Is San Diego too Expensive?

I've lived in San Diego since 1979. Before that I lived in the Santa Barbara CA area (you want to know about expensive?). So San Diego seemed like a bargain comparatively.

But yeah, it seems like rents and home prices are getting beyond the reach of many who want to live here.

Look a the graph below of San Diego 1BR rent compared to a typical Midwestern city Cleveland OH. It's roughly a $1000 more per month to live in San Diego (rent).

source: Zillow

Now want a real shock? Compare home prices - same two cities. It's almost a factor of 10x. That's right! $68K for the average Cleveland house vs $674K in San Diego. 

Source Zillow

You know the jobs in San Diego don't pay 10x what they pay in Cleveland.  The other thing you might notice is that the Cleveland prices stay relatively flat over the years.. I don't know much about Cleveland but it's obviously a lot cheaper to live there. (Actually I grew up in Detroit so I have some idea).]

I haven't looked yet at any of the other costs of living in Southern CA. Some of my friends have bailed out of the state not because of the house cost, but rather they get annoyed at  the high cost of taxes here.

The one that annoys me? Gasoline. When would travel to TX for work gasoline was always at least a $1 per gallon cheaper. And I drive a lot so that has an impact.

Anyway I'm just getting started.... Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.