Close, but not quite. Upcountry, Maui at 2,000 feet elevation. Haiku, Makawao, or Pukalani, all cool towns. 15 minute drive to kahului with its Costco, Walmart, etc for affordable stuff. 75 degrees every day. People there don't cool or heat their homes. Ya get the occaisional rain storm in winter, but otherwise, perfect. If ya like tropical jungle and daily showers, Haiku. If ya like it dry with a great golf course, Pukalani. That said, I'm moving to SD in late spring! And BTW, rents in SD are still 50% below that of the Bay Area. A nice 1 bed in PB, near the beach goes for 900 - 1100. You'd pay at least 1500 for that in a nice SF, or Silicon Valley neighborhood such as Los Gatos or Menlo Park. Jay
To echo Jayford's comments: By the standards of urban/suburban California, San Diego is CHEAP. Compare prices in southern Orange County i.e. Laguna Beach to coastal areas in SD County. Don't even attempt comparing prices in SD to those in L.A. or the Bay Area. 700k can still get someone a nice home west of I-5 in the North County. 700k in the L.A. basin buys you a circa 1923 craftsman home in Monrovia. That being said I agree with Mschey about the attributes of SD. If you "polled" wealthy Americans on where they'd live if cost was no object, San Diego would top the list. That's called implied buying support.
I should have clarified continental US.....was just in Maui and have to agree. If it wasn't for the 3:30 am start time, I would seriously consider it. For now, it shall remain one of my favorite places to vacation.
San Diego was cheap when I moved there in the late 80s because there were very few corporate headquarters. Just a bunch of sales offices. Almost everyone who graduated from college and wanted a career, left. That is why there was a shortage of women between 25 and 35. Also because so many were there for the lifestyle, San Diego have relatively poor pay. Besides the military it was all about real estate. My perspective comes from the fact that you can tell what a town does but what its lawyers do. San Diegos law firms biggest practice area was probably real estate in the late 80s. Now there is lots of Intellectual Property work. The towns core businesses have changed dramatically in 15 years.
Exactly why I am not there now, so I am moving to SD, which has doable hours. I actually prefer those hours as it gives me the afternoons off, and I'm an outdoor sports junky. I have spent most of my carrer in that time zone anyway. Jay
San Diego has a growing problem with illegal immigrants, not that they are here but that they are getting squeezed out of work. This is creating increases in crime. its getting fucking scary here, my neighbor got stabbed by 3 mexicans last weekend downtown
I live in SoFla but have oft fantasized about moving to the OC or as a cheaper alternative, San Diego. I read the Union-Tribune on line a couple of days a week. I too am put off by the level of crime in SD. In the Miami area it's relatively rare for white folks to be the victims of random, violent crime. It seems SD has probs. I read Monday about a woman who was stabbed at a car wash in Carlsbad by two Mexicans in a robbery attempt. Ocean Beach and Pacific Beach report incidents of home invasions, street robberies, sexual assaults ect. In some ways it seems like there's a really crap demographic in San Diego.
No offensive to SD residents, but being so close to the border it's easy for criminals to come and go very easy back and forth. That said, and having grown up in OC, SD is a very nice place. OC has plenty of gangbangers in Santa Ana, Anaheim, Garden Grove, Stanton,etc. Crime can occur anywhere.
Like most places in California, crime hotzones are usually located in close geographic proximity to high socioeconomic status areas. Don't ask me why, I don't know. You would think that urban sprawl would place a barrier, but that's not the case. If you live in La Jolla, San Diego is an extremely nice place to live. Other areas of SD county remain questionable. I used to live in OC, and again, the separation between affluent Newport Beach and shitty areas in Santa Ana is only the South Coast Plaza mall. If you happen to live on the west side towards the beach (Newport, Laguna, Aliso Viejo, West Irvine), it's a mighty comfortable existence. RoughTrader