Transplants who love California (Los Angeles, San Diego: low crime, homes, employment)

[njbiodude]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Lol. Just stop. Good grief. Talk about juggling averages to support your false narrative.

Here’s a breakout of crime categories in groupings of large, medium, and small cities:
https://www.safehome.org/resources/c...tics-by-state/

Note that San Francisco only appears in the *Larceny* category (you know, larceny: ‘petty theft’). Even crime-ridden Oakland fails to achieve much mention in most categories compared to other cities ( such as: Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis, Kansas City, Philadelphia …. The list goes on and on, all around the country. Nowhere do California cities jump out as leaders or in multiple categories.)

Just accept it, my friend … California is rather ordinary despite its problems.

The real issue I’m trying to get at is someone working in Chicago, Detroit or Baltimore has a much easier time commuting to downtown to work a few days a week and living in a safe suburb with good schools. For someone working in Los Angeles or SF a 40 minute commute will (sometimes if you’re lucky) get you to Daly City, Oakland or Pasadena. These cities while not as dangerous as downtown St Louis are still more dangerous than 90% of Us cities and crazies regularly take public transit right into neighborhoods. So families have to watch homeless smoking meth and screaming right outside their door and robbing them for drugs. The schools are also pretty lousy overall and most parents with means pay for private school. Overall state averages don’t matter because even if Morro Bay, CA has virtually no crime it doesn’t help someone working in tech in Santa Monica.

Can someone work in LA and commute 2 hours each way to Newport Beach where schools are good and the crime is low? Sure. And lots do it. But that has its own problems. And far too often the big money jobs that allow one to afford ultra expensive housing in CA are right in the middle of urban centers. Though that is changing. But even with remote work many still expect you in the office 2-4 days a week so living 3 hours away is untenable for most.

[colobound65]

Originally Posted by njbiodude

The real issue I’m trying to get at is someone working in Chicago, Detroit or Baltimore has a much easier time commuting to downtown to work a few days a week and living in a safe suburb with good schools. For someone working in Los Angeles or SF a 40 minute commute will (sometimes if you’re lucky) get you to Daly City, Oakland or Pasadena. These cities while not as dangerous as downtown St Louis are still more dangerous than 90% of Us cities and crazies regularly take public transit right into neighborhoods. So families have to watch homeless smoking meth and screaming right outside their door and robbing them for drugs. The schools are also pretty lousy overall and most parents with means pay for private school. Overall state averages don’t matter because even if Morro Bay, CA has virtually no crime it doesn’t help someone working in tech in Santa Monica.

Can someone work in LA and commute 2 hours each way to Newport Beach where schools are good and the crime is low? Sure. And lots do it. But that has its own problems. And far too often the big money jobs that allow one to afford ultra expensive housing in CA are right in the middle of urban centers. Though that is changing. But even with remote work many still expect you in the office 2-4 days a week so living 3 hours away is untenable for most.

My elderly friend lives on West side of Santa Monica in a mansion. She is starting to see homeless wandering around her house. Something she’s never seen in the 50 plus years she’s lived there. I am very worried for her safety.

[njbiodude]

Originally Posted by colobound65

My elderly friend lives on West side of Santa Monica in a mansion. She is starting to see homeless wandering around her house. Something she’s never seen in the 50 plus years she’s lived there. I am very worried for her safety.

I was there last weekend. Stayed in an ultra posh hotel right by the beach. Had to step over a guy that overdosed to get into my hotel. EMS later came and dragged his lifeless body away.

[colobound65]

Originally Posted by njbiodude

I was there last weekend. Stayed in an ultra posh hotel right by the beach. Had to step over a guy that overdosed to get into my hotel. EMS later came and dragged his lifeless body away.

Was he dead? I’m not surprised Santa Monica and Venice are hotspots for young drug addicted mentally ill homeless. They are very scary to be around. I’ve been hearing the SM promenade is a shell of what it once was. Personally I wouldn’t walk in either city without a self defense weapon.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by njbiodude

For someone working in Los Angeles or SF a 40 minute commute will (sometimes if you’re lucky) get you to Daly City, Oakland or Pasadena. These cities while not as dangerous as downtown St Louis are still more dangerous than 90% of Us cities and crazies regularly take public transit right into neighborhoods. So families have to watch homeless smoking meth and screaming right outside their door and robbing them for drugs. The schools are also pretty lousy overall...

