Why do people want to leave Southern California to live in Northern California ?

Some people in SoCal want to live in NorCal, just like you are in NorCal and want to move to SoCal.

But let's take some things out of it:

- Both LA & SF have bad traffic and on the "worst" days they can compete for the worst traffic in the country. But if you travel, you know that they don't have the worst traffic on a day to day basis. I think Miami has the worst traffic - when I work there, my hotel is 4 miles from the office. It takes 45mins on a good day. It's taken 2 hours before and a stop at Starbucks for a potty break. Seattle & Washington DC also have horrible traffic.

- Both LA & SF are lucky to have the many of the best universities in the country = Berkeley, Stanford, UCSF, SJSU, etc and down South UCLA, USC, Pepperdine, Claremont Colleges, CSULB, CSUF, etc, etc. Saying one area is better than the other is just nit-picky.

Most people who want to live in the Bay Area / Silicon Valley from SoCal = think it's more cultured or they want to be in the middle of the tech heaven.

And the people who want to move from NorCal to SoCal are usually like you = they like the more carefree and friendly attitude

Southern California has several problems: high crime rate, overcrowded cities, pollution, bad traffic, and now drought. Not everyone is willing to continue to put up with those problems if they don't have to, so they leave.

I live in Alaska and would never consider moving to southern California. It's just not my kind of place. I like open spaces. I have 2 national level cross country ski areas less than 15 minutes away; one of them is literally 5 minutes from my home. We have fox, moose, and even the occasional bear roaming my neighborhood. People leave you alone to do what you want (within reason of course). I have a great church. I could care less about tatoos but there are several good parlors in town for those who want them. 10 cars backed up at a light is our version of bad traffic.

I live in LA because I had a job offer, here.

I was shooting for SF.

SF has extremely high housing costs; I'm not sure that I can live there.

I doubt I can retire, there.

I'm not sure that I can live in LA after I retire.

In ten years, I will need to look into options.

Santa Cruz gets no snpow. It is close to San Jose and close enough to SF.

You also have Monterey and Carmel.

This is just geographical. I haven't looked into housing costs or health care.

I lived in and all around LA for 60 yrs, The traffic has only gotten much much worse. I now live about 500 miles north of LA. The air is perfectly clean, Its a bit colder in the winter, a bit hotter in the summer, traffic is almost non-existent, this is my last stop.

I think your sample size is small and skewed. If you talk to people around here, the biggest gripe is the traffic, and rightfully so. LA is MUCH worse than Miami, the we have the stats to prove it. I think the main reason your sample want to go I to get out of the traffic.

Peronally, I love to visit NorCal, but wouldn't want to live there. I'm too much a SoCal boy. And we still have many, many people who want to move to SoCal. To those who want to leave here, I wish them well.

Too many mexicans

May be they feel like north is a better place to live.

The north has water.

Cost of living, cooler weather, less desert, more outdoorsy things to do, less idiots, less crime, etc.............