Why Does San Diego Feel Like a Small Town? (Los Angeles: how much, house)

[SoCalSunnyShine]

Originally Posted by sav858

San Diego feels right for its size, a metro of 3.2 million about. Yeah it does't feel as big as SF and LA because its not.

Also SF is way closer to LA in importance and arguably more important at this point. LA is really underwhelming for a city its size as well as economically.

I have my issues with LA, but jeez, cmon. Really?

[sav858]

Originally Posted by SoCalSunnyShine

I have my issues with LA, but jeez, cmon. Really?

With regards to its urbanity, walkability, transit, etc.. yeah very underwhelming for a city its size. Economically and politically it's not nearly as important or influential as it should be either.

[SoCalSunnyShine]

Originally Posted by sav858

With regards to its urbanity, walkability, transit, etc.. yeah very underwhelming for a city its size.

The walkable urbanity is quite extensive compared to much of the nation though. Are you expecting LA to be Tokyo like or something?

Economically and politically it's not nearly as important or influential as it should be either.

LA's economy shows up in airwaves everyday all across the country, I'm not seeing what more influence it could have. As for politics, I guess you could blame the electoral college.

[phinneas j. whoopee]

As a resident of over 30 years who also spent the first 17 years of my life split between a very small town AND the bay area including San Jose and SanFrancisco I would say your friends made a very accurate description.
As for #2 I think that is misunderstood by posters here as being nosy about others' affairs for purpose of gossip.
I think its more manifested in a sense of entitlement by homeowners to call the police or code compliance office over any minor infraction and control their little world they have influence over.
Edit: forgot to add these issues all which come across negatively actually make San Diego America finest city if one prefers such an environment.
I will come out and say it. Lack of diversity means I can walk almost any street at 3 am and not worry about being relieved of my wallet.
(#2 will be proven by the number of people now wondering what I am doing out walking around at 3am!)

[sdurbanite]

Originally Posted by eastcoastbias

It is hardly a myth...

Top 3 Occupations in SD/Carlsbad Area (May 2017 BLS)
Total %Increase Employment # per 1000 jobs


All Occupationstotal 1,433,340 0.5% 1000
Office and Administrative Support Occupationsmajor 213,340 1.3% 148 Average pay 18+ an hour
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupationsmajor153,540 1.4% 107 Average pay 11+ an hour
Sales and Related Occupations major142,090 1.8% 99 Average pay 14+ an hour


All three categories can be linked to tourism.


Of the Occupations with at least 10,000 employees:
Food Prep Workers increased the second most over the year 10.9%. FYI Security was #1.

It's not a myth, but what you forgot to mention is that service occupations make up the largest employment sector in every city, not just here. Contrary, to what people like to think, it's not just a San Diego "Thing".

From the link at the bottom, here is data worth looking at:

USA



San Diego



NYC (Arguably, the greatest city in the world)



LA (Why so many personal care aides?)



Dallas (Big corporate, Fortune 500 city)



Seattle (One of the few places not having a service occupation at the top, but the rest of the list is mostly service oriented like everyone else)



Miami (For a completely service based economy, look no further than this lowly burg)



Source:
https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/area..._emp_chart.htm

[Angelino19]

Originally Posted by spoonman1

Your population numbers are completely exaggerated in favor of the Bay Area.

Here is the US Government's accounting of urban areas in the US for 2016. This shows the Bay Area has a combined urban area of 4.9 million to San Diego's 2.9M. Not exactly 8 or 9 million in the Bay Area as you claim, unless you count towns like Stockton or other far out locales that don't count as part of the contiguous urban area.

