# Is the West Coast the worst part of the US/Canada to live in? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2015, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873 "2015-03-12T23:44:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/81 "2015-03-14T02:39:54Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > You clearly have never had to deal with 30 inches of snow like we had in NJ just before I left. (I know, a sprinkling compared to Boston this year.) You never had to deal with an entire month where the temperature never got above freezing like I did in Illinois. You never had to deal with 110% humidity (well, it felt that way) like in South Louisiana. And bugs the size of your fist. > Now, I wouldn’t live in the Central Valley if you paid me. Terrible weather, high unemployment, Republicans. But the Bay Area is pretty nice if you can afford it. I lived in Montana. I know cold. I’ve experience 20 below zero. I don’t mind it, in fact i prefer it to the hot summers on the West Coast. Summers in Montana are glorious too, it rains and the nights are nice and cool. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/82 "2015-03-14T02:41:01Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > I think the West Coast is the best place to live if you’re upper middle class. The entire coast seems to be geared towards upper middle class sensibilities. Exactly. Being poor or plain middle class sucks on the West Coast, the only reason you’d prefer it over the rest of the country is if you’re a total wuss when it comes to winter. Personally I prefer 4 seasons over 1 or 2, but that’s just me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/83 "2015-03-14T02:43:14Z")
I find it weird that pretty much everyone here disagrees with me and kisses California ass … I guess this board is overwhelmingly Democratic Party, and they worship the West Coast in the same way Jews worship Israel, even though the West Coast is more of a dystopian right-wing nightmare than the deep South in actuality. Speaking as a **California native** , living in California sucks. Living in Oregon is better but increasingly becoming the same the more people move here and overrate it. Global warming is making our weather hot and dry like California too. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/84 "2015-03-14T02:50:55Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Speaking as a **California native** , living in California sucks. Speaking as an Ohio native, I’m digging LA. When I lived somewhere I didn’t like, I moved. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/85 "2015-03-14T03:16:32Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > I guess this board is overwhelmingly Democratic Party, and they worship the West Coast in the same way Jews worship Israel, even though the West Coast is more of a dystopian right-wing nightmare than the deep South in actuality. Ah, well then. I see. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/86 "2015-03-14T03:48:23Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I moved to Boston in late August to go to school. I grew up in the Central Valley of California (a truly horrible place. Seriously, don’t go there. I’m not joking or trying to be cute. The chief export is sadness and math). When I was in the military I lived in Albuquerque, NM and Las Vegas. After I got out I lived in Santa Barbara, Solvang, Davis, and Sacramento. So I’ve been around. > > My wife LOVES New England. Loves it. I think she wants to stay here. She enjoys the “seasons” (or so I’m told they’re called. Apparently there’s four of them), doesn’t mind the cold, and loves the buildings. I think she can give up Boston, but definitely wants to stay in New England. > > Me: I miss California. I hate San Francisco, but luckily there’s so much more to the state than that. I miss Santa Barbara. But even if I couldn’t live there I’d be more than happy to spend out the rest of my days in Davis. The high today in Boston is mid-30s. I’m longing for that dry heat of the desert. I’m not bothered by 100+ weather. I moved to the Boston area from Florida. I LOVE the weather here, but I hate hot, humid weather. That said, the traffic really is horrible. Also, I can’t get used to the lack of in-unit washer/dryers in suburban apartments. And the Boston accent sounds funny coming from a little kid. But other than that… ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/87 "2015-03-14T04:04:56Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Speaking as an Ohio native, I’m digging LA. > > When I lived somewhere I didn’t like, I moved. Speaking as a dude from Indiana, Virginia and Washington State, Santa Barbara is fucking _glorious_! Moving here may have been my best decision ever. ---
**Author:** ![48Willys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/db5fbb/32.png) [@48Willys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/48Willys)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/88 "2015-03-14T06:59:03Z")
I realize that the OP will not move to what they consider a better place. They always have excuses, but no action. I will tell you-all that moving does not have to be expensive. I took four years off after high school. I traveled up & down the western states & B.C. I worked when I wanted to & vacationed when I chose. Finding work was seldom a problem. One only has to be willing to do anything, & take pride in their work. This means show up on time, clean, & sober. My most expensive move was from Cam-loops, B.C. to Paradise, California. I had an old VW bus that I had traded my labor for. It took about $200.00 in gas & food, & over one week to complete the move. There was no hurry. I was living out of the bus at the time, so no rent. My least expensive move was from Ely, Nevada to Moscow, Idaho. I was bumming around that area, & the local sheriff had an aunt who wanted to move to Pullman, Washington. She needed help, someone who had a strong back, & who could drive a U-Haul. I fit the bill. I moved her & myself, I had one duffel bag. Her nephew paid me $300.00 to get her moved into her new home. She paid for the meals & the motel. I got her moved in, & then hitch hiked to Moscow. I made $300.00 on that move. I do not call that expensive. Moving can be as easy as hopping on the bus. Greyhound goes almost everywhere in the US. Since the OP hates the west coast, The Green Tortise is plum out! It was a cool ride when I used it. I wonder if the OP has always hated where they have lived. It sounds like they have. I doubt that moving will make them happy. I suspect that the problem is with their outlook on life. If you go looking to find folks unfriendly, that is what you will find. