Kinross

I'm sick of the cold dry air, constant snow, and limited sunshine. My wife has an oportunity to work in San Diego and we are contemplating moving there.

So how is the culture and attitudes?

How is the local economy?

How hard is it to find employment?

Anything I should know abot the area?

Where are the reasonable neiborhoods to live in?

christ-on-a-stick

I live in Orange County which is about 65 miles north of S.D. but I visit down there quite frequently.

It's a really beautiful area, particularly the beach communities, very laid-back... lots of recreation, great restaurants etc.

As far as the economy etc. goes I don't have much info but we have several users here that live there so they will probably be able to shed more light on that.

I like where I live but if I had the chance I'd live in Pacific Beach, Cardiff by the Sea, Del Mar or Solano Beach in a second.

scarmig

I think San Deigo is in California.

Screw California.

MzNeko

Whew! That's a lot of people - you'd better get started right away!

And you're going to need a huge tub of K-Y...

LeftCoast

AdamSmith,

San Diego is a great place to live. I moved here 14 years ago, intending to stay for only a few years and now I have no intention of leaving. It is a wonderful place to raise a family with loads of things to do with the Kids - I have a 5-year-old daughter and can't think of any place I'd rather raise her.

As someone I once heard observed (I cannot recall who) - "climate-wise, everywhere else in the US is downhill from San Diego". There are climates within the boundaries of SD county to satisfy just about every personal whim. From the beaches to the Laguna mountains to the Anza Borego Desert - if you pick your days just right, it is possible to Surf in the Morning, play in the snow in the afternoon.

As for things to do, there's something for just about everyone. If your into outdoor activities, our climate is technically semi-arid (we get on average about 10 inches of rain per year - last year, however, we only got about 3.5) so most any day is suitable for some kind of outdoor activity. Bicycling (though be warned, SD county is rather hilly so unless you are riding right along the coast, you are either going uphill or downhill with little in-between), hiking, surfing, etc.

As for cultural attractions, we have loads of museums in Blaboa park, there is the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, SeaWorld, Lego-Land(If you have kids between 2 and 10 you need an annual pass). Disneyland is only about 2 hours up the road in Anaheim and you are close enough to the LA area to get there for the weekend without having to live there. If you live here, you can get annual passes to all of these attractions and come and go as you please (e.g. - the dual membership for my wife and myself to the Zoo is only $100.00 per year with unlimited access and free parking at the Wild Animal park which is $5 a pop for the unwashed masses)

If you're into the night-life-thang there's the Pacific Beach and Mission Beach communities and over the last 10 years they have really expanded the development in the "Gaslamp" area of downtown and there are many restaurants and night-clubs down there as well.

Now, to address you specific questions:

1) So how is the culture and attitudes? - The local culture is quite varied there are obvious influences from Mexico (Tijuana is only about 12 miles from downtown SD.). The county itself is rather conservative, though our Congressional reps are split 3 Republican and 2 Democrat. Having grown up in Oklahoma where religion is palpable in everyday life, most people here are not so overt in their religious representations.

2) How is the local economy? - Local economy is still good - we are much more diversified than when I moved here. The local economy is still dominated by Defense contractors and Military (a good percentage of the US Pacific fleet is home-ported here in SD) but we now have a large number of high-tech/IT an Bio-tech companies that are headquartered here.

3) How hard is it to find employment? - depends upon your field, but while I think it's harder now that it was about 2 or 3 years ago, it is far from where it was 10 years ago when hiring was really in the doldrums.

4) Anything I should know abot the area? - (See above)

5) Where are the reasonable neiborhoods to live in? - Depends upon how you define "reasonable". There are no cheap neighborhoods in San Diego (at least that one would want to live in willingly). I seem to recall hearing recently that San Diego is in the top 5 most expensive housing markets in the US and having just recently sold my old house and bought a new one here I can believe that. I live in the North-county-inland area to be precise most of the neighborhoods there are relatively new and while one must put up with Home-owners associations, they are all well cared for. There are some newer neighborhoods in the South-bay area (Chula Vista) where prices are still reasonable (for SD at least), but just to give you an idea, the MEDIAN price for a house in SD is just about $300,000.

