My Pros And Cons Of Living In San Diego

I really like living in San Diego. I mean I love living in San Diego. I’ve been here my entire adult life I honestly cannot imagine living anywhere else. I decided to put together this list of some of my favorite things about living here. I want to create an accurate picture for you so I also included some of the things I am not super crazy about. If you are thinking about moving here or maybe you live here and are just wondering what my list looks like than this video is for you so stay tuned!

What is up everyone, I’m your man Wesley Guest and like I said in this video I am going to cover my favorite things and my least favorite things about living in San Diego. I’ve been here for over 25 years so I definitely have some serious San Diego experiences to pull from.

PRO #1 : The Weather

One of my all-time favorite things about San Diego is going to be… drum roll. The weather! San Diego is world famous for the weather. The stats are borderline remarkable. Check this out: San Diego, California averages 12 inches of rain per year. The US average is 38 inches. San Diego averages 0 inches of snow per year. The US average is 28 inches. There are 266 sunny days on average per year in San Diego. The US average is 205 sunny days. Our summer average temperature is around 79 degrees (that’s not a humid 79 either), the US average is 86. Our winter Low temperature is 46, the us average is 22. So what does this mean? Pretty much every day in San Diego is a potential beach day. Doesn’t matter what season we are in, on any given morning I can wake up and its bright sunny weather, a warm 79 degrees, and not a rain cloud in site. When I wake up, I don’t need to check the weather. There is no thought process about how many layers I need, do I need an umbrella, it is super hassle free as far as planning the day around weather. Two of my favorite outdoor activities are going to be surfing and snowboarding. For surfing, it’s a year round thing. There is no off season like snowboarding has. Any day could be a great day at the beach.

CON #1: Overcast Near The Beaches

A quick downside here I need to mention is that although the majority of San Diego has an amazing sunny day just about every day of the year (minus those days in the average I mentioned above), we do get a nasty marine layer that can come in and sit just over the beach and coastal areas,. Sometimes for the majority of the day, even the whole days sometimes. It can be hot and sunny 2 miles inland and gray and overcast at the beach. Something to keep in mind. The temperature is still usually comfortable but the sun might not be out. Here’s a crazy fact, you can still get sunburned so make sure to pout that sunscreen on sun showing or not. Trust, nothing worse than a bad sunburn, especially one you didn’t expect.

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PRO #2 : The Craft Beer Scene

Another one of my favorite things here is going to be the craft beer scene. I’m not by any means a craft brew expert. I have a couple buddies that are. Usually our outings start of fascinating and my initial thoughts are about how impressive it is that they know so much about craft beer. Then pretty quickly my second thought is how much time and effort do you spend learning so much about beer. (LAUGH or face). Seriously though, if you are into craft beers, this is the place to be. Whether its doing a little beer tasting around North Park, organizing a driver to take you around North County and the tasting rooms there, visiting Stone Brew in Liberty Station (or Escondido), popping into Ballast point in Little Italy, there are so many fun options to enjoy the scene. It’s amazing and it’s all right here. Most of the establishments will have food as well. Some are family friendly. Adding a playground as part of Knotty Barrel in the middle of the suburbs in Rancho Penasquitos was an act of near genius. In all seriousness though, it’s such a fantastic part of our city and something that is a ton of fun to enjoy.

CON #2: Don’t Forget About The Wine

One slight con here is that I think that there is so much focus on beer, the fact we have wine country right up the freeway in North San Diego San Pascal and in Wine Country Temecula. I would love to see more tasting options spread throughout. This are fun to visit and there are a few locations but for the most part, if you want to go wine tasting, you need to arrange for transportation or draw straws with your friends to see who will be driving and chauffeuring everyone around because they tend to be on location at the actual wineries and grape cultivation sites. I’d like some options for wine closer to home is what I’m trying to get at.

PRO #3 : Diverse Neighborhoods

A special aspect to San Diego that I absolutely love is going to be the many options to live as far as neighborhoods and communities. You can get one neighborhood with maybe some hipster gritty vibes  like North Park within a 10 minute drive to let’s say a coastal beach town like Pacific Beach or 10 minutes west and you are in the complete family suburbs of Del Cerro or San Carlos. There is something for everyone and in very close proximity to each other. If you charge up the 15 freeway for 45 minutes (for me in Little Italy at least), you will find yourself in the rural parts of Fallbrook and Bonsall. For the median home price in San Diego, you get acres of land. Yes … acres of land for under a million dollars in San Diego. I can literally walk through the amazing restaurant lined streets of Little Italy, head east up to Bankers hill and be in Balboa Park in 15 minutes. Totally different scene than the city. These are all amazing places to live. It just depends on what you like.

