Do People Actually Move TO California?

make your own decision its not a bad area, plenty of oppurtunity. I like Nor cal area. You have a chance to optomize your income, as well promotional and calpers. www.sacbee.com

That's always a consideration, but when you look at the fact that 80-90 percent of the domestic violence, DUI, and battery arrests I have made have been made single-handedly with no help or with help several minutes away or not available at all, it's already dangerous.

When I work nights, there may be a county deputy (sometimes two) or a state trooper in the general area (probably anywhere from 1 to 20 miles away), but by the very early morning hours, the deputies and troopers have all gone home and are on call and there are only other officers that might be able to respond from home.

Where I am considering has officers from surrounding agencies on 24 hours a day.

Well...with four kids, you are going to be struggling for a few years yet. I had five. Trust me, it gets easier once they start growing up.

I assume you are on the younger end of your working life since you have little kids at home. Work is a pretty big part of life and having a job where you feel valued is pretty darn important. Nothing sucks my soul dry faster than a job I hate! If this job works out better, that's a lot in itself.

As for utilities....the rates in CA were much higher than out here, but I use more here due to weather. In the end, my bills...the actual money I spend is about the same for months with a mild climate and considerably more when I get into heating season. Out here, the heat comes on...and stays on...something I never did in CA.

My insurance dropped by about 30% when I moved out here.

They charge you the 7.25% sales tax when you bring a vehicle in. Some areas also have smog checks and if you don't have "CA emissions" on your vehicle (installed at manufacture), it could be an issue. People used to just leave their vehicle registered to another state, but they really started cracking down on that. There are fines for doing so and I don't think a cop would want to blatantly break the law that way.

CA property taxes may be higher to begin with, but with Proposition 13, you are only reassessed when the property changes hands or has major improvements. Your taxes will stay the same and that means a lot. A couple years ago, the taxes on my house in IN tripled....yes tripled!...due to reassessment. I lost that house because of that. No worries about that in CA and that is a big thing if you have ever had to live with the uncertainty of how much your taxes will go up.

I also sorely miss CA's state disability program. It's like $300/year and everyone pays into it, but you get 65% of your wages for a disability, of any cause, that lasts less than a year. A surgery, injury or whatever is covered and that is a valuable benefit. Out here, if I had to have surgery....I'm on my own with no income for 6-8 weeks. It's a good way to become homeless!

I noticed with myself, and many other Californians.....we tend to think the way we live was the way everyone lived. I see that reflected in some of the posts. I don't know why that is, but I suffered a lot of culture shock when I moved and have learned that MOST people do not live a CA lifestyle, nor do they have the laws to deal with, or to protect them, that they have in CA. CA legislature does have a lot of consumer protection type of attitude that you don't see everywhere else. That can be a good thing, but it also increases regulation and costs.

The people on this site are homesteaders and you are going to get homesteader opinions. Try asking your question elsewhere too. You will get a different slant on the answers.

In the end, you only live once. What's the worst that could happen? Of course, I said that and just about everything that could have went wrong, did go wrong and hasn't stopped, but oh well. I'm still glad I moved.

Jena

My dh commuted every 10 days to NY after we moved to northern VT. Our business in NY was being run by a foreman and crew, but until it was sold we ran it from 8 hours away, and Dh commuted regularly...it was grueling, to be honest.

We live in the Central Valley and are currently looking to get OUT asap!

If we could afford to live in the mountains as we did for two years, we would stay, but the commute was costing $260 a month in gas - and that was pre-katrina.

I think the reason your friend makes more here is that it costs more to live here. It is just as hard to get by, if not harder.

We also have four children. I'm not sure of the exact cutoff but if you have a family of six, I believe you are considered in poverty if you make less than $50,000 or so. As in, you qualify for housing assistance. But get in line.

Our rent for a crappy 3 bedroom duplex is $750 - I think to replace what you live in now you want to budget more than $1200, especially the farther out of the city you go.

The lowest price for a one-bedroom fixer-upper shack on the south side of town right now is $195,000.

An "average" house in a decent neighborhood is close to half a million.

So it just depends on what your standards are

I'm a native Californian, lived there for 33 years. Moved from California to northern rural Idaho two years ago. You couldn't pay me to move back.

We live in Idaho, hubby works in Washington. He pays Idaho income taxes, nothing in Washington (other than gas tax if he has to get gas there).

He made over $80k a year in SoCal; between gas, water, electricity (we could spend $400 a month in summertime), DMV fees, property taxes (altho Prop 13 is something ID could use), and just things like everything costs MORE, that $80k evaporated quickly.

I sold my house and bought free and clear up here.

California has nasty faults and the nastiest fault, San Andreas, is well overdue to cut loose.

