Planning to move to the U.S.: San Diego vs. San Antonio. Opinions wanted (living, best)
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For quite a number of reasons the wife and I are planning to move in the upcoming months to the US, and after doing intensive research, I've narrowed my options to either San Diego, CA or San Antonio, TX.
I know those two cities are quite different in a number of meaningful aspects other than weather and population (around 1.3 m in each), but they both check the basic features (weather, size, both close to the Mexican Border, etc.). Basically I would really appreciate your opinions concerning quality of living for a no-kids, early 40's married couple not looking for jobs (we will be investing in new enterprises over there, plus our main source of income will remain abroad which means we already have a pretty decent income standard).
Please note that we have visited both cities and like them almost equally (I have a little bias towards San Diego because of the coastal scene and the seafood), plus we both have travelled extensively and are both college-educated. I've lived previously in AZ, as I obtained an LL.M. (go Wildcats!) there several years ago, and we're both quite familiarized with US culture and values.
We are most into cultural/foodie events, ease of travel within the city area/suburbs and friendliness of the people living there. Needles to say we would be foreigners and we fully understand the illegal immigration issues, thus we are also aware there are always people who is bigoted/ignorant and thus fearful of what they do not know, but we also think that being polite and having manners goes a long way of avoiding issues.
Furthermore, it is important to say horrible crime and violence is the main reason why we are moving, thus a safe community is one of our main concerns.
San Diego is the safest large city in California and one of the safest in america.
It should be safer than San antonio.
I think this comes down to your finances and lifestyle(condo or small house in SD vs large house in SA). Savings in SD vs SA savings
Best of luck.
For quite a number of reasons the wife and I are planning to move in the upcoming months to the US, and after doing intensive research, I've narrowed my options to either San Diego, CA or San Antonio, TX.
I know those two cities are quite different in a number of meaningful aspects other than weather and population (around 1.3 m in each), but they both check the basic features (weather, size, both close to the Mexican Border, etc.). Basically I would really appreciate your opinions concerning quality of living for a no-kids, early 40's married couple not looking for jobs (we will be investing in new enterprises over there, plus our main source of income will remain abroad which means we already have a pretty decent income standard).
Please note that we have visited both cities and like them almost equally (I have a little bias towards San Diego because of the coastal scene and the seafood), plus we both have travelled extensively and are both college-educated. I've lived previously in AZ, as I obtained an LL.M. (go Wildcats!) there several years ago, and we're both quite familiarized with US culture and values.
We are most into cultural/foodie events, ease of travel within the city area/suburbs and friendliness of the people living there. Needles to say we would be foreigners and we fully understand the illegal immigration issues, thus we are also aware there are always people who is bigoted/ignorant and thus fearful of what they do not know, but we also think that being polite and having manners goes a long way of avoiding issues.
Furthermore, it is important to say horrible crime and violence is the main reason why we are moving, thus a safe community is one of our main concerns.
We appreciate your comments.
A couple things to note first. Even on weather and population, there is a notable difference. Keep in mind that at the MSA level, San Diego has 3.338 Million people compared with San Antonio having 2.195 Million. That isn't even accounting for the difference in number of visitors (I would at least assume San Diego gets more, being right next to LA and being on the coast), nor the fact that it basically shares an international area metro with Tijuana, pushing it up to being nearly 5 million people, the 4th largest bi-national conurbation in the world. Of course, Austin is close enough to be somewhat connected with San Antonio for day trips, hypercommuting and what have you (about 1.25 hours), but that is further out, and smaller than Tijuana-San Diego still over a wider area.
San Diego is a much more urban place in terms of the built environment, etc. it has a metro system, which I'm not sure about in San Antonio or not. To put in real terms, San Antonio has around 6,000 people living in neighborhoods where WalkScore exceeds 80 (admittedly, I remember the riverwalk being really nice and walkable, at least, so this might be a little unfair). But, by comparison, San Diego has roughly 140,000 living in similar neighborhoods... so do with that what you will in terms of interesting/walkable historic areas.
Weather is also a vast difference. You may have spent time in both, but I'm not sure if you have spent time in SD in the summer yet or not. SD remains within the high temp range of 65-76 on average year round.. exceedingly pleasant. San Antonio on the other hand is probably similar in winter to SD (though slightly cooler on avg and perhaps with more cold spells), but then in summer it has what could probably at least be considered 4.5-5.5 months a year where it could definitely be considered uncomfortably hot, with daytime heat indexes regularly exceeding 100*.
The other things, you've visited both, so you probably have an idea of both at least to some degree. I think you'd generally be fine on everything else in both, including safety. Just know that San Antonio is more suburb oriented and hot as a whole than San Diego is. I think San Diego would be viewed as more desirable by many overall, that being said, you will also be paying a lot more for that, so in that sense, San Antonio may be more livable and you may get better comparative value there.
If I could afford to live in both, there's no way I'd ever choose San Antonio. The COL is literally the only advantage it has over San Diego.
There's also its history and central location/proximity to the East, which is part of why I personally prefer it. But those don't seem to be important factors for them.
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