I'm thinking about moving (San Diego, Corona: how much, houses, school)

[Medicallabscientist]

I came here from Midwest and make double in San Diego. I went from $30 an hour in Michigan to $55 an hour here.

Contrary to the whining you read here the cost of living is same here as it is anywhere else with the exception of housing. Food, utilities, auto insurance, shopping i pay exact same as Michigan.

The ass kicked here is housing. My 15 year mortgage in Michigan was $460 a month and now I pay 1900 a month to rent a one bedroom. I could comfortably afford and have a downpayment for a home in the 550,000 range but for the area i want to live all that buys me is a one bedroom condo.

If you can find housing you can afford the rest is pretty similiar if you know what you are doing.

[RocStr50]

Originally Posted by Medicallabscientist

I came here from Midwest and make double in San Diego. I went from $30 an hour in Michigan to $55 an hour here.

Contrary to the whining you read here the cost of living is same here as it is anywhere else with the exception of housing. Food, utilities, auto insurance, shopping i pay exact same as Michigan.

The ass kicked here is housing. My 15 year mortgage in Michigan was $460 a month and now I pay 1900 a month to rent a one bedroom. I could comfortably afford and have a downpayment for a home in the 550,000 range but for the area i want to live all that buys me is a one bedroom condo.

If you can find housing you can afford the rest is pretty similiar if you know what you are doing.

Thanks for the insight. I know housing is going to be the biggest shock. I'm retired military so I can do some shopping on the bases saving a little there too. What area do you live in?

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Medicallabscientist

I came here from Midwest and make double in San Diego. I went from $30 an hour in Michigan to $55 an hour here.

Contrary to the whining you read here the cost of living is same here as it is anywhere else with the exception of housing. Food, utilities, auto insurance, shopping i pay exact same as Michigan.

The ass kicked here is housing. My 15 year mortgage in Michigan was $460 a month and now I pay 1900 a month to rent a one bedroom. I could comfortably afford and have a downpayment for a home in the 550,000 range but for the area i want to live all that buys me is a one bedroom condo.

If you can find housing you can afford the rest is pretty similiar if you know what you are doing.

Everything? Fuel is 3 bucks a gallon and the cheapest it has been in years. It usually hovers around 4. We have the highest utility rates in the nation. We live near the coast and still pay around 250-300 a month for gas and electric. Michigan is that expensive? If you have to commute you have to factor in that fuel bill and if you work from home factor in utilities. This isn't whining it is called facts.


When Diesel was 4.50 a gallon here a couple years ago it was 1.85 in N Carolina and 1.89 in Tyler Texas.

[someguy10]

The primary eye-opening expense in San Diego is housing. That impacts everyone, and maybe even those a bit lower on the wage scale more. The other is taxes, especially state income taxes which are very progressive and have the top marginal rate of any US state by quite a margin. Those barely impact lower earners but definitely start having an impact around $100K and it gets bigger quickly from there.

From a purely financial and cost of housing standpoint, your friends are right -- a San Diego job should pay 20%+ more versus Phoenix.

You mention retiring in around five years -- are you hoping to stay in San Diego post retirement? Is moving from PHX to SD going to affect (lessen, I would assume) your retirement pot/income? What are you paying for rent now in PHX and what is your cash situation?

Housing is going to be the expense that increases quite a bit and is something you'll want to be careful with, especially if this move would persist into retirement. Additionally, I would be leery of having my largest expense at the whim of the market via renting, especially in retirement. Some people have had great luck renting in SD with landlords who value a long-term stable tenant and don't raise rent, or raise it very modestly (ie, less than market). Those are almost always going to be smaller mom-and-pop type landlords; the professional management companies will keep rents at market, which usually means substantial yearly increases. And even then, a mom-and-pop landlord may die, move, cash out, etc., forcing you to find new housing at the end of your term and probably at then-market rates.

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by eastcoastbias

SD is not really a retirement place for middle class people.

Sadly true.
But I remember this from twenty years ago. Having grown up there, it was funny to see it bestowed with this honor. I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to retire in Escondido but hey...