Record heat waves recently, the electricity can't keep up. My mother-in-law told me about the rolling blackouts she was caught in...yeah, they rolled over her for two days. All of her meat is spoiled, her house is incredibly hot, her pool is like bathwater...

California has a stepped system (at least Edison does, don't know about PG&E) for electrity...it's $.xx per kilowatt for the first 100kWh, then more for the next 200, then more for the next 200 (or whatever, I don't remember exactly). The baseline, as another poster noted, is totally worthless. When I asked Edison what their baseline included, the girl told me it would power a few lamps and a TV. No fridge, certainly no AC, and so forth.

Traffic, smog, congestion, gridlock. The gangs are moving into the Sacto area (my dad lives north, in Auburn) and sprawl is beginning to take over the whole valley there. It gets REALLY hot in the flats and it floods there with rain.

I don't know, I wouldn't leave Idaho for California. But then again, I moved to get away from there.

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Gun-toting, church-going, homeschooling, right-wing conservative, happily married, stay-at-home mom of three living in the real United States of America!

I just did the salary calculator using Lewiston, Idaho (80 miles north), which is somewhat comparable to where I live and Ione, CA.

It said if I make $35,000 in Lewiston, I would have to make $54,518 in Ione.

I would be making about $51,200 in the new position (salary and holiday, which are both guaranteed).

I used Sacramento and it was cheaper?

Interesting...

I also just checked my last Social Security Statement. I made $1258 LESS in 2005 than I made in 2004, and that was after receiving raises and maybe a 2% COLA.

I'm not sure how 2006 is looking, but will be able to estimate on Friday when I see my recent check stub.

I first want to say how much I appreciate that there are people that want to put their lives on the line to keep us safe.

I've read all your posts. I can certainly see the draw of possibly getting a fresh start and hopefully not as much struggle. I know how it goes as far as money. Someone always needs shoes, braces, doctors visits, ect. It is very hard to get ahead and harder still to clime out of a hole. Also living in a job day after day where you feel undervalued and don't like has got to be taking a toll on your family already.

I guess the question is wether you will like to live in California? Can you go for an extended trip with your wife and children to see how they and you like it? Maybe it will be a complete turn off and you will come running home with a renewed sense that you are where you want to be or maybe you will fall in love with the area and feel like you can make it home. I suppose only you and your family can determine that.

I wish you all the best! I hope you keep us updated.

I actually grew up in CA and lived there until I was 29. I even lived in San Jose for 4-5 years through college.

I never had any desire whatsoever to leave until one of my best friends got me to apply with a police department in Idaho and they hired me.

Originally, since I was single and had absolutely no romantic prospects in CA, I determined that is where God was leading, so I packed up and left.

I had thoughts that if things didn't work out, I would pack again and move back.

Less than a year in Idaho, I met DW, who was born and raised in Idaho, and we started our life together.

My oldest is six years and my youngest is still in the womb, so I don't think the move would really affect them much. DW and I are the center of their lives, so they would adapt.

DW told me tonight she could probably be happy there if we could still live in the country and had some room to spread out; owning preferably, but renting if necessary.

The friend wanting me to go back to CA was recently here on a visit and wants me to visit him back sometime soon. He ven indicated he might fly me down. It might be a good opportunity to check the situation out.

DW and I have been to this area before on vacation, but never really looked around much, especially the surrounding areas.

I live in the Inland Empire, the most polluted valley in the United States (yes, it's true). If you want to live in California, be prepared to go deep into debt. My small lot (1 acre) is worth half a million dollars, and in the city, you can buy condos with absolutely NO yard for 1.2 million (no kidding). Propane down here is $3/gal, unleaded regular gas $3.19/gal, electric and water bills $400 each. Talk about insane. Just a couple streets down, there's a meth lab, which I smell often, and the neighborhood just south of here has a really violent gang. Now that I've scared you... It's actually really a kinda nice place. It is a relatively quiet place, and I have really good neighbors, too. I can go outside feel perfectly safe, leave things out in front and expect them to be there, leave the doors unlockedand expect them to not to open in the middle of the night, etc.

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Yes, we did!

Since you asked, I would look more at quality of life than quantity of dollars. Now, some would say quantity equals quality. To that I say, NOT ALWAYS.

I believe you will see the schools are superior in your area to California schools. While CA school budgets are huge, the system is very very very very top-heavy in administrative costs and the amount of money that actually makes it to the student/classroom level is among the lowest in the nation. This translates to curriculum cuts that leave California students testing among the lowest in the nation. So unless you are prepared to spend quite a bit of time and money in supplementing their education, your children will not do as well as if you had stayed in Idaho.

