German here living in CA.
My take is as follows (YMMV):
- We'll live and work in CA until scrappy financial independence is possible in Germany (ballpark ~3-3.5M net worth).
- Once we could comfortably retire in Germany, we'll decide whether to move back there or keep working just to stay in CA (due to cost of living FIRE in CA seems out of reach)
- In some sense starting out in CA maintains more optionality (it'll be easier to move from CA to Germany than vice versa)
Advantages of CA:
- The weather
- Monthly savings (pay - expenses; much higher than Germany if you avoid lifestyle creep)
- Career opportunities (lots of interesting work)
- Outdoors (subjective)
- Food
- If your kids grow up in LA or SF, I'd say there's a pretty good chance they'll stick around close by when they grow up
- Vibe ~ more optimism about the future and the role technology can play
- The earlier you move and buy a house, the earlier you can lock in your real estate taxes (Proposition 14 [2] renders CA hostile to those that 'come later'). Admittedly, it's already pretty late in the game.
Disadvantages of CA:
- Housing prices are 1M+ (although the market seems to be changing now that interest rates are going up [1])
- Homelessness
- Getting into good public schools needs a lot of planning (including buying in pricey neighborhoods)
- Related: kids in elite schools / social circles seem to be under a lot of pressure to perform from day 1 (IMHO a consequence of the winner takes all economy)
- Life is work centric
- Earthquakes
- Air quality (traffic and wildfires)
Advantages of Germany:
- Great public schools & ~free childcare
- Pretty safe environment (although debatable in some cities like Berlin)
- Generally stable, good job security etc
- Once you build real relationships with people, you may find friends for life
- Clean air and water in most places
Disadvantages of Germany:
- House prices per median income are pretty high. It's particularly crazy expensive in cities if you want a single family home due to super low interest rates (SFH can cost 1M+ despite median salaries being much lower than CA)
- Might be less "accepting" of foreigners (I live in CA and never feel bad about speaking with an accent as most people I work with do as well)
- Germans start work and school at ridiculously early hours (I still recall walking to school in the dark every day in winter)
- Rapidly aging population (although some is offset by immigration)
[1] https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2022/06/1st-look-at-local...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_California_Proposition_13