I'm always on the lookout for somewhere in the US with a climate like San Diego but a low cost of living.
That's where I want to move. Any ideas?
That's where I want to move. Any ideas?
I guess that's a long way of saying you're not going to find another Southern California in the continental United States, let alone a cheaper one.
EDIT: The reason Brick from Anchorman is dumb is because he's the weatherman. The subtle joke (maybe the only one in the film) is that the weather in San Diego is so consistently nice that you can be as dumb as a brick and still be a weatherman in San Diego.
1) The weather is just perfect all year long.
2) The cost of living, while high, isn't insane compared to places like the Bay Area or NYC.
3) The public schools are actually quite good in many of the areas without being far flung from the city.
The big downside, however, is that there just aren't many local jobs for techies. The few that exist pay very little compared to the ones in the Bay Area or even a little further north in LA despite the cost of living being on the high side.
My wife and I have talked about moving there for a while (we both work from home) but the big challenge is that we'd have to find other income streams (in addition to our day jobs) to fund a good lifestyle in San Diego. In the face of a pretty tepid local job market and challenges with remote work pay being lower, that seems to be a requirement to make it out there.
There is also a great web/javascript community that is growing in the area called sandiego.js (http://sandiegojs.org/). I attended most of their talks this summer and there were always people looking to hire people to do work for them.
I currently live in Dallas, TX and for me the numbers work out this way:
* Housing is 2-3x more expensive for comparable neighborhoods.
* Jobs pay about 10-15% less on average.
So if you have a $100K income and own a $300K home in Texas, you can expect to get a $85K income and own a $900K home (worst case scenario). Downsizing can make the numbers more favorable, but it only gets you so far.
All that being said, I would probably need an secondary income stream that provides an additional 25% or more of my primary income stream to justify moving out there.
Food for thought ...