Some interesting news bits this morning about life in So Cal:

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

The percentage of San Diego households that could afford a median-priced home in February was 15 percent, down from 22 percent a year earlier, according to a real estate industry report released Thursday.
. . .
Households would need to make $111,510 annually to be able to afford a median-priced home in San Diego in February, Giberson said.

And from the Los Angeles Times (annoying registration may be required):

Southern California picked up an estimated 1 million new residents over the last three years as the Bay Area — a population magnet during the dot-com boom — stagnated, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

The figures show Southern California’s pace of growth accelerating from the late 1990s — a finding that has significant consequences for a region already confronting congestion in everything from freeways to classrooms.
. . .
In terms of raw population growth, Los Angeles County ranked first nationally, with 352,176 new residents, followed by Arizona’s Maricopa County with 317,111 new residents. Riverside County ranked third with 237,263 new residents; San Bernardino ranked sixth, San Diego, seventh and Orange County, ninth.

How about if some Arnold makes the new arrivals read the San Diego Union-Tribune article before moving here? I knew the cost of living down here was outrageous before I moved back to Southern California three years ago (and bigger picture, before I returned to California five years ago), but other issues made the move worthwhile. But I’m still amazed at how many people come here and immediately start complaining about the costs and the crowding. I doubt either issue will improve in my lifetime, absent a second Bush term finishing off the economy and making real estate affordable while somehow sparing my job and making beachlaw a runaway succcess, but I still love it here. I guess the point of this nearly incoherent rambling is just that I wish so many people didn’t love it here. Why can’t California be a little hidden jewel that no one’s ever heard of despite the weather, the beaches, the rest of the coast, the desert, the mountains, etc?

One Response to “Living in So Cal”

1. Defense Engineer says:

   April 10, 2004 at 12:06 pm

   You should try Hawaii. I get an abusrd number of IM’s from random people asking me questions about moving to Hawaii. It’s usually from some a** who has no money and no job lined up. They just expect to spend all their cash on a plane ticket, arrive, and make a good living.

   What they don’t realize is every other idiot thinks the same thing. So competition is really tight for everything right down to minimum wage jobs.

   The caucasians and the African Americans leave after being here for a few months (they get sick of the racism against them).