Is there a quality of Life in bay area ??? (San Diego: 2015, how much)

[Cobb]

If there is I can't find it.

good: great income, Marin county and Monterey bay area is nice those would be the only 2 places I'd want to live in if I stayed here.

bad: traffic,traffic, cost of housing more than 50% + of income, traffic, after spending long hours weekly commuting to tired to go anywhere. Cost of everything which means less disposable income.

and it's cold here. Very, very few really nice hot days in SF.

SF public transit is filthy.

[bodyforlife99]

Originally Posted by Cobb

If there is I can't find it.

good: great income, Marin county and Monterey bay area is nice those would be the only 2 places I'd want to live in if I stayed here.

bad: traffic,traffic, cost of housing more than 50% + of income, traffic, after spending long hours weekly commuting to tired to go anywhere. Cost of everything which means less disposable income.

and it's cold here. Very, very few really nice hot days in SF.

SF public transit is filthy.

I gotta disagree with you on some of your points. The weather has actually been pretty darn good this year and last. We've had quite a few days in the mid 70s and some pretty good runs of unseasonably warm weather. And of course, we're about to hit that time of year (happens every year when the kids go back to school), when the weather will get downright hot. Starting in March, we rarely went cooler than 60. But check this out...

April 5-7 79,86,73
April 16-21 79, 83, 82, 80,75,70
May 1 80
May 6 80
May 17 87
May 18 73
May 26-June 7th Not a day below 70
June 11-12 80, 76
June 16-21 Not a day below 72 (peaking at 84)
June 23rd-27 No days below 70
June 30 - July 4 No days below 70

I could go on, but we've had tons of days over 70 and some in the 80s. You couldn't get a nicer year than this one (not to mention the incredible microclimates in the Bay Area...80's are usually no more than 10-15 miles away).

How bad is your commute? I don't bat an eye at an hour, but maybe you're longer or have a crappier commute than mine? I get so caught up with news, music, and hands free conversation that I barely notice it. 101 gets a little backed up, but 280 is pretty free flowing so I just kick in the cruise control and I'm just watching other cars and enjoying myself and the nice scenic drive.

Yeah COL sucks...no doubt about that (try doing some free stuff...plenty of that in the city and great neighborhoods to walk around). We have an awesome walk in my neighborhood that I take periodically (San Bruno Mountain...great view of the city). The wife and I went down to Golden Gate park earlier today and had a great walk. Get out and get some exercise...that energy will come back.

It's not so bad. And if it ever gets to the breaking point, you can move for greener pastures and a lower COL. My wife and I will be out of here eventually, but for now, it's been home for 50 years.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by Cobb

If there is I can't find it.

good: great income, Marin county and Monterey bay area is nice those would be the only 2 places I'd want to live in if I stayed here.

bad: traffic,traffic, cost of housing more than 50% + of income, traffic, after spending long hours weekly commuting to tired to go anywhere. Cost of everything which means less disposable income.

and it's cold here. Very, very few really nice hot days in SF.

SF public transit is filthy.

While the Bay Area isn't the kind of place I'd want to live long-term, it still offers quite a lot if you don't mind certain things. There are a lot of great ethnic restaurants, hiking areas and nice places to walk around.

The cons eventually outweighed the pros for my personal taste, which is why I moved out, but the Bay Area has a lot of great qualities too. Also, some of my cons are pros for other people.

I absolutely hate the cold weather, homelessness/poverty, trashy streets, brown dried up landscapes much of the year and ugly expensive housing...

...but to some the homeless crack heads give the city character, the cold windy foggy weather reminds them of being in a Steven King movie, the dried up landscape gives them reason to look forward to the frigid winter, the ugly houses also gives character and the trash sometimes has some salvageable tasty nom noms where you can post on Facebook with the caption "YASSSSSSSSSS!".

[ambient]

Originally Posted by Cobb

If there is I can't find it.

good: great income, Marin county and Monterey bay area is nice those would be the only 2 places I'd want to live in if I stayed here.

bad: traffic,traffic, cost of housing more than 50% + of income, traffic, after spending long hours weekly commuting to tired to go anywhere. Cost of everything which means less disposable income.

and it's cold here. Very, very few really nice hot days in SF.

SF public transit is filthy.

There is if you have enough money and live in the parts of the bay with sunshine.

[bodyforlife99]

Originally Posted by ambient

There is if you have enough money and live in the parts of the bay with sunshine.

Yeah, he's right. You can get a whopping 3 more days of Sunshine if you go to San Diego, or 32 more in LA (Woo Hoo!). It doesn't matter how much proof you show these guys, they'll insist San Francisco has no sun, it's foggy all the time, and never breaks 70 degrees.

