I grew up in the east bay, went to college on the central coast (Cal Poly), and have lived in San Diego County for the last 6 years--specifically Carlsbad, East Village, Little Italy, and Hillcrest. I'm an aeronautical engineer who specializes in numerical analysis, so I'm not the EXACT demographic mentioned in the article but I still think I can offer some insight.
I can validate a lot of what CalRobert has mentioned. On paper and even during a during a brief visit, San Diego looks like a great city for young tech talent--great weather, cheap Mexican food, delicious beer, affordable housing (at least by SF and NY standards), and (of course) the beaches! Who doesn't want endless summer?
But on further inspection, there are definitely some environmental, structural, and cultural issues:
- _Heat_: With climate change the summers have been getting unbearably hot. Since much of the city (Uptown area) was built between the 20s and 70s, most places (with the exception of new high rise apartments / condominiums) don't have central air. Each subsequent summer I've lived here has been warmer and longer--just look at satellite imagery of the area over time--the Baja sand dunes are moving north. Due to San Diego County's political leanings, climate change is still a "controversial political issue".
- _Transit_: Southern California (and San Diego in particular) has a complete and total aversion to public transit and alternative modes of transportation. The landscape and suburban landscape don't particularly lend themselves to public transit, but it's MORE than that--it's cultural. San Diego was largely developed during the "American Dream" boom [1]--a two car garage and car for every adult. The city was planned around cars and natives like it that way. It's not as much a lack of supply or appropriate legislation as much of a lack of demand. Cars are one of the ways San Degians demonstrate wealth and exercise their "freedom"--public transit is widely reserved for the poor. Even the Regional Bike Project [2] has been met with huge resistance because it will take parking away from University Ave., as mentioned above. The Uptown Community Plan [3], which is attempting to increase population density in the "young, hip, liberal" area is being met with lots of NIMBY-ism [4].
- _Population Flux_: San Diego seems like a revolving door of people. I constantly meet people who "just moved here". What attracts them? The beach and the weather. Who benefits most from those? Attractive people because they can exercise one of their major strengths. Don't get me wrong, people are allowed (and encouraged) to be beautiful and San Diego IS a beautiful city (except when you look at the 40+ age range who have been weathered by solar radiation). Since that's the demographic that's attracted to the area, more substantive attributes that are popular in areas like the bay area--intelligence, creativity, passion, drive, ambition for things other than image or material wealth, etc.--are in shorter supply. Granted, as money REALLY started to flow into the Bay Area in the 90s, much of the hackers, geeks, and political dissidents, were displaced by people looking to make money. But, hey, at least they were doing something rather than just trying to appear beautiful and wealthy. This would be a huge issue it didn't make people so depressed--our largest alternative press paper, the San Diego Reader, seems to be entire funded by teeth whitening, weight loss, and depression treatment advertisements. The population flux issues are compounded by the large military population in San Diego. Since many of them are on one to three year assignments--they don't really invest in the area, and it's hard to blame them. It's a really difficult lifestyle.
- _Wealth_: San Diego is _the worst city_ for long-term wealth building in the United States [5]. I read story after story on Hacker News about the housing problems in SF and NY, and the cost of living IS obnoxious, but so are the salaries. As a single data point, I currently make about 100K in a very specialized discipline with a masters degree and ~6 years of experience. If I moved to the Bay Area, Seattle, or Pasadena, it would be substantially higher. If I moved to Charleston, Wichita, or Huntsville (other aerospace hubs) my salary would decrease but the money would go MUCH further. What really matters is salary divided by cost of living or average real estate prices. According to the study "San Diego [is] a good fit for people with a substantial nest egg because they can purchase a home and build equity", which most people in this crowd looking to move (with the exception of new graduates) could probably afford. HOWEVER, the real estate market in San Diego is also incredibly competitive. I started looking in 2012, constantly fought against all cash developers, and FINALLY got an offer accepted in 2014 after offering 30K over asking price. Rent prices are also skyrocketing right now, which makes moving here as a new graduate increasingly difficult.
- _Politics_: San Diego skews conservative and is semi-corrupt. Our last mayor resigned due to a sex scandal [6] which led to a mayor election, the results of which CLEARLY shows the neighborhood class segregation throughout the county [7]. In the midst of all of this, the Balboa Park Centennial Committee (charged with planning a celebration for the Balboa Park Centennial) squandered 2.6 million in taxpayer funds with little to show for it [8]. More recently, we've had huge problems with the homeless population [9] and the city's response has been to close shelters [10][11] and BLAME the homeless for their "laziness" while completely ignoring material conditions and mental illness. Coronado Island (rich, independent city which includes a huge naval base) regularly rounds up homeless people and drops them off in East Village, a neighborhood I used to live in. There are many homeless encampments around the city, bike theft has increased, and the cops seem to mostly harass them. Our police chief also resigned in 2014 due to sexual harassment and fourth amendment violations [12]. It's safe to say that class and racial tensions are high.
