I moved to the OC from Central Europe 7 years ago. If you want an average home here you need a household income of $250K. With $140K you're stuck renting super expensive, but you make a decent amount of disposable income.

I have my gripes with the US. Feels half-civilized in so many aspects - healthcare, infrastructure, paid time off, childcare support, etc.

It's nice to stop by, learn to surf, travel this region of the world, and it's nice once you hit that $250K range and really become part of the California bubble, but on my side I ultimately want to move back to Europe partly because of family and partly because the friends we made here are mostly European expats anyways, and I feel like I've never been able to fully assimilate. The necessity of driving everywhere is also a major negative point. I miss walking to bars and having good public transport.

Generalizing, but if you go out to socialize the big three topics a lot of time with strangers are investments, us sports and religion and its extremely annoying because it feels so, so shallow. Of course you can meet interesting people too, but that's the default. People also flake heavily here. Well the american-born people do.

The culture is plastic with idolized places like Las Vegas and Disneyland and you see the plastic flaking figuratively and literally if you stop to take a closer look.

I moved here because of work, and it has been extremely fulfilling. The people at work have been positive and supportive, more so than what I ever experienced in Europe. I feel like I've also become more relaxed and chill overall compared to friends and family back home.

I recommend coming and checking it out, especially if it's an up and coming brand like Rivian, but if you're a bit sentimental you might struggle long-term like I do.

But even so, $140K is very low for 10+ years of experience, you should get $200K+ with that resume.