[Ellis]

Wife and I moved here from California 3 years ago and it will depend on your situation, everybody's different and to each their own. The California I grew up in is not the California I left, Although we didn't live in SF, the Bay Area, LA or SD we lived fairly close to Sac and homelessness was creeping in when we left. This was just ONE issue in many. And because of these issues we left, pro v. con if you will.

To your question and I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you, "from what little you glean" sure sounds like to me you haven't researched at all? Ask your favorite internet browser the cheapest states to live in. This is one of the top states to retire in. We sold our home in CA and purchased our home for cash here at less than half on the profit we made off our sale. We could have retired in a different community instead of the villages for even less but we didn't because that falls under to each their own. Florida has no estate, inheritance or income taxes and they have an exemption for property taxes. We made money moving here! lol

Living expenses? Don't even get me going on that one. Here we pay .11 cents off peak .14 cents peak for electricity. Our extremely well insulated brand spanking new home typical electrical bill in summer is 75 bucks a month but we use the seminole winds much to our advantage and we don't mind it a little warmer. Our neighbors bills run about double ours. At .31 cents off peak and .34 peak in CA our bill was 350-400 dollars a month in CA.

I just checked gas prices back in CA and currently they are generally 4.65 a gallon, here it's 3.05 a gallon. Food prices are a wash. I find the prices in the stores back in CA to be a little bit less expensive but it's not like it's a quantum leap, not even close. We just registered our 2022 kia and it cost us all of $74.00 dollars to do so and we just walked in unannounced and were in and out of the DMV in less then 10 minutes. Yes, you read that right, 10 minutes. You KNOW the California DMV and that is not even possible there even if you make an appointment. To register our car in CA was 450.00 dollars.

October through April in nor cal is dreary, rainy and cold with some really nice days sprinkled in-between. This isn't called the sunshine state for nothing. Come about Thanksgiving to mid March we have some cold days but mostly nights, that's our winter. Lot of people retiring in places like Tennessee but that's not for us as that weather is not as nice as nor cal. Weather was huge on our pro list. We miss our family and friends back in CA but that's about it.

Some food for thought, California...

-Highest real estate prices in the nation.
-Highest income tax rate nationally, Florida, zero
-Highest electricity rates in the nation
-Highest gas taxes in the nation
-Highest registration fees for a car
-Most expensive state to own a car
-Most expensive state to maintain a car
-7th highest sales tax rate
-3rd highest cost of living
-Highest poverty rate
-Lowest wage growth
-3rd worst state for inequality
-2nd highest unemployment rate
-2nd worst roads in the nation
-HALF of all homeless live in California
-20 billion and counting spent on homelessness
-1/3 of all welfare recipients live in California
-Medicare budget went from 7% to 30%
-45th worst state for school test scores
-Lowest literacy rate in the nation
-Spends 45% more per pupil than Florida
-Longest shutdown for covid in the nation
-The high speed rail will be 130 billion over budget
-Currently has a 55 billion dollar deficit
-1,144,000 people and counting have left California
-730,000 people have come to Florida

Gee, I wonder why?