SoCal is no longer worth the squeeze to me anymore.

This is part rant, part looking from advice from an unbiased audience that doesn’t know me and are probably full of people smarter than I am lol. This may be a long one so apologies in advance.

I moved to Los Angeles almost 3 years ago from Austin for a job that relocated me out here. I was hesitant about it because of how expensive it is and at the time I was even more hesitant to move for a job. But I had been living in Austin for 5 years and was ready for a change. So I did it. Then 6 months after I move, I get laid off. Fuck! 🤯 I have $2600 in rent to pay. Luckily I was pretty over the job and had been applying for a few months prior so ended up getting an offer a few days after that. It was about $20k less than what I was making for but hey, I had to make it work. And I did.

Fast forward to the past year shit has been ROUGH. To save a long story from getting longer, I will just say I’ve been taking some financial hits that has left me in what seems like a never ending loop of bullshit. I’ve had to max credit cards, take out two personal loans. I’m in a ditch that’s going to take me a bit to climb out of.

Pros of LA: the people, beautiful weather, amazing food, so many beaches within driving distance, there’s always something to do even on a random Tuesday, anything cool going on almost always has a stop in LA!

Cons of LA: the cost of living (obviously lol), taxes, the traffic, street parking almost everywhere, in unit laundry and parking spots being a housing luxury, sometimes the monotony of constant sunshine can be boring to me (I love rain, sue me!)

I really do love living in LA and I’ve built an amazing community here (one I didn’t really have in Austin) but I have been heavily thinking about moving back to Austin lately. I’ve been trying to stick it out and make things work here but I’m so sick and tired of the constant stress about money and feeling like I ALWAYS have to hustle. Texas isn’t perfect at all but I miss getting a state income tax free paycheck, I miss parking lots, I miss HEB, I miss paying $1300-$1500 for a one bedroom apartment. For what I pay in LA, I could rent a 3-4 bedroom house! It’s either be broke and miserable with a community in LA or in a better financial position with no community in Austin.

I don’t know what kind of answers I’m looking for here really. Should I try to stick it out? Give up? A secret third thing I haven’t thought of yet?

Would love to hear from those that moved to LA (or California in general) and decided to leave. Would love to hear from anyone actually lol. Thanks for your time!