California or Florida????? (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco: 2014, cheap house, university)

[chaseo1]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

South Florida is great, it's basically a newer, cleaner, smaller version of SoCal.

This is not true at all.

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Florida is such a backwater swamp, just look at these pictures, awful...

Nice cherry picking, this is ONE zipcode of the entire state bahahahaha

Not like YOU could even afford to live there.

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Originally Posted by chaseo1

Nice cherry picking, this is ONE zipcode of the entire state bahahahaha

Not like YOU could even afford to live there.

The exact same thing could be said about a ton of people in this forum who love to brag about how CA is the most beautiful and perfect place on the planet... while you live in small, monthly rented apartments and you work your asses off to pay that rent.

The fact of the matter is there are a lot of reasons why someone might choose to move to FL over CA, the beaches are warmer and prettier just happens to be one of those reasons and to a person moving to a coastal area that is a huge selling point.

[Jimrob1]

I think quite quickly people find out, that there is a lot more to living than a cheaper locaton to live. Some people would be more comfortable, with the personality of Calif vs Florida and vice versa. That's how life is, and cheaper is not always the best way to go. It can back fire.

[Blimp]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Average household income in California $61,000
Average household income in Florida $47,000

Cool, you just made my point so that I don't have to.

Even using your numbers, Californians make 30% more in income than Floridians. And that's just at the median. The high end in California is much higher than in Florida, whether you are talking about Silicon Valley or even down in Los Angeles.

So you see that I was right, much of the welfare for relatively poor Floridians is paid for by taxes on wealthier Californians. Not the other way around. Thanks. Your point about higher housing prices doesn't affect those income taxes by even a penny.

Florida is both a backwater and a low-income ghetto.

[Blimp]

Originally Posted by Jimrob1

I think quite quickly people find out, that there is a lot more to living than a cheaper locaton to live. Some people would be more comfortable, with the personality of Calif vs Florida and vice versa. That's how life is, and cheaper is not always the best way to go. It can back fire.

And it's also a mistake to say there is nowhere cheap to live in California. If you are obsessed with the beach life and don't mind what I and many consider oppressive humidity, Florida might actually make sense because there is cheap housing all over the state outside of South Florida, and even that is not expensive.

But if you're like me and are much more interested in a true Mediterranean climate where it is very warm but there are four different distinct seasons, inland California is just as cheap as inland Florida and has much better weather. In my experience, people are also much more cultured in cheap inland California (say Sacramento) than in cheap inland Florida (say Orlando). My only personal interest in visiting the ocean is viewing the California sea lions and Elephant seals. Those don't even exist in Florida, although at least they have manatees (that aren't nearly as well protected).

He did have a point about that 0% income tax in Florida, though. Someone needs to start a referendum to zero out the California income tax below a certain tax bracket (say the 15% federal bracket) to make California easier on the middle class. The uber-rich don't care about tax brackets as much as you'd think. It doesn't really affect their lives much unless they are super cheap and business minded (Tiger Woods is both, never tips his servers well, and he did move to Florida).

Well over 75% of the uber-rich in America live in one of just 2 locations: California and New York City. Those are also the two locations with the highest taxes on the rich. It just doesn't affect their lifestyle enough to pay a little more in taxes. "You can't take it with you." So it's not worth moving to Texas or Florida.

[MaireM]

Originally Posted by ldoeosa

Baloney.. I live in Tampa and was in AZ over the summer. Let me tell you 107 in Phoenix was less hot than 95 in Tampa with 90% humidity. Once you get in the shade in the desert you are fine. Florida is miserable during the summer.


Florida is also more of a backwater than Texas, and that's not an easy feat.

I agree with both your statements. I have lived in FL and CA and even (briefly) Arizona. I found the heat in FL to be completely intolerable from about mid-May to late Oct. That means being stuck inside more then HALF the Year! I don't know who this would be acceptable to except those that love sitting inside in the AC (and paying $300 electric bills for the privilege) or those who are not bothered by extreme humidity which makes the "real feel" temp's in FL go over 100 for months on end. The rain does not help. It only increases the humidity, bugs and mold.

