Orange County versus San Diego (Santa Ana, Anaheim: land, rated, best)

[windnsea00]

I prefer the urban neighborhoods SD has to offer for a 20-30 something year old. SD also feels more happening overall but in the end I would pick LA over both areas for that matter.

[JoshRall]

Orange County:

Better roads (freeways and street roads)
SAFE
Friendlier people
More trees
More palm trees
Closer to LA (beats all other reasons!)

[pterra]

I have also lived in both counties. San Diego has more of a life to the city. OC is getting crowded now and traffic is bad but i would still perfer to live in San Clemente or Newport Beach.

[Radical347]

It's kind of a draw. The differences aren't huge.

OC:
More traffic, but better roads.
More conservative--but SD is not terribly liberal.
A little more uppity, but not much.
Considerably more fake, but SD has these too.
Newer.
Very decentralized, although SD is not terribly urban.

[expatCA]

Lived in both,

OC over SD and both over LA (lived there too)

[sdlife619]

Being born in SD, and having lived in OC (Buena Park) for part of my childhood, and now living in SD for pretty much the last 16 years or so, it's hard to pick one.

OC feels much more lively, there's more things going on, more people out and about and since it's right next to LA, you get all of LA's traffic and people mixed into OC.

You guys have more shopping options, better food, more variety of places to eat.

It feels like a bigger metro than SD.

The freeways in OC are larger and have more lanes, are better maintained, there's also more businesses off to the sides of the freeway compared to SD which depending on where you live in SD, it can feel like you're in middle of nowhere.. It just feels more busy than down here.

I prefer North OC vs South OC, the newer OC is superficial, fake and all about who can show off their wealth the most. It's too cookie cutter and bland. I simply hate South OC.

North OC is older, more original and middle class, which is similar to how San Diego is.

San Diego is also wealthy and many people here show off that wealth, so it's hard to say which county is more snobby, but I would say it's about equal.

OC does feel newer than SD, well that makes sense since San Diego is an older city so not everything is looks as squeaky clean like certain OC cities. They're many places in SD that are run down and trashy.

San Diego is more laid back.


What makes SD more unique though, is that we're a real city, is that we have our dense urban neighborhoods with their own character, unlike OC which is one huge compact suburb. We have our downtown, our uptown our Mid-City area's, our South East SD ghetto's, our rich neighborhoods, and middle class neighborhoods. It feels very different depending on what part of San Diego you're at, and that's what I like better compared to OC.

OC cities feel the same, it doesn't look any different going from Cerrito's to La Palma, to Buena Park, to Fullerton etc..

It's interesting though because I think Chula Vista in San Diego feels very much like parts of OC and LA, while National City is the LA of San Diego.

The South Bay in SD County is older, therefore it feels very much like parts of LA, while North County is much more suburban, newer and rich. Not South OC levels of rich, but close. Del Mar is South OC wealthy.

The job market is far better in OC. SD does rely too heavily on the Military, some Bio Tech and low paying tourism jobs, which is limiting, but OC has more to offer to people with careers. Being so close to LA, you also have that market to take advantage of.

I think diversity wise, OC is more diverse than SD. I see White People (No offense) everywhere all over SD all the time, but in OC is much more balanced especially with Asians and Hispanics.

I remember when living in Buena Park, our neighbors were a mixture of Indians, Asians, Whites, Mexicans, Blacks, and other Middle Easterners. My elementary school was very diverse, I had all kinds of different friends which was great. So Ethnic diversity is slightly better in OC, not too familiar about South OC, but I do remember seeing a lot of Asian's down there.

Hope this helps

[youngmoney]

I have lived in both. Here are my observations:

San Diego
-----
-More Down to earth
-Less money (although parts of North County have a lot)
-More Rural living Areas (Jamul, Ramona, Bonsall)
-More military presence
-More people from Texas and the South (Not scientific but based on my opinion)
-Pretty religious (Hispanics are mostly Catholic, and whites are non-denomonational- mega churches like the Rock)
-Voted for Bush twice.. Obama won narrowly in 08. County went red for most elections in '10.
Orange County
-----------------
-A little bit more Conservative (politically and with a basis of influence on career and success) has gone red for pretty much every election for president and senators since the 1970's.
-A little more diverse particularly in North County(SD doesn't have as many Asians or other races)
-On average smaller lot sizes (due to more master-planned areas and more recent developments)
-Better schools overall
-A bit higher incomes by medium HHI
-A little more traffic than SD (although still much better than LA)
-Less of a distinction made between cities/Seems to flow together more.
-Less redneck than San Diego (particularly the East County of San Diego). OC is more of a wealthy, BMW sedan than a lifted pick up truck.


I like both. I think OC is better overall for a family (although there are some good spots in San Diego). San Diego might be better for a younger person or someone who prefers a farm/acreage.

[windnsea00]

Originally Posted by youngmoney

-A little more diverse particularly in North County(SD doesn't have as many Asians or other races)

They really are rather similar with the noticeable differences being a larger Asian population in OC and a larger black population in SD.


OC:

White persons, percent, 2011 (a) 74.9%
Black persons, percent, 2011 (a) 2.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2011 (a) 1.1%
Asian persons, percent, 2011 (a) 18.4%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander persons, percent, 2011 (a) 0.4%
Persons reporting two or more races, percent, 2011 3.1%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino Origin, percent, 2011 (b) 34.1%

SD:

White persons, percent, 2011 (a) 77.0%
Black persons, percent, 2011 (a) 5.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2011 (a) 1.4%
Asian persons, percent, 2011 (a) 11.4%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander persons, percent, 2011 (a) 0.6%
Persons reporting two or more races, percent, 2011 4.1%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino Origin, percent, 2011 (b) 32.5%

[sdlife619]

Also OC feels better intergraded and is very well laid out compared to SD because they're hardly any mountains in OC, so they are able to implement a grid system all over OC unlike in San Diego where you HAVE to hop on the freeways to get to many places in the county because of all of our Canyons and Mesas.

OC to me has more diversity I believe than what the stats are saying. Many Indians and YES a Ton of Asian people live in OC much more than SD.

SD has rural parts, while OC doesn't.

I agree, SD is more Redneck than OC that is for sure, East County is like living in parts of Texas, you'd swear by it. El Cajon, Santee, Lakeside, Ramona, Campo, Alpine are peffect examples of the "South" feel in SD.

OC is more of a Wealthy Republican stronghold, while SD is a mixture of both Rich and Redneck Republican Stronghold due to our heavy military presence bringing a lot of Southeners to SD from states like Georgia, Texas, Mississippi etc..

[jwblue]

People are much more friendly in OC.