+1. We're a 15-person YC company operating in San Diego.

Primary benefits:

- Strong pipeline of new engineering talent from schools like UCSD.

- Lots of talented senior engineers working in the chip fab, defense, and life science industries who are looking to make a lateral move to startups.

- Great quality of life with 30-40% reduction in COL vs SF. This translates to reduced burn for companies and more disposable income for employees.

- Fantastic weather, beaches, urban life, outdoors, great public schools, etc.

- It's SoCal so public transportation is limited, but with lots of highways there's reasonably low traffic (I'm looking at you Austin and LA), and you can get most places in the county within 30 minutes.

Contrary to popular opinion there's also a ton of VC investment in the area, and San Diego ranks ahead of Beijing, London, Austin, Seattle, Toronto, and Paris in terms of total dollars invested. [1]

[1] http://www.citylab.com/tech/2016/01/the-rise-of-global-start...

San Diego is cool, but I don't agree with the "fair number of tech companies". I think there are very limited opportunities and a lot behind-the-curve thinking in San Diego tech.

Out of curiosity, what sort of behind-the-curve ideas have you seen?

Maybe it's a pattern I've seen: people don't move to San Diego for a career, they move for the lifestyle. Now I know there are a ton of bio-tech companies and, yes, Qualcomm. But the cost-of-living is still high and San Diego companies are notoriously stingy on salary (Sunshine Tax). Beside bio-tech, what are the other dominant industries in San Diego? Some idea: military, tourism, retail, etc. San Diego is awesome, but the tech opportunities don't match the size of the city (8th largest in the US!).

+1 to all of this.

I'm not in San Diego right now, but I've started projects and a company there, and hired dozens of engineers from the talent pool. If you have are a decent employer, you can have your pick of the litter . . . of bright, experienced folks who are aggressively 9-5.

I'm not knocking 9-5ers. They're in the right place: San Diego is truly paradise, and I support work/life balance more than I used to.

But the consistent high quality of life, and the large portion of talented people who live there for it, will always suppress San Diego's entrepreneurial aspirations.

Of course, if you are OK with less-than-leading-edge projects, or you are aggressively seeking stability, I can't recommend it enough.

There are a decent number of video game companies as well. Rockstar, Sony, Activation, DayBreak, Zygna. I think 25-30 in total.

I rent a three bedroom connected townhouse in Palo Alto for $6150.

Not sure if that's normal, but San Diego sounds a lot cheaper than 30% (it is a nice townhouse though)

Wow. That is extreme.

Is that normal for the area?

It's 2222sqft and 7 years old which is pretty nice (this price is a decent deal for this place).

Have to have housemates in Palo Alto - otherwise you end up living by yourself in an old run down apartment for $2800 a month. You can find cheaper if you're willing to live in a tiny studio for ~$2300 or if you're willing to live outside of Palo Alto itself (maybe as low as $1800 for a studio in East Palo Alto).

If you share a house with 4 other roommates and choose the tiniest room you may be able to get $1200 a month.

As a bonus, if you live in Palo Alto you don't have to worry about your roommates finding girlfriends and moving out - since that'll be pretty unlikely.

> As a bonus, if you live in Palo Alto you don't have to worry about your roommates finding girlfriends and moving out - since that'll be pretty unlikely.

Love that. It's actually one of the things I was wondering about. At that high amount, you really stand to lose if a room is vacant.

I've had similar experiences living in Newport Beach and San Diego (Mission/Pacific Beach). I've never paid more than $1000/room (in three bedroom houses) and those are usually good sized houses or condos just across the street from the beach, which is worth it to me. If you live by yourself it could cost as much as $1600 nowadays, probably in an ~800sqft apartment. I also have friends that pay similar amounts to live in downtown SD which is also nice.

All in all I can't imagine living/working anywhere better.

I have found San Diego challenging if you want to work for a big company with a good salary or get a contract at a reasonable rate. There are some startups in downtown SD though. Commuting is pretty tough without a car, unless you live near one of the few rail stations. And the trains are slow. If I were young and unencumbered, I'd definitely be in Seattle.