If you're close to the beach, where property and rent is ridiculously expensive, yes, the weather is pretty nice.
East County, though (El Cajon, Santee, etc.) lack nearly everything that is good about San Diego. No biotech startups, no weather, no college kids, no nothing.
"The weather is beautiful and actually beats SF" --respectfully, what the hell do you mean "actually"?? Weather-wise San Diego is quite literally paradise. There is no competition, SF stinks.
There's no fog, sun every single day. Everyday can be beach day (and unlike here when you go to the beach you don't get bundled up like a J Crew catalog and bring blankets-- not towels-- and shiver like isosceles on some muggy wet sandy beach.)
We need to get going on the revolution and get out of these lame, expensive $2200+ apartment complexes and get after San Diego. Bad part about San Diego, besides dearth of opportunity right this minute (but it's changing apparently), is that it's pretty dull. There are little pockets of civilization but it's almost like San Jose in some parts.
San Diego's big problem it seems like is that you need to be at Qualcomm or some biotech or government contracting company to exist there. Or if you have some special gem that happens to be in San Diego, then that works too. But short of that there's not a lot of opportunity unless you really know where to look. Young talent needs to get out of there if they want to grow a bit in whatever they're doing.
San Diego is a truly amazing place. What's awesome is you can also get down to Mexico for dinner and come back same night. Great city but needs help.
I'll throw in my $.02 about San Diego. I've lived here for about 6 years.
I'll try by topic since most of these can be good or bad depending on your point of view.
Tech Community: I think the tech community here has potential and could become more significant in the future. There is a regular Hacker News meetup, Function Programming meetup, and SHDH. I'll let other speak about the startup scene...
Universities: SDSU and UCSD are the two major Universities down here for tech. UCSD has a lot of good programs in many engineering disciplines and produces a lot of talent. SDSU also has a respectable program in CS.
Weather: There is a single season here and it is summer. Though it comes in different shades, it is always summer to some degree. The nicest time of year is typically Fall and Winter. Summer is cool with an onshore breeze but the city is busy with tourists.
Jobs: There are a lot of jobs here in government, education, biotech, and telecom. Goverment jobs can be either as a government employee or contractor. Mostly DoD related. e.g. Navy, Army, Homeland Security, Coast Guard, etc. I see so much bad software in DoD that it seems ripe for disruption. A talented startup that has the right connections and can leverage lean technologies could put some large high dollar organizations to shame I think. Problem is all the bureaucracy it takes to develop software for the DoD.
Food and Beverage Scene: The food scene here is good I'd say. It's not SF good, but there are lot of options at a reasonable price. Beer scene here is also good. We have a lot of local breweries that have a presence at any respectable bar or restaurant down here.
Activities: SD is one of the most active cities I have seen. With the nice weather all the time there is no shortage of things to do outside. Just pick your poison here. Bike, golf, motocross, run, skateparks, stick and ball sports, surf, swim, etc.
Cost of Living: Cost of living here is relatively high. It's cheaper than SF and NY though but probably more expensive than other places mentioned. There is a good variety of housing in different neighborhoods at various price points though.
Military town: There is a notable military presence here. Between the Navy at Coronado and the Marines at Camp Pendleton your gonna cross path with marines and sailors regularly.
That all sounds pretty bad, but there is a lot that makes San Diego a really great place to lives as well:
- _Beer_: If you're into beer, San Diego is a REALLY great place to be. There are new breweries popping up constantly, a great selection of beers on tap at nearly ever restaurant, and a decent bottle shop on nearly every corner.
- _Dogs_: San Diego is an INCREDIBLY dog friendly city. There are numerous dog parks, restaurants with outdoor patios that cater to dog owners, and even a Dog Beach.
- _Petco Park_: I grew up going to the Oakland Coliseum and (later, when it opened), what was then PacBell Park. For the price of tickets, it's hard to beet a game at Petco Park. The food selection, which features local restaurants, is excellent, beers are semi-affordable, and nearly all the seats are great. The Padres are historically terrible, but since most people seem to be transplants, they all just go to games when "their" team is in town.
