Have you been back recently? I visited SD last month after being gone for 4 years... It was not the same to me. Very dry and dirty. Maybe living in Colorado has made me spoiled but it just seems different.
This. I'm from Montana, and while I love the weather here in SD, the glamour has worn off. The cost of living is astronomical, pay insufficient to compensate, and there are surprisingly few opportunities for what I do (Data Science). Oh, and while I love the beach (toxic water and all), I think a lot of SD is just... UGLY. Brown, dirty, desert. Of course part of this is all the hard scaping taking place. Everyone ripping up green and replacing with rocks and dirt isn't going to help things look pretty.
All in all, my wife and I are looking for an exit. Unless I can start making six figures in the next six months I don't think we'll make it another year here. We've felt squeezed since we arrived and it's not getting any better.
Yeah I was there last month, and had fresh sashimi and fish tacos sitting on the the deck at Point Loma Seafoods, where it was still 70 degrees and glorious at 6pm. And then I flew home to a cold, gray SF ;)
All in all, my wife and I are looking for an exit. Unless I can start making six figures in the next six months I don't think we'll make it another year here. We've felt squeezed since we arrived and it's not getting any better.
We've been here three years so far.