It all comes down to priorities. We left California (and I would move back to Santa Barbara/Central Coast in a blink of an eye IF I won a lottery and could pay cash for a $4,000,000.00 home in Montecito) for the fabulous schools of Colorado. It was the best move of our lives and our children (junior high, high school and college age when we moved here) soared. Could we afford to move back and buy coastal real estate now? Nope. Do I regret the move because it "cost" us half a million in equity we COULD have had? Not for one minute. It was the best move for our children.

I wish you all the best in this major decision.
BW

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BeckyW. "on the sunrise side of the everlasting hills"

Here's some things I found out during my research:

One of our vehicles would cost about $109 a year to register. We pay about $45 a year now, so it's double, but when you put it into monthly terms, it goes from $3.75 a month to $9.08 a month. I think it would cost us 7.5% in sales tax to bring the vehicle into the state, but I don't know whether they charge on what its value was in 1999 or what its value is now.

Based on our electrical useage last year our bill would go from $115 a month , to $195 a month. We have to pump water, but don't have electric heat or A/C and we probably would in CA. The biggest part of our bill is probably heating water. We take showers/baths every day (probably 4 total) and probably do a few loads of laundry a day and a couple loads of dishes a day.

I found a 4 bd/2.5 ba house on 5 acres about 20 miles from the city where I would be working. They are asking $1450 a month. That would be about a $930 increase from what we are paying now, and the biggest increase by far.

One of my friends who homeschools registered online and has never even heard from the school district in her area.

The same friend has five children, I think, and pays upwards of $600 a month for food. I used my check register and added up the food expenses for the last two months. It includes eating out, some non-food items (that were incorporated within the Costco bill for example), and a large purchase of ground beef we got a good deal on and still have alot of, but it was close to $500 a month. I'm going to find my other check register and do some math there, too.

Anyway, thought you might be interested in what I discovered.

One idea I had about our current house is to turn it into a daily rental. We have alot of forest service personnel in the area and when there are forest fires they always need a place to stay. We also have many fishermen and hunters who flock to the area throughout the year. If we charged, say $30 a night per person and the place slept, say four people, that would be $120 a night. Even it only stayed occupied for for three months out of the year, that's $10,800 a year, rather than $7200 a year at $600 a month. We would try to find a local contact person to help us and probably have a website.

I've been in southern California for 6 and 1/2 years now. I'm less than an hour from LAX. I've lived in Montana, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Virginia and Alabama so I have some experiences to make comparisons.

I insure 2 vehicles, 1 small SUV just liability and 1 sports car full coverage. I pay $720 a year total.(clean record/excellent credit)

My electric bill has averaged $41/month over the past year, up from $38/month last year. My highest bill during this time has been $83. I have electric stove/oven(used every day), dryer(used 5-6xweek), dishwasher(every other day) etc and run my central A/C fulltime @ 77 half the year. We just aren't wasteful otherwise.

Taxes are on the level of several other states I've lived in.

I don't know where some of you are buying food but for me it's cheaper here than anywhere else I've lived. I don't buy processed foods so maybe that's the difference? There's a much larger and diverse selection of fruits and vegtables here than anywhere I'd imagine. Gardening is year-round in my area.

I get around quite a bit and have yet to have an issue with gangs. I can't even really say I've seen any myself.

It's been rare that I've sat in traffic and those times it was out of choice rather than necessity. My drive to work is 3 miles so I don't have a commute per se.

I have had absolutely no problems with my childrens school district here. The best public school experience I've ever had. Sure there's bad schools here, just like every other state.

I've yet to experience any government or legal oppression here. I haven't even gotten a speeding ticket which seemed like an annual event(and source of government revenue) everywhere else I lived. I have quite a few guns. Never been a problem. Neighbors are great here at minding their own business.

I live near a huge National Park. Other than the highway that goes through it, it's very clean and I've yet to encounter an "illegal" there although they do have some camps spread around. Outside of urban areas, there's plenty of wide open space. I know many places I can drive all day long on unpaved roads and not see another human.

In these 6 and 1/2 years, I've experienced exactly one power outage that lasted about 30 minutes. I've gone through a few minor earthquakes(nothing really) but no tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards or ice storms. Temp-wise, the past few weeks it's been hotter in Kansas and Oklahoma where I'll be travelling next month. It got this hot up in Montana too and we also had -40 wind there in the winter. In CA, it can easily be 90 in one part of the state and below freezing in another. The highest and lowest land points in the continental US are in Calfornia just to give an example of the varying terrain which along with the ocean and other factors brings many different climates.