I don't waste my time with it as some people are always looking to start an argument despite all proof to the contrary.

https://www.currentresults.com/Weath...f-sunshine.php

Of course you can always move to places like Hot-lanta, Austin, Houston, Jacksonville, or Orlando (all areas known for hot weather) and enjoy even more fog

https://www.currentresults.com/Weath...ity-annual.php

This chart only goes through 1990, but as you compare 2014-2015, you'll see what I'm talking about by the chart below (and 2016 has been even better.....yeah, the last three years have kicked ass and it's similar to the peaks between 1985-2000)



The topic isn't really debatable. The proof is there for those that don't have blinders on.

You won't get three nicer years in this area than the last three we've had and we have a warming trend going on. If it's not warm enough for some than clearly this isn't the place for you.

Forecast for rest of September- 17 out of 24 days over 70 and only one day without sunshine. Rock on!

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Cobb

If there is I can't find it.

No place appeals to all people. That's your problem.

good: great income, Marin county and Monterey bay area is nice those would be the only 2 places I'd want to live in if I stayed here.

Good thing no one asked.

bad: traffic,traffic, cost of housing more than 50% + of income, traffic, after spending long hours weekly commuting to tired to go anywhere. Cost of everything which means less disposable income.

Yawns. Cry me a river.

and it's cold here. Very, very few really nice hot days in SF.

Sorry boo but anything over 80 is too hot for me. To each his own.

SF public transit is filthy.

I drive.

These weak, whiny posts get tiresome.

[AZJD]

As someone who moved to the Bay from a lower COL state, and immediately moved back after a year:

Your quality of life significantly improved in terms of things to do and see, nature, history, oceans, etc.

If you are middle class, your quality of life will significantly decrease in terms of housing.
If you're single, or married with no kids, you might find it acceptable. If you have children like we do, the sacrifice we thought would be fine was not fine.

Just couldn't live in old small crappy housing. No amount of the Bay Area fun could offset the sacrifice in where we lived.

Need $200,000 income to have a decent life with a family.

[ttocs99]

I loved living in the Bay Area. The quality of life was way better than my NYC experience (born and raised, lived there until I was 36, moved back at age 43). I feel the Bay Area is way more chill than NYC. I always felt way more laid back in the Bay Area. Commute didn't bother me (35 minutes on the BART as opposed to over an hour every day while living in NY on Mass Transit). There are more issues as far as cancellations and delays on my commute every week in NYC as there were in 7 years living in the Bay. The overall beauty, and speed of life seems way more chill. At work I was in management. I was told to ease off people on my team, I was being too intense, but that was my NY attitude, and work pace I was used to. Once I slowed down, definitely enjoyed life more.


I love the quality of life in the Bay Area, quick trips to Napa and Sausalito on weekends always felt like heaven to me.


It really is all relative, I came from NYC, so I had to learn to slow down, if you come from some slow moving laid back city, SF and the Bay Area may seem hectic to you, therefore you might feel there is no quality of life. But I loved it.

[HappyinCali]

I am pretty open to realistic criticism of the Bay Area, but I think yours is pretty weak.

First of all traffic. I am not going to post it again, but actual studies have found that the commute times in the bay area are among the best among all major metro areas in America. You clearly have never commuted by car in LA, Atlanta, Vegas, Chicago or NYC. I have lived here for 7 years now and I have very rarely been stuck in traffic. I plan trips around traffic, I know shortcuts, I know when events that could block traffic, such as marathons and festivals, are. It is very easy to avoid. I also live in the city and my commute to work is 15-20 mins.

Public transportation is not filthy. I take it all the time and filthy has almost never come to mind. Have you taken public transport in other cities? The subway in NYC is dirtier in my view.

I personally love it here. The two things that really bother me are the politics and the trash within the city. Other than that, I think the Bay Area is amazing and as long as you can afford it, I think it is harder to find a better place to live.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by bodyforlife99

I gotta disagree with you on some of your points. The weather has actually been pretty darn good this year and last. We've had quite a few days in the mid 70s and some pretty good runs of unseasonably warm weather. And of course, we're about to hit that time of year (happens every year when the kids go back to school), when the weather will get downright hot. Starting in March, we rarely went cooler than 60. But check this out...

April 5-7 79,86,73
April 16-21 79, 83, 82, 80,75,70
May 1 80
May 6 80
May 17 87
May 18 73
May 26-June 7th Not a day below 70
June 11-12 80, 76
June 16-21 Not a day below 72 (peaking at 84)
June 23rd-27 No days below 70
June 30 - July 4 No days below 70

I could go on, but we've had tons of days over 70 and some in the 80s. You couldn't get a nicer year than this one (not to mention the incredible microclimates in the Bay Area...80's are usually no more than 10-15 miles away).

SF just had the coldest August in 74 years and it didn't even hit 70 once. July wasn't much better either.

Fogust: San Francisco shivers through coldest August days in 74 years - SFGate
SF shivers as July temperatures plunge below February's average - SFGate

The coastal climate here is pretty terrible overall in summer.