The other side of reasonable depends upon your own desires. As Christ-on-a-stick said, the coastal communities Carlsbad, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, etc. are very nice but you pay for the proximity to the Ocean.

Sol

Just to add a few comments to those of others.

Regarding employment, much depends on your field. Wages in San Diego have tended toward the lower end of the scale if you look at statisical data, but I believe things have and are improving. The housing market is a tad expensive, although generally it gets a bit less expensive the more inland you go. The traffic is increasingly harder to deal with, the average daily commute can be a bit of a bummer. The area has a truly awesome climate and people are laid back and friendly from my experience. It is the location for me, as a secondary residence and I spend as much time as I can there. I recommend that you investigate it throughly. Look into job prospects, housing costs, distance from prospective home to office, etc. The time and effort you put into your research will pay dividends in making a good decison.

cheetah

HI! I started living in San Diego for college and never left! It is great here. I feel spoiled. However, I will start with just a few bad things that I think you should know before I get into the good things and reiterating what other people have said.

1. It's not always sunny, particularly at the coast (which is sad, because if you go to the coast, you want it to be sunny!). The late fall and winter are usually good for reliable sun, but it's a bit too cold for a beach day then (low 60s). The late spring and, this year, ALL summer, seemed to be dominated by the ever-present marine layer (fog). So, it might be pretty sunny at my house, a few miles inland, and by the time we get to the beach, we realize it's not a beach day after all. There are still many good sunny days, just not as often as one might like. I get really depressed sometimes with the May-Gray and June-Gloom.
2. Traffic is getting BAD here. Because everyone wants to move here and no one has kept up with infrastructure and public transpo sucks, traffic has gotten REALLY bad lately. In fact, Men's Health or some mag like that used to always rate San Diego the "Fittest City" in America, for a variety of reasons, including how healthy the air and traffic are. This year we went way down to like 3 or 5 or something and it said primarily because air quality and traffic has gotten worse.
3. The actual median price of a home is far above $300,000 actually. I work on a housing committee and we're looking at closer to $360,000. The average home price is about $400,000, I think. It's sad and it's a BIG problem for the area. The Mayor of San Diego identified this in his recent State of the City address as being one of his goals to focus on.

OK, that's really it. San Diego has so much to do and lots of acceptable weather to do it in. There are so many great cultural and outdoorsy things to do. Very laid-back. I'm not a sports fan, so I don't care, but we're not a big sports city. We're really only huge fans of the Padres and Chargers when they are doing really well. Otherwise, it will only be the few die hards cheering them on. We just don't have time to watch sports when there are so many more fun things to do! The one thing I would say is that some of the things are pretty generic in San Diego. You have to look hard to find the unique restaurants, because there are all too many big chains. You have to look really hard to fnid little boutique stores, because we have way too many big warehouse type stores. Still, I'm picky and we're 90% better than most towns.

San Diego is a huge city (2nd biggest in CA and 6th biggest,. I think in US) with a small town attitude. It has access to lots of resources, but I wouldn't call it cosmopolitan. It's just laid back and active and overall, very clean and respectable. There are pockets of wild character and pockets of glitz and glam, but mostly, it's very middle income.

Despite what I've said about the weather, I think it'd be hard to find anywhere in the US with a more agreeable, Mediterranean climate. You will definitely escape the cold dry air here, as it is primarily 50-75 degrees, I'd say (let's say downtown, as opposed to the inland deserts or mountains) and has just the perfect humidity. To your questions:

1. See above. Lots of diverse culture. Somewhat conservative, for CA.
2. Local economy has ourperformed the state and the nation for the last two years. The recession isn't hitting us as hard. Job market is growing, but so are job-seekers...
3. LeftCoast said it here. Like I said, job market is good, but lots of job seekers.
4. see above.
5. The better neighborhoods cost significantly more. It depends on what you want to pay to narrow it down, then if you want to live in the northern area, eastern, southern, etc. (it's a big area, so it's a long drive from north to south and west to east).

If you have anymore questions, let us know!