I'm in San Diego and ITS FREAKIN EXPENSIVE HERE. There is no way I could afford to buy a home in the area. The medium price of a home in SD and its suburbs is $600,000.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] I truley don't know how people can afford to live with housing costs that high. Most of my friends got into the market just before it exploded. Just as an example, one of my friends bought a home in 2002 for $240,000, four years later the value of his place has sky rocketed to over $600,000. It really is discouraging. Lucky for me, my family has some property and a little house in the local foothills, and I'll probably have to "run to the hills" (Iron Maiden). I'm moving up there next month. It's like an hour commute but thats ok with me. I like the back country anyway... I guess I'm a little country at heart, blacktop cowboy ya know. All I really want is a little land so I can spread my **** out, and work on my bike and my Jeep. Is it white trash to rebuild a Jeep on my front porch? Thats what I'm talkin about! "F" the city man, don't do it. If you really want to move close to the dunes, go to El Centro, Ca. It might be the armpit of the universe but you'll only be like a half hour from the dunes. The summer temps are 110-120, do you like the heat? Don't sweat it, you'll get used to it. LOL Good Luck!!!!! Save your money!!!!!

 

Cali is a great place to live for sure. I live in the southern central valley where all the dairies are. Yes, when I walk out of my house it smells like.....money.
I'm 2 hours from pismo, 5 houes from Dumont, and 8 hours from Galmis. There are plenty of jobs for someone in your field in fact, the company I work for is looking for 2 design engineers to create aerial work platforms (scissors lifts) and extended reach fork lifts. Its not automotive but they are self propelled. We sell worldwide so international travel is commonplace. In fact, I'm getting ready to add pages to my passport.
But as mentioned previously, you will take a job where ever you get the offers and make the best of it. Hopfully you fulfill your dream.

 

I moved to Utah from AZ (phoenix area) about 5 months ago and the thing I love most is being able to look out my windows and see the beautiful snow capped mountains. Oh Yeah and all of the the other great things already mentioned about UT including the affordable housing, great outdoors activities and the fact that it is only about 200 miles from St. Anthonys. That Mormon thing in Utah is over exaggerated, there are at least 5 homes in my neighborhood that aren't Mormon.

 

That name and that picture reminds me of someone..........................you guys related?

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I'd agree with DuneMe, the job WILL dictate where you live. Start looking at classifieds for jobs or online job searches in the areas you want to live in, that will give you an idea of what people are paying for the type of work in the given area. So Cali sucks, I'm one of the people left without a house and the boom already happened. I am just hoping that a lot of people loose their houses when the interest rates go up. (I don't wish anything bad on people, but I know it will happen, so I plan to take advantage of it.)

Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, California. Each state is super different, and there are really three parts to California. North, Central, and Southern. If I had my pic of where to live in Southern California, it would be Orange County. That is where I grew up but I don't know if I'll be able to move back ever, the median house price is over 600k. Ford, Mazda, Nissan, Hyundai, and probably others all have large facilities in Irvine / South OC, I don't know what they do there but they are easy to see from the 5 or 405 freeways.

 

I guess everyone has an opinion - usually positive - about where they live. That's a good thing. Just like you, I wanted to get away from the midwest (Iowa) and ended up in school at Utah State (BS/MS) in Forestry/Ecology. That background totally prepared me (?) for my choosen occupation - U.S. Navy (Intelligence Officer). I'm retired now, but have lived all over the world. Do not be concerned about the cost of living for any area you choose. You will find a place to live, places to eat out, and things to do within in your affordability range. We can't always start where we should be thinking of ending.

The thing about your field of study is that you are employable where ever you go. There is a constant need for technical backgrounds such as you have with an excellent salary where ever you live. You can go almost anywhere. As noted above, let your job decide, then spend your personal time as you like.

