Anonymous wrote:Seems like it’d be easier to live separately in this case.

They have kids.

You're going to make $5-600k combined and cannot figure this one out...?

Seems like it’d be easier to live separately in this case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope it doesn’t involve grammar.

That was my first thought.

I do not recommend teaching.

Reconsider your priorities. Nice beaches and warmer weather are all good and well, but extensive, expensive tiresome commuting is no recipe for long-term happiness no matter how much you prefer SoCal over alternatives. Quality of life encompasses many dimensions, and it's a mistake to focus narrowly on only some and not on the totality of what you will face if you relocate.

Consider too that the expenses you take on by knowingly commiting to frequent long-distance commuting will impair your ability to retire early and/or with the level of retirement income you'd like. Diverting income from retirement savings to current commuting expenses is probably short-sighted.

Live where you can have the time at home you both want, take vacations where you enjoy the weather and beaches, and accept that you're not likely to find everything you want in one place, because you have competing, incompatible goals.

I can’t imagine anyone being happy with that arrangement long term.

Don’t do the San Jose job. Look at companies that have headquarters or hubs in the area you’re looking to live. If San Diego, try Service Now

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are both interviewing for jobs in California right now and I’m unsure if we can make it work.

DH job prospect:
-On site one day per week in LA area
-pay 240-280k

DW job prospect:
-on site two days per week in San Jose
-pay $240-290k

We have 2 young kids. We really don’t want to live in Northern CA. Our preference is to live in Carlsbad/San Diego area but our attempts to find jobs there have been unsuccessful.

My question is-how do we approach this? Is there any way to make this work with a SoCal base? I just cannot get excited about Northern California

Californian here. I’ve lived both in SoCal and NorCal.

To be honest, I don’t see how this plan works with young kids. San Diego airport often has flight delays because of fog. So while you can get back and forth regularly to SJC, you will have to account for delays. Meanwhile hotels in San Jose are expensive. So, you’d be spending a lot of money on flights and hotels. If you get stuck in SJC on a day when your DH has to be in LA, you will both be very far from your kids. What happens if the school calls with a fever? Traffic to and from LA from SD is usually awful.

FWIW, I try to never book a later evening flight out of or into San Diego because they are cancelled or delayed so often. I love the San Diego area too but I don’t see how this works realistically.

Op here. To clarify, we don’t feel either job individually would be able to support our family on California prices.

We both need to work if we are going to move to california.

Obviously it would be ideal if we could all just live and work in the same place. We are trying to do that but it’s like playing 3D chess trying to get all the pieces to line up.

I wouldn't really want to do the commute from LA to SJ for any significant amount of time, for lifestyle reasons, but I think it is doable for that salary. You can get SWA tickets from the Socal airports to SJC for around $120 each way. Add in hotel and maybe a car, and you're probably looking at $400-500/week.

A $250k job is around $3k/week after tax, so you could make it work cost-wise.

I wouldn't want to live in San Diego and have both parents traveling far on the same day, especially if they both fly. There's too much risk of flights being delayed/canceled and not being able to get to the kids before childcare closes.

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t there a train that runs from SF to LA - pretty sure Santa Barbara is on that route, and I’d love to live there. Not sure if that train runs to SJ, though.

The train takes a whole day to go between LA and SJ. It's not really feasible for commuting.

Anonymous wrote:Live anywhere in southern CA near a good airport. At those incomes DW can stay in a hotel one or two nights each week, maybe live near the LA job if you want to live further south. Tons of flights all day long between LAX and other parts of the state. You can also drive or take a train.

Nope - CA is expensive and those are not salaries on which you can live in an expensive area + fly / hotel weekly + childcare. And that's assuming you don't choose private schools, which OP should consider as CA schools are not as good, in general, as suburban schools in this area.

This is a bad plan and OP should keep looking for other jobs.

Anonymous wrote:This is terrible for the environment. Flying so much every week. How entitled you must be!

So you have nothing of value to add to the post? Feel free to exit stage left.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s wrong with Northern California?

Op here. We lived there before and it’s just not our cup of tea. The weather is too cool, the people are so smug and career obsessed, and the beaches suck.

ok then… do not take a job in san jose then. seems pretty straightforward.

Isn’t there a train that runs from SF to LA - pretty sure Santa Barbara is on that route, and I’d love to live there. Not sure if that train runs to SJ, though.