I recently moved to California. Before i moved, people asked me "why are you moving there, its so bad?". Now that I'm here, i understand it less. The state is beautiful. There is so much to do.
I know the cost of living is high, and people think the gun control laws are ridiculous (I actually think they are reasonable, for the most part). There is a guy I work with here that says "the policies are dumb" but can't give me a solid answer on what is so bad about it.
So, what is it that California does (policy-wise) that people hate so much?
I lived there and made $90k a year. Lived like 50 minutes from work, still paid $2.5k per month for a 500sqft studio and qualified as low income for the area. If people making that much are considered low income, something has failed.
Was it an occupation that would have made half that amount elsewhere in the country? Cost of living and salaries typically go hand in hand. Issues of essential workers having to live far outside of where they work notwithstanding.
People who live in a much lower cost of living society could say the same thing about Americans making $30k. "If people making that much are considered low income, something is wrong" it's all relative.
If California were a country by itself it would have the 5th highest GDP in the world, literally more than the UK or India, but 40 million people instead of 1.4 billion. It's not that crazy.
I moved to VA and took basically the same job. I technically make less that I did in CA, but here I can actually own a home and save. California needs to do something about their CoL crisis.