would live in Northern Ca. Santa Cruz, Mendicino, Sacramento, Tahoe, Mt. Shasta, San Francisco, Bodega Bay.. Sooo beautiful and less crowded, pretty affordable except for maybe SF and Santa Cruz..