Side note all you Americans talking off 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit 
just imagine summer days of 114-120 Fahrenheit
SD best weather on Earth. West = beaches, North = snowy mountains, South = tacos, East = mountain trails. Everything you could ever want is within a couple hours drive.
Great food, beautiful landscapes, and I’ve never had to put my cars away for the Winter.
Definitely on the more expensive side, but there are many areas in Southern Cali that can fit your budget and be well worth it.
(we also had pandas, but fuck you China)
I moved from Maine to Southern California 20 years ago (for similar reasons) and haven’t looked back since. I lived in LA for the first 12 years, then moved down to SD. Both are great places to live, but for very different reasons. The weather here really is incredible.
As for the cost of living, or more specifically real estate - it’s not unlike buying “high end” Pokemon cards. If you want the privilege of owning Card X or living near the beach in SoCal, you simply have to pay today’s market price.
The reason why SD real estate continues to appreciate is because SD county is essentially an island. Ocean to the west, Camp Pendleton to the north, mountains and desert to the east, and Mex to the south. As long as it remains a highly desirable place to live, demand will continue to outpace supply. That being said, there are still some pockets where you can be ahead of the path of progress.
If you ever decide to move here, I’d recommend picking up an ocean sport of some kind. There are many to choose from - from body surfing to sea kayaking to spear fishing to outrigger canoe racing. Getting in the ocean every day will change your life.
As Gary said, So Cal is no longer what it used to be and is getting worse (I assume he means more crowded and expensive - correct me if wrong on that). While this is true, the same thing is happening everywhere that is a nice place to live. Even my small town in Maine where I grew up is blowing up. I don’t see this changing anytime soon as people just want to live in nice places.
Another option I would recommend is moving someplace where you have access to the mountains, and pick up skiing or snowboarding. If you have to endure the winters, having a reason to look forward to them makes a huge difference. Imagine being exited about an oncoming winter storm because you’re going to score some powder runs. That change in mindset is priceless. Although I’ve not lived in either place - I’ve had friend who’ve lived in Salt Lake City and Denver. Might be worth a look.
Anyways, I’ve rambled long enough. All I can say is yes, it’s expensive to live in SD but to me it’s worth it for the quality of life. Making a solo move like you’re considering is bold and I wish you the best in researching and finding the answer that is right for you.
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SO much traffic… I can’t go back, I hate it. The cost of living is insane and California and all their damn rules O.o. Nice to visit though. It also puts a factor if you want any land, aint no land in San Dawg lol
I’ve been to a few places in the US
Seattle, Huston, Buffalo, NYC, Nashville, Connecticut, DC, Orlando, basically every small town in WA, San Antonio, Portland… probably a few others
But of all the places I’ve been to, the only place in the US I’d genuinely consider moving to is San Diego. Great weather, it wasn’t too hot when I was there and wasn’t disgustingly humid. Pretty lively city, and it was very beautiful. The park there is amazing to walk through. r
You have to like the city life, and I’m partial to walking everywhere instead of driving so those are my biases.
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wtf i love pfm now
@pkmnflyingmaster, Scott telepathy on that one! San Diego has been the most enjoyable weather/atmosphere I’ve visited in the US.
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The climate in Greece is amazing. I’m in Thessaloniki with balanced temperatures and humidity at the ideal level.
I live in The Netherlands (Europe). Although I also dislike the Winters, it’s doable. The coldest Winters are -20 degrees Celsius, which hasn’t happened in a decade or so. Last Winter it was very mild and only a couple of weeks slightly below 0, and only a couple of times snow fell. Usually there are a few weeks with tops -10 degrees. The Summer was also exceptionally warm last year (for Dutch standards). We broke the heat record multiple days that year, with almost 39 degrees Celsius. Note: I once went on a vacation in Turkey where they had a heat storm and it was 55 degrees; but that would be comparable to 35 degrees in The Netherlands in terms of the feeling temperature (probably due to the damaged ozone layer in comparison). So yeah, 38 was freaking warm. I prefer warmth over cold in general, though. But for me the ideal temperature would be 22-23 degrees Celsius, with the sun shining, and walking in the shade with a light breeze 
The end of Spring is usually my favorite time of year in terms of weather. It does rain quite regularly here, but not extremely heavy or as much as the UK. Usually it’s drizzling rain or slightly worse. When my colleagues from Sri Lanka visited who have actual rain seasons where it could rain almost the entire day and sometimes even multiple weeks, they laughed at our drizzling rains.
