Philadelphia or Pasadena?

Pasadena for me, just my personal preference. I prefer the west coast, especially the weather. You should really take a trip to both, see where you'd likely live, take a look around, check out the offices if at all possible. I don't know about discrimination in Philadelphia, but it shouldn't be a problem in Pasadena. In this economy I'd also consider if either job may be more secure.

Good luck in your decision!

I wouldn't think racial issues would be much of a problem in either area. And while some bad parts of Philly have gained it a bad reputation, there's just as much horrific stuff happening in LA. I think in both cases it largely depends on your neighborhood and the people you spend time around. I think the two big things to consider would be the culture and the weather, beyond that the two will offer much the same things. The northeast is a very different place than the west coast, and while they agree on a lot of points, they have massively different ways of handling things. As a career move, LA might be better for opportunities, it has a far larger aerospace industry than Philly does, though it depends on where you see yourself going with this move.

Philly does have a bad rep but in all honesty, it depends on where you are. The city is huge and has a thousand neighborhoods. It can be a very welcoming experience. There are plenty of places that have great people. It is probably a much different atmosphere than your used to but thats east coast living. Even if you would feel more comfortable being a little out of Philly (Bucks County, Montgomery) you'll be close to work.

I wouldn't worry about whole the racial discrimination thing. What's more imporant is what kind of life you want to have: the SoCal way of life or the Northeastern City or Philadelphia-area kind of life.

If you're like me and you actually like fast food variety, mountains, deserts, California itself, etc. you'll hate the Philadelphia area and choose Pasadena.

However, if you don't mind living in places where the people don't exactly sound like they're from WA, where people honestly can't drive that well, where (in all seriousness) there's a disproportionately high number of absent-minded, distrustful, and slow people, where you gotta deal with snow, ice and salt during the winter, you're far from the beach, then move to the Phila. area and enjoy the extra $6K you'll be making. Again, if you're not alarmed by such things and enjoy a variety of ubiquitous pizzerias, along with sandwich shops, Wawa stores, close-by fishing and hunting areas, and NYC which is only a hundred miles away, you might like the Philadelphia area. But you're gonna learn to dislike a lot of the people and state agencies in the area.

Philadelphia.

Not only will you make more, but it will go much further. Pennsylvania has lower taxes than California. It also has a much lower cost of living. $71000 in Philadelphia is the same as $84173 compared to LA according to the CNN Money cost of living calculator. Also Southern California has notoriously bad traffic.

There really isn't racial discrimination in Philly. The city itself has a minority majority. Yes, there are problems just like everywhere else, but they aren't bad.

Philadelphia has four seasons like Washington (as opposed to the one season in Southern California). Within two hours of Philly, you can be in one of three other major cities, up in the Poconos, or down at the beach.

=) calif- san francisco girl.

It's really a diverse state here.