For CA residents, is the cost premium worth it?

> The population has nearly doubled, making access to everything from jobs (commuting) to camp ground reservations significantly more challenging
> CA's GDP has risen from ~$180B to $3.4T (18x increase)
> Housing prices have skyrocketed (see GDP rise)...some homes near the neighborhood we moved into are going for $900K over asking price.
> Total Tax Burden is ~9.7%...but only 1.5% higher than Texas, and 0.4% higher than Iowa (see link below)

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494

IMO, and that of a few others, the availability of affordable housing is the key (do a board search for "Sam Liccardo" for the San Jose Mayor's take on all this)....also, check out the linked article.

There are solutions, but they aren't easy...on the positive side, it's still the most all around beautiful, welcoming and vibrant state in the Union, so there's that...definitely worth keeping.

Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/31/why-californias-population-boom-has-stalled/

I lived in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas for about ten years. (I worked in a suburb of Sacramento—Folsom, CA. Lived just a few miles east of where Ian Book attended high school.) It was relatively affordable.

ed with some amazing topography and geological wonders. It's damn hot inland, but the first 10 miles east of the coastline are nice. Wine country is spectacular.

Make it a national park. It will burn down or run out of water sooner than later.

San Diego & La Jolla are lovely. The rest of the state is a nightmare. And the beautiful weather thing is a myth. CA has two climes.....hot and hotter. Crowded, crime ridden, traffic, landscape is brown and dying. Horrible place.

Good Mexican food. And I love me some In-N-Out burgers.