Miami or L.A., Miami or L.A... (Holiday: transplants, rent)

[floridaaaa]

Fiancee and I have been pondering this question for the past year and a half... she is from MIA... we currently live in DC... mid-20s. We visited Miami, and I loved it. We have around $15,000 saved. I have corporate experience and a college degree, she has jobs in Miami she can go to. We have never met anyone from L.A. or even been there. We just want a bigger city, something different. Tired of the same old. I know Miami and D.C. are comparable in size, but it's a much different layout. Main concerns are job markets, rent affordability, weather. Please explore all variables nonetheless. Looking for insight. Thanks.

[elchevere]

LA would provide more opportunities early on in your career; Miami would be a place to live after you have already built your wealth and/or can bring your job with you. Sounds like at your stage of life LA would be a better fit. I prefer and live in Miami but I brought my tech job with me from CA and am nearing retirement. Both are good warm weather cities with urban amenities you would expect.

Something to consider:

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.miami...218934535.html

[logybogy]

If you can find jobs, Miami has a better cost of living, cheaper housing, and no state income tax when compared to Los Angeles.

They are both very heavily hispanic so knowing Spanish is beneficial for jobs, perhaps much more so in Miami than LA since the professional class is much more Hispanic in Miami than LA where whites still control the Entertainment and other industries by and large. Not so in Miami where the biggest professional job centers are based on Latin American trade and finance.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by floridaaaa

Fiancee and I have been pondering this question for the past year and a half... she is from MIA... we currently live in DC... mid-20s. We visited Miami, and I loved it. We have around $15,000 saved. I have corporate experience and a college degree, she has jobs in Miami she can go to. We have never met anyone from L.A. or even been there. We just want a bigger city, something different. Tired of the same old. I know Miami and D.C. are comparable in size, but it's a much different layout. Main concerns are job markets, rent affordability, weather. Please explore all variables nonetheless. Looking for insight. Thanks.

I've been to DC and lived really close to Miami. Miami will feel A LOT smaller than DC once you live there. The easy choice in that regards is Los Angeles. Miami also has a horrible job market when it comes to good paying jobs. The median household income is only around $30-35k... that's HOUSEHOLD, not per capita. Los Angeles is more expensive than Miami, but Miami is very expensive for Florida and combine that with low wages, unless you both have jobs secured, I wouldn't consider Miami. Choose LA, rent a studio and see how you like it. I also used to live in California. I didn't live in LA, but have spent so much time there.


But really, besides Latin culture, it offers not much else. Los Angeles literally has countless options of dining in every cuisine in the entire world. I personally wouldn't want to live in LA because it's too big, but it's definitely interesting. Locals will enjoy it more than tourists as the more I get to know it, the more I like it. There are so many hidden things inside the city. So many markets, food halls, restaurants, ethnic communities, etc. Miami feels very small in my opinion. Don't get me wrong though, Miami is still a very cool city, very beautiful as you know (well in known parts), but it just feels small. Spend a couple weeks there and you'll have seen everything interesting before the 2 weeks are over. All my friends in Miami complain people are really rude in Miami as well. Los Angeles has a lot of really nice, interesting, cultured people. It's my favorite part about LA.

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

I've been to DC and lived really close to Miami.

LOL. And did you also stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night?

[elchevere]

I find people often mistake rude for direct. Yes, you have the worst drivers in the world here and some, not all, putz’s who haven’t mastered the basic concepts of common courtesy but for the most part people are straight forward, tell you what they think, and are not easily offended in Miami—in other words, East Coast...SoCal will be more PC oriented, many are afraid to hurt others feelings and are easily offended/soft themselves, and can be less grounded and very unreliable, especially if a better offer at the last minute comes along or outright flakey/noncommittal —almost the complete opposite of the East Coast, unless they happen to be transplants...that’s my experience from 32 years in that region....I would rather know if a person does not like me up front and vice versa, why pretend??....YMMV....as an ex NY’er, I’ve always gotten along better with people from FL (6th borough, at least SoFla) and TX (also direct, no BS) than CA, generally speaking. CA could not take my brutal honesty—they Acted as though I was another Charles Manson.

But in spite of the people there will still be more opportunities in more industries at higher salaries in LA. Ideally, build some wealth there for a few years and then see if you can transfer to Miami with a CA salary. Do not go to either city without a job first lined up. You also want to live relatively close to work as traffic sucks in both cities. If you were a medical or financial professional, I would say give Miami a shot, but sounds like you are not.

[logybogy]

The thing about Miami is lots and lots of people are paranoid and suspicious of other "groups." The Cubans can look down on other hispanics. The blacks feel marginalized by everyone. First it was the whites and now the hispanics. Whites are now 13% of the county population and stay on the beach and Brickell for the most part. They don't really live anywhere else in large numbers. It's just a very weird paranoid vibe where everyone is "on guard" and suspicious of each other. That means lots of people are not very friendly because they think everyone else is a low life trying to kill them or scam them.

[JustMike77]

Originally Posted by floridaaaa

Fiancee and I have been pondering this question for the past year and a half... she is from MIA... we currently live in DC... mid-20s. We visited Miami, and I loved it. We have around $15,000 saved. I have corporate experience and a college degree, she has jobs in Miami she can go to. We have never met anyone from L.A. or even been there. We just want a bigger city, something different. Tired of the same old. I know Miami and D.C. are comparable in size, but it's a much different layout. Main concerns are job markets, rent affordability, weather. Please explore all variables nonetheless. Looking for insight. Thanks.

Well, that should last you 2 or 3 months here. What then ?

[MyITGuy]

Originally Posted by JustMike77

Well, that should last you 2 or 3 months here. What then ?

Not even, that could be the first/security for the landlord, then security for the HOA depending on where they choose to live.

I'd say L.A. myself.

[boxus]

That is all we need more of, another jobless, low funds, "we liked it on vacation" type.

After six months of living here, they will get on this forum and complain about how much Miami sucks and tell us all that is wrong with it,