In terms of density, San Diego is like a stretched out San Francisco. The best places to live are along the coastline and an ocean view is very expensive. My tiny condo, with a view, has a higher cost per sq. foot than $3m victorians in San Francisco.
But you're right, at this point, I'd still rather be in SD than SF.
+1 for San Diego. It's small enough you can be familiar with most of the neighborhoods and still big enough there's always an interesting event or new restaurant to check out. Apple has expansion plans in the region. The military/larger federal government presence is sort of nice, I sense that plus the large tourism numbers helps keep SD away from the extreme end of California politics.
The weather is a huge plus, and I anticipate the city will handle global warming a little better than other regions. The county has made a lot of good decisions with water management too, from keeping the reservoirs full to supplying almost 10% of the water supply from a desal plant.
I disagree that the coastline is the only "nice" place to get a house, the ocean is pretty accessible from most parts of the city due to the highway designs.
Of course, there's issues with homelessness, retail theft, poor public transit, expensive housing. But it all seems a little more tame to me than the same issues in LA/SF/Seattle.
> I disagree that the coastline is the only "nice" place to get a house
Maybe it is just me, but if I'm going to move to a beach city, I'd want to live at the beach.
> it all seems a little more tame to me than the same issues in LA/SF/Seattle.
It is just more spread out. The police are a lot more on top of pushing the homeless around to different parts of town.
Here at the beach, the parking lots will get a few people living in their cars/vans/whatever, then it'll get more as word gets out... then all the sudden, the police will come in and hand out tickets. Over night, they will all be gone.
But you're right, at this point, I'd still rather be in SD than SF.