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I've lived in California (a state ruled by short-sighted populist politics), and in a state ruled almost completely by open-market economics -- Nebraska. There is no question whatsoever that personal and financial betterment, as well as the ability to live comfortably, was more easily attained in the latter; but of course, that goal is completely out-of-sync with the "trendy" or "bi-coastal" mentality peddled by the media.
So it all boils down to a matter of personal desires; Omaha isn't everybody's kind of town but it worked for me.
This drove me nuts with my roommate when I was living in LA. He said he had no desire to visit Chicago because it wasn't on the coast. I asked him to tell me why being located next to an ocean mattered and he went crickets, lol.
So, just came back from another visit to California, although this time it was Southern California, which I haven't been to in a long time. Some things I noticed in LA:
Allergies are so much better than in DFW. They were basically nonexistent-even in San Francisco, I have some reaction.
Public transportation is, as everyone knows, miles better than in DFW, but I still don't consider it very nice. A couple of weird things I noticed is that it seems even more run down than DART and, also unlike DART, you cannot buy a ticket on your phone, which just seems odd. Also, it just isn't convenient to get around Los Angeles. In LA, I went back and forth between using PT and Uber and Lyft, and I found myself wanting the other every time. Whenever I was in a car, I was annoyed by the massive traffic but every time I want riding a bus or the subway, I was wishing for the freedom of going anywhere with a car. I would have rented a car but then it seems impossible to find parking anyhow. Getting around is a headache.
LA has a very visible homeless population which, compared to most other cities I have been to, are more aggressive about panhandling. I won't really blame this on LA, I'm sure the warm weather is a draw for homeless people from around the country, but it was still a common annoyance.
Weather isn't as great as I had expected. I understand that it is end of Summer, but it was still too hot and too sunny for me. Don't get me wrong, DFW is still much worse when it comes to heat, but LA is, in my opinion, much worse than the Bay Area and Seattle for weather. One thing I really did like about the weather was that the city seemed cloudy every morning, so I didn't need my sunglasses for a large chunk of the day.
I'm going to guess that LA has a massive problem with people using restrooms at stores in which they make no purchases because so many stores required keys or passwords for their restrooms while many others had centrally placed signs saying "Restrooms for Customers Only." I'm not one to use a restroom at an establishment unless I make a purchase, so no big deal, but what really bothered me was the number of restaurants that had NO restrooms at all. Like, seriously? In Texas, restrooms seem to be requirements for any store that sells food and has indoor seating, regardless of how small it is, but California allows businesses to be exempt if they are "too small." I'm just happy that restaurants still offered free water.
Things are more expensive, and I don't just mean housing-although I do wonder how workers are able to even live in Los Angeles after looking up some prices for tiny studio apartments. Oil, and Uber/Lyft as a consequence, was more expensive, as was restaurants for similar quality as in DFW and even just groceries-with the exception of soju. Soju and, if I remembered prices correctly, public transportation was much more affordable in LA.
Service is meh. I would think service in a city with such a large tourist industry would be great but the workers, as a whole, were sort of rude and seemed to not care at all about their jobs. People just seemed less happy, overall. The people were, however, fitter than the people in DFW. I wouldn't exactly call LA a fit city like Seattle or Denver but there is a noticeable difference from most of Texas.
Diversity was a thing, but I didn't feel very out of place. In terms of the ratio of Non-Hispanic Whites to Blacks to Hispanics to Asians on the streets, LA didn't different from DFW, or at least the northern part of DFW that I regularly spend my time. Though, since the streets were so much busier than in DFW, which I consider a good thing for LA, there was more of an opportunity to see that diversity everywhere.
So, just came back from another visit to California, although this time it was Southern California, which I haven't been to in a long time. Some things I noticed in LA:
Allergies are so much better than in DFW. They were basically nonexistent-even in San Francisco, I have some reaction.
Public transportation is, as everyone knows, miles better than in DFW, but I still don't consider it very nice. A couple of weird things I noticed is that it seems even more run down than DART and, also unlike DART, you cannot buy a ticket on your phone, which just seems odd. Also, it just isn't convenient to get around Los Angeles. In LA, I went back and forth between using PT and Uber and Lyft, and I found myself wanting the other every time. Whenever I was in a car, I was annoyed by the massive traffic but every time I want riding a bus or the subway, I was wishing for the freedom of going anywhere with a car. I would have rented a car but then it seems impossible to find parking anyhow. Getting around is a headache.
LA has a very visible homeless population which, compared to most other cities I have been to, are more aggressive about panhandling. I won't really blame this on LA, I'm sure the warm weather is a draw for homeless people from around the country, but it was still a common annoyance.
Weather isn't as great as I had expected. I understand that it is end of Summer, but it was still too hot and too sunny for me. Don't get me wrong, DFW is still much worse when it comes to heat, but LA is, in my opinion, much worse than the Bay Area and Seattle for weather. One thing I really did like about the weather was that the city seemed cloudy every morning, so I didn't need my sunglasses for a large chunk of the day.
I'm going to guess that LA has a massive problem with people using restrooms at stores in which they make no purchases because so many stores required keys or passwords for their restrooms while many others had centrally placed signs saying "Restrooms for Customers Only." I'm not one to use a restroom at an establishment unless I make a purchase, so no big deal, but what really bothered me was the number of restaurants that had NO restrooms at all. Like, seriously? In Texas, restrooms seem to be requirements for any store that sells food and has indoor seating, regardless of how small it is, but California allows businesses to be exempt if they are "too small." I'm just happy that restaurants still offered free water.