There are some big advantages of living in The Netherlands, like no natural disasters whatsoever. No hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, cyclones, or whatever it’s called depending on where you live. No earthquakes (except for very minor ones in the very north or south, which are top magnitude 3.5 - which couldn’t even be called earthquakes in some US cities, haha). Apparently there have only been seven earthquakes above 4.0 ever in The Netherlands, the heaviest being 5.8 in 1992 (also new to me, just read it here on Wikipedia 
). No volcanoes. No big forest fires. No tsunamis. The only potential natural disaster we have are floods. The Netherlands lies almost entirely below sea level, and there have been some heavy floods in the past (last big one was 1953). But these days our dams and dikes are very sturdy and I don’t think it will happen again anytime soon.
Another advantage is health care without immense depth, and Dutch health care is rated as one of the best in the world. Studies are also much cheaper overall. Shopping, gas, tax, import, shipping, and other prices are pretty high (although I’ve seen worse in other countries).
Oh, and from next year onward, the maximum speed limit will be 100 km/h on all highways (now 120/130) due to the new nitrogen and CO2 emission rules going on right now… 
I’m in traffic jams every damn day with only one part of 15 kilometers I can drive at the allowed speed limit (130), so when that becomes 100 my travel time becomes even long (although only slightly). All kinda bs if you’d ask me, since neighboring countries are ten years behind in their nitrogen and CO2 emission prevention, but whatever… These months there are strikes on a daily bases by farmers who had to reduce their cows and get better equipment (yet again) to reduce these emissions; construction workers who weren’t allowed to continue building due to these emissions; oh, and teachers because their work pressure increases and their loans are too low (my dad is teacher, so I know this is true, but of course completely unrelated to the emissions); and I’ve heard 75% of all nurses, doctors, and hospital employees will go on strike soon as well for a better collective labor agreement… As I said, the month of the strikes, haha…
Ah well, The Netherlands may be small, but it’s a good country to live in tbh and I wouldn’t want to move out personally. One thing that’s better in almost all other countries imho: the (beautiful) nature areas. We have some protected parks and natural areas (I live nearby one -De Kil van Hurwenen- and see some deers, 30+ storks, etc. sometimes), but nothing really exceptional. The nature in Germany and France are already loads better, and in Switzerland it’s very beautiful (my favorite vacation thus far). In addition, our entire country (except for Limburg in the south perhaps) is entirely flat as far as the eye can see. No mountains or even large hills whatsoever. The highest point (in the south) is just about 100 meters above sea level (the lowest being 7 meters below sea level).
PS: If everyone living in the US decides to live here, keep this quote I made a few days ago in mind, though. 
Greetz,
Quuador
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Tucson, AZ depending on your job market.
Agreed, I can buy a huge house a 1/100th of a price of anything in Cali, Northern Cali doesn’t have the perfect weather, so thats out
At least until the BIG earthquake comes and that state disappears into the ocean. Heck, then we’ll have a beach here in Nevada:tada:
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No idea, I guess they are used to it… But it’s crazy, I can’t imagine how it is to have complete darkness for couple of months. Only strong will survive lol. But it’s also the less populated area of Finland for a reason.
Fun fact is that more than half of Finnish population lives in the south coast and the other half in the rest of the country. With the capital area taking half of the half here in south. It’s crazy. So the more north you go the less people there are, but of course city areas always have more people.
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“i love pfm”
…
…
“now”
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“Not bad”
“2k/month”
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“Is that a lot of money too you”
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It’s a lot of money to a lot of people XD more than my monthly wages for sure.
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The best thing to come out of Iowa?
I80
But Iowa is more progressive than Nebraska
If you like chili cheese dogs, Cincinnati, OH is your destination! 
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Gold Star Please. Guess skyline if I have to