Want to move to California from Wisconsin (Los Angeles, San Diego: apartment, rent)

[sheboyganhereicome]

Hello,

My wife and I would like to move away from Wisconsin and head to the west coast. I'm 25 & she's 23 we have no kids but 2 dogs that would be coming with. We currently own a house here that we bought back in 2008. We would like to live in California but are unsure the best area for us to start looking at.

We currently live in Sheboygan right on Lake Michigan which has about 50k people living here I believe. We like living by the water but it wouldn't be the worst if we moved somewhere that wasn't right on the water.

We are unsure where would be a good safe area to move to with good career oportunities. We want to start a family sometime in the near future and would both also like to get some college done.

Where would be some good areas that we could check out? I would prefer that we buy a house out there and not rent that isn't for us. I'm unsure how that would work though being all the way over here we can't really go to open houses and house hunting unless we were there.

Any information would be great in leading us in the right direction to move to the next chapter in our lives. Thanks City-Data !

[proudmommy]

Where will your jobs be?
What is your housing budget?

[sheboyganhereicome]

We would need to find jobs there and our housing budget would depend on what kind of jobs we could find out there.

[NewToCA]

You'd better start with a modest cost area, places like Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco would easily cost you $3000+ per month while you are figuring out what to do here. Safe areas in those metro areas aren't cheap.

As someone who has moved multiple times, and have kids who have relocated on their own too, the advice I'd give would be to figure out where you want to go after looking at apartment cost. Then get a temporary residence until you both have full time jobs.

[sheboyganhereicome]

Where are some modest cost areas that we could start looking at? I honestly have no idea where to even begin looking at all.

[NewToCA]

The less expensive areas are inland. Places like Sacramento, Fresno, Stockton, Modesto, Bakersfield, Vacaville, Yuba City, Chico, Lancaster, San Bernardino and Visalia are places with lower cost of living.

Have you ever been to California, and if so, which part of the state?

[sheboyganhereicome]

Thanks.

No I have never been to california.

[NewToCA]

OK, well you have a lot of research ahead of you. I'd suggest you read up on any areas of interest, it is easy to get discouraged after arriving if you don't have a clear plan.

[Fontucky]

What are you paying in Sheboygan and how much house/lot is that getting you? Then we can tell you what that will get you here and where it will get you.

[sheboyganhereicome]

Alright thanks!