Harris poll: California rated most desirable state (Los Angeles, San Francisco: rent, low crime)

[18Montclair]

STATES WHERE MOST PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO LIVE - APART FROM THEIR OWN STATE

"If you could live in any state in the country, except the state you live in now, what state would you choose to live in?"

Base: All U.S. Adults

1 California
2 Hawaii
3 Florida
4 Colorado
5 Arizona
6 North Carolina
7 Oregon
8 Texas
9 New York
10 Washington

These are some of the results of The Harrris Poll of 2,620 adults surveyed online between Sep 14-20, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

Read more: California, Hawaii and Florida the States Where the Most People Would Like to Live - PR Newswire - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/19/3114666/california-hawaii-and-florida.html#ixzz132mv0pb9 - broken link)

[ferretkona]

I blame Hollywood. Everyone is lead to believe we have streets of gold, everyone can become a movie star.

[EscapeCalifornia]

California and Hawaii are places people think they want to live until they see the price tag.

[Surftown831]

They must have never heard of Fresno

[NewToCA]

The weather and coast creates the positive sentiments.

No matter what happens, the coast doesn't go away. In the winter, many folks in the north like California a lot.

Also, we have a gazillion things to see and do.

[Gentoo]

California is expensive precisely because it's so desirable (the lib haters will say otherwise). The demand far exceeds the supply so those with something to sell or rent can charge whatever they want to an extent.

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by UNLV09

They must have never heard of Fresno

Though you posted that in humor, I'd like to make a more serious point for those many folks who read this forum but don't post in it, nor even belong to this site.

A place like Fresno may not be exciting in and of itself, but it isn't horrible either. The crime rate is a little high, but for the central city of a metro area exceeding 900,000, the crime rate isn't any worse than most larger cities throughout the country.

Like other decent sized large cities, it has some decent large suburban areas. In the case of Fresno, the Clovis area just to the north east is pretty nice, and has a low crime rate. It is quite large, covering over 20 square miles and having a population of about 100,000.

Housing prices in the metro area are very reasonable, even considering what prices are throughout the country. For folks who can live anywhere in the country (and job flexibility or retirement allows many to do so), it really isn't a bad choice. You can find very nice homes at prices comparable to what you would pay in places such as Akron, Ohio, Knoxville, TN, Birmingham, AL or Rochester, NY. However, unlike some of those other cities, the property taxes in metro Fresno are quite low, being protected due to Prop 13.

Another consideration is that the daily life isn't bad either. They have some decent shopping plazas just like any other large metro area, and some decent school systems too. Weather is kind of typical California Central Valley, meaning hot and dry summers with some rain during the cooler winters. However, the heat isn't nearly as high as places such as Las Vegas, NV, or Phoenix, AZ, and unlike those places the nights are still pretty cool, dropping into the mid-60's. There is a lot of sunshine, especially in the May through September periods.

As far as stuff to do, the local area isn't a tourist hot spot, but you have the very large national parks within an hour or two of the area. You can go to Yosemite, Kings Canyon or Sequoia National Park as a day trip, easily doing the round trip to any of those parks the same day, and leaving plenty of time for sightseeing. In addition, you can go to the beautiful coastal attractions of Monterey, Carmel and Santa Cruz in under three hours. If you want the "big city" experiences, Los Angeles and San Francisco are both less than three and a half hours away.

So, though places like metro Fresno often get the "back of the hand" by many of our posters, it actually is one of the places that helps make California desirable. It allows many folks with somewhat modest financial means to have a lifestyle that is very comfortable and relatively safe, yet be near many of the front line attractions that make California special.

This posting isn't meant to be a put down of folks who want to make fun of places like Fresno, after all a posting forum has a lot of chit chat between posters who have established friendships on the board. Good natured shots are just part of those relationships. However, I think it is important to let folks who don't live here but read this forum understand that places such as metropolitan Fresno can provide some benefits too, and might actually be a very good choice for them to reside.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by NewToCA

...

A place like Fresno may not be exciting in and of itself, but it isn't horrible either. The crime rate is a little high, but for the central city of a metro area exceeding 900,000, the crime rate isn't any worse than most larger cities throughout the country.

Like other decent sized large cities, it has some decent large suburban areas. In the case of Fresno, the Clovis area just to the north east is pretty nice, and has a low crime rate. It is quite large, covering over 20 square miles and having a population of about 100,000.

...

Another consideration is that the daily life isn't bad either. They have some decent shopping plazas just like any other large metro area, and some decent school systems too. Weather is kind of typical California Central Valley, meaning hot and dry summers with some rain during the cooler winters. However, the heat isn't nearly as high as places such as Las Vegas, NV, or Phoenix, AZ, and unlike those places the nights are still pretty cool, dropping into the mid-60's. There is a lot of sunshine, especially in the May through September periods.

