California and Cost of living

[Nanook]

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[ElDiabloJoe]

It's practically free to live in CA!!! Gas is .99cents/gallon, housing runs about $75K for a 4 bedroom on a 1/4 acre, and chocolate bars are a nickel.

Just kidding. CA is probably MORE expensive than FL, depending on where in CA and where in FL. If you want to live in a middle-class (not Upper Middle Class, just blue collar Joes) with a moderate crime rate, (I'm thinking the Anaheim and Van Nuys type areas) 'spect to pay around $400K for a townhouse and $600K for a 1950's 3/2 ranch-style house on about a 6000-8000 square foot lot.

PS--Gas for regular unleaded at *some* am/pm Arco station was $2.85/gal this morning.

Cheers,

EDJ

[pulicords]

EDJ, you had me LOL! Nanook, there is one good thing about working in an area like Southern California that has a high cost of living. The pay and benefits are generally better than areas with lower costs of living. If your pay scale is low, it's much more difficult to travel and do other activities that officers out here can enjoy. True, we have to spend more (dollars) for housing and other essentials, but our overall salaries reflect this difference. If you don't go crazy and live outside your means, you can do very well.

As a supervisor, I've recently approved vacation requests for fairly new officers whose travel plans included trips to England, Europe, Greece and the Northwest. One of my fellow sergeants is on a five week European vacation with his family and another leaves for Germany, Austria and Switzerland in a couple of weeks. Hawaii and other U.S. vacation stops are so commonly visited, that it's hardly worth noting. There's a lot of agencies in So. California in this pay range and when you retire from one of them you can sell your home, buy a great place in a less expensive environment with the equity and live well on your retirement checks without the need to start a new career (if you're so inclined).

Yea, it's very costly to live here, but consider the long term benefits. It's much easier for an officer to live off his/her retirement from "the big city" than one from a "small town."

[deputy x 2]

^^^^^^ What pulicords said

The same for Northern Calif. Very costly.

I'm taking my retirement out of state and will live like a queen. No job needed.

It's all about your needs and how you want to live. Some live paycheck to paycheck.....others don't.

[pkagel]

You also must figure into your col that if you live close enough to the beach that you'll rarely turn your heat or a/c on so that would be a big savings over Fl.

[deputy x 2]

And then there's the dilemma.


Earthquakes or Hurricanes:eek: :eek: :eek:

Born and raised here, I'd pick the earthquakes no prob.

[pkagel]

Never mind the 100% humidity in Fla!!! Yea, I'd pick CA also.

[Kieth M.]

I just fled to Colorado, from California. I moved to a place where my 77% retirement check is the median income for where I live. Fuel, insurance, vehicle registration, are all less. The cops, here, start at about $40-42K compared with LAPD's starting $52K. There's more room, less people, and they're nicer than what I saw in CA. I haven't seen a Raider fan, with one of their insulting/obnoxious stickers, yet. But I understand they do come to Denver and ususally start trouble.

[SgtCHP]

I am unable to make a viable comparison since I don't visit FL. Ergo, I offer this site for you to make a personal comparison of specific cities..........

Good luck.........

http://swz.salary.com/CostOfLivingWizard/layouthtmls/coll_statebrief_F.html