- _Balboa Park_: Balboa Park, to me, is the crown jewel of the city and one of the major reasons I moved to Hillcrest--I'm just a few blocks north. It includes some great museums, the botanical building [13], and the Zoo which does some pretty altruistic work, is also a gigantic botanical garden, and has sky buckets you can ride on to get a view of the entire city.
- _Political Mixing_: I didn't realize how myopic the Bay Area was until I left. I still have family and close friends in the area who pride themselves in the political openness of the Bay Area. That only really seems to be true if you agree with the dominant views. Disagreements seem to center around pedantic details or characterizations of the "Political Right" or "Big Business" [14]. San Diego, on the other hand, is really more of a cultural salad [15]. A typically night out at a North Park or Downtown Bar will land you in the company of hipsters, yuppies, hippies, military cadets, punks, gays, Cholos, etc. Some of this depends on venue, but you never really know what you're going to get--it can be very diverse which encourages everyone to be polite and occasionally reconcile or challenge their own political views and preconceptions. A lot of the ska music coming out of Southern California which talked about conflict, tolerance, etc. didn't make sense to me until I moved down here.
- _Food_: San Diego has great Mexican, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, and East African food. We're lacking quality Chinese, don't have nearly enough quality Indian, and really only have two or three good Italian places in Little Italy. Greek could also use some work, although there is an old dinner on University in North Park that's tasty and affordable.
- _Trails_: I'm a trail runner and we have a LOT of really well-maintained local trails in the city. If you want something more substantial, you can get to the PCT in about 45 minutes and run north (or south) to your heart's content.
- _Music_: Due to our proximity to LA, a lot of big acts come through San Diego on week nights and play smaller venues for almost nothing. I frequently attend shows at the Casbah for $13. Unfortunately, LA also seems to suck up any of our local talent since the industry is so much larger there.
- _Neighborhoods_: Coming from the Bay Area, there are lots of neighborhoods that, even with their Southern California cultural heritage, offer refuge and tend to share my cultural leanings. Some favorites include Hillcrest, Normal Heights, University Heights, Mission Hills, Golden Hill, North Park, and South Park. Unfortunately, to live in this area, I have to commute every day to Poway for work. Apparently Barrio Logan and Logan heights are also getting better, but I haven't spent any substantial time down there.
Sorry, that was a good bit longer than I anticipated. I'm happy to answer any questions about the area although questions related specifically to the start-up scene, securing VC funding, etc. should probably be directed elsewhere.
+1 for San Diego. It's small enough you can be familiar with most of the neighborhoods and still big enough there's always an interesting event or new restaurant to check out. Apple has expansion plans in the region. The military/larger federal government presence is sort of nice, I sense that plus the large tourism numbers helps keep SD away from the extreme end of California politics.
The weather is a huge plus, and I anticipate the city will handle global warming a little better than other regions. The county has made a lot of good decisions with water management too, from keeping the reservoirs full to supplying almost 10% of the water supply from a desal plant.
I disagree that the coastline is the only "nice" place to get a house, the ocean is pretty accessible from most parts of the city due to the highway designs.
Of course, there's issues with homelessness, retail theft, poor public transit, expensive housing. But it all seems a little more tame to me than the same issues in LA/SF/Seattle.
It's actually hard to beat San Diego in a few respects:
1) The weather is just perfect all year long.
2) The cost of living, while high, isn't insane compared to places like the Bay Area or NYC.
3) The public schools are actually quite good in many of the areas without being far flung from the city.
The big downside, however, is that there just aren't many local jobs for techies. The few that exist pay very little compared to the ones in the Bay Area or even a little further north in LA despite the cost of living being on the high side.
My wife and I have talked about moving there for a while (we both work from home) but the big challenge is that we'd have to find other income streams (in addition to our day jobs) to fund a good lifestyle in San Diego. In the face of a pretty tepid local job market and challenges with remote work pay being lower, that seems to be a requirement to make it out there.
I used to work across the street from UCSD, but I lived inland - about 25 minutes east along 52. In the summer, it would reliably approach 110°, which is plenty hot even if it’s dry but it did at least cool down somewhat overnight. On my commute into work, I was leaving 85+° and driving into an uncomfortably cold fog bank.
Most of the people in San Diego live inland. When you look at the coastal areas where the ocean moderates things, you’ll find a lot of multi-million dollar houses which are totally out of range for the median county income.
If you want to be happy in SD, you have to be content with driving everywhere. Cycling sucks in 99% of the city and mass transit is terrible. If you try to live in SD like you live in SF or NYC, you will not be happy.
