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My girlfriend and I (both 27) live in Austin, Texas. She’s from California & I am from Ohio. We love it here but we both agreed that we would like to settle down closer to family or at least try living in another area before settling down. (We briefly talked about Colorado, Oregon and Sacramento/N. Cali)
In short, she doesn’t like the idea of Ohio because she grew up in Socal and now lives in Texas so she’s never experienced a real winter. She’s also concerned that it might be harder to find a good job and make good money in Ohio. With Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton and Cincinnati all as options I think we’d be fine. As for the harsh winters I can’t really help her out there. I love snow but it does get COLD.
On the flip side, I am terrified of California. The cost of living, the taxes, the politics, the welfare, the pollution, the traffic etc. I love the geography and the natural beauty but I just don’t see us ever being able to afford a house in a halfway decent area as our combined income won't climb above 100K in the foreseeable future. I do not want to be stuck in San Bernardino or Bakersfield.
After discussing the pros and cons of each state we have decided to start applying for jobs in Socal…specifically the SD area.
As for being terrified, am I over-reacting? Should I be worried? We’ve discussed these things in depth but I still have my doubts. I guess it’s not a huge risk since we don’t have any children yet. We could re-locate back to Texas or Ohio in order to buy a house if we really wanted to.
Unless you are earn very good money, have a government job or plan to feed off the state/local social services California is a tough place to make it. The middle class is rapidly shrinking.
On the other hand I understand not wanting to live where the winter months are quite cold.
Perhaps consider the Phoenix metro area. Cost of housing is still reasonable and you can raise a family quite well on say 70 grand a year.
That's a good point. I guess you can't have it all in Southern Cal unless you're making a ton of money.
Well, I wouldn't say a ton. But life in a good area fairly comfortably and still being able to enjoy the place as renters once in a while, i would say a combined income of 80 K. As a homeowner (and I'm assuming you wouldn't want to live in bad area like COmpton or Isomething like that) I would say at a minimum or 110 to 120K. Its a great place if u got some spare cash to enjoy the life here. Don't need to be rich, but doing ok to avoid living under the lowest common denominator. Good luck.
Well, I wouldn't say a ton. But life in a good area fairly comfortably and still being able to enjoy the place as renters once in a while, i would say a combined income of 80 K. As a homeowner (and I'm assuming you wouldn't want to live in bad area like COmpton or Isomething like that) I would say at a minimum or 110 to 120K. Its a great place if u got some spare cash to enjoy the life here. Don't need to be rich, but doing ok to avoid living under the lowest common denominator. Good luck.
Yeah, that's about the minimum for many parts of California. And the more popular areas of the state roughly double.
I own a single family home in San Francisco which I could probably sell for 1.3 million. My renters pay $3800 a month but they can afford it. As a couple they gross $240,000 a year
Big cost of living difference between Texas and Ohio versus California. I personally would stay put. Even rent is unbelievably high. I would look for homes or rentals in the area you were thinking of in California and see if it is even feasible.
My girlfriend and I (both 27) live in Austin, Texas. She’s from California & I am from Ohio. We love it here but we both agreed that we would like to settle down closer to family or at least try living in another area before settling down. (We briefly talked about Colorado, Oregon and Sacramento/N. Cali)
In short, she doesn’t like the idea of Ohio because she grew up in Socal and now lives in Texas so she’s never experienced a real winter. She’s also concerned that it might be harder to find a good job and make good money in Ohio. With Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton and Cincinnati all as options I think we’d be fine. As for the harsh winters I can’t really help her out there. I love snow but it does get COLD.
On the flip side, I am terrified of California. The cost of living, the taxes, the politics, the welfare, the pollution, the traffic etc. I love the geography and the natural beauty but I just don’t see us ever being able to afford a house in a halfway decent area as our combined income won't climb above 100K in the foreseeable future. I do not want to be stuck in San Bernardino or Bakersfield.
After discussing the pros and cons of each state we have decided to start applying for jobs in Socal…specifically the SD area.
As for being terrified, am I over-reacting? Should I be worried? We’ve discussed these things in depth but I still have my doubts. I guess it’s not a huge risk since we don’t have any children yet. We could re-locate back to Texas or Ohio in order to buy a house if we really wanted to.
