I love it here. The downside is the cost of housing is obscene, and takes up an ridiculous portion of my salary. Currently the air is smoky. That sucks.
Upsides: geographically pretty, consistently strong economy (with generally low poverty rates) in this region that has better weathered economic downturns than other parts of the country (and state), mild weather year round, easy access to great leisure spots (professional sports, cultural enrichment, wine country, scenic beaches, mountains, forests, ocean, rivers). And Los Angeles is far enough away to be far away, but close enough to be a cheap airfare or long drive if we want to experience the things it has to offer (it's not just bad traffic and materialism down there--though there's plenty of those, too). Specific to my hometown: walkable, bikeable, community focused (strong engagement in local organizations), diverse, excellent public schools (and plenty of private school options, if that's your thing), easy public transit to get to job centers, close enough to the primary job centers that I can ride my bike there (and I generally have for the last decade or so), good parks and rec offerings, great library, and two cute downtown-ish areas. And at the micro level, I love my neighbors. This block is awesome.
We have strong roots here--and SFIrish is building what looks like a promising political career, so she can go wreck everything by trying to make things better. ;-)
Having said all that, if the financial pressures were to become too great, I would happily move to southern Wisconsin; Madison or a suburb/exurb of Milwaukee. But it is cold there.
