I want to move out to Cali and need a decent job and cheaper place to live...?

Question

My wife and I are planning on moving out to California (somewhere) and want to be in warmer weather, we live in chicago now. Where would be a decent place to live, to rent an apartment, near the warm weather, and work...factory type work? Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Yep, it's that time of the year again. Right after the "Disneyland at Christmas" questions, we get the "What to do in LA for New Year's" questions. Then people watch the Rose Bowl, and see that the weather is 75 degrees, do the math, and get ready to pack up. Well, Happy New Year to you!



FYI, the city of LA is over 400 square miles, and the LA metro area is over 4000. Within that, there are MANY, MANY industrial areas. So my advice is to start hitting latimes.com, ocregister.com, monster.com, and careerbuilder.com and searching for jobs in LA. Start using mapquest and seeing the areas of LA. If you have a question about a specific area, post another question or email me directly. The best strategy is to find a job first, then decide where to live. In the meantime, here's my stock "moving to LA" response. Good luck!



We see this over and over in this forum: Everyone hears about the great weather in SoCal or believes they are the next great actor/model/singer, then starts looking for the "cheap, clean, and safe". It's all about supply and demand: If it's in SoCal, then it's not going to be cheap to begin with. If it's clean and safe, then it's more expensive. If you need good schools, add a couple hundred bucks a month on top of it.



If you want to live here and enjoy the weather, then you have to pay for it. You put up with the smog and the traffic, enjoy the weather and pay your rent or mortgage.



"LA" is such a big place, there are so many neighborhoods/cities where you can live. Of course, even within a city or neighborhood, there are safer sections and less-safe sections.

In Los Angeles, some nice sections are West LA, Brentwood, Westwood, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Los Feliz, Silverlake, Eagle Rock, Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, Chatsworth.



To the east: South Pasadena, parts of Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Glendora, San Dimas, Laverne, Azusa, Rancho Cucamonga.



Along the beach: Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Rancho PV.



In Orange County aka "The OC": Seal Beach , Huntington Beach , Newport Beach , Corona Del Mar , Laguna Beach , Dana Point , Capistrano Beach , San Clemente , Brea, Yorba Linda, Orange, Tustin, Irvine, Laguna Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forest



To the west: Agoura, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Simi Valley, Moorpark.



This is not an all-inclusive list, but it's a start.

Answer 2

Do not move to California without a job lined up first. We have the most expensive housing and gas in the nation.

California is losing factory jobs because the companies are moving out of state and out of the country. The cost of doing business here is too much.

Paris mentioned the Port of Long Beach and Los Angeles and they do pay very well, but since they are union jobs you better know somebody in order to get hired. The waiting list is over 2 years for people not in the loop.

Don't forget the average price for a 1 bedroom apartment is about $1500 a month and the average price of a house is $500,000 and that's in a scary neighborhood.

My suggestion is to move to Dallas. Housing is cheap, factory jobs are plentiful and the weather is hot and humid.

Answer 3

Line up a job first, then move. Housing is costly, jobs contracting now, construction especially. Are you a union member? That could help. You have some good answers here, but don't get discouraged, just keep trying until you hit something. It will almost certainly require you both to work to afford housing here.

Answer 4

I would try Long Beach, the ports are one of the top employers in the L.A. area and clearance has just been obtained to double the size of the Port of Los Angeles (which will probably take 5 or more years to complete...

Answer 5

Good luck. Housing is at an all time high, and employment in factory work is failing daily. Too many jobs outsourced to Mexico!