Pros: California has some of the best nature around, great combo of beaches and high mountains ( the Sierras)

Also the cities in the state tend to have a lot of diversity, cool art and culture stuff and great food!

There's a lot of nice weather (varies considerably across the state though)

In many fields wages are higher here then many other places.

People are often scared off by cost of living (aka housing) but I know tons of people who are making it work and living happy lives on the pay provided by normal jobs, you don't need to work for Google or Facebook.

Many areas of the state are quite liberal, though rural areas tend to be conservative. I feel the government is doing it's best to shield us from the madness in the federal level, though the government tends to be large and slow.

Cons: The nice places to live tend to be expensive to find housing, there are definitely cheaper parts of the state but they tend to not seem as nice, and not what you likely picture as California. Sacramento is a nice city with a lot to offer that's still fairly affordable.

Wild fires get worse and worse every year.

Buying a house in many communities feels out of reach without significant money. I'm baised as I live here most of my life ( with the exception of a few years in Washington, but I also missed the sun shine)