Biotech Scientist to San Diego (San Francisco, Corona: crime rate, day care, homes)

[nidhi76]

Hi,

I am a Scientist currently working in Cambridge,MA. Being an Asian from warm country, I am unable to appreciate the cold weathers and the four seasons. I have two kids who will be going to kindergarten next year and my husband is a firmware engineer.

We are considering San Diego due to its good weather and biotech opportunities. Few questions:

1. How is the cost of living compared to Boston?
2. What are good school districts to consider?
3. How is the crime rate?

We would be grateful if you can provide us with any information that we should be aware of before we take the huge leap.

[coaster12]

If I were in your shoes I'd consider other areas in the sunbelt. Texas or the south. They have warmer than Boston climate and superior living standards/schools compared with SD. I'm not in bio-tech, but I know a major push is underway in that area to drive the industry to those locations. There's so much more to offer over all in those places and many people are skipping CA and heading there.

[neutrino]

I can't give good answers your first 2 questions since I've never lived in Boston and don't have kids, but I'll attempt to answer your other questions.

The crime rate in San Diego is relatively low for a city of its size. Violent crimes are generally not common, but there's quite a bit of property crime - especially car thefts.

I'm originally from Texas, and I and moved to San Diego to seek opportunities in the biotech sector. Although there's a big push in the sun belt states to promote the biotechnology industry, I can think of no other place in the south can compete with San Diego in terms of number and diversity of biotechnology companies and research. Several of my colleagues have spent their entire career in San Diego.

The ailing economy has had a very negative effect on many biotech companies. It may be difficult to find a good job now (depending on your specialization, of course). I don't know how it compares to other cities w/ large a biotech presence.

Other biotech 'hotspots' you may also want to consider are Seattle, San Francisco / Bay Area, the research triangle area in North Carolina.

[f_m]

Originally Posted by nidhi76

Hi,

I am a Scientist currently working in Cambridge,MA. Being an Asian from warm country, I am unable to appreciate the cold weathers and the four seasons. I have two kids who will be going to kindergarten next year and my husband is a firmware engineer.

We are considering San Diego due to its good weather and biotech opportunities. Few questions:

1. How is the cost of living compared to Boston?
2. What are good school districts to consider?
3. How is the crime rate?

We would be grateful if you can provide us with any information that we should be aware of before we take the huge leap.

Assuming you got jobs here, you sound like a family that would be found in Carmel Valley or 4S Ranch type areas (2 high tech job spouses with kids). These are newer suburb areas that people who are looking for good schools and new larger homes move to. Although sometimes the newer homes are a bit close together.

I suspect cost of living is somewhat similar. Redfin.com has housing listings in both San Diego and Boston area. You could compare housing this way.

[UB50]

You'll find a lot of biotech companies in Southern California but I believe there are even more in Northern California. Unfortunately though, N. California is colder than SoCal. There are biotech companies scattered throughout Southern California, not just in San Diego. Amgen is in Thousand Oaks, Watson Pharmaceuticals is in Corona, Scripps is in Torrey Pines, etc. (I'm sure you get the biotech publications that list the biotech jobs -- they are all over around here.)

The cost of living is probably a little cheaper than the Boston area although I haven't looked at prices in Boston lately.

The crime rate varies by area. Some areas have very little crime, some have more. Once you figure out where you are going to work, then you can look at the different areas and determine the best places to live.

[nidhi76]

Thank you all for your wonderful responses. Even though we stayed for almost a decade in Boston, we were unable to save significantly (inspite of reasonably good salaries and moderate living) due to high cost of living and kids day care expenses. I am now starting to worry if we will ever be saving anything for our retirement. Warm weather, good schools, biotech friendly and low cost of living-Don't know if I will ever find this place and if not which to compromise with :-(

[NYSD1995]

Total cost of living (as a homeowner) will be comparable if slightly less (~+/- 5%) as you don't have high heating and property tax costs. However for-sale housing costs will be comparable or higher in an apples-to-apples comparison, and things like childcare will probably be the same or more.

You might want to look at RTP or the Philadelphia area, winters are not nearly as bad as Boston and there is a significant CoL decrease, and both those areas have a larger biotech cluster than San Diego's.

[PharmboyinNC]

Living in the RTP, there are positions here that would start me in the near six digits with a PhD (low six-digits in SD). You would live very well here with two biotech paying jobs AND able to build funds for early retirement. It's 76 degrees out right now, we do have four defined winters, and very good quality of life. Always in the top ten places to live.

So why am I moving the other direction? We are both a young couple, dual professional incomes, no kids, healthy and active, ambitious, want to live it up for a while in a big city. Can't stand the cold or high humidity, so guess what's calling our name?