My Take

I have lived in the midwest for roughly 15 years before moving to California. I thought the topic was very interesting that I thought I would jump in. Yes, so many people, believe that living in California is the last thing anyone with sane mind would do. That is perfectly understandable. That's how I thought California was based on everything I have read and heard people, who have not experienced living in California, say. That is why it took us roughly 15 years before we made our long awaited move. While most people who know little about California living obtained their knowledge from numerous San Francisco-bashing dailies or magazines, the truth is, San Francisco does not represent the entire California. In fact far from it. We moved to a city in the bay area about an hour east of San Francisco. Yes, housing is still expensive. But it is not nearly as expensive as a run-down house in San Francisco. My home costs three times as much compared to my home in the midwest. On my first year in working as an NP in Cali I made 3x as much with overtime. My wife doubled her salary. Together we were making 350k. Back in the midwest which is comparable to San Antonio or Houston, together we were making 140k. In Cali we end up with around 227,000 after about 35% taxes and other deductions. My mortgage is 4k x 12= 48000, we are left with 179k a year. Yes food, gas, utilities, car maintenance, etc may be higher, but nowhere near to break what we have left in our pocket. Contrast this with midwest where after 30% tax we have 98k left. Minus mortgage of 1300 x 12 = 15,600. We have 82k left. At the end of the day considering everything, we have almost three times left in our pocket after tax. Don't forget that if you retire in California, you invest more for retirement because of higher salary and thus expect to make more during retirement. The last but not least is that my home, is money invested. Yes I put more money for my home but at the end of the day it is my money. If I sell my house, I would have more money in my pocket than I would have if I sell my house in midwest. Moving to California is the best decision we made. I don't know how long it will last. But we definitely far exceeded a version of ourselves in the midwest.