People who live in South Pasadena, San Marino, Arcadia, La Canada, and La Crescenta can commute into downtown L.A. in far less than that and they have access to some of the highest ranking public school districts in the state.

[wac_432]

Originally Posted by mirage98de

You have to be very affluent, or your experience will not be the same. I recommend accumulating wealth in a low cost of living state before moving out here (Like my wife and I did for 10+ years) and you will be in good shape.

I keep seeing this in my coastal SoCal town. Except that the wealth accumulators moving in aren't just from the USA. There are a lot of foreigners moving in to town these days. We have a lot of Western Europeans--Germans, Dutch, Swedes. The latest wave actually appears to be Asian. The Chinese finally figured out that the ocean doesn't mean poor fishermen and drowning here. The last waves of PRC and ROC immigrants all settled far inland and made all the schools in Azusa 10/10's.

The new wave of Chinese multi-millionaires are moving to the coasts, though.

We do have a lot of elderly US transplants too. However they are just that; older. It seems like old rich people from the USA who are sick of snowbirding (or whatever they did in the past) are moving to the coasts here for the longevity of QOL from healthy outdoor living.

Most of the foreign transplants I know are highly skilled (think O visa) working-age adults with children. I have seen, but I don't personally know, the very rich Chinese.

A LOT of middle-to-lower-income townies have moved out since I moved here. My neighborhood used to be pretty solidly middle-class families or elderly adults whos kids had moved out. Now it is 90% upper class with most of the old guard empty nesters selling and moving out. It's been fun watching solar panels crop up on every rooftop and Teslas, Bentleys, Rivians, and Lucid cars fill every driveway.

[njbiodude]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

People who live in South Pasadena, San Marino, Arcadia, La Canada, and La Crescenta can commute into downtown L.A. in far less than that and they have access to some of the highest ranking public school districts in the state.

San Marino: safer than 31% of US cities.

Arcadia: safer than 8% of US cities

La Canada safer than 21% of US cities.

So yes schools are good in those areas but you’re still absolutely dealing with some urban blight and well above average crime. And due to school quality housing costs are usually 1 million+ for even small homes (1000-1200 sq foot).

Also, depending on where you’re going and when driving might frequently take an hour + to get to your job in that area, even if it’s not that many miles away.

[colobound65]

Pasadena is my fav city in LA but like all of so cal real estate is totally unattainable. I just checked Zillow. There’s only 81 houses for sale in all of Pasadena and none under 1.2 million. Although there was a 1 bd 1 bath condo for sale for over 800,000 and the HOA is 1008 a month. What a great deal!!!

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by njbiodude

San Marino: safer than 31% of US cities.

Arcadia: safer than 8% of US cities

La Canada safer than 21% of US cities.

https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/n...rhoodscout.com

Originally Posted by njbiodude

So yes schools are good in those areas but you’re still absolutely dealing with some urban blight and well above average crime.

Have you ever actually lived in southern California, much less in any of these cities? The only "urban blight" in the city of Arcadia would be the blight of mansionization.

https://www.sgvtribune.com/2015/08/2...ion-editorial/

[bad debt]

Originally Posted by njbiodude

Large parts of the state are safe and change the average. However, many of the job centers aren’t very safe.





Are there safe suburbs? Of course.


But expect a nasty commute to get to many of them. There’s also rural parts of the state with almost no crime that drag down the average. But you’re not going to have lots of professional job options in those locations. Much of this state is very urban and the crime in those areas is quite high.

For the crime statistics you really should be comparing to similar population centers. Comparing Oakland to some population 5,000 town in Nebraska is pointless.

The question is how does LA compare to NYC, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, etc. Or how do the suburbs with 100,000 people compare to other suburbs across the country. Comparing it to all the municipalities in the US just isn't going to tell you anything.


Also, I disagree that the commutes from the nice suburbs are nasty. A commute from Aliso Viejo to Irvine in rush hour is under 30 minutes. My commute from North Tustin to Irvine is 25 minutes. A commute from South Pas to DTLA is about 25 minutes to Pasadena it's 10 minutes. A commute from Brentwood to Westwood/Century City is 15-20 minutes.