Urban areas of the United States of America[1]
Rank Name[Note 1] Population
(2010 Census) Land Area
(km²) Land Area
(sq mi) Density
(Population / km²) Density
(Population / sq mi) Central City
Population
(2010 Census) Central City
Pop % of
Urban Area Central City
Land Area Central City
Land Area % of
Urban Area
1 New York--Newark, NY—NJ—CT-PA 18,351,295 8,936.0 3,450.2 2,053.6 5,318.9 8,175,133 44.5% 302.643 8.8%
2 Los Angeles--Long Beach--Anaheim, CA 12,150,996 4,496.3 1,736.0 2,702.5 6,999.3 3,792,621 31.2% 468 27%
3 Chicago, IL—IN—WI 8,608,208 6,326.7 2,442.8 1,360.6 3,524.0 2,695,598 31.3% 227 9.3%
4 Miami, FL 5,502,379 3,208.0 1,238.6 1,715.2 4,442.4 399,457 7.3% 36 2.9%
5 Philadelphia, PA—NJ—DE—MD 5,441,567 5,131.7 1,981.4 1,060.4 2,746.4 1,526,006 28% 134 6.8%
6 Dallas--Fort Worth--Arlington, TX 5,121,892 4,607.9 1,779.1 1,111.5 2,878.9 1,197,816 23.4% 340 19.1%
7 Houston, TX 4,944,332 4,299.4 1,660.0 1,150.0 2,978.5 2,099,451 42.5% 639 38.5%
8 Washington, DC—VA—MD 4,586,770 3,423.3 1,321.7 1,339.9 3,470.3 681,170 14.9% 61 4.6%
9 Atlanta, GA 4,515,419 6,851.4 2,645.4 659.0 1,706.9 420,003 9.3% 133 5%
10 Boston, MA—NH—RI-CT 4,181,019 4,852.2 1,873.5 861.7 2,231.7 617,594 14.8% 48 2.6%
11 Detroit, MI 3,734,090 3,463.2 1,337.2 1,078.2 2,792.5 713,777 19.1% 138 10.3%
12 Phoenix--Mesa, AZ 3,629,114 2,969.6 1,146.6 1,222.1 3,165.2 1,445,632 40% 517 45.1%
13 San Francisco--Oakland, CA 3,281,212 1,356.2 523.6 2,419.5 6,266.4 805,235 24.5% 46.9 9%
14 Seattle, WA 3,059,393 2,616.7 1,010.3 1,169.2 3,028.2 608,660 20% 83.9 8.3%
15 San Diego, CA 2,956,746 1,896.9 732.4 1,558.7 4,037.0 1,307,402 44.2% 325.2 44.4%
16 Minneapolis--St. Paul, MN 2,650,890 2,646.5 1,021.8 1,001.7 2,594.3 382,578 14.4% 54.9 5.4%
17 Tampa--St. Petersburg, FL 2,441,770 2,478.6 957.0 985.1 2,551.5 335,709 13.7% 113.4 11.8%
18 Denver--Aurora--Lakewood, CO 2,374,203 1,730.0 668.0 1,372.4 3,554.4 600,158 25.2% 153.3 22.9%
19 Baltimore, MD 2,203,663 1,857.1 717.0 1,186.6 3,073.3 620,961 28.2% 80.9 11.3%
20 St. Louis, MO—IL 2,150,706 2,392.2 923.6 899.0 2,328.5 319,294 14.8% 61.9 6.7%
21 San Juan, PR 2,148,346 2,244.7 866.7 957.1 2,478.8
22 Riverside--San Bernardino, CA 1,932,666 1,411.5 545.0 1,369.3 3,546.4
23 Las Vegas--Henderson, NV 1,886,011 1,079.6 416.8 1,746.9 4,524.5 583,756 31% 135.8 32.6%
24 Portland, OR—WA 1,849,898 1,358.1 524.4 1,362.1 3,527.8 583,776 31.6% 133 25.4%
25 Cleveland, OH 1,780,673 1,999.4 772.0 890.6 2,306.7 396,815 22.3% 77.7 10%
26 San Antonio, TX 1,758,210 1,546.5 597.1 1,136.9 2,944.6 1,327,407 75.5% 460.9 77.2%
27 Pittsburgh, PA 1,733,853 2,344.4 905.2 739.6 1,915.5 305,704 17.6% 55.4 6.1%
28 Sacramento, CA 1,723,634 1,219.8 471.0 1,413.0 3,659.7 466,488 27.1% 97.9 20.8%
29 San Jose, CA 1,664,496 740.7 286.0 2,247.2 5,820.3 945,942 56.8% 177.5 62%
30 Cincinnati, OH—KY—IN 1,624,827 2,040.2 787.7 796.4 2,062.6 296,943 18.3% 78 9.9%

Here is a similar study showing the weighted density of metro areas in the US. This one is a bit more generous, but still only provides a true urban area population of 6.1M. This would help to explain why the Bay Area feels so much smaller than places like LA, or Southern California in general.

2010 data
Rank Metro Population Weighted Density Pop Change%



Also worth noting that the Bay Area counts every conceivable town anywere in reach, however San Diego doesn't count a lot of joined areas (like Temecula, Murrieta, etc) because they fall into the LA area's numbers as LA claims all of Riverside county.

Riverside and San Bernardino county are not included in LA's Metro population above. The figure above is the combined population of LA and Orange County. Great Metro LA's population, which is closer to 18 million, includes the 5 county area of Ventura, LA, OC, San Berdo, & Riverside.

