California Relocation
Planning an California relocation?
When planning a relocation, you should do thorough research on school systems, salary, housing and the like. Pay attention to the tax structure in the state you are relocating to - how much is the income tax? Do they have a sales tax? What is the property tax rate? All these things can have a major impact on your budget and should be carefully considered before relocating.
Geography
California is approx. 155,959 square miles and borders Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. California is known for it’s beautiful coast as well as it’s grand mountains and is one of the few places where you can swim and ski all in the same weekend. California is famous for it’s redwood forests and has many geographical landmarks such as Mount Whitney, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Death Valley, The Mohave Desert and Mount Shasta.
Population
If you are relocating to California, you will be joining the approx 35,484,453other people who currently reside in this state. In the year 2000, the population demographics was roughly:
White - 59%
Black or African American - 6.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native - 1%
Asian - 10.9%
California has 217 persons per square mile as compared to the US average of 79.6 persons per square which makes it pretty darn crowded!
Climate
California has mild climate - very sunny with moderate temps year round. It gets rain mostly in the winter months and limited to the northern part of the state. Of course, Death Valley can get extreme temperatures as can the mountain areas.
Industry
California has many industries, but is best know for it’s Silicon Valley which houses many leaders in high tech products. Aside from this, it also employs people in the sectors of agriculture, entertainment, oil, mining manufacturing, telecommunications and biotechnology. Of course, the Los Angelos area employs many in the entertainment industry and there are many professional sports teams in California as well.
Cost Considerations
Of course there are many millionaires in California, but the median income is about $47,400 which is above that of the national average of approx $41,900. California has the highest cost of living in the US.
If you were relocating from Boston MA, you would find it to be about 20% more expensive to live in California (depending on the town you relocate to) with groceries costing about 5% more, housing about 60% more, utilities about 25% more and health care about 35% more. So if you are relocating to a new company or within the same company, you should expect to make roughly 25% more for the same job. If you make $60,000 in Massachusetts, you might expect about $74,000 in San Francisco California.
Other Relocation Information
California lies on 2 geographic plates making it very prone to earthquakes. It also has a lot of mudslides but these are small prices to pay for the beautiful weather and scenery.
• References include U.S. Census Bureau and California State Website where you can learn even more about the state.
Learn about other states:
Alabama - This southern state is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, the northern most part of the state rural and wooded with lakes and rivers - relocators will find this state is very inexpensive to live in with a median income well below the average.
Alaska - It's cold, but beautiful. Relocating to this state will find you living in a place where the median income is higher than the national average and expenses are comparable to the rest of the states.
Arizona - Moderate temperatures, beautiful scenery and low cost of living - check our guide for more on this perfect place to live.
Arkansas - A mild climate, but low wages and cost of living.
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