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Comment by squid_fm | Hacker News Reader

It is 100% a luxury product for one reason alone: weather.

Having lived in areas with harsh winters and then moving back to CA, you’re basically paying to gain an extra 3 months of life every year.

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That’s one of the hardest things about leaving California as a lifelong Californian who is accustomed to Mediterranean climates: there’s nowhere else in the United States with this type of climate. It’s generally your choice of cold winters (much of the northern US), very humid summers (the South and the East Coast), or a very long rainy season (the Pacific Northwest). Even the weather of California’s Central Valley, which has hot, dry summers, is a vast improvement over much of the rest of the country.

It’s not that I can’t deal with the weather; I dream of living in the Tokyo area again despite its brutally hot and humid summers. But it’s going to be difficult giving up a Mediterranean climate.

Some places on the East coast have both harsh winters and harsh summers. So you could argue, an extra 6 months.

With California out of the picture, people are considering other areas that have decent weather and these areas are also getting more expensive. I won't say it so more people don't come here, but there are other places in the US with mild weather (of course not as mild as California's, but still pretty good) :).

> you’re basically paying to gain an extra 3 months of life every year.

Huh? How so?

Harsh winters and humid summers are quite miserable. People are less likely to want to go out, certain businesses are closed, specific activities are not possible, etc.

The amount of “nice days” you get in CA is much greater than elsewhere in the US.

Even compared to Hawaii?

Fair point. I would argue that Hawaii also falls into this category (and it seems reflected in their housing prices).

Hawaii is for sure more expensive than Cali. My pockets were hurting when my vacation ended.

Too distal, and there's not a thriving non-tourism industry to work in.

In terms of cost of living Hawaii is effectively an annex of California.

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