take the bay area salary, work remote in texas/arizona/nevada because its cheaper and rationalize it by saying its the politics thats making me move.
i've had this conversation 5 times this week with friends and colleagues, and none of them have actually spent more than a week in texas/arizona/nevada.
anyone that wants to live in one of those states, try it for a couple months if you can before taking the dive.
I'm a Texan looking to move out of state because I'm transgender and our legislature wants to make it impossible for people like me to exist.
Since that's the only reason I'm wanting to move, I'm looking for the most Texas-like place I can find. Unfortunately, the closest I can come is Southern California. I dragged my heels like crazy on admitting that SoCal was the only place that has most of what I wanted because the cost of living is so insanely high, but I really have no choice. Everything else either was outside the Sun Belt or not Asian enough. Unfortunately, that means I'm stuck hoping I get a job that pays $140k, because that's what I'll need to make to rent a house in SoCal, and I'll be in a position where if I ever lose my job and end up unemployed, I'll have less than a month to find a new job before I become homeless.
I have a friend of mine trying to sell me on the Vegas area, though. I'm considering it, particularly Spring Valley. But I also have another friend urging me to avoid Vegas because she says there's no tech industry there.
For the record, my main criteria are: must have transgender-inclusive non-discrimination protections at the state level, must be in the Sun Belt, must have high Asian and Hispanic populations (I'm looking for at least 15% of each in the suburb I'm moving to, preferably more), must be a sprawling suburb, must be able to afford to rent a house with central AC on the salary of a software engineer of my experience in the area. The only states that meet the first two criteria are California (and only SoCal, not NorCal), New Mexico, and Nevada. The third criterion eliminates New Mexico (almost no Asian people in the entire state)... and until a few days ago, I thought it eliminated Nevada as well.
I do not doubt or dispute that Texas is cheaper to live in. It was the "significant" quality of life for children statement struck me as a red flag. It's a form of WASP signaling I've seen many times before (I may be a WASP too...)
It's a particularly egregious statement given that people the world over (myself included) would love to retire in California some day due to the wonderful weather, the abundance of high-quality food and the lovely ocean next door, not to mention the world-class in-state universities, and the abundant employment opportunities. Yes, SF is expensive, and perhaps it makes sense to move out, but leaving California altogether is a whole other kettle of fish. Resorting to Texas as being significantly better given its poor social safety net, open-carry laws, wide variation in schooling based on neighbourhood wealth, well "significantly better" starts to look downright fishy.
I think people moving may like the politics of where they're moving to, in the abstract. But they get there, and they decide they'd like something between where they are and where they came from - say, 25% California and 75% Texas. But that's still trying to move Texas, not all the way to California, but in that direction. To those already in Texas, that raises hackles.
Then why are there more Californians moving to Texas than vice versa?
You really need to step out of your tech bubble. Remember how Donald Trump won the US election? If you were in the Bay area, I bet you would've never fathomed that since it's a bubble.
Bizarre article. The California border is waaay closer than they stated, and although it's possible for a long term worker to live in SF and commute weekly, that would be the worst of both worlds; obscene living costs + a huge commute.
The 49% they state won't be Californians, they'll be people from all around the country who agree to move to Reno. For the purposes of the Nevadan economy, this is a win-win (although it might not be as good for education, but that's what the education requirements are for).
I'm a southerner (not TX, but living in TN currently) and I really dream of making it to CA some day.
The south is cheaper for a reason, and CA is expensive for a reason. You get what you pay for. Red State governance is truly abysmal, the climate is terrible, and there is precious little BLM land to explore.
If enough people leave CA to reduce the price (or enough people move to the south to raise the price here) I'd gladly move to the west coast.
> It's abundantly clear there is a lot of migration out of California. Just ask Texans, Coloradans, and Idahoans.
Currently residing in Texas for 2.5 years now, moved from California. Yes, I anecdotally meet "a lot" of fellow NY/CA residents moving here. I also anecdotally have noticed that Whole Foods sells lots of local texan brewery beers. Are Texan local breweries on the rise in popularity or is it just that my proximity to the situation is making me thinking thats the case? (Note - I'm middle aged and work in tech, like lots of the people moving to Austin from CA/NY)
The media's obsession with California, is IMHO, hilarious. I lived there for 3.5 years. The quality of life is incredible, but that is offset by the absurd cost (and thus the economics of your work situation). This experience has, IMO, been in decline. But this is exactly how market dynamics work in a union of states. The more people leave California the cheaper (and thus sustainable) it becomes.
This is an overall good thing for Americans, regardless of where you live. Market liquidity means higher optionality.
"Still others are relocating to Texas. Home prices are cheaper there, he said, although property taxes are higher."
True, but 2.2% of $145,000 is way less than 1% of $800,000 still.
I'm one of the people that left California and moved to Texas. the housing prices were a lot of it, but so were the politics too. I'm way more "middle of the road" and I've found that most of Texas seems to be as well. (yes, parts of it are way right - but that's true in California too.)
"world-class schools"
I laughed when I read that. Friends there have kids in schools that are half portable buildings. I visited some schools that I went to as a kid that haven't seen new paint in years. I've had a much better time with the education systems here in Texas than I ever did in California. (yes, your mileage may vary.)
I'm pretty sure I saw this very same article back in 2001 too, though. You couldn't find a one way U-Haul out of Santa Clara County for weeks.
Honestly, the “leave California for Texas!!” comments have started to become obnoxious in their repetition. And I say that as someone who moved from California to another state very recently.
CA is just terrible value for most people currently. I'm not American and neither is Musk, it's not like he's going to make such decision for ideological allegiances. He just gets better value for his money elsewhere. Currently CA seems pretty broken between rural, poor and underinvested areas; and super-expensive, badly mismanaged urban areas. I don't think he's going to move to the desert, he'll probably move to urban TX and it's rather liberal there.
I remember reading a study a while back that said people who move to Texas tend to be more Republican percentage wise compared to folks who grew up in Texas.
The study was about people moving generally from elsewhere though. Not from California specifically.
People absolutely do move between states for politics.
People who move directly for political reasons (taxes, regulations, etc.) are relatively small, but for instance I left California due to California firearms laws and taxes.
A lot of people move for second-order effects of politics -- there is more new business activity in Texas than in Louisiana, New Hampshire vs. Vermont, and in South Dakota than Minnesota, etc. due to government actions, and people move for those jobs.
take the bay area salary, work remote in texas/arizona/nevada because its cheaper and rationalize it by saying its the politics thats making me move.
i've had this conversation 5 times this week with friends and colleagues, and none of them have actually spent more than a week in texas/arizona/nevada.
anyone that wants to live in one of those states, try it for a couple months if you can before taking the dive.
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