Please give me 100 Reasons to convince my wife that we shouldn't move to California

so you don't live near the Smokies, then?

I like parts of LA - I might be convinced to live near Venice Beach but $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The only way I'd live in California again is if I had truckloads of money. It's nowhere to live if you're poor or middle-class. But god amighty, the food was incredible and Amoeba Records lives there.

You won't easily find a three bedroom house for $600 in California, even if you don't live in SF/LA/SD. But I did a quick Craiglist search for rents in Sacramento, and saw a 3br for $1000. One thing you might consider is that the minimum wage in California $6.75. I'm not sure what it is in Tennessee, but I bet it's closer to the national minimum of $5.15. But beyond that, the difference in rent is usually offset by the difference in wages. Californians get paid more on the whole, which offsets the increased cost of living.

Also, despite the fact that the market isn't what it was in 1998, the job market in California is actually pretty damned good lately.

I find this pretty insulting. I received an excellent education at a supposedly underperforming school. In the very least, our schools don't put stickers in our science books to debunk the theory of evolution.

Roger you should look into northern cal, it's beautiful and inexpensive. finding work is the hard part but if you're looking for non office work you're probably in a better position.

Obviously not an easy decision. I wish you both well.

Hahaha, that's about right... that's where we lived. It looked better in the rearview mirror. Always a pleasure to go up to Mt. Shasta and over to Lassen, though. Sourpuss is right, though, the sameness of the mind-frying sun is mizzable in the summer.

Adamrl, I blow a big raspberry in your general direction.

What's not wonderful:

(1) $$$$$$$$$$$$$, as everyone has mentioned. If you have a trust fund, or other sources of wealth, by all means, live there. It's a beautiful, lively, never-boring (well, at least most parts of it aren't boring) place to live. If you don't have $$$, you'll be extremely unhappy in a very short span of time.

(2) The ever-present looming threat of unavoidable natural disaster. Earthquakes all over the stae (but especially the coasts). Huge massive fires in the south. Floods, mudslides, etc., in the north. Oh, now that unstoppable rain seems to be a feature, you can say floods and mudslides in the south too. If you don't believe me, read anything by Joan Didion or, better yet, read Marc Reisner's A Dangerous Fate.

(3) Overcrowding. But I suppose California doesn't have a monopoly on this phenomenon.

(4) Increasing divide between coasts and interior. The big myth is the divide between North and South, but that's mostly hype nowadays. The true cultural divide is between the cities/suburbs on the coasts and communities in the interior (San Joaquin Valley, Fresno, Bakersfield, etc.).

Again, read Reisner.

But you may end up moving there anyway; California has that effect on people.

Anthony, do you feel vindicated?

Roger, you would find anything like Knoxville in California. That said, think about Petaluma/Santa Rosa or perhaps down the 17 corridor between Salinas and San Jose. You would have to commute to go to a city but it wouldn't long and both areas are very pretty. Do not go to Sacramento. It's hot/cold, boring, and the air quality would not be to your liking.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/27/us/california-today-how-progressive-is-the-golden-state.html

Is the Golden State really a progressive utopia? Hardly, according to new research from the Advancement Project California, a Los Angeles-based civil rights group. In studying seven key quality of life issues: crime and justice, democracy, economic opportunity, education, healthy built environment, health care access and housing, researchers found significant markers of disparity in counties throughout the state.

disparities throughout the most populace state in the country, who would've thought

NYT is just trolling it's audience these days. They know what gets clicks I guess.

they're "significant" based on what an la-based civil rights group says

kinda tired of the "o ny'ers" thing californians seem to default to

it's more "o NYT" in my case

http://www.racecounts.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Race-Counts-Launch-Report-digital.pdf

don't think that roger o'daltry would have considered CA not being progressive enough to be a reason not to move here

WHAT'S A COUNTY ANYWAY

http://www.ppic.org/content/images/PoliticalGeogFigure-2_web.png