HUGE uprise of CA natives here in Indiana (Los Angeles, Oakland: transplants, rent)

[jc76]

Here in our boring rust belt we are seeing a pretty high number of CA transplants lately. My town (Elkhart) is know for having one of the worst unemployment rates in the U.S. currently and all our factories shutting down, but it seems still more CA folks are settling here. Might be our 4 bedroom homes on 2 acres being sold for 75K. Not sure really. I guess if you owned a home in CA you could sell and live like a king here, but still, your in Indiana and it's pretty lame, boring, and dull here. I guess I'm posting this to get some insight on why many of you are moving HERE of all places. It's my goal to get OUT of here and get to California.
When I visit my friends in Los Angeles it's mega depressing coming back to this abyss, how would the California natives be able to adjust to such a drab and drastic change, not to mention the 6 months of cold and gloom? Curious is all.

[Quatermass]

How old are you? Seriously, I want to know.

[David Aguilar]

Originally Posted by jc76

Here in our boring rust belt we are seeing a pretty high number of CA transplants lately. My town (Elkhart) is know for having one of the worst unemployment rates in the U.S. currently and all our factories shutting down, but it seems still more CA folks are settling here. Might be our 4 bedroom homes on 2 acres being sold for 75K. Not sure really. I guess if you owned a home in CA you could sell and live like a king here, but still, your in Indiana and it's pretty lame, boring, and dull here. I guess I'm posting this to get some insight on why many of you are moving HERE of all places. It's my goal to get OUT of here and get to California.
When I visit my friends in Los Angeles it's mega depressing coming back to this abyss, how would the California natives be able to adjust to such a drab and drastic change, not to mention the 6 months of cold and gloom? Curious is all.

First off, exactly how many CA transplants have you met lately? I'm not so sure that Elkhart is becoming the next Denver, Phoenix or Coeur d'Alene.

California is a big state, with diverse people with different lifestyles and backgrounds. Not all CA'ians have a nice house that they can sell and live richly off the equity in a place like Indiana.

Those of us (I, formerly) who fall into the group of CA'ians that will never be able to afford a house, that will never have a ten minute commute to a good, well-paying job, those of us that whine when the temperature reaches 80F, those of us that don't see the point in working our butts off for a small house an hour away from work in a questionable neighborhood, just might be turned on by a place like Elkhart, IN.

High unemployment rate. CA has that, especially away from the coastal counties, some not too far behind Elkhart.

Think about it, you only need ONE job. Not five, six, or twenty, one. One. For instance, if the unemployment rate is 18.9%, that means 81.1% of people that want jobs, have one. That's looking at the glass half-full IMO.

Who cares if life in Elkhart is boring, life can be boring in Hollywood, or at the beach. Life in CA is boring because most of us spend/t so much time working and don't have the time/money to enjoy much of what CA has to offer. Heck, Elkhart is about two hours from Chicago, no? That'd be good enough for me.

As for the cold, not all of us like heat. Those of us without $$$ can't afford to live where it is always 70F and mostly sunny. Try 90's-100s. I love the snow/cold, and personally love living in it, as do some others.

I would live in Elkhart, IN. I would buy one of those $75K houses and try my darnedest to get a job at Taco Bell. Or McDonalds. (Work with me here) I would work 6-8 hours a day and have a ten minute commute. I'd have time to play video games, watch TV, and spend time with my family. Most urban/suburban CA'ians don't have that kind of quality-of-life. Most urban/suburban CA'ians are too stressed about money, work, commuting, and most of all, being cool, or being cooler than people they know, even if they aren't willing to admit it.

That CA life wasn't for me, so I did my darndest to leave. I didn't want that for me or my (future) family. So I moved to Denver, and found a watered-down version of CA, but eventually found a good life that I could afford. I'm in Spokane, WA now, and am getting closer to that Elkhart-style life I was dreaming about above. I rent a big, cheap house with a view, I have time to enjoy life, and get paid (well) to drive around the beautiful Pacific Northwest, thanks to my initial CA escape to Denver.

In conclusion, CA isn't all it's cracked up to be. You still have to work and pay bills, plus deal with traffic and outrageous cost of-living. You can work and pay bills anywhere, why deal with the extra crap if you don't have to? There are some people that do well in CA, and I say more power to them. Those of us from more humble backgrounds, that don't ask for much, might do better in a place like Elkhart.

I hope I've answered at least some of your questions.