I also love the west and would move back to Utah in a heart beat. Unfortunatey my wife thinks anything colder 70 is too cold and once you are married, your partner will play a bigger role in your life than you ever imagined. Remember, men marry thinking their spouse will not change...then they do. Women marry thinking their spouse will change...and they don't. Neither can understand the why of it. Anywhere in UT along the I-15 coordor will fit any riding you want to do - go west to ride the desert, go east to ride the mtns. Five minutes east of I-15 the mtns are as great and beautiful as any you'll see in places like Colorado. It's a great secret, well kept. Yes, some non-LDS types are very put off by the church, but I've never found it to be a problem. Look the neighbor, home teacher or missionary in the eye, thank them for stopping by and tell them you are not interested. It will end there. I live 6 mo of the year in San Diego (Coronado) and six in Wyoming (Bondurant). I will tell you I'm very tired of the "yo-dude" mentality of SoCal. I recently bought a new 800 Max (in Idaho). When I stopped at the local SD dealer the saleskid came up to me with his sideways ball cap and said, "Yo, bud." I said, "I think we're done here." They were asking $1100 over sticker anyway. My wife loves it here and overall San Diego is a nice place. Like most city places, storage of your toys can be difficult and a 3-4 hour ride with all the traffic doing the same on Friday after work, just to get to where you want to go is no fun. The family values you'll see in Utah make dealing with the people a wonderful experience and SLC is growing fast with lots of jobs in your field. People of all ages are friendly to a fault and always willing to help. In this day and age that's a real plus.

Reno is another place that has it all too. No state tax. Affordable housing and cheap places to eat. Like Utah, lots of winter activity too. Good friend's son is buying a place on the north side of town now - 1/2 acre - $167K. I sold a place on the north shore of the Lake to buy the WY ranchette (too small to be called a ranch). Again, wife thought it was too cold in northern Nevada. Western Montana (Missoula/Helena/Butte), SW Idaho (Boise), SE Washington (Spokane), NE Orgeon; all great places to consider. Pick carefully and you'll be happy. You are doing the right thing, finding about possible places. That's 1/2 the battle. Good luck and enjoy.

 

Thanks for all the great responses guys! The thing is there are SO many different career options its hard to just pick one. One thing I cant stand is being in one place doing one thing over and over. I could NOT handle a desk job unless it was for my own company - no cubicles for me! I love traveling but not for super long periods or really often. I wont shoot down any option unless it is something I just could not handle. Just like the boiler thing... I dont know a lot about a LOT of industries yet but I wouldnt have a problem with a lot of them as I love having knowledge of many different things. All I ask of my job is that Im not doing the same thing day in day out or I would probably come to hate my job (not a good thing!).

And duneittle I did get the top gun yesterday. Looks great- thanks again!


Time for that lovely thing I call hell I mean...class*

 

Don't look out west for much room or any kind of economical living but I won't budge no matter how much the cost is....(hell gasoline alone will kill ya... San Diego has the mose expensive gas in the world.. Perhaps its the sun shine Tax that is hitting it)
I pretty much agree with everything FatHolly said....execpt I got in before the houseing boom... so I am sittin pretty...My 4 bed room house tripled in price... Man I got a 730 kit and Toy box comming... life is good. : - )
Alas if you want year round great weather, the Beach, the moutains, and the Desert ....
There are affordable rentals not in the City... but folkes out here are pretty smart so competition is tough.
Traffic is pretty badddddd to...
You got to ride it for all its worth .... Thanks for visiting ...
-Later

 

You might also consider the Tri-state Area of Arizona/Nevada/California. That's where I was raised and where my father still currently lives. In the area, Ford has their testing area, there is a power plant, Nevada Gaming Industry, the Railroad, booming construction, and the area where I was from, Bullhead City, is growing enormously and expected to continue for 20+ years, especially with the new 100K population SUBDIVISION being put in by a friend of mine. If you are interested in this area, I could connect you with some fabulous real estate agents and all the right people that you want to know. That's why college is sometimes hard for me to be at, I love that city.

 

Monky sometime in the future you might get PM from me once I am closer to getting my degree and looking closer at possible areas.

JimJa -coronado ay? My cousin is stationed there and has an apartment there as well. That is the main place I stayed before we started traveling the coast when I was out there last year.

Utah is starting to sound good but again anything is possible.