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/89 "2015-03-14T07:36:34Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > … how dumpy and desolate American city-scapes really are, even the “nicer” cities like Seattle and Portland. Sad to say, there’s definitely a lot of this in American cities, and especially in the west. So many of those cities many of either grew up in the age of freeways, parking lots, and cars; or else they tore out their architectural hearts to put in freeways and parking lots. There’s really no aesthetic at work there; it’s an anti-aesthetic, because there’s really no way to make an asphalt street-level parking lot pleasing to the eye. You have a situation where many blocks are almost entirely given over to parking which is so expensive as to discourage anyone to discourage the visitor from lingering to shop or dine, and then the inevitable decline in pedestrian traffic leads to more of the remaining storefronts going out of business and remaining vacant. It’s a death spiral which has begun to reverse itself in the past ten or so years, but much of what has been lost can’t possibly be replaced. L.A.'s probably the best example of this. I won’t repeat the well-known postwar decimation of the transit system and advent of the freeways. But what few people now realize is that parts of DTLA used to be full of interesting streets, peculiar angles, and the odd building or two from as far back as the Civil War. In the mid 19th century, it was a thing to check into a hotel in order to have a baby; in the 1920s and 1930s it sometimes happened that an elderly person would show up to visit some creaky old hotel and inform the desk clerk, “I was born here, how about that!”. The streets came together at odd angles on the north side of DTLA because Bunker Hill to the west kind of squeezed everything together. But in the postwar period Bunker Hill itself was largely demolished–not just the houses but much of the hill itself as well. The streets in the Civic Center area were all realigned to be wide and straight, and the quirky small streets obliterated. I’m way too young to have seen the area the way it used to look, but from the pictures I’ve seen much of it once looked like a hot and dry version of San Francisco. I don’t mean to assert that L.A. in those days could hold a candle to S.F. in terms of cultural amenities, but more that the cityscapes were a bit more similar in those days–very pedestrian and transit oriented. By contrast, L.A.'s postwar urban renewal schemes also included a heavy dose of suburbanization, with wide setback requirements resulting in sterile plazas and bits of greenspace used by nobody except office workers having their brown bag lunches on weekdays. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/90 "2015-03-14T09:40:20Z")
If I were forced to move to anywhere in North America, it would be SW Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/91 "2015-03-15T01:37:38Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > I lived in Montana. I know cold. I’ve experience 20 below zero. I don’t mind it, in fact i prefer it to the hot summers on the West Coast. Summers in Montana are glorious too, it rains and the nights are nice and cool. Hot summers in the West Coast? We don’t have a/c because we’d need it only 2 - 3 days a year. Good insulation and fans work fine. (Now Folsom is a different story.) Hot summers are Texas and Arizona and even the East Coast. We left the Philadelphia Convention Center one night at midnight and it was 100 degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Bay\_Area\_Bae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@Bay\_Area\_Bae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bay_Area_Bae)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/92 "2015-03-15T09:36:05Z")
I was born in California but I have lived in Oklahoma and Texas as well. I have lived in the central valley, central coast and bay area of California. I prefer California for many reasons, the year round 70 degree weather of the bay, the cultural diversity and the IT knowledge I have gained that allowed me an opportunity in my career path. Yes, the cost of living is higher, there are some bad schools and there is more poverty than one would hope to see. But on the flip side, you aren’t going to find a job with a starting pay of $15-$18 an hour in many other places, there are some great schools but for those of us in the “not so good” schools, if you raise your children with the understanding of right and wrong and instill in them the importance of education, where they go to school is not important. Just how they choose to spend their time there is. I think there are more opportunities here as well as the benefit of raising your children around many different cultures and people. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/93 "2015-03-15T15:45:35Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > I > Speaking as a **California native** , living in California sucks. Speaking as a **California native** , you are full of shit. The rest of us love it here. that means it’s you, not California or the rest of the West. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/94 "2015-03-16T03:41:47Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > It really made going to class difficult while I went to the City College. > > “I could go to class and learn about the Civil War, or I could go across the street and be at the beach…” My office is maybe two blocks from the beach. I’ll often go there to eat lunch and wrestle with the idea of not going back. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/95 "2015-03-17T18:02:38Z")