[Snort]

The secret's out! While many from the midwest and the east do their "California dreaming", we here in CA muse non-stop of the wavy cornfields of Indiana. We just get all orgasmic about Iowa too. The names lend a certain mystique as well. Ah, Elkhart, ooh, Ottumwa....how it flows off the tongue. The weather is a real plus too!

[Fontucky]

The state motto says it all:

INDIANA, ONLY SLIGHTLY LESS BORING THAN IOWA

[Quatermass]

Originally Posted by Snort

The secret's out! While many from the midwest and the east do their "California dreaming", we here in CA muse non-stop of the wavy cornfields of Indiana. We just get all orgasmic about Iowa too. The names lend a certain mystique as well. Ah, Elkhart, ooh, Ottumwa....how it flows off the tongue. The weather is a real plus too!

You know, people like you are the reason California's reputation is getting worse all the time. The attitude will be even less warranted, and more obnoxious, when the federal bailout of this insolvent state comes and people from Indiana and Iowa are paying to subsidize our asses. It amuses me to no end to see the shocked and threatened Californian ego react whenever it encounters people who've sampled the state and decided they don't need it.

All this talk about Indiana has me dreaming too.... of small towns, open fields, and quieter life. (Things I can't find anywhere in the vast, ugly swath of concrete that makes up the L.A. metro area.) One side of my family comes from Indiana. I've been there a few times, and it is beautiful. The endless fields, the leaves in autumn.... If money weren't an issue, I could see myself living in a tiny, charming place like Greentown, IN. I have a soft spot for Kokomo, too; it's seen better days, but then so has southern California.

To the OP: The reason I asked your age is that most younger people don't appreciate things like this. Posts from twentysomethings with stars in their eyes about living in "Cali" are a dime-a-dozen on City-Data; being where the action is, where the parties and people are, are all that's important. When the check comes, however, the price is very high, in many ways, and for many, the older one gets, the less appealing the California "lifestyle" -- at least, the one America's been sold for all these decades; and listen to David Aguilar when he tells you the reality of life in CA is not that bright and shiny -- becomes, and the better places like the Midwest start to look. I have an aunt who recently left southern CA after sixty years for Gulf Shores, Alabama. She was fed up with the strain of living here and she loves it over there.

By all means, experience California if you're dead-set on it and can possibly afford it; there is much wonder and beauty here. But there are many Californians who could stand to broaden their horizons a little, and who might find the trail of wonder and beauty bursts through the borders of the state and finds its way into every corner of this vast country.... to places like rural Indiana.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

I'll move ANYWHERE in the U.S. if it can be guaranteed that illegal aliens will never invade the area. There are a lot of places that appeal more to me now than CA -- they're called red states.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Exitus Acta Probat

I'll move ANYWHERE in the U.S. if it can be guaranteed that illegal aliens will never invade the area. There are a lot of places that appeal more to me now than CA -- they're called red states.

So you'd move to red Texas (which is attracting more illegal aliens than CA) over blue Vermont (which has very, very few illegal immigrants)?

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Snort

The secret's out! While many from the midwest and the east do their "California dreaming", we here in CA muse non-stop of the wavy cornfields of Indiana.

Do you muse non-stop about Gary (which makes Oakland look like paradise) and Terre Haute as well?

We just get all orgasmic about Iowa too. The names lend a certain mystique as well. Ah, Elkhart, ooh, Ottumwa....how it flows off the tongue. The weather is a real plus too!

The only person who I know who moved from California to Indiana is a native of rural Indiana who moved back.

I wonder how his Latina wife is being treated in rural Indiana.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by jc76

Here in our boring rust belt we are seeing a pretty high number of CA transplants lately. My town (Elkhart) is know for having one of the worst unemployment rates in the U.S. currently and all our factories shutting down, but it seems still more CA folks are settling here. Might be our 4 bedroom homes on 2 acres being sold for 75K. Not sure really. I guess if you owned a home in CA you could sell and live like a king here, but still, your in Indiana and it's pretty lame, boring, and dull here. I guess I'm posting this to get some insight on why many of you are moving HERE of all places. It's my goal to get OUT of here and get to California.
When I visit my friends in Los Angeles it's mega depressing coming back to this abyss, how would the California natives be able to adjust to such a drab and drastic change, not to mention the 6 months of cold and gloom? Curious is all.

That's weird, because studies have shown the Midwest is the only region of the US that is still sending more of its people to California than it is recieving Californians.

I have a feeling many of those "Californians" are originally Indianans who moved out west.