[Angelino19]

Originally Posted by SoCalSunnyShine

San Diego has an urban waterfront, something that LA wish it had.

Although downtown LA isn't located on a waterfront, I don't think most Angelino's give it much thought. The city has many communities located along the Pacific Ocean.....Venice, Playa Del Rey, San Pedro, Pacific Palisades, Playa Vista and Westchester.

[Angelino19]

Originally Posted by spoonman1

The myth that San Diego's economy is somehow disproportionately made up of tourism is simply untrue.

Here is a comparison of the employment sector numbers from Jan 2016 from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. LA, SD, and SF all have a combination of Government, Professional Services, Trade/Transportation, and Education as the top 4 areas of employment.

San Diego Area
Data Series Jan* % of Total Jobs 2016
Total Nonfarm*(3) 1,393.50
Government*(3) 238.3 17.10%
Professional and Business Services*(3) 234.4 16.82%
Trade, Transportation, and Utilities*(3) 220.6 15.83%
Education and Health Services*(3) 196.3 14.09%
Leisure and Hospitality*(3) 180.3 12.94%
Manufacturing*(3) 106.9 7.67%
Financial Activities*(3) 72.0 5.17%
Construction*(3) 69.4 4.98%
Other Services*(3) 51.4 3.69%
Information*(3) 23.5 1.69%
Mining and Logging*(3) 0.4 0.03%

Los Angeles Area
Data Series Jan* % of Total Jobs 2016
Total Nonfarm*(3) 5,834.70
Trade, Transportation, and Utilities*(3) 1,088.10 19.40%
Education and Health Services*(3) 957 .00 17.06%
Professional and Business Services*(3) 883.3 15.75%
Government*(3) 729.7 13.01%
Leisure and Hospitality*(3) 691.8 12.33%
Manufacturing*(3) 508.4 9.06%
Financial Activities*(3) 331.1 5.90%
Information*(3) 224.1 3.99%
Other Services*(3) 196.6 3.50%

San Francisco Bay Area
Data Series Jan* % of Total Jobs 2016
Total Nonfarm*(3) 2,276.30
Professional and Business Services*(3) 469.5 21.72%
Trade, Transportation, and Utilities*(3) 374.2 17.31%
Education and Health Services*(3) 333.1 15.41%
Government*(3) 309.9 14.34%
Leisure and Hospitality*(3) 253.1 11.71%
Financial Activities*(3) 128.6 5.95%
Manufacturing*(3) 126.2 5.84%
Information*(3) 85.8 3.97%
Other Services*(3) 81.4 3.77%

**************************************

To add, San Diego also has the 3rd largest concentration of Biotech jobs in the US, after LA (not surprising given the size of the area) and Boston.
ow some biotech numbers. Once again, SD punches above it's weight considering our population size.


Courtesy of sdurbanite

Excellent chart and very revealing. LA Metro gets a lot of international tourists because of Universal Studios, Disneyland, Six Flags, Venice Boardwalk, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood sign, and the Santa Monica Pier. The latter four are routinely featured in movies, and commercials, thus their "must see" popularity nationwide and internationally .

[sav858]

Originally Posted by SoCalSunnyShine

The walkable urbanity is quite extensive compared to much of the nation though. Are you expecting LA to be Tokyo like or something?

But not for being the 2nd largest city metro in the nation, it's very underwhelming in that sense.

LA's economy shows up in airwaves everyday all across the country, I'm not seeing what more influence it could have. As for politics, I guess you could blame the electoral college.

That doesn't mean it's very strong or robust. It's culturally influential and important but economically not so much. Not sure what the electoral college has to do with anything, I was referring to state politics mainly but even at the national level CA's senators have come from the Bay Area and it's been like that for a while now.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by phinneas j. whoopee

As a resident of over 30 years who also spent the first 17 years of my life split between a very small town AND the bay area including San Jose and SanFrancisco I would say your friends made a very accurate description.
As for #2 I think that is misunderstood by posters here as being nosy about others' affairs for purpose of gossip.
I think its more manifested in a sense of entitlement by homeowners to call the police or code compliance office over any minor infraction and control their little world they have influence over.
Edit: forgot to add these issues all which come across negatively actually make San Diego America finest city if one prefers such an environment.
I will come out and say it. Lack of diversity means I can walk almost any street at 3 am and not worry about being relieved of my wallet.
(#2 will be proven by the number of people now wondering what I am doing out walking around at 3am!)

Hmm and no one jumped all over you yet to virtue signal and feign offense?