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CON #3: Lack Of Extremes

The only downside here is going to be the extremes. If you like to drive, it’s tough to find anything that’s that far to get to in San Diego. Not even Julian and Alpine are really that far. This ties back to the weather but if you like snow in your neighborhood in the winter, there are a small handful of options in San Diego. Just a handful but not totally out of the question.

PRO #4 : San Diego Padres

This is going to be tough to understand if you are a major league baseball fan, especially for a fan whose team actually wins every now and then. One of my most favorite things to do is head to Padre games. My favorite nights to go are Friday nights and I catching a mid-week daytime baseball game. Saturday nights are usually the giveaway nights for families if you are thinking of when the best time to take the kids might be. I’m going to be honest, it’s fun when they win but it’s fun if they don’t. I’m not there for the win. Petco park has got to be one if not the top new ballpark in the league. The experience is so amazing. Everything feels new. They continue to improve the fan experience from the inside such as adding very popular San Diego restaurants and adding a huge assortment of San Diego craft brew options. Its gets better, as far as professional sports, there are season ticket options that are incredibly affordable. I had a Wednesday, Friday, Sunday package for a couple years. Super reasonably priced and had a ton of fun.

CON #4: We Need More Wins

The only downside is something I alluded to just a minute ago. It would be nice to see more wins. It feels like we are close but I have to be honest. As a San Diego sports fan in general, we are used to this feeling and then the letdown. There’s always next year.

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PRO #5 : Outdoor Activities

A huge perk I cannot skip is going to be the sheer number of outdoor activities available pretty much year round. From festivals to farmers markets, to outdoor concerts, hiking trails, water sports, special outdoor events. It never stops. There is always something fun to do that involves the outdoors. A couple things I always hit up are going to me hiking throughout San Diego. There are so many trails you can try, it’s amazing. I usually just use the All Trails map to either guide myself or to find new trails to hike I haven’t been to before. I’ve done it all from the forest hikes near Julian to the desert hikes out in Anza Borrego to even seaside hikes on the cliffs in Torrey Pines La Jolla. Something else I love to take advantage of is going to be the farmers market and all the fresh food and produce available at these markets. My favorite ones are going to be Little Italy, North Park, La Mesa, Pacific Beach. I might be forgetting one or two. Tons of good ones. Each year I try to sign up for at least one half marathon. I tried to train for a full marathon… I played football, I am not build for distance. The last one I did was the Americas finest. Recommended for sure. There are so many to choose from. If that’s your thing, this is a great spot to run.

CON #5: No Winter Sports

I slight downside here is going to be for more winter type of activities. You have to hop in the car to get to snow (at least most of us do). I like to snowboard. It’s usually going to be about 3 hours to big bear for me. It will be the same for you for anything involving cold weather. Not a huge deal for me at least. Keep that in mind if you have to have your winter activities.

PRO #6 : Car Friendly

If you like your cars, San Diego is the place to be. This is good and bad. The good news is you can zip around town and pretty much be anywhere you want to be within15 minutes or so. If its peak traffic time, forgot that. It could take you a lot longer. San Diego is built for people with cars.

CON #6: Public Transportation Is Not Good

There isn’t really any feasible way to get around to the vast majority of places people want to go. Most people do not live where they work so you need to plan for some type of commute. There is a trolley that services downtown san Diego, parts of south county, east county, and it’s starting to expand to the north but it’s not feasible for most of us. It would involve hoping on and off the trolly, using the bus service most likely. A lot of things and time to get from point a to point b. We have rideshare like the rest of the world of course with uber and Lyft. In certain parts of the city and some suburbs you see a lot of electric scooters,  you know the birds and Lyft scooters. All in, you are probably going to need a car. If not, you better have a cool friend who does and doesn’t mind giving you a lift… a lot.

PRO #7 : Quality Of Life

This last pro I want to mention is going to be a big one. It involves several of the pros I already mentioned. San Diego’s quality of life is ranked super high. People are very happy here, at least for the most part. We have unbelievable weather almost all the time, easy short commutes from one amazing neighborhood to the next, amazing recreational activities, amazing amusement parks, family type activities, over 70 miles of amazing coastline and beaches straight off a postcard it feels like. This is all amazing and I am so grateful to have this and spend my life here. That being said, its comes at a cost.

CON #7: Cost Of Living

There is absolutely a sunshine tax as they say that comes with living in San Diego. The cost of living is considered high relative to other parts of the country. That being said, the cost is not as high as other west coast cities like San Francisco or San Jose but still the cost is high. It’s not unusual to see gas prices at $4 a gallon or more sometimes. That’s insane for other parts of the country. I’m actually kinda used to it now. Just keep that in mind. The living doesn’t come cheap here. That being said, I live so happy so its worth it to me.

Those are going to be my pros and a few cons for living in San Diego.

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