Advice on moving to California (Santa Barbara, Palm Springs: unemployment rate, transfer to, living)

[agskinner]

Brewskies,

You are dead on withe ice on the car part. Oooooooh man I remember those days..... no more though.

California is great.

Met my future wife here.

[Ceece]

Originally Posted by Brewskies

Ceece, I'm going to take a wild guess here and say you've never spent an hour trying to get ice off your car while you can't even feel your hands or face because its -10 degrees out. I'm not moving to CA to look cool, I've heard the weather is beautiful and that people love it, to me that's reason enough.

But thank you jaijai, agskinner and hawk, all you have been very helpful. I will definitely try to visit next summer now that I know what area we should visit. And I would've never thought to look at a webcam. If anyone else has any more advice, feel free to post but please no more negative responses.

No, but I know CA isn't the only place that isn't sub zero. The weather can be nice, some people love it, some hate it..usually the ones who come without much of a plan.

[Dean Trails]

Originally Posted by Brewskies

I'm just looking for some general advice on moving to California. I live in Ohio and have lived here my entire life. I just graduated from Ohio State and my boyfriend and I are thinking about moving to California in the next year or so. The only problem is we know nothing about it. What are the good areas to move to? Should I be looking into finding a job before I make the move? Should we find a place to live before moving? We want to live where it's warm all year around but not too expensive, I am not broke but I don't have a ton of money either. Even ideas about where I can look to find these answers would be helpful!

Welcome, I think you might like Santa Rosa. Wonderful weather! Like Shangrila compared to Ohio..I lived for a time in Illinois.

Santa Rosa was the choice of Luther Burbank for his experiments as the weather is great year round. Charles Schultz lived and worked here. It is sorta home towny. Housing is affordable now, it is safe and You are close to SF, beaches and you are basically in the wine country. Many nice restaurants and things to do. Plus, it has hospitals (Kaiser for one) for jobs. Chipolte has restaurants in Novato and San Rafael.

Good Luck and i wish you well!!

[ibejohn818]

There are jobs to be had, especially for entry level which I'm assuming that you will be looking for.
That will most likely place you in a household income of around 35-45k (combining both you are your boyfriends income).

It comes down to quality of life. The sunny weather and beaches suck if you're broke and struggling to keep the bare necessities.

Go to this site and check out rental prices Apartments for Rent - PadMapper Apartment Search for Oodle, Apartments.com, Rent.com, Kijiji, and Craigslist Apartments and imagine what life will be with your income.

Also, you should really be calculating and focusing on how much YOU,YOURSELF need to live; because I hate to break it to you, you need to be prepared for when you and your BF hit the dumps and you need to live on your own. California girls will definitely be an eye opening experience for your BF, and don't forget, you'll soon be a california girl yourself.

Good Luck, Cali is it.

[alexxiz]

Originally Posted by ibejohn818

There are jobs to be had, especially for entry level which I'm assuming that you will be looking for.
That will most likely place you in a household income of around 35-45k (combining both you are your boyfriends income).

It comes down to quality of life. The sunny weather and beaches suck if you're broke and struggling to keep the bare necessities.

Go to this site and check out rental prices Apartments for Rent - PadMapper Apartment Search for Oodle, Apartments.com, Rent.com, Kijiji, and Craigslist Apartments and imagine what life will be with your income.

Also, you should really be calculating and focusing on how much YOU,YOURSELF need to live; because I hate to break it to you, you need to be prepared for when you and your BF hit the dumps and you need to live on your own. California girls will definitely be an eye opening experience for your BF, and don't forget, you'll soon be a california girl yourself.

Good Luck, Cali is it.

And what's "california girls"? No need to generalize--this is poorly hidden misogyny. Not all "california boys" are Arnolds, OJ Simpsons or Sergei Brins, there's a very diverse population living here, same applies to women, not need to bring in gender bias and generalizations, singling out a particular group of people.