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by Medicallabscientist

I came here from Midwest and make double in San Diego. I went from $30 an hour in Michigan to $55 an hour here.

Contrary to the whining you read here the cost of living is same here as it is anywhere else with the exception of housing. Food, utilities, auto insurance, shopping i pay exact same as Michigan.

The ass kicked here is housing. My 15 year mortgage in Michigan was $460 a month and now I pay 1900 a month to rent a one bedroom. I could comfortably afford and have a downpayment for a home in the 550,000 range but for the area i want to live all that buys me is a one bedroom condo.

If you can find housing you can afford the rest is pretty similiar if you know what you are doing.

What are you talking about?

First off food is much cheaper in Michigan than it is here. Some things like fresh produce in the winter will be cheaper here, and some items will be comparable, but by and large you’ll be paying more here. That’s just a fact. I’d love to see any study by a reputable source that says California grocery prices are the same as Michigan. And unless you’re eating $5 footlongs and McDoubles off the value menu, you’ll be paying way more eating out. I went to school in Michigan and have been visiting family there my whole life so I’m very familiar with what things cost.

Utilities is debatable. A single person in a small place will most certainly pay less here as you’ll use less, but a family in a decent sized house here is going to be paying the same, if not more? We don’t run the AC much, do laundry at night, etc, but we’ve had a lot of family and friends come stay with us during the pandemic and I’ve done double takes with some of these bills. I can now see how utility bills can get out of control here even with our nice weather and not having to heat or cool our houses the majority of the year.

I’ll give you auto insurance. It’s insane how much more I paid for it in SE Michigan than here, but you conveniently left out the higher DMV fees, and much higher gas prices here. Cars will last longer over time here, so there’s that, but cheaper insurance doesn’t equal a cheaper auto expense.

You left out a huge expense, and that’s dating. Dating is expensive in this city as bars, restaurants, and entertainment is all more expensive across the board. Even if you’re not dating, just going out and having a social life is expensive. It’s all relative to what you make, but I always found it way cheaper going out in Michigan than here. I have a few friends who own bars/restaurants there who I went to school with, the same business I was in for years, and they can charge much less due to labor and rent being cheaper, but also have to because people make less there. That’s just reality.

But all of these pale in comparison to your biggest expense, housing. Even you said it’s has gone up 4x to what you were paying in Michigan. You just can’t say housing is crazy but everything else is the same and call it a day? Silly me, I almost forgot state income tax and sales tax. Both are higher here as well.

San Diego is a very expensive city to live in. It’s not “whining” going on around here, it’s people who have lived here for ages, and not those just fresh off the boat, trying to give honest feedback. Not sure why you’re trying to downplay it? Stick around for awhile and see if you still have the same feelings about how the COL is here. A free piece of advice. $55/hr is a very nice salary, but it’s hardly in the range to boast about in nearly every post of yours. Honestly congrats on the pay jump, you should be proud of yourself, but I think you’d be shocked, and/or humbled a bit if you found out what a lot of people “whining” make.

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by joosoon

Sadly true.
But I remember this from twenty years ago. Having grown up there, it was funny to see it bestowed with this honor. I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to retire in Escondido but hey...

I’d retire in Escondido in a heartbeat. Maybe not down in the flats, but a house with some acreage up in the hills sounds pretty nice right about now. Seriously though, there’s some real nice areas of Escondido once you get out of the city. But you obviously know this.

[JohnAlt]

Originally Posted by RocStr50

I know, Right. I like them both for different reasons. They are both about the same distance and travel time to Chula Vista. Coronoda is our first choice but we can ony rent. IB is coming up and close to both Coronado and Chula Vista and we could possibly buy there.

I'd hold off buying anything until the Covid fallout is clear.

[GuitarDaver]

I've been here since 97' I love San Diego, it was great when I was single and w/o kids. It truly is a wonderful place to live despite being crowded and the homeless population getting out of control.
I figure one has to make a bare minimum of $100k to live in a decent area.
Family of 4 should have 2 incomes totaling $225-$250 If you can swing that you'll be fine.
We can't keep up financially so we're moving...

[metoque]

Where are you moving?