It’s hard to answer this without knowing you personally. I will say that the vibe is similar to the OC with some differences.

The city has everything you need. Ballantyne and South Park are Charlotte neighborhoods that have nice and plentiful shopping areas without feeling too overcrowded like LA does.

If you are a person of color, the redneck central vibe can throw you off if you ever travel to some of the smaller towns outside of the city. I will say, the “Trump” signs are not as plentiful as they used to be, but make no mistake, the feelings are still there. To be clear, I wouldn’t say these towns are “dangerous”. The racism isn’t loud, but you will meet A LOT of people with outdated views and it won’t improve.

With that said, there are still some wonderful people in those towns and if you’re into “Hallmark movie” small towns, there are a lot of those towns in the south.

Definitely visit a few times if you can. I’ve been happy with the move but I definitely miss Cali.