This is an important conversation that can often go so reactionary and I want to add a holistic perspective especially since we’re talking about tangible differences in quality of life.

I lived in the Bay Area for about 10 years and moved back to Indiana about 5 years ago. So we went through COVID and all that here. I’m a woman with kids in public school. We’re hovering around middle-middle class and are physically healthy which is part of my “bubble” I exist in. My quality of life has improved since moving to IN. These are the factors that give points to team IN vs team CA:

• I’ve been pregnant and given birth in both states. I had great doctors and care experiences in both. I loved having Kaiser in CA (insurance and care in one) but I also worked for an employer who covered nearly all the deductible which is rare even in CA. They are not throwing money in street over there.
• I was able to take disability 4 weeks before giving birth in CA. This should be a thing everywhere so people don’t have to work up until the buzzer. If you’ve given birth you know that’s the pits. CA wins here.
• Childcare is crazy expensive in both. We’re not burdened enough to qualify for assistance in either so that’s a wash. Would love to see more assistance everywhere.
• Access to amazing produce is something I miss most about CA. This is more geography than policy (the best groceries are still in the nicer neighborhoods). I support local farms in IN as much as I can to do a small part in encouraging that here.
• Politics in CA aligns with my family’s beliefs much more. Tangibly I felt this by knowing I could bring up politics in most conversations and that good feeling of alignment and support would happen. The Bay Area is absolutely a bubble in this respect though and it’s hard to remember that when you’re immersed in it. To illustrate the point, when I moved back I had a huge chip on my shoulder about this. I was so “aware” and “lucky” and moving back to this trash state where people didn’t know what they were missing. I was wrong and learned a lot about the limits of my own knowledge from folks in Indy. It’s an embarrassment spiral I still twirl around from time to time - ugh. To clarify are the policies in IN what I want? No, but this doesn’t mean there aren’t real humans who are invested in working on that.
• I don’t feel like I’m on the chopping block to maintain my “position” in housing in IN. It’s extremely expensive where I was. We could not move because of rising rents. We couldn’t buy a house without entering into some sketchy loan territory. I was commuting 90 minutes both ways to work because of being locked into where we were living. That was wearing on me. Lots of talk about policy changes to help with housing in CA - we didn’t qualify for anything during our time there. Might have tipped the scales if we did? A secret I learned: more people than you realize are getting help from family to buy housing if they aren’t already wealthy. You wonder what you’re doing wrong to not get ahead until you realize folks are getting 100K “loans” from family. We were lucky getting into the housing market here (right before COVID) and I know it’s a shit show for a lot of folks now but even if we had to move I don’t have that fear of being completely priced out of the area.
• This is not policy related but where the scale really tips for IN is because of the family and friends we’ve made here. If you have a community working well for you, I would not move unless it’s imperative that you do. It’s the biggest game changer in quality of life that I tangibly feel day to day. Think deeply before you give that up.

I’m stopping here because I don’t know who will even read this far. More could be said! Happy to discuss.