[vikramkr]

California is way more tolerant of wrong think than elsewhere in the country - local school board elections in SC for example were horrifically toxic and administrators lost their jobs for discussing mask mandates, critical race theory, the existence of LGBT issues, etc. Leaving SC for CA - it's so nice to be somewhere that isn't so caught up in the culture war of the moment. Big cities are also nice - if you move to a small town, you better conform culturally.

It's expensive but the economy is so dominant in so many areas it would take a long time to peel away the reasons people move there. There are a lot of pretty awful things about CA, but it has its draw for a reason.

Also the weather is insanely nice and the produce is so fresh and the food is good and the cities have all the city things you could want. Unparalleled maker scene, bars and restaurants, art and entertainment. There are things like housing and crime that drive people away, but I'm not sure any other cities do the other stuff so much better that you'd leave for the new city instead of to get away from SF. I'm super partial to NY but even I get that it's not wildly better in some fundamental way.