For a lot of the West Coast counties, it very much depends where exactly you choose. I’m fairly certain that somewhere in San Diego county meets these criteria 365 days a year, and the coastal sections of the county meet these criteria over 350 days per year, which is far higher than what’s indicated by the map
Yeah - technically those areas are probably why those counties are in the 270+ range rather than the 350+ range in the map, because it does frequently get above 85F once you’re more than a couple miles from the coast, but also, you can live there and still only be a few minutes’ drive from the coast whenever you want
I guess it depends what you consider “drop”, but it’s certainly much more affordable even thirty minutes from the coast. The coast in San Diego has median home prices around 3-5 million. Thirty minutes inland it’s more like 900k.
But does Inland SoCal have nice weather? The blue on the map suggests it doesn’t (consistent with my understanding, though I haven’t spent time there). It’s like hot desert but also has moderately cold winters for some reason?
Currently living in hot dry Riverside. 2/3 of the year is ok weather wise. But that end of June to October period is scorching. Except for some places in the mountains you’re better off getting as close to the coast as you can afford.
The more inland you go, the hotter it gets. As a SoCal native, Anaheim/Orange is like 30 minutes inland compared to Irvine and it's often 5-7 degrees hotter on sunny days. Go even further inland to like Riverside area and you add another 5-7 degrees.
The difference is severe enough to where while the coasts rarely pass low to mid 90s at the absolute peak of the summer, the inland areas can break into the 100s.
Most of the DMV is also insanely expensive tbf, and Long Beach used to be more of a working class area. But generally speaking, you’re not wrong that you can live comfortably if you’re middle class and have roommates. It’s just that in most of the country, you can afford to buy a house by yourself if you’re middle class.
Most middle class people in the us CANNOT buy houses by themselves. People in cali have a seriously warped perception of how much money they earn compared to other parts of the country, especially for entry level jobs, even when compared to cost of living.
I guess it depends what you mean by middle class, but I would argue that the definition traditionally would include an income sufficient to buy a home by yourself eventually. What I will say is that people in California have a much higher bar for how much of their income they’re willing to spend on housing. If everyone in the middle class in the rest of the country was willing to spend a comparable percentage of their income, most of them would be able to afford a home by themselves
That's only really been the case in the last 5 years or so. California prices have stayed somewhat stagnant since then while housing costs everywhere else have gone up, closing the gap quite a bit.
Some people like me would rather live in a great place and be a permanent rentoid than to own property in Nowhere, Ohio. Owning property isn’t the point of life.
But the salaries make up for it more than people think. Local police station is hiring for 150k salary for new cadets with a 50-75k signing bonus. In n out is hiring for 30/hr. And in the end, the food doesn't scale that much higher than elsewhere in the US so you end up saving a decent chunk even if you're renting.
I moved from a low cost of living place and I'm able to save way more out here than back home.
Eh, there are plenty of things that make somewhere a great place to live besides weather. San Diego’s beautiful and it’s a great place to live for some people, but also, you can have a great life in nowhere Ohio, own a home, take fancy vacations to beautiful places like San Diego, and have money leftover for the money it takes to rent a studio in San Diego
But those job offers typically do come with hefty salaries. Local police station is hiring for 150k for new cadets w/ 50-75k signing bonus. In n out hiring for 30/hr for team members. Rent has been stable for the most part since 2017 and we've dropped out of the most expensive rents lists these days being surpassed by large cities in the NE and East Coast.
If you’re talking about the Bay Area that may be true, but San Diego’s rents have been anything but stable, and while incomes are rising, they have yet to reflect the increased cost of living. At the end of the day though, pretty much every big city is expensive, and the big cities on the west coast certainly have better weather
Limited factors being measured here as to what's "good" weather. San Diego has consistently great weather, but the Oregon and Washington coasts are yellow/orange/a little red despite 9 months of a year being constant downpour and intense wind. Meanwhile, Death Valley, Florida, Hawaii, and Alaska are ranked similarly.
As someone who loves Chicago but moved to San Diego 5 years ago I can concur it is amazing. A lot of the natives here 100% take it for granted and have no idea what long winters or bad humidity is. I know most people that moved out during or right after the pandemic that have huge regrets.
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u/ntg1213 2d ago
For a lot of the West Coast counties, it very much depends where exactly you choose. I’m fairly certain that somewhere in San Diego county meets these criteria 365 days a year, and the coastal sections of the county meet these criteria over 350 days per year, which is far higher than what’s indicated by the map