As far as stuff to do, the local area isn't a tourist hot spot, but you have the very large national parks within an hour or two of the area. You can go to Yosemite, Kings Canyon or Sequoia National Park as a day trip, easily doing the round trip to any of those parks the same day, and leaving plenty of time for sightseeing. In addition, you can go to the beautiful coastal attractions of Monterey, Carmel and Santa Cruz in under three hours. If you want the "big city" experiences, Los Angeles and San Francisco are both less than three and a half hours away.
...

This is a very good post and more objective (on a national level) than we typically see from a CA native slant or ppl planning on leaving the state for whatever disgruntled reasons. Although I am somewhat biased toward the coast, which is where I grew up and reside, I would agree with your overall assessment.

I actually took my family this year on a weekend getaway to, of all places, Fresno. We actually stayed in Clovis which was not a bad little town at all. But the funny part was when I told my wife I was planning such a trip her first question was "so why would I want to leave Monterey and drive three hours just to vacation in Fresno?" Well, you see in the Spring Fresno has the Blossom Trail with all of their fruit trees flowering. It is actually quite nice. And the Sierra Foothill wildflowers are in bloom around the same timeframe as well.








Anyway she eventually agreed, although somewhat reluntantly. However once there she a bit surprised. And upon leaving she admitted that it was much nicer than she had expected. Our three kids had a great time as well.

In assessing the area myself in terms of it's proximity to King's Canyon and the Sierra range plus drivable distance to the coast (for a weekend trip) it really isn't that bad at all. In fact on our way home I told my wife that if I had to choose between Denver or Clovis/Fresno I'd pick Clovis. The biggest problem with living in CO, the MidWest or SouthWest is lack of proximity to the ocean and crazy weather. After living in CO for a number of years, being land locked in the middle of the US was too much for us. Not being able to simply get in the car and drive to the coast was a huge negative. But with Fresno you can enjoy both the High Sierra and the coast. And proximity to the gorgeous Sierra Nevada mountains is about the same as Denver is to the Rockies.

Derek

[Majin]

Originally Posted by NewToCA

Though you posted that in humor, I'd like to make a more serious point for those many folks who read this forum but don't post in it, nor even belong to this site.

A place like Fresno may not be exciting in and of itself, but it isn't horrible either. The crime rate is a little high, but for the central city of a metro area exceeding 900,000, the crime rate isn't any worse than most larger cities throughout the country.

Like other decent sized large cities, it has some decent large suburban areas. In the case of Fresno, the Clovis area just to the north east is pretty nice, and has a low crime rate. It is quite large, covering over 20 square miles and having a population of about 100,000.

Housing prices in the metro area are very reasonable, even considering what prices are throughout the country. For folks who can live anywhere in the country (and job flexibility or retirement allows many to do so), it really isn't a bad choice. You can find very nice homes at prices comparable to what you would pay in places such as Akron, Ohio, Knoxville, TN, Birmingham, AL or Rochester, NY. However, unlike some of those other cities, the property taxes in metro Fresno are quite low, being protected due to Prop 13.

Another consideration is that the daily life isn't bad either. They have some decent shopping plazas just like any other large metro area, and some decent school systems too. Weather is kind of typical California Central Valley, meaning hot and dry summers with some rain during the cooler winters. However, the heat isn't nearly as high as places such as Las Vegas, NV, or Phoenix, AZ, and unlike those places the nights are still pretty cool, dropping into the mid-60's. There is a lot of sunshine, especially in the May through September periods.

As far as stuff to do, the local area isn't a tourist hot spot, but you have the very large national parks within an hour or two of the area. You can go to Yosemite, Kings Canyon or Sequoia National Park as a day trip, easily doing the round trip to any of those parks the same day, and leaving plenty of time for sightseeing. In addition, you can go to the beautiful coastal attractions of Monterey, Carmel and Santa Cruz in under three hours. If you want the "big city" experiences, Los Angeles and San Francisco are both less than three and a half hours away.

So, though places like metro Fresno often get the "back of the hand" by many of our posters, it actually is one of the places that helps make California desirable. It allows many folks with somewhat modest financial means to have a lifestyle that is very comfortable and relatively safe, yet be near many of the front line attractions that make California special.

This posting isn't meant to be a put down of folks who want to make fun of places like Fresno, after all a posting forum has a lot of chit chat between posters who have established friendships on the board. Good natured shots are just part of those relationships. However, I think it is important to let folks who don't live here but read this forum understand that places such as metropolitan Fresno can provide some benefits too, and might actually be a very good choice for them to reside.

[SandyCo]

I wonder how many of those 2,620 people are ex-Californians who were forced to move out of state during the housing boom?