I had the exact same thoughts; I grew up in California, went to school here, and now work here. You can claw the Pacific Ocean from my dead, penniless hands. The vast majority of my network seems to feel similarly, even those that did not grow up here. There is a constant saying that’s get thrown around in my company at least: “I will retire in San Diego”. To us:

Seattle is too dreary, slightly too white. Austin is way too white and you are still in Texas (state politics don’t sound like a feels good) New York is too crowded, but in my network this is the obvious next choice: we are told stories in sf that the homelessness is better, techies are in demand and treated well, dating is better for men. LA is where a lot of my network wants to be but companies aren’t growth oriented, we would be stuck in traffic more of our lives, which is why a lot of us left jobs in the valley. My network is primarily techies 24-32 years old, so I’d imagine “growth oriented” may mean less to us in 5-10 years.

Of course this all anecdotal but still relevant and indicative that a certain portion of people who live in California (even transplants) will not just live any where.

I went to SD and my impression: Expected pros: weather, beach, landscape, ocean, Asian and Mexican influence

Expected cons: prices and homeless, artificial buildings, landscapes and often face/bodies

Unexpected pros:every one was super nice, Julio’s, cool airplanes

Unexpected cons: as a person who has always biked and walked. So cal is made for cars. To get from one part of town to another it seemed like in some cases it was just a hw cutting through a valley. Strip malls everywhere - the price you pay for so many options (consumer wise) seems to be paving over some of the most beautiful land on earth - additionally - the juxtaposition of all the luxury stores, boutique hipster shops w army of homeless is just depressing to look at. Not really California’s fault, but SD kind of just made me get down on humanity

haha these are all valid points from a non-californians perspective. I just laugh because as someone who lives in SF and visits SD regularly the homeless issue pales in comparison. My experience with homelessness in SD is that they will generally leave you alone, that is not the case in SF. I have had rotting milk thrown on me on my way to work before.. not a fun time. Also in terms of pricing, SD pales in comparison. So from a bay area perspective, the homelessness and the price become sorta moot points. And yes, california by and large is made for cars. The only place that I have heard people being able to be carless is SF (berkeley/oakland to a lesser extent), so for californians having a car in SD is not unexpected.

  vindictive

did you mean "indicative"?

Yes but it's too late to change it now.