The culture shock moving from Maine to Commiefornia will be enormous and the price shock of everything will be even worse. The average price of a home in Maine on a decent lot will buy you a rundown carport in a barrio in SoCal. A $150K salary is a starting wage for a single person just out of college. For instance, a 1,100 sf, 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath townhome I bought new in 1974 for $33K in San Jose (southern part of the SF bay area), is currently going for $953K. Every other home I bought there (6 in all ranging from $78K to $380K when bought new) are now 'worth' between $1.5 and $2.5 million dollars.
Taxes in Commiefornia are the highest in the country. Base state sales tax is 7.25% but with city and county add ons, most places are up at 10%. State income taxes top out at 13.3% and property taxes are enormous compared to Maine's as a result of the high price of homes. Food prices in northern Commiefornia are double the cost here in the Denver area. (I spend time in Tracey, CA with a bud rebuilding a hotrod we first built together 37 years ago so I'm painfully aware of the costs there.)
Living in San Diego, expect to pay a fortune for housing in any decent area. The median home price in San Diego is $632,800 currently and at $468 per sq foot, that's for a small, old, 1,350 sf home or 2-3 bedroom townhome. Also, you need to get ready for the family to learn Spanish as you're actually moving into Northern Mexico. There will be areas where English is not spoken by many, where signage is in Spanish, where 'Gringos' aren't welcome.
Also be ready for the fact that everywhere you go, you'll be engulfed in traffic as you travel with what seems like 400,000 of your 'closest friends'. Even with a Billion dollars, you can't escape the crush of people. I escaped Northern Commiefornia in 1980. Best decision I've ever made to take the family out of the state even though when I first moved there in 1956 as a kid it was actually a great place to grow up in. Now, not so much unless you learn to be into all the latest ridiculous fads, spend a fortune on clothes to 'fit in', and of course, learn to be so left wing that Lenin is considered too much of a right wing conservative.
What a metric assload of nonsense. Greatly exaggerated accounting of how horrible it is here.
Denver metro area restaurant prices vs CA are slightly lower. In the grocery store, they're equivalent. I know, I worked in the Denver tech center area a bunch. Lived just south of there in Castle Rock.
Housing prices are indeed ridiculous, if you buy. Rentals are not as bad. Not great, but finding something affordable will be doable.
$150K salary out of college is possible, if you're a newly minted Data Science major in San Francisco. Otherwise, not so much.
SD traffic isn't great, but it's nowhere near as bad as Sili Valley or LA
Don't worry about speaking Spanish
My kids aren't left wing, and wear "whatever".
Sales tax, depending on city and county, averages 8-8.25%
If you like beer, SD has a world class beer scene. Enjoy that if you can.
Double check this: As a resident from another state moving to California, I believe that you are not constrained by the drop/safety test for handguns. You'll not be able to bring in standard size magazines (over 10 rounds) but can bring in guns that have not been CA safety tested. CalGuns will be the best source of info on this. Should you bring in a couple of these off-list handguns, they can be sold at a profit in an individual to individual transaction (through a dealer of course). Again, double-check this, but it is my current understanding of the situation.
At any rate, it won't kill you, just make you stronger. And hopefully you'll be able to make it back to sanity in the not too distant future.