Being able to do outdoor activities several times a week is extremely important to me so I have been Very happy with my move from a town an hour south of Tampa to the East Bay area of CA. And the Arizona heat does not compare to FL heat due to the lack of humidity. The "real feel" in the southwest summer is lower than Florida's and it cools down at night. It does Not cool down at night in Fl. You get no relief. The heat just goes on and on and....on. Utter misery. It is just about perfect in the winter, though.

I recommend Florida only to snowbirds who are on the more conservative side and/or people who really like it HOT and HUMID.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by MaireM

I agree with both your statements. I have lived in FL and CA and even (briefly) Arizona. I found the heat in FL to be completely intolerable from about mid-May to late Oct. That means being stuck inside more then HALF the Year! I don't know who this would be acceptable to except those that love sitting inside in the AC (and paying $300 electric bills for the privilege) or those who are not bothered by extreme humidity which makes the "real feel" temp's in FL go over 100 for months on end. The rain does not help. It only increases the humidity, bugs and mold.

Being able to do outdoor activities several times a week is extremely important to me so I have been Very happy with my move from a town an hour south of Tampa to the East Bay area of CA. And the Arizona heat does not compare to FL heat due to the lack of humidity. The "real feel" in the southwest summer is lower than Florida's and it cools down at night. It does Not cool down at night in Fl. You get no relief. The heat just goes on and on and....on. Utter misery. It is just about perfect in the winter, though.

I recommend Florida only to snowbirds who are on the more conservative side and/or people who really like it HOT and HUMID.

Strange, I have been to FL more times than I can count and at all times of the year (Not South FL so that area may be bad) and nights were fine and the Humidity was not a big deal especially near the beach. The nice part is that you can buy a house (3bdrm, 2 bath 2 car garage) a block from the beach in many nice areas for under $300,000.00 dollars. Try that in CA in any nice area I block from the beach, except maybe far north where few people live and going in the water requires a wet suit in Summer.

Now I do not like humidity when working hard, but my skin and throat love it as in CA I had dry skin and sore throats and spent a fortune on chap stick for my lips.

[Blimp]

Originally Posted by expatCA

the Humidity was not a big deal

Most people find humidity to be a pretty big deal. This is a chart showing the average dew point in Tampa.

Dew Point
Dew point is often a better measure of how comfortable a person will find the weather than relative humidity because it more directly relates to whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid.

Over the course of a year, the dew point typically varies from 43°F (dry) to 77°F (oppressive) and is rarely below 25°F (dry) or above 79°F (oppressive). There are two periods in the year that are most comfortable: The first is between January 1 and April 22 and the second is between November 4 and December 31. The air feels neither too dry nor too muggy during these periods.

Tampa humidity is oppressive from April 23 to November 3.




Now, compare to Sacramento. Some Californians find inland California to be uncomfortable in the summer, but it's absolutely comfortable to Florida.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by chaseo1

This is not true at all.



Nice cherry picking, this is ONE zipcode of the entire state bahahahaha

Not like YOU could even afford to live there.

Actually those pictures were from Orlando all the way to Key West, that's the same as San Francisco to San Diego, not exactly cherry picking lol. Check out home or rent prices around Orlando, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami. In California you pay double the price or more for polluted air, beaches, freezing oceans, brown landscapes, crumbling infrastructure, old rundown buildings, while being taxed to death to pay for all the illegals and welfare people. It makes absolutely no sense. I've spent 7 years in California and 7 years in Florida and after experiencing both, I will take Florida in a heartbeat. It's half the price, yet virtually everything is better besides not having mountains, but all the lakes and blue oceans make up for it.

[payutenyodagimas]

you don't have to exercise a lot if if you live in a humid area. a little bit of walking is enough for you to sweat a lot. in California, you have to wear exercise suits and run and run for you to sweat