$100k a year, no longer in Santa Maria
changea dispatch from
riverside
CA
33.98°N
117.37°W
Riverside is where the navel orange got its start in America, with the parent tree from 1873 still alive and producing fruit on a downtown corner. The Mission Inn is a wildly ornate Spanish Revival hotel that hosts the country's biggest holiday lights festival. Riverside's downtown is genuinely walkable, with citrus groves still scattered through the foothills. Summers are dry and bright, with the foothills cooling the evenings.
the verdict
less monthly outlay than Santa Maria
Riverside is the kind of cheap that changes the math. Same salary, a different life on the other side.
a quick ledger.
$2,493/mo
26% cheaper than Santa Maria(vs $3,352/mo)
9.3%
vs 9.3% in Santa Maria
$5,065/mo
$859 more than Santa Maria
gross of federal tax. a comparison, not a paycheck.
$595k
44% cheaper than Santa Maria
vs $1059k in Santa Maria
4.7M
vs 441k in Santa Maria
field notes, weather & such.
249
pleasant days a year, in riverside.
Santa Maria gets 337 pleasant days a year, so you'd be trading some sunshine. Heat is the cost: 47 days top 95° vs Santa Maria's 0.
69/100
17% higher than Santa Maria
vs 59/100 in Santa Maria
Closest outdoor draw: San Bernardino National Forest, 17.9 mi.
92/100
6% higher than Santa Maria
vs 87/100 in Santa Maria
14
600% more than Santa Maria
vs 2 nonstops in Santa Maria
if riverside appeals, also worth a look:
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