Best place to live - San Francisco, L.A., or San Diego?

Totally depends on what type of a person you are!

San Francisco.

Dynamicduo, couldn’t you say that about any city?

Of course you could. But when comparing these three cities specifically, each has specific desires that would appeal to a certain lifestyle. For instance, San Francisco has more opportunities for gay people as well as bike riders. LA is better for actors or people who want to live in a bright city with vibrant nightlife. San Diego is great for people wanting to visit a zoo (I’ve been there!). As I’ve never lived in either of the three, I can’t be more specific. But you would get more high value answers if you take time to describe what attributes would be found in your ideal city.

I have only visited San Francisco and also have friends that live there as well and found it to be a fun, hip, cool city with lots of action going on in all parts of the city for a lot of different people.

San Diego. Not a doubt in my mind.

San Fransisco would be second. Tons of good places to eat.

I would personally never want to live in LA.

Of course this is all about personal preference again. You could let findyourspot figure it out for you instead.

Dynamicduo is right. All three cities are completely different. Preferably I would choose San Diego. I love the outdoors and San Diego has many activities to choose from. It also has almost perfect weather year round. San Francisco is awesome too, but it is the more expensive of the three to live in. If you are looking for a more artistic type of community, then San Fran would be your choice.

dynamicduo is correct. San Francisco is where I grew up, and I’ve spent a bit of time in both LA and San Diego. Personally, I think SF is the best of all three, but it does fit my personality better than LA, and I don’t think there’s much going on in San Diego.

Here’s my reasoning. The location of SF opens up opportunities in a wide radius. You’re in relatively close distance to wine country, beaches, mountains. Not too far from Yosemite (compared to So. Cal) and close to central California (Monterey, Santa Cruz). SF is chock full of culture, great restaurants, and an incredibly diverse population. The public transportation system is extensive and you don’t need a car to get around, in fact it’s sometimes simply easier to take the bus. The city is only 49 square miles, so getting around isn’t too painful. There are definitely plenty of outdoor recreation opportunities in close distance to the city (surfing, biking, hiking, boating, kayaking). The vibe of SF is intelligent, creative, and more than tolerant of its inhabitants’ individuality, which I love. I find the temperate climate to be almost perfect and there are great coffee houses, too.

LA for me is too appearance- and material-oriented (looks, brands, houses, cars, money, etc.). The sky is orange with air pollution and smog. You have the beach, the desert, and a closer proximity to Mexico. Everything is really spread out and a car is a necessity (but traffic is utter madness). Outdoor activities would be the same as SF, with more people swimming and going to the beach because it’s warmer. An actress friend of mine just moved to LA and was really excited.. until she got there. After living there for a while, she hates it. Heh.

San Diego is the sleepier, slower-paced one of the three. Feels kind of like a beach town, but on a grander scale. Also really spread out and vehicular transportation a necessity. Lots of surfing, beach-going, that sort of thing. Very close to Mexico, lots of party animals pop over to Tijuana for the night. Sea World and the zoo are there, both of which are pretty impressive and worth seeing. Aside from that, I’m not sure what all else there is to do there. I could be wrong, but my feeling is that there’s the least culture here out of all three.

Apropos of nothing: If you draw a circle through all three of those cities, the center would be located south of Hawaii somewhere near Jarvis Island.

@NaturalMineralWater Great link! I just took the quiz and it chose the town that we vacation at every summer. It confirms for me why I want to move there so badly!

San Francisco is really expensive, but if you can swing it, there’s no place in America I would rather live. I personally can’t stand LA: too many highways, too much fakeness, but there is incredible economic opportunity. San Diego is beautiful with plenty of opportunity, but more conservative and growing very fast.

Of the three, I would choose San Francisco. I have limited experience with San Diego, but, I’m not a fan of continuous hot weather. LA would be intolerable, with the sprawl, the freeways, the smog, the materialism and the lack of a football team. San Francisco on the other hand has all the characteristics of a European city with the added value of a temperate climate and access to all sorts of outdoors activities. Plus, many neighborhoods actually have a small town feel to them, which is a nice feeling. I wish it weren’t so expensive, but, that’s supply and demand for you…

I’ve actually lived in both San Francisco and LA for more than a few years, and I’ve worked in San Diego.

The whole “LA is materialistic” argument to me is like someone who visits the marina in SF and says, “Oh, San Francisco is full of yuppie douchebags who listen to Dave Matthews”. It’s incredibly reductive and 95% inaccurate.

@AlenaD: Culturally, LA is on par with SF—possibly even more if you measure by number of venues.

I’ve written about this elsewhere on the site, but Los Angeles is much bigger than San Francisco—which affects the culture in a few ways: there are many more niches of sub-cultures than San Francisco, and you have to drive. (Among many other things).

The smog thing is true, but in my 3 years here it hasn’t bothered me and I have asthma. Driving is a big difference.

@nmguy: Ultimately, though, it depends on what you do, the friends you have, and how old you are, so it really does depend on you.

@andrew. I love Dave Matthews.

@andrew, I agree with your point about Los Angeles. It is a huge generalization that entirely too many people make. I spent my entire life in the Los Angeles area, and when I arrived here in the heartland I found that my values and the level of my materialism are not all that different from the values and materialism here. In fact I might even argue that the people in my quiet mid-western suburb are more materialistic than those in my quiet west coast suburb.

My choice of San Francisco is not born of a hatred of Los Angeles, I just love the landscape and weather of the bay area.

@shilolo, just don’t go under a bridge when Dave Matthews’ tour bus is passing over.