There's endless ways to live in California. Some people make the worst of it. Others make the best of it. I enjoy the beaches, the mountains, the deserts, the snow, the forests, even the cities. I was raised a farmboy in Amish country but feel just as comfortable in downtown LA. I especially enjoy the wide range of people, cultures and lifestyles here. There isn't anywhere in the world with such a varied mix. California is so diverse that you really can't compare lifestyles or areas or lump it all together and sum it up as just "California". 50 miles or even 10 can be a world away from where you just came from. I will probably be moving on one of these days but I've loved my time here. Even if it sucked bad, the experiences would be well worth my time. I could fill pages with the amazing things I've seen here.

Bottom line - It's not where you live but how you live. A person can have a good or bad experience anywhere. People looking for the bad in things will always find it.

"I think it would cost us 7.5% in sales tax to bring the vehicle into the state, but I don't know whether they charge on what its value was in 1999 or what its value is now."

You do not need to pay use/sales tax on a vehicle that was purchased out of state more than a year ago.

California has its problems like any state. The area you are looking at is below the snow line as is almost all of the areas served by Hwy 49. You get four seasons. Jackson is a growing area, mostly retirees. You cannot compare this area to LA, Sac or SF Bay area. As far as the schools go, like any area there good and bad. The better schools have more parent involvement. You just need to do your homework. You are about in the best area in the state for outdoor activities. Campgrounds are plentiful. You are only a couple of hours from Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. California has a great community college system for those not ready to go directly to a four-year college. Home schooling is not that difficult. I know several that do it. My kids went thru the public school system and excelled and are attending top universities. Like any areas there are good and bad. As far as the kids go, like anywhere, you need to stay involved. Housing is expensive, but if you can get in, over the long run it will be a great investment (if you decide to go back). You will be protected by Prop 13, (2% maximum increase per year). There are negatives, but I don’t know of anyplace that doesn’t. What is a big part of the problem is people get caught up in a certain lifestyle, usually beyond their means. This is what causes most of the problems. I have learned to stay simple and really do enjoy living here.

UPDATE:

My friend spoke to his boss (the Chief of Police) about their fast-approaching sergeant vacancy. The Chief is open-minded and interested in meeting me face-to-face even with my friend cautioning him not to cause me the expense to get down there if he really did not like the idea.

So, we are hopefully headed down for an interview and to check things out in mid-August. My parents are helping some with the gas cost and my friend said we could all cram into their home (no hotel costs).

The pay is actually better than I first thought. The monthly salary is $4100, plus I get 4% extra for having a B.A.

The holiday pay, which is guaranteed, is about $2600 a year (maybe alittle more, since my friend is not sure how many holidays they get. It's all paid at once in early December).

All things considered my yearly income WITHOUT overtime would be $53,768, which is a huge increase from about $35,000, that included holiday pay and overtime.

We are already depending on the overtime I get now, so that won't be much of a change down there.

I have also seen more "writing on the wall" with regard to my current department. It is almost a done deal that we are not getting a COLA. The health insurance premium is also supposed to go up for the city (they will likely pass that cost on to us) AND there is talk that the deductable we pay now will be increased to get the premiums down.

DW is surprisingly for the idea (which is an answer to prayer) with the only major condition being that we not live in the city. This is doable from what I have seen on the internet and we'll get a better idea of that when we get down there later this month.

There are many details to hammer out with an out-of-state move, so I'll be asking for some advice from everyone here in that area later, if things work out the way I think they are.

Just a consideration - although if you are in law enforcement, you may not face as severe restrictions as ordinary folk - but I understand the gun prohibitions are very strict in California... My husband and I are avid target shooters, love the sport, and we enjoy hunting, too, and even if everything else was equal, wouldn't live in CA because of the restrictions on our right to bear arms...

The major gun issues in California are 1) In the large cities they are attempting to curb handguns. This a position that most law enforcement supports. 2) in fringe rural areas there are restrictions on discharging a weapon within residential areas.

I seriously doubt that you would be setting up targets on 14th Street in Sacramento.

Don't forget the ten day waiting period on firearms, the inability to own "assault weapons" (i.e., AR15, SKS w/detachable magazine, etc.), the DOJ's list of "unsafe" handguns which cannot be sold in the state (like the Colt 1991A1) and so forth and so on.

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Gun-toting, church-going, homeschooling, right-wing conservative, happily married, stay-at-home mom of three living in the real United States of America!

As a police officer, I would have concealed carry privileges that are recognized nation-wide.

My friend is in charge of issuing permits in the city where he works and he says the county sheriff issues them to non-law enforcement on a regular basis (a class might be required and that is not always a bad thing).

As far as assault weapons, we don't own any and probably never will.

Although, again I'm sure there are exceptions for those weapons when it comes to law enforcement (right or wrong).