Honest question.
The weather is nice sure but seems like taxes and pretty much the cost of everything would be fairly stifling?

Are there just that many creative folks born there they don’t know otherwise.
Seems like most companies, lots of small ones, I come across are in California.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Black92LX,

Inertia. They've been there for a while and it's not always easy to relocate.

Plus there's just a lot of people in California.

Industry competitiveness. NYC is financial. SF (area) is technology. Abattoirs are probably KC or Chicago. Yes, there are competitive regions for those industries, Seattle, Boston, Austin, Raleigh, NOVA for tech, but the home base for tech is the SF area.

Why? Because that’s where you can find the necessary knowledgeable people to fill those vacancies.

Because it used to be a great state to do business in. And while I want to leave it's not exactly easy to relocate certain types of small business. So here I sit suffering until I can escape this shitty state.

Probably due in part to the aeronautical/aerospace industry, which was heavily concentrated in southern California from as far back as the Fifties and Sixties.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
The weather is nice sure but seems like taxes and pretty much the cost of everything would be fairly stifling?

The weather is nice in San Diego and the Los Angeles Basin, but you can't explain the Bay Areas population with weather.

I lived in Orange County (Los Angeles Basin) for three years and the traffic and cost of living were outrageous. My coworkers and I were all transplants and one day we were talking about even though there is a ton of stuff to do just saying fuck it and staying home happened a lot because of not wanting to put up with traffic and lines. Also, a lot of the things you do after work and on weekends were things you can do pretty much everywhere in the US but for less money, less hassle getting there, and either no line or a short line once you got there.

As far as cost, I sold my first home (a 2.5 yeasr old single story home on a nice size lot) and bought a condo 1/2 the size for twice the money. I was house poor the entire time I lived there, but I did rent vs buy calcs prior to buying and buying was the right thing to do.

I was very glad to move away, and other than 1 wedding I've only returned for business trips (i.e. I'm only going there if I'm getting paid).

quote:

Originally posted by craigcpa:
Industry competitiveness. NYC is financial. SF (area) is technology. Abattoirs are probably KC or Chicago. Yes, there are competitive regions for those industries, Seattle, Boston, Austin, Raleigh, NOVA for tech, but the home base for tech is the SF area.

Why? Because that’s where you can find the necessary knowledgeable people to fill those vacancies.

It actually goes both ways. While working in tech in the SF Bay Area, the company tried to get me to take a different position with them in Phoenix. One of the considerations for me was the other available tech jobs in the area. Phoenix isn’t bad, but (at least at that time) it couldn’t hold a candle to Silly Valley in terms of tech opportunities.

I spend a lot of time in CA. A lot of my male friends there would like to escape, but their wives insist on staying in CA.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
I spend a lot of time in CA. A lot of my male friends there would like to escape, but their wives insist on staying in CA.

There's always divorce . . . .

Regarding the availability of qualified tech workers, it works both ways. The workers are there because the jobs are there, and the companies are there because that's where the qualified workers are. It's a "chicken and egg" situation.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
Probably due in part to the aeronautical/aerospace industry, which was heavily concentrated in southern California from as far back as the Fifties and Sixties.

The company I work for can’t want to leave fast enough, they’re moving a majority of their business out of CA to CO, MS and FL. Too many regulations, cost of doing business is getting out of hand and the cost of living for workers there is too high.

Money. It is the World's fifth largest economy

Socio economics. With a large pool of well educated millennials & mostly to Silicon Valley and the digital media boom occurring Los Angeles area. Also, a massive influx of Southeast Asian investment money, looking for a Pacific Rim-friendly foothold in the U.S., has helped. But that’s changing many of the soon to be Ex’s are moving to Texas, Colorado, Utah & Idaho. All the political BS will catch up with them. Funny number but a state with 12% of the nations population has 1/3 of the nations welfare recipients?

It used to be a very attractive place to HQ your business: mild weather most of the year, new infrastructure, lots of activities, healthy mix of blue collar and white collar work, attractive and good neighborhoods.

This has all changed over the last 30-years as companies who are not apart of the tech or, entertainment sector are leaving in droves. Small and medium sized businesses are leaving or, outright closing, gov regulatory and licensing for new businesses or, expansion has stifled growth. Very, very few national brands are located in CA.

Meanwhile large businesses are having serious discussions to leaving as their own employees are having a difficult time securing home purchases due to the lack of homes and plethora of vacation/investment homes. Biggest example is VF moving to Colorado.. About 600 jobs leaving CA (The North Face, Jansport & Eagle Creek), avg pay $180K moving to Denver as the CO legislature provided a 5-yr $27m tax credit to sweeten the pot. Meanwhile CA gov is solely focused on tech and entertainment, the aerospace/defense industry still has a presence, but, nothing like it was 20-years ago. Shipbuilding and repair industry only exists in San Diego, heavy industry is very limited and deals with overburdensome regulation, petroleum industry is a necessary but, heavily regulated sector, nothing new can be built, only replacements but, after extensive reviews and gov sign-off's. Trucking and warehousing are thriving which is tied to agriculture & port operations, however CA DOT regs make it feasible that only the largest or, invested companies can survive all the compliance updates.

A lot of the workers are there because a number of big tech universities are there. Silicon Valley grew up / out of Stanford. And once the ball is rolling, it will keep going until something stops it. The big tech companies don't seem interested in moving.

On another front. The port of Los Angeles is probably the biggest port facility in the country. That keeps a lot of companies there. Also, big chunks of the aerospace industry started in the LA area. It's not as dominant as it used to be, but there's still a lot. (Edit: Someone already mentioned the aerospace angle.)

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
I spend a lot of time in CA. A lot of my male friends there would like to escape, but their wives insist on staying in CA.

There's always divorce . . . .

Regarding the availability of qualified tech workers, it works both ways. The workers are there because the jobs are there, and the companies are there because that's where the qualified workers are. It's a "chicken and egg" situation.

flashguy

3 states to never live or have a business in. Cal. , N.Y. or Illinois.

Agriultural business will always be in California, I would think.

quote:

Originally posted by Sunset_Va:
Agriultural business will always be in California, I would think.

Until they run out of water (by diverting all of it to Los Angeles).

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:

quote:

Originally posted by Sunset_Va:
Agriultural business will always be in California, I would think.

Until they run out of water (by diverting all of it to Los Angeles).

flashguy

^^^^^
True, I overlooked that aspect. Thanks for the correction.

A few years ago I had some dealings with a government contractor who had a profitable business in California. At one point, he commented that he'd gotten so tired of the heavy-handedness of California bureaucracy ("when you go into a furniture store and look at all the tags on a piece of furniture, you get an idea of all the regulations a company has to meet in order to operate") that he moved his entire business to Arizona.

He had 1,500 employees. 1,473 of them moved with him.

I noticed several companies have the HQ in California but the products ship from warehouses and facilities in other states. I wonder if this somehow bypasses some of the CA bullshit.