Yeah, I have to agree with **Protoboard**. He would certainly hate to live in our area. I mean, come on, when I need to drive the 4 miles into town it’s boring and dangerous both. Not only the possibility of a huge Douglas Fir crashing down on the car or being washed into the ocean at Crescent Beach by a rogue wave, but the monotony of driving all that way without the respite of a traffic light or stop sign. And what’s worse, you just want to pick up some grub at the store, but NOOO - you see someone you know in produce who has to tell you about this great book they got at the library and then someone else in the bread aisle asks about your kid away at school and do you need some lettuce from the garden before it bolts? The nerve of these nosy, over-educated hicks. They’re probably all ex-hippies, anyway. Oh, crap, I’ve got that damn drive home again… by the dull, boring ocean. Gosh if we could only have some excitement around here - Stupid Washington, anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/96 "2015-03-17T18:25:42Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Yeah, every time western Washington state hits 75 degrees, I’m complaining about my lack of A/C. The weather here is so miserably hot! Every once in a while it even gets up in the 80’s, and our summers make us suffer through 16 hours of daylight. Those people in the South are so spoiled. > > Also, water is truly a problem. I hear that people in Boston store their extra water in snow drifts on the side of buildings, but it’s just too warm here for snow. We have to rely on reservoirs up in the mountains… which generate the cheapest power in the country. (Not that we can benefit from all that cheap power because none of us have A/C to combat our oppressive 75-degree heat waves). > > You can tell just how bad it is here when you look at real estate values too. I would barely get $400,000 for my 1600 sqft house. I probably couldn’t afford to move to the South, right? No. [No, you can’t.](http://radioalice.cbslocal.com/2015/03/13/here-are-five-literal-castles-cheaper-than-condos-in-san-francisco/) ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/97 "2015-03-17T22:54:39Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > I think the main appeal of California to people is hot dry weather. You’re definitely not going to find the charm or greenery (aside from conifers) that you’ll find in the Northeast. There aren’t many places in the country – shoot, in the world - that have low humidity in the summer and no snow in the winter. On the rare summer day when the temperature was in the 80s and the humidity crept above 50%, my Connecticut-born wife would scream “I moved 3000 miles to get away from this!” And it’s not that hot. Where I live, in the East Bay, we may get 10 days a year where it breaks 90; one or 2 where it hits 100. In the winter, this year it never dropped below freezing, not for a minute. So…don’t complain about the weather, because you can’t win. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Winkler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@The\_Winkler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Winkler)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/98 "2015-03-18T05:56:03Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I moved to Boston in late August to go to school. I grew up in the Central Valley of California (a truly horrible place. Seriously, don’t go there. I’m not joking or trying to be cute. The chief export is sadness and math). When I was in the military I lived in Albuquerque, NM and Las Vegas. After I got out I lived in Santa Barbara, Solvang, Davis, and Sacramento. So I’ve been around. > > My wife LOVES New England. Loves it. I think she wants to stay here. She enjoys the “seasons” (or so I’m told they’re called. Apparently there’s four of them), doesn’t mind the cold, and loves the buildings. I think she can give up Boston, but definitely wants to stay in New England. > > Me: I miss California. I hate San Francisco, but luckily there’s so much more to the state than that. I miss Santa Barbara. But even if I couldn’t live there I’d be more than happy to spend out the rest of my days in Davis. The high today in Boston is mid-30s. I’m longing for that dry heat of the desert. I’m not bothered by 100+ weather. Wow! How can anyone hate San Francisco? I think it’s the greatest place on earth. Yes, the cost of housing sucks and people here take “being liberal” to extremes. But it’s the most beautiful major city in all of the U.S., maybe the world. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873/99 "2015-03-18T23:23:55Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > I lived in the Bay Area for a couple years and would never do so again. I don’t like even going to SFO for a day. I think Nevada should annex everything from the Nevada border westward to at least Alturas and Placerville. Northern Nevada has open space and a good standard of living for the money. If it weren’t for that Asshole **Von Schmidt** , we’d have a good slice of it already! > [@silenus](#): > > The OP obviously has absolutely zero clue or connection with reality, and so can be disregarded with impunity. DONE! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-coast-the-worst-part-of-the-us-canada-to-live-in/714873.md?page=4)