San Diego, California or Boise, Idaho (Berkeley, Stanford: buying a home, job market, neighborhoods)

[maui08]

Just curious what people think about these 2 areas to live. Any comparisons from folks who have been to both would be greatly appreciated. We are considering both....Thanks

[maui08]

I know it depends on the individual but........How about comparing the following:

-Education
-Medical
-Cost of living
-Quality of life
-Basic bills
-Weather
-Etc....

Between the 2 places for those that know or have been to both first hand

Thanks

[Snort]

Knowing both, I'd have to choose San Diego....eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaasily.

[esmith143]

Boise has much lower cost of living and more diverse outdoors experience. Winter heating bills are higher, but housing is much cheaper.

K-12 education is comparable, though SD is more "polarized"/segregated than Boise. In either place, more expensive neighborhoods mean better schools and vice versa. Boise does not have massive immigrant/English learner problem that plagues SD and CA schools in general (up to a third of all first-graders in the state don't speak English) - therefore, schools in cheaper parts of Boise are better than schools in bad parts of SD.

There's a couple of universities in Boise area, none of them particularly good. The closest decent university is in Seattle. San Diego has UCSD, which is in the top 40 nationwide. It also happens to be 2 hours away from UCLA and USC, both universities are in the top 40 themselves, and both universities have top-tier business and law schools (rivalled only by Berkeley and Stanford on the West Coast).

[NorthSDLifer]

Diverse if you don't include the Pacific. Of course, if you are a skier, Boise is a short hop to SLC.

I lived in Boise 11 years ago for a summer internship and loved it. Still have probably one of the few framed downtown Boise posters outside of Idaho, right above my computer. The river right through town, great bike trails and parks, some really neat neighborhoods near downtown. Downtown itself was pretty cool,with the Capitol. If you're gay and in Idaho, that's the city to be. Some buildings are eyesores (I recall complaints about a new signature-ish building doing nothing for the area's aesthetics). Even then, I remember longtimers complaining about sprawl and rapid growth in places like Meridian and Nampa, and the "big-city," too. Letter writers in the Idaho Statesmen complained about Californication (new mall, huge Edwards cinema - and I imagine they were upset about all the new tracts and demands development placed on water.) North of the city toward McCall has some beautiful country. It was June 98 when I discovered my trail head snowed in. And I don't mean by a little.

IIRC, immigrants are more concentrated in places like Nampa and Caldwell.

I've wanted to at least visit ever since I came back.

To add, as far as jobs, in the late 90s, Boise was quietly becoming a tech hub of sorts. I remember Newsweek even picking up on this. HP, Sun and some others had/have footprints there.

[f_m]

Originally Posted by NorthSDLifer

To add, as far as jobs, in the late 90s, Boise was quietly becoming a tech hub of sorts. I remember Newsweek even picking up on this. HP, Sun and some others had/have footprints there.

You have to be careful about that, since tech jobs are easily cut or moved.

Spokesman.com | Blogs | Eye On Boise | Micron announces 2,000 more layoffs

[AlleyTD]

San Diego Pros:
Great Beaches
The ocean!!!
Lots of opportunities for everything.
Great weather year round.

SD Cons:
Cost of living / buying a home
Crowds
that about all i can think of.

Boise Pros:
Mild four seasons
great housing and cost of living
Small town feel with big city vibe
nice people

Cons:
NO ocean
pretty isolated from other big cities
Not as much cultural diversity

[NorthSDLifer]

Originally Posted by f_m

You have to be careful about that, since tech jobs are easily cut or moved.

Spokesman.com | Blogs | Eye On Boise | Micron announces 2,000 more layoffs

Not only that - I was thinking of Micron when I wrote Sun. A quick Google search appeared to not match Sun and Boise.

Earlier on Google, I found an MSNBC '07 clip about Boise and IT/tech.

[NYSD1995]

I have not been to Boise but your post prompted me to do a little research. It looks like a very nice place to live and housing is very affordable. However it is a small city and it would appear that the job market is fairly limited even compared to San Diego which has a reputation of having a weak job market.

It really depends on your budget, expectations, life stage, job prospects. For example at my current stage in life I would strongly consider leaving San Diego for a place like Boise if I felt I could make a career happen there. However 10 years ago I would have scoffed at the idea.

[SDrelocate]

Listen MauiFiveO,
Every place has its charms and warts. Boise got gun totting nut survivalists, Stink bugs, Beef Jerky and blue sky. San Diego got La Jolla, seal beach, Black's beach, Fish Tacos, Mira Mesa and Blue sky.
You make a place as nice as you allow it. Good Luck