I'm not sure about your complaint with SD being too hot. 2 miles from the beach should be great weather. I lived in San Diego for 20 of my 35 years of life (moved away in 2011) and the weather is one of the best things about that place. Some people prefer a cooler climate though.
It sounds like you would much rather live in SF. Cooler weather, better cycling, and better public transit. For me, I prefer SD. I hated the SF weather and the public transit still wasn't really that good (BART is too limited).
I would love to move back to SD but housing costs are just too damn high and I don't want to live in the cheap parts where its hotter and boring. I'm going to be looking at rural Oregon or Washington when I hopefully move back to the US in a couple years.
san diego long time resident here. the city has the climate you describe only by virtue of it being centered almost entirely within a coastal scrub biome about 20-30 miles wide. it's a sweet spot both created by and geographically impacted within the enclosure of a low coastal range immediately east, beyond which things get very hot and barren almost immediately.
this strip exists in some form for most of the so cal coastline up through roughly the central coast, where the mountain range edges up to the water line itself.
it's just not anywhere near enough land. Too narrow, and much of the land is impractical to live within outside of retirement or vacation circumstances (not even considering that vast swathes are on military property).
It cannot absorb a mass westward migration. this is evident in the property values where settlement has already been long established.
San Diego is full of tattooed 'bros' and college kids. And has less jobs. It's industry is based on tourism and hospitality, so unless you're already wealthy or own a hotel or restaurant it's not great for many people. It's a better place to visit than live.
Pros: Best Mexican food in the country, proximity to Mexico, beaches, biotech (if that’s your industry), weather, laid back, great zoo, people are generally active.
Cons: Very expensive CoL relative to income (“sunshine tax”: despite the same if not higher housing costs than other west coast cities, salaries are comparatively lower), not the best tech scene (e.g. tech meet up events hard to come by), tourist season can have bad traffic, people who purchase second/third homes here.
Pro/con depending on who you ask: everything is 15 minutes away from everywhere (unless you’re at the peripherals).
I don't think people realize that you move to San Diego for the lifestyle, not the great working opportunities. The weather and activities are pretty amazing here.
San Diego is a very red city/county. It has always had an extremely strong military presence. It also has a very high retiree population. And add the fact that it sits right on the border with Mexico and you might start to see why it is the way it is.
I lived there for a short while after living in SF my entire life and had to cut my stay short because of the overall atmosphere of the county. To me it feels like the reddest place in CA.
Very different. San Diego is not a mega city like LA or the great Bay Area. Much better weather than SF, seems a bit more relaxed pace and not as overrun.
Cool, a lot of people have mentioned trying to see the smaller towns. What makes you not like San Diego? I think the weather would be much better than SF.
This is not correct. The weather in San Diego is a lot better than the Bay area but the cost of housing is a lot less. The tax is access to high-paying tech jobs.
Anecdotal as well, I suppose, but my experience is similar. I grew up and lived in LA for 20 years, frequenting San Diego (SD) once or twice a year on average before moving there for about a year. I've been to some of the large cities (St. Louis, Newark, Boston, Detroit, NYC, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento) and now live in Seattle. Northern California (NorCal) is very different from Southern California (SoCal), which itself is very different than any other place I've been to.
The sun, the sand, the year-round summer-like temperatures -- it all feeds into the lifestyle. This was much more pronounced in SD than in LA. I had trouble conversing with random people on the street or elsewhere in the Northeast or Northwest (Midwest was actually easier than SoCal).
The near-constant pleasantness of the weather encourages you to be more active and "out" more often. It was a very regular thing in SD to go watch sunsets on the beach (regardless of season) after work. The proximity to the border made it pretty hard to find a bad Mexican food place and the tacos -- oh, the tacos -- were amazing. There are whole companies (mostly startups) that brand themselves as a "go surf in the early morning, come to work later" sort of place. There certainly is a myth and sort of "magic" to it that I don't even think the movies and media capture.
I can validate a lot of what CalRobert has mentioned. On paper and even during a during a brief visit, San Diego looks like a great city for young tech talent--great weather, cheap Mexican food, delicious beer, affordable housing (at least by SF and NY standards), and (of course) the beaches! Who doesn't want endless summer?
But on further inspection, there are definitely some environmental, structural, and cultural issues:
- _Heat_: With climate change the summers have been getting unbearably hot. Since much of the city (Uptown area) was built between the 20s and 70s, most places (with the exception of new high rise apartments / condominiums) don't have central air. Each subsequent summer I've lived here has been warmer and longer--just look at satellite imagery of the area over time--the Baja sand dunes are moving north. Due to San Diego County's political leanings, climate change is still a "controversial political issue".