No, you are being rational. She's being silly and childish, not considering Ohio simply because of the weather. The vast majority of the people in the US live where it snows and gets cold. Tell her you aren't animals, you won't be living outside, you'll be in the house where the temperature is set to 71 degrees and you won't even know it's cold outside. Your reasons for not wanting to move to CA are valid and you should re-consider.
Last edited by eastcoastguyz; 01-17-2017 at 10:16 PM..
I wish that was an option but I just don't think it's going to happen
If the family doesn't want to visit you where you live, then they really aren't interested in visiting with you to begin with. That alone should give you a reason to reevaluate your motives for moving to be near them.
OP, the Ohio you knew doesn't exist anymore. Various companies have left over the last 15 years, never to return. Columbus was the bright spot when I left, but it was all of these part-time jobs with few to no benefits. If your hometown was Dayton, when Ford and DHL left, their departure sucked the remaining life out of the area.
It's still a beautiful state! I miss driving through Amish Country and hanging out at the Lake Erie Islands, but I'm making a lot more money in Des Moines, which your wife will hate because we get real winter out here in the Heartland. This place is not for sissies. The wind rarely stops, but I love the fresh air and am not afraid to don thermo undies when the temps drop below zero and I want to go for a walk. Des Moines gets a lot more sun than Columbus. I suffered from SAD in MI and OH -- no more! For that reason alone, it was a good move for me.
OP, the Ohio you knew doesn't exist anymore. Various companies have left over the last 15 years, never to return. Columbus was the bright spot when I left, but it was all of these part-time jobs with few to no benefits. If your hometown was Dayton, when Ford and DHL left, their departure sucked the remaining life out of the area.
It's still a beautiful state! I miss driving through Amish Country and hanging out at the Lake Erie Islands, but I'm making a lot more money in Des Moines, which your wife will hate because we get real winter out here in the Heartland. This place is not for sissies. The wind rarely stops, but I love the fresh air and am not afraid to don thermo undies when the temps drop below zero and I want to go for a walk. Des Moines gets a lot more sun than Columbus. I suffered from SAD in MI and OH -- no more! For that reason alone, it was a good move for me.
I am from Dayton, Beavercreek to be specific. I kind of miss it in a strange way. The southeastern suburbs are very nice.
I have a government temp job right now- no benefits. So that is also part of the equation. I will have to find another job in the next year whether we move or not.
The only places affordable to live in CA are north, mostly along the coast, where they either never see the sun and it never gets over 65F, or they're dry dry dry (and that's before the drought).
Also the "drought" is not over. What's happening there is that CA is reverting to its previous state of being arid desert. It's been unusually rainy there for the past couple hundred years.
One round of flooding does not even remotely signal an end to the so-called drought (really just CA reverting to normal for CA weather).
And even at that, the rainfall has been variable. You might get 6" of rain one year and 20" the next. Point being, its never much rain - national average is 36" per year. I don't think CA has EVER gotten that high, at least not down in the arid region where everybody seems to want to live.
So no, CA, unless you guys are both 1%ers, is too expensive, and too crowded. Also, they're getting sinking of the land from the millions and billions of gallons of water that are pumped out of the groundwater to water almond (and other fruit and nut) orchards, the vast majority of which is exported. People are losing their wells because the groundwater level drops several feet each year.
Lots of problems about to crawl up from under a rock and eat their collective faces off. Stay away.
As for OH - I'm from OH. I don't know the current situation with the rest, but Dayton has been in a slump since at least the 80s now. They lost pretty nearly all their manufacturing decades ago. It's very similar to cities in the Rust Belt. The tire company has been gone for years - I forget which one it was off hand. Even NCR is probably gone. Even if they're still in business somewhere, NCR is no big deal anymore. Hobart is long gone too.
Check current air quality. Last time I was there, I came from Puerto Rico with my son, and we immediately noticed the ugly brown haze hanging over the place. That was in the 90s though so with the continuing loss of their manufacturing base, that may have improved by now.
If you are in medical services or computer/technology, you might actually do OK, as most of what is left revolves around WPAFB (Wright Patterson Air Force Base) or the many hospitals in the area.
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