For those from California (real estate, houses, neighborhood)

[ajzjmsmom]

How does the cost of living in the San Diego area compare to the cost of living in NOVA? I was looking at OPM salaries at our base salaries and the difference in a 14-2 in SD and a 14-2 in NOVA is only $930 a year. I always hear how expensive CA is but is DC that much cheaper? I know the San Jose, San Francisco area has a substanially higher base pay. My husband always says we can't afford to live in the San Diego area but it that's the case we can't afford to live in the NOVA area either. Just looking for some input. I know from watching the news that gas is alot higher and I am assuming then that goods are higher too.

[EuroExpat]

It all depends WHERE you live, in what kind of a house and which neighborhood. I find it much cheaper here than i.e. Silicon Valley.

[surfs1st]

From my research it's roughly the same, but VERY dependent upon where you choose to live. Really all your gaining by moving to the D.C. area is seasons which are highly over rated.

[mdcrim]

A 14-2 here is $101301. Depending on your family situation (are you planning on working, how many kids, savings, etc), you could be fine in this area. In my opinion (never lived in San Diego but travel there frequently), you get more bang for your buck in the DC area for housing. Good luck!

FYI-gas is "much" cheaper here than in SD-it is running about $4 per gallon here. I was in SD late June and it was $4.80 +/- there.

[HereinVA]

We moved to Prince William County from the San Diego area about 2 years ago.

-Property taxes seem higher here (in Northern VA)-in some cases. In San Diego, property taxes are not re-assesed every year like they are here. So since we bought our San Diego house back in the 90's when everything was fairly cheap, our taxes didn't go up much even though our property value more than quadrupled!!! It was quite a shock to come to VA and pay nearly 4 times as much in property tax on a house of similar value!

-Houses are smaller, and more expensive there. Our house in the San Diego area was a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, approx. 1800 sqf single story home. For just $10,000 more here, we were able to buy something twice as big, in a MUCH better neighborhood. Of course, this was 2 years ago, and property in both San Diego and Northern VA have significantly declined since then. I've been keeping an eye on real estate in my old neighborhood, and it seems like both areas are decreasing at about the same rate.

-gas is more expensive there. We were just there on vacation a few weeks ago, and they were about 30-50 cents more per gallon than out here

-utlities such as gas and electric will most likely cost you less there--the weather is more temperate and consistent so you won't have to use your AC and heat as much

-Your water bill will likely be a lot higher in CA, mostly from watering your lawn

-Public schools are better here, in general. Depending on where you live there, you may need to consider private school for your kids, which will be an added expense.


This has been our experience, your mileage may vary