- _Transit_: Southern California (and San Diego in particular) has a complete and total aversion to public transit and alternative modes of transportation. The landscape and suburban landscape don't particularly lend themselves to public transit, but it's MORE than that--it's cultural. San Diego was largely developed during the "American Dream" boom [1]--a two car garage and car for every adult. The city was planned around cars and natives like it that way. It's not as much a lack of supply or appropriate legislation as much of a lack of demand. Cars are one of the ways San Degians demonstrate wealth and exercise their "freedom"--public transit is widely reserved for the poor. Even the Regional Bike Project [2] has been met with huge resistance because it will take parking away from University Ave., as mentioned above. The Uptown Community Plan [3], which is attempting to increase population density in the "young, hip, liberal" area is being met with lots of NIMBY-ism [4].
- _Population Flux_: San Diego seems like a revolving door of people. I constantly meet people who "just moved here". What attracts them? The beach and the weather. Who benefits most from those? Attractive people because they can exercise one of their major strengths. Don't get me wrong, people are allowed (and encouraged) to be beautiful and San Diego IS a beautiful city (except when you look at the 40+ age range who have been weathered by solar radiation). Since that's the demographic that's attracted to the area, more substantive attributes that are popular in areas like the bay area--intelligence, creativity, passion, drive, ambition for things other than image or material wealth, etc.--are in shorter supply. Granted, as money REALLY started to flow into the Bay Area in the 90s, much of the hackers, geeks, and political dissidents, were displaced by people looking to make money. But, hey, at least they were doing something rather than just trying to appear beautiful and wealthy. This would be a huge issue it didn't make people so depressed--our largest alternative press paper, the San Diego Reader, seems to be entire funded by teeth whitening, weight loss, and depression treatment advertisements. The population flux issues are compounded by the large military population in San Diego. Since many of them are on one to three year assignments--they don't really invest in the area, and it's hard to blame them. It's a really difficult lifestyle.
- _Wealth_: San Diego is _the worst city_ for long-term wealth building in the United States [5]. I read story after story on Hacker News about the housing problems in SF and NY, and the cost of living IS obnoxious, but so are the salaries. As a single data point, I currently make about 100K in a very specialized discipline with a masters degree and ~6 years of experience. If I moved to the Bay Area, Seattle, or Pasadena, it would be substantially higher. If I moved to Charleston, Wichita, or Huntsville (other aerospace hubs) my salary would decrease but the money would go MUCH further. What really matters is salary divided by cost of living or average real estate prices. According to the study "San Diego [is] a good fit for people with a substantial nest egg because they can purchase a home and build equity", which most people in this crowd looking to move (with the exception of new graduates) could probably afford. HOWEVER, the real estate market in San Diego is also incredibly competitive. I started looking in 2012, constantly fought against all cash developers, and FINALLY got an offer accepted in 2014 after offering 30K over asking price. Rent prices are also skyrocketing right now, which makes moving here as a new graduate increasingly difficult.
- _Politics_: San Diego skews conservative and is semi-corrupt. Our last mayor resigned due to a sex scandal [6] which led to a mayor election, the results of which CLEARLY shows the neighborhood class segregation throughout the county [7]. In the midst of all of this, the Balboa Park Centennial Committee (charged with planning a celebration for the Balboa Park Centennial) squandered 2.6 million in taxpayer funds with little to show for it [8]. More recently, we've had huge problems with the homeless population [9] and the city's response has been to close shelters [10][11] and BLAME the homeless for their "laziness" while completely ignoring material conditions and mental illness. Coronado Island (rich, independent city which includes a huge naval base) regularly rounds up homeless people and drops them off in East Village, a neighborhood I used to live in. There are many homeless encampments around the city, bike theft has increased, and the cops seem to mostly harass them. Our police chief also resigned in 2014 due to sexual harassment and fourth amendment violations [12]. It's safe to say that class and racial tensions are high.
Continued in next comment...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_flight
[2] http://www.keepsandiegomoving.com/RegionalBikeProjects/uptow...
[3] https://www.sandiego.gov/planning/community/profiles/uptown
[4] http://www.rescuehillcrest.com/
[5] http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/economy/sdut-sa...
[6] http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/aug/23/san-diego-mayor-bob-fil...
[7] http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/jan/29/many-polls-many-differe...
[8] http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/mar/24/centennial-committee-me...
[9] https://hillcrestsoutheast.nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=2908...
[10] http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/jul/01/san-diego-winter-homele...
[11] http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/apr/01/san-diegos-tented-homel...
[12] http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/feb/25/san-diego-police-chief-...
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