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by Leaving the cold

My husband and I are moving our family to California for the benefit of our son. He is 10 years old and autistic. We would like to live around San Francisco more in the rural communities. Richmond, San Jose, And Santa Rosa keep coming up in my search. I have searched through craigslist for jobs and housing in these areas they seam to be fair, however they do not give much detail on the area. Wich of these cities would be the safest place to raise a family?

I'm not sure why you didn't start your own thread.
It's a good idea for a post like yours.
Just click the "new thread" option right underneath where it says Ventura County.

So, San Jose is not a rural community ... it's a city and quite a bit south of San Francisco.
Santa Rosa is in Sonoma county and it's about 50 + miles north of S.F..
Richmond is about 10 miles from Berkley and though i can't say for certain, i would think it's not the safest of places.
Someone can correct me if i'm wrong on that point.
Your post is confusing and doesn't make a lot of sense.
You want to live around San Francisco but you want a rural community.
And you're considering Santa Rosa (which may be a good choice) but it's quite a bit north of S.F..
And you're considering San Jose which is not really near (although i don't know how you define "near") San Francisco and it's a fairly large city and not rural.
Richmond is right in the midst of the bay area .... near S.F. but why there?
I don't mean to offend you but i think you're quite clueless.
If you want help finding an appropriate community via city-data-forum, i suggest that you be really specific about your criteria.
What can you afford (buying or renting?) is the most important practical question.
What kind of environment do you want in terms of weather, nature, culture, activities, etc..?
Do you care about whether or not a community is conservative, liberal?
I assume schooling for your son is very important so inquiring about that issue is key.
And what about employment?
Do you realize that the unemployment rate in CA is sky high?
What exactly are you looking for in all aspects of living?
And when you say those communities "keep coming up", what do you mean by that?
And, not to be too nosey, but what do you mean when you say that you're moving to California "for the benefit of your son"?
What are you looking for / hoping for in California for his sake?
I ask all of this just to help you get more clear about whether or not moving to CA is a good choice and if it is, what community would be best for you.

[bmeehan789]

Originally Posted by agskinner

I just moved from Nebraska.

First, (after making the decision), Job.
Second, place to live.
Third, how to make it happen.

That's the main things.

Picking where and all that, well job will dictate that greatly.

You may be able to get a job in SF or Oakland, but have slim pickens in LA/OC area.

So don't get hung up on one area.

You will need to first find a job or job prospects.

Then you can do the research.

Other than that, there's really not much to research without learning everything about CA.

Do you like warm weather (50s to 60's above).
Do you like what LA has to offer (Hollywood, malls all over the place, and the geography (beach and mountains).

You'd like So Cal. (Los Angeles down to San Diego)

NorCal (SF/Oakland) are a little different.

Can be more rainy and colder. But not freezing.
Lots of shopping and entertainment but definitely a different vibe.

Personally I'd suggest with a job search narrowed down to South or North. Living in SF, Oakland, SD, LA, and the OC is great either way. Definitely better than Ohio.

I think mostly finding a job will make it simpler. I moved to the city I moved to because of the job I got, in the area I wanted, but as far as doing research it didn't make sense for me to till I knew where I'd want to be living because of work.

Commuting to a job is not what CA is known for that is for sure.

I live in nebraska and am currently looking into moving to so cal maybe riverside area. Would like to know what you like about cali that nebraska doesn't have and what you miss about nebraska. I live in omaha

[Dena1988]

Did you move?

[mtnbkr5]

[quote=alexxiz;22335996]And what's "california girls"? No need to generalize--this is poorly hidden misogyny. Not all "california boys" are Arnolds, OJ Simpsons

Yikes! If they all were like the latter Cali would be a bloody ghost town............

[GSR13]

Brewskies, If avoiding cold weather is one of your chief incentives for moving, I'd consider Arizona as a backup plan. Lots of health care jobs, and a Chipotle on every street corner - Bill Burr can attest:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asFXD3-mYM0