Forbes Ranked California One of the Worst States to Make a Living in - 2015

[Mister 7]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

Some people can up and leave and will, not because they can not afford California, but because California is costing them too much to stay here.

THIS. I feel like a sucker living here and throwing so much money down the drain.

[jamies]

Originally Posted by payutenyodagimas

if you have a recession proof and high paying job, you are set

Yeah, like a govt sponge job stealng money from the public.

[It is 57 below zero]

Originally Posted by beb0p

Yes, it's the COL. It cost $3,200 to rent a one bedroom in San Francisco and $2,300 for the same in Oakland. For many people, that's more than half their pay check.

.

Then these people should be getting paid a lot more to straighten things out. Some places with higher COL have higher salaries to make it even.

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

I have friends that have sold their homes and left California for other places because of the business we are involved in. One couple is making over $300,000 a year. They were living in the Bakersfield area. They put their home on the market and bought a nicer newer home in Las Vegas. Both places are hot so the change in location was not going to change how they live. They did end up with a beautiful home that is larger than the home they had in Bakersfield. It also has a pool in the back yard. The magic number in California is $250,000. You hit that number and may want to consider other options if you can. No income tax in Nevada. Lots of income tax in California. Some people can up and leave and will, not because they can not afford California, but because California is costing them too much to stay here. You want to get over $100,000 but you want to stay under $250,000. Other people I know max out their retirement accounts and a few people I have found had the pay structure changed so that they may make more but for now it is protected. When you are in Healthcare management it is possible to have chunks of your money placed in a retirement account. The thing is you may want to make sure that you are going to retire from that place, leave and you could leave lots of money on the table.

We have had upper lever employees end up with car allowances to help increase the pay. In another company I knew of structured pay where everything from mortgage, cars, student loan debt has been paid by the employer. Some employers are structuring things so that the benefits draw high level employees in while not jumping over the magic number. I am not smart enough to know how all this works. I can only assume that it is legal. Would love to get in on it.

If there aren't many high paying jobs offered, even for someone with a high-level of education, then it isn't the fault of the people that they are poor. Most people's response to this would be to finish high school, graduate college, learn how to be responsible with money, etc. but even if all of that is met, for the average middle-class person, things are still too expensive. It's almost mandatory to have a high-paying job to live in California with space to breathe but they are hard to get, and some people do say that the higher education you get, the better job you get. But what if that job can't afford to pay a lot?

If the above were true, and one did have a good education, and is struggling in California while they wouldn't be struggling in a cheaper area, then it's California that's requiring too much out of its citizens with the high cost of living. Not to mention, in San Francisco, you would have to make at least six figures a year to have an average living.

[HyperionGap]

Originally Posted by It is 57 below zero

If the above were true, and one did have a good education, and is struggling in California while they wouldn't be struggling in a cheaper area, then it's California that's requiring too much out of its citizens with the high cost of living. Not to mention, in San Francisco, you would have to make at least six figures a year to have an average living.

You do understand that it's not like the legislators in Sacramento have a vote each month and choose what tent you are going to pay, right?

The reason why CA is so expensive is because there is an amazing amount of demand to live in its premium regions.

[It is 57 below zero]

Originally Posted by LoriBee62

Yes, cities like San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles are very expensive. Though, contrary to popular belief, there are over 30 million people living in California who do NOT reside in those cities. So lets keep these threads in perspective.

Total population in the state: 38,000,000
Total population in San Francisco: 815,000

So when people talk about how California is unlivable because rent in San Francisco is so high, they are actually talking about slightly over 2% of the state.

Instead of looking at the cities proper, consider all those people who live in the metro areas.

California has 38 million, but you're likely not including the adjoining suburbs in the region when you say "over 30 million do *not* reside in those areas".

Altogether, Southern California as a whole has about 22 million people. So that already leaves 16 million left over. There are quite a few people living in the Bay Area, which includes not only SF, but also many neighboring suburbs, and San Jose.

Those parts of the state is where the problems are prominent: around the coast, and in SoCal.

I'll say positively that places like Fresno or Sacramento may not be so bad, but there's so much demand to live on the coast of Los Angeles or San Francisco. And that demand is overwhelmingly high. There must be something there that's so attractive it's over a reasonable capacity it can support.

I'd say, after counting the LA and SF metropolis, there's probably around 12 million not living in those areas.

[PCALMike]

Forbes is a plutocrat and right wing libertarian.

[happycrow]

PcalMike: ::whistle:: Ad-hominem, fifteen yards, first down. Or in soccer terms, let's play the ball, not the man.

-57: Yeah, SoCal has an amazing and vibrant culture (granted, I haven't lived there since the "San Diego At Large" days, and yes I'm old), and the mid-coast has the (serious) software-engineering industry. My brother pushes code of the "if it doesn't do a million+ transactions per second, don't bother hiring me" sort. He tried to make a go at Texas and couldn't, simply because the tech sector here is more hardware and there simply wasn't the demand or density-of-industry he needed. He *has* to be there, even if he has half the disposable income on three times the salary for doing so.

Plus the coast is just seriously beautiful in a way that either doesn't exist elsewhere (different kind of coastline), or is publicly known to be basically off-limits to all but the stratospherically wealthy (the Hamptons, etc). There's a TON to love about Cali, but just like NYC, unless you work for the government you tend to divide sharply into "thriving" and "surviving" and if you're used to "middle class" your choice tends to be "survival mode" or leave, because the state essentially legislated away the industrial base supporting its middle class. So just like NYC, you get "I got mines" and "bitter leavers."

Almost none of which is known to people emigrating in. They see "Okay, it's expensive there, like Chicago, but it's gorgeous, I'll make a go of it." And more power to them. Cali's an awesome place and in a different economic reality me and my family would still be there.

[payutenyodagimas]

Originally Posted by jamies

Yeah, like a govt sponge job stealng money from the public.

I don't work for the govt nor do my spouse