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Americans are rethinking where they want to live

economist.com

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Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#3

Post by systemvoltage »

COL/SOL in California is appalling. SOL continues to degrade here to the point where certain parts of Bay Are (Oakland, Hayward) look more like Syria than first world nation. Trash is everywhere, even in nicer neighborhoods. Not a single park here in East Bay without encountering a homeless person. And, then I meet people here that continue to defend 1) Food is amazing 2) SF sucks! Oakland is the best place ever 3) Well, we are kind here so we tolerate homelessness 4) All those NIMBYs, otherwise this place would be perfect 5) Our government cares about people more than infrastructure 6) We should tolerate crime because we are kind unlike other cities/states 7) California houses out of state homeless (this is false, despite of being repeated ad-nauseum on HN. Let me know and I’ll dig up sources).

These reasons are not convincing anymore. It’s a self perpetuating degradation of living standards.

I am currently looking for a job in Colorado, Texas, NC, etc.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#4

Post by 1cvmask »

People have always been on the move. The Dust Bowl led to the big recent migration to the west. Although the migration post covid from the Bay area is negligible in absolute terms compared to the total population versus the Twitter accounts of some famous tech and VC folk like Keith Rabois.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#5

Post by notyourwork »

systemvoltage wrote: post #3

COL/SOL in California is appalling. SOL continues to degrade here to the point where certain parts of Bay Are (Oakland, Hayward) look more like Syria than first world nation. Trash is everywhere, even in nicer neighborhoods. Not a single park here in East Bay without encountering a homeless person. And, then I meet people here that continue to defend 1) Food is amazing 2) SF sucks! Oakland is the best place ever 3) W…

Lived in Mission Bay for 3 years after visiting the Bay Area double digit times over the years. It’s the type of place you love to hate and hate to love. I don’t regret leaving, moved to Washington but I do miss it and hate it for all the reasons you mentioned.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#6

Post by gknight »

systemvoltage wrote: post #3

COL/SOL in California is appalling. SOL continues to degrade here to the point where certain parts of Bay Are (Oakland, Hayward) look more like Syria than first world nation. Trash is everywhere, even in nicer neighborhoods. Not a single park here in East Bay without encountering a homeless person. And, then I meet people here that continue to defend 1) Food is amazing 2) SF sucks! Oakland is the best place ever 3) W…

Could you dig up sources on that? Not challenging you, but as an Angeleno I've always believed this to be true myself. Curious what may actually be happening.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#7

Post by [deleted] »

systemvoltage wrote: post #3

COL/SOL in California is appalling. SOL continues to degrade here to the point where certain parts of Bay Are (Oakland, Hayward) look more like Syria than first world nation. Trash is everywhere, even in nicer neighborhoods. Not a single park here in East Bay without encountering a homeless person. And, then I meet people here that continue to defend 1) Food is amazing 2) SF sucks! Oakland is the best place ever 3) W…

[deleted]

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#8

Post by lolpython »

systemvoltage wrote: post #3

COL/SOL in California is appalling. SOL continues to degrade here to the point where certain parts of Bay Are (Oakland, Hayward) look more like Syria than first world nation. Trash is everywhere, even in nicer neighborhoods. Not a single park here in East Bay without encountering a homeless person. And, then I meet people here that continue to defend 1) Food is amazing 2) SF sucks! Oakland is the best place ever 3) W…

SOL = Standard of Living ?

That is an uncommon acronym.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#9

Post by ChrisBland »

This makes sense; as generations come of age in this country there has always been a shift in where people live based on the advancements in technology. From the early days of trains allowing living outside city centers, to the invention of the automobile and subsequent suburban sprawl with the interstate system, it would follow that the internet and remote work would change how we live. As demographics change, so does the politics based on who stays and who goes in each city.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#10

Post by larrymyers »

My family and I decided to stay on the north side of Chicago, a very high cost of living location, despite no longer needing to head downtown every day for work. Why not move outside of Chicago where our cost living would be substantially lower?

  * We wanted to keep our kids in the same school, which is walking distance.
  * We like being walking distance to the grocery store, doctor's offices, etc.
  * Our kids can walk to their friends' houses.
  * Proximity to the lake is important to us.
  * We're close to family.
Moving to the suburbs would find us losing much of that freedom that comes with living in a dense neighborhood. The size of a house and a yard is only one factor here for quality of life. I hope the trend that comes from remote work isn't just people optimizing for the size of a house and low cost of living, especially if it comes at the expense of being able to be in a community with other people around.
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