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The West Coast is so different from the Intermountain West. Aside from Denver and Salt Lake City, most of the Intermountain West has a very limited corporate presence, which means there's less of a competitive ethos in much of the Intermountain West compared to the West Coast. This, coupled with the low population densities and generally low COL means there's not much of a rat race in the Intermountain West.
And most of the corporate professionals in the handful of Intermountain West cities with significant white-collar industry know that if you want to climb the corporate ladder and be even more successful, then there's a good chance you may find yourself in LA/OC, SF Bay Area, or Seattle.
In essence, the fast-paced "rat race" of the West Coast and the attitudes that are sometimes associated with it are somewhat justified, especially if you want to make any kind of decent living. Not really a bad tradeoff, IMO, but I have more of a corporate mindset than most.
Boise gives Salt Lake a run for its money with the number of corporate headquarters and Fortune 500 companies. Boise has more Fortune 500 companies with national and international headquarters including divisions then Salt Lake has. Just an example, Boise is corporate headquarters for the J.R. Simplot Company (one of the largest privately owned companies in the world), , WinCo Foods, URS Corp Washington Division, Boise, Inc., Boise Cascade LLC, Albertsons, Micron, Cradlepoint Technology, Clearwater Analytics, etc. Salt Lake is a larger city but Boise has a stronger corporate headquarter(s) status and always has.
Based on my own experiences of living in both the eastern and western United States I would say that people in the Western United States have a lot more formalities in general and thus everything moves at a slower pace. People in the Eastern United States have less formalities and tend to get things done more quickly. The flip side to this is that in the Western United States people in general do not care how old you are, what your job is, marital status, etc... whereas in the Eastern United States in the first ten minutes you meet someone they want to know how old you are, what your job is, and are you married. In general since the Eastern half of the US was settled first it is set in more tradition and concentrated culture whereas the Western United States is still evolving and not as set in a traditional mind set.
Based on my own experiences of living in both the eastern and western United States I would say that people in the Western United States have a lot more formalities in general and thus everything moves at a slower pace. People in the Eastern United States have less formalities and tend to get things done more quickly. The flip side to this is that in the Western United States people in general do not care how old you are, what your job is, marital status, etc... whereas in the Eastern United States in the first ten minutes you meet someone they want to know how old you are, what your job is, and are you married. In general since the Eastern half of the US was settled first it is set in more tradition and concentrated culture whereas the Western United States is still evolving and not as set in a traditional mind set.
The way I see it....the West will probably eventually be just like the east coast. Since the east coast was inhabited for a much longer time, that means that today it is more "advanced" as in an "advanced society" and an example of what happens when a place becomes very continuously densely populated. In other words, over time, the more populated the west coast gets, the more fast paced and aggressive the people will become, because that type of environment breeds that. This is what happened with the southeast Florida megalopolis. It used to be cheap, laid back and "in development." But now, it's basically the same as the Northeast megalopolis; expensive, crowded, fast paced, etc. I mean, look at the Seattle area now. It's much more similar to the Northeast megalopolis culture now than it was 20 years ago.
The way I see it....the West will probably eventually be just like the east coast. Since the east coast was inhabited for a much longer time, that means that today it is more "advanced" as in an "advanced society" and an example of what happens when a place becomes very continuously densely populated. In other words, over time, the more populated the west coast gets, the more fast paced and aggressive the people will become, because that type of environment breeds that. This is what happened with the southeast Florida megalopolis. It used to be cheap, laid back and "in development." But now, it's basically the same as the Northeast megalopolis; expensive, crowded, fast paced, etc. I mean, look at the Seattle area now. It's much more similar to the Northeast megalopolis culture now than it was 20 years ago.
You can't be serious? That'll never happen. The Western United States has existed for hundreds of years, and we're nothing like the East. It won't happen ever.
The west is a huge region so you can't compare the general impressions you get from people living in Orange County to those living in Cheyenne, Boise, Albuquerque, Portland, Fresno, Honolulu, or Provo for that matter. Do I think that your avg person living in Henderson, NV is in general more laid back than someone who grew up in the suburbs of Philly, absolutely but I don't think they are as laid back as someone living in say Honolulu or Las Cruces.
I wouldn't say laid back. I would say overall from my own personal experience is that westerners, especially Californians in general on average, are less judgmental, less assuming, and less putting you in a box than easterners (both urban and rural).
Sometimes.
San Francisco has a very business/tech atmosphere to it. The people were extremely rude and arrogant when I was there. I've heard Seattle also has a cold feel to it--polite, but very busy.
Portland, San Diego, and Orange County are somewhat relaxed. Los Angeles is like Miami--more relaxed than Chicago, DC, NYC, Boston, etc etc, but not all that laid-back.
Hawaii and the South are the most laid-back places you'll find.
My current manager used to live in San Diego for 12 years and moved back to Connecticut. She said that some of her jobs in San Diego had a very informal dress code, and she was allowed to wear jeans and sneakers any day of the week. She hated it. She said it made her feel sort of.....unimportant and almost slacker-like. Most of the men she dated had zero ambition in life in general. She couldn't wait to move back east and finally she did and is now a VP of taxes and wears comfortable business casual wear.
True, though there are many people with ambition in San Diego. And fashion is very important in LA--what you're wearing and all that. It's a fashion city. Many people wear laid-back clothes like sweatpants and yoga pants, or shorts and flip-flops, but there's still the whole importance of wearing name brands and the like.
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