Things are more expensive, and I don't just mean housing-although I do wonder how workers are able to even live in Los Angeles after looking up some prices for tiny studio apartments. Oil, and Uber/Lyft as a consequence, was more expensive, as was restaurants for similar quality as in DFW and even just groceries-with the exception of soju. Soju and, if I remembered prices correctly, public transportation was much more affordable in LA.
Service is meh. I would think service in a city with such a large tourist industry would be great but the workers, as a whole, were sort of rude and seemed to not care at all about their jobs. People just seemed less happy, overall. The people were, however, fitter than the people in DFW. I wouldn't exactly call LA a fit city like Seattle or Denver but there is a noticeable difference from most of Texas.
Diversity was a thing, but I didn't feel very out of place. In terms of the ratio of Non-Hispanic Whites to Blacks to Hispanics to Asians on the streets, LA didn't different from DFW, or at least the northern part of DFW that I regularly spend my time. Though, since the streets were so much busier than in DFW, which I consider a good thing for LA, there was more of an opportunity to see that diversity everywhere.
You're only scratching the surface. As someone who lived in The LAnd of Snakes for 8 months, here's what I observed:
Horrific car traffic? Check.
Horrific sprawl? Check.
Horrific air quality? Check.
No foot traffic/pedestrian culture? Check.
A competitive and cutthroat culture ("crabs in a bucket mentality")? Check.
Tribal/insular social life? Check.
A pathetic 2 AM closing time? Check.
Full of fake, slimy, immoral people (LAnd of Snakes, as J. Cole would put it)? Check.
Flakiest women of any city in North America? Check.
Bad ratios? Check.
Having to wake up at 9 AM to watch sports games? Check.
Highest poverty rate of any of the 25 largest metro areas? Check.
Hey, I love to visit California, both on biz and for fun. But living there as it currently exists? No.
LA is a hot mess. San Francisco/San Jose is hideously expensive. The inland cities have some of the country's worst unemployment rates. At some point, you have to look beyond the beautiful landscape and fine weather. When someone living off the average schoolteacher's salary cannot afford 85% of the homes in the state, then that speaks to some long-term structural problems with the place.
To me, the best state in the Union at this moment in terms of balancing opportunity and quality of life would be either Washington or North Carolina.
This drove me nuts with my roommate when I was living in LA. He said he had no desire to visit Chicago because it wasn't on the coast. I asked him to tell me why being located next to an ocean mattered and he went crickets, lol.
Funny how stereotypes affect the way people view things without trying them out first. I am a native Orange County guy who relocated eventually to Chicago and really like a lot of what it has as a vibrant city, and think that visiting as a tourist would be great b/c of the number of things that it has to offer.
Overall, I think California is the best state in the Union for the diversity of geography, having three large cities ( and a million in between ) having the highest mountain and the lowest point in the 49 states, and having spectacular and varied things to do.
I am not crazy about LA ( too much concrete, some parts ugly ) but like most coastal areas. A state with almost 40 million, and a huge presence on the west coast that equals 10 states on the east coast is something to be contended with. Cost of housing aside, there is a lot to like.
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Probably not. Housing costs (probably the biggest downside), traffic, the worst smog and some of the worst small particle air quality in the nation, and moderate risk of catastrophic disaster (earthquake/wildfire) are some of the drawbacks for California. It does have two world class cities (LA, SF), numerous national cities (SD, Oakland, SJ, Sac, LB, Berkeley), stunningly beautiful topography, national parks, Hollywood, all the coolness of SF, and the world-renowned wine country. It is easily, and for good reason, the biggest state for tourism in the nation and always will be. It easily has more of an impact on American culture than any other state. Given the drawbacks though, despite the massively unmatched huge advantages, I would still definitely rank CA somewhere in my top 10.
Taking into consideration the cost of living and general standard of life. If it is not, then which state/s would you consider better?
In my opinion, California is not the best state in the USA. California has the most diversity of people and geography, but it doesn't have the best of very much. For example, California has great surf, but Hawaii has better surf. California has great deserts, but Arizona has a better desert. California has great forests, but Oregon has better forests. California has great mountains, but Colorado has better mountains. Los Angeles is a great city, but New York is a better city. Etc. I personally would rather live in a place that has the best of what I really love, rather than a little bit of everything but of medium quality. California is also very crowded and expensive. It is also too large to really get to enjoy all of it easily. If you live in San Diego, it is a little tough to enjoy wineries Napa too often.
I would rank California in my top 5 states, but not number 1. I prefer Hawaii and Florida for the things that I love, which are swimming, kayaking, boating, stand-up paddling, kite surfing, fishing etc. I also prefer South Carolina and Georgia in some ways to California.
I don't like California. Like, it really sucked for me. Been to LA, SD, and SF and would take the northeast any day. Northern CA seems to forever be on fire too, and here we said the Bronx is burning!
I think I like MA the most, Boston and its suburbs are very charming. A cute overall package. I prefer NYC though as far as US cities go for reasons that QOL is bogus and is really tailored to each persons individual interests, needs, and wants.
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