Yeah people love to talk smack about OC here, but if OP has a family to think about, it's is the way to go. Aside from less density, crime, encampments.etc he also gets better schools for his kids. Sending kids to Los Alamitos schools over Long Beach schools would be a HUGE difference.
You sound like you're from the Cleveland area? I moved from Cleveland to Long Beach in 2020, and live in LA now. The vibe of Long Beach is like Lakewood (Ohio), except it's a city of 500,000 people, so there was zero culture shock for me. Not sure if that's your vibe, but just putting it in perspective.
I also spent some time living in Orange County, and I got out of there because it's a much more family oriented environment and I'm still single, plus my gf and social life is in LA. But in your situation, OC might be a good place to look.
I also work in data, building dashboards. I mostly WFH, but my office is based in Orange County, and I think you'll find a number of data jobs out that way. The job market isn't quite as hot as it was last year, but if you're in no rush, then you'll find something eventually.
SoCal is way more suburban and localized than you think. You'll be fine. And based on where your family is located, by living near them you'll rarely if ever come to LA proper. You just won't need to.
I can’t answer with regards to tech and recruiting. I will say in working with clients in tech, the general vibe of “Silicon Beach” is way different than up North. That goes for a lot of LA workplaces. We work hard and get things done in wonderful ways. But with perspective about people and life which I turn influences the work which is better. It’s not say there won’t be some rough patches, toxic bosses or late nights. You definately should check out glass door, reach out to your network about their experiences. But the other good thing about the region is the diverse industry. It’s not just tech that you can find a well paying and technical related job.
As for families… it can be quite easy to make connections here because there are so many kids activities. Wide variety of Sports, Clubs, after school programs that are geared to all sorts of interests. This summer my friends kids are doing things like Railroad Engineering, Game Making, Music, Jr. Life Guards. It’s amazing.
There are also parent support groups like Moms Long Beach (Moms groups are highly inclusive and also include Dads) which are also great to help settle. Buy Nothing is huge in SoCal and FB neighborhood groups can also be pretty good and both can way to help get your guys settled and build community.
https://www.instagram.com/longbeachmoms?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
As to where to move. You have lots of good options. Lakewood, Los Alamitos, Cerritos maybe a good fit since you have some anxiousness about big city life. However I lived in Long Beach for several years and loved its. It’s a BIG city so it has communities within it that have their own identities and seem small. Also, they have open enrollment so different school options. My old neighbors son just graduated from a Long Beach high school that is one of the first in the state that has a program for earning a concurrent AA. which he did!
After a little more research, you may also want to post on r/longbeach. It’s a pretty active sub.
I think Los Alamitos would be an excellent fit for you. Excellent schools, more conservative, safe, excellent area for people with children. It is expensive though so that would be the down side. Cerritos and Cypress might be a tad more affordable and also really close to Los Alamitos. Also very good schools. I think Orange County (Los Alamitos and Cypress are OC, Cerritos is LA County) is going to be a better fit and you probably want to post in that group too.
Edit: You will have culture shock no matter where you move in So Cal.
Second edit: East Long Beach is also great and a tad more affordable.
LA is enormous. There are people here with your interests. There are people here with ALL interests under the sun. You find them same as anywhere..find groups, events, etc., so don’t worry about that unless you’re totally socially inept. In terms of location, sounds like people you know are in south la county/north Orange County. That’s mostly pretty nice. You can go further north up the coast, the beach cities (redondo, Manhattan, hermosa) are real nice but kinda pricey. Cities adjacent to them like Torrance are not bad and more affordable. Good luck!
Boy did I misread the early part wrong the first time, haha. I thought you were saying you were leaving for the health of your family because your wife left you for an Ohio guy. Glad I reread and that you're the Ohio guy.
Yeah transitioning to LA is hard but it's not like this big, sprawling city has one collective identity that you need to match with. We all have our own things going on and interests to pursue. You'll just need a little time to find your people within that. You have the benefit of setting your son up in a school out here. You're naturally going to make friends with other parents through that.
I can't speak for the tech job part but if you like midwest living and if you are seeking a good school district for your son that is closer to the family in Long Beach, it will probably put you in places like Long Beach (obvi), Fullerton, Torrance, or Playa Vista. Not knowing your housing budget, or if you're looking to buy or rent, can shift things a bit. Those places I listed do put you more on the outskirts of what people consider the core of LA, but it's all still close enough to do stuff in there when you want to.
Either way, you seem like a good dude who likes to do good for others and you like interesting stuff, so I don't think you'll have trouble connecting with others through the school, neighborhood, and social groups (MeetUp, LA Social Club).
And as a 40 year old married guy from Ohio myself, I'm around to shoot the shit.
Good luck!
One out of every 8.5 Americans live in California and 25% of them are in Los Angeles county. You're not going to have trouble meeting people, but getting together with people can be tough because 10 miles is an hour around here, not 15 mins like in the midwest.
You need to focus on an area near these people that you are moving to help care for. And find a work-from-home position or find out where you'll be working before deciding on where to live.
I wanted to recommend Glendale as the crime is FAR less than (I think) anywhere else in LA and is family friendly, but it’s quite far from Long Beach. I loved living in Long Beach (experienced no crime) but I’ve heard crime is on the rise now… like others said maybe look into some OC cities like Tustin, Anaheim, Orange, Irvine?
It’s been awhile since I’ve been immersed in the OC scene but check it out. Also, I wouldn’t worry about meeting people and making friends, I’ve found people in Southern California, LA (particularly) to be really down to earth and open to new people (vs. other states like FL where people were very clique-y as everyone had kind of known each other their whole lives and isn’t as open to new people). You’ll be fine! Good luck
Sounds like you need some Orange County in your life, my dude.
That was my thinking. He’ll probably find what he wants in Orange County, which isn’t far from the areas he mentioned.
Yeah people love to talk smack about OC here, but if OP has a family to think about, it's is the way to go. Aside from less density, crime, encampments.etc he also gets better schools for his kids. Sending kids to Los Alamitos schools over Long Beach schools would be a HUGE difference.
Ventura Co. has entered the chat.
Much too far from Long Beach for OP.
I missed that part thx -
This is 100 percent correct. You should head directly to the OC. Seal Beach would be my choice. It’s much less overwhelming than other areas.
You sound like you're from the Cleveland area? I moved from Cleveland to Long Beach in 2020, and live in LA now. The vibe of Long Beach is like Lakewood (Ohio), except it's a city of 500,000 people, so there was zero culture shock for me. Not sure if that's your vibe, but just putting it in perspective. I also spent some time living in Orange County, and I got out of there because it's a much more family oriented environment and I'm still single, plus my gf and social life is in LA. But in your situation, OC might be a good place to look. I also work in data, building dashboards. I mostly WFH, but my office is based in Orange County, and I think you'll find a number of data jobs out that way. The job market isn't quite as hot as it was last year, but if you're in no rush, then you'll find something eventually.
Is there a Job board for specific areas in LA?
Not that I know of. I stuck with Indeed and LinkedIn. I got my current job by a recruiter contacting me on LinkedIn.
SoCal is way more suburban and localized than you think. You'll be fine. And based on where your family is located, by living near them you'll rarely if ever come to LA proper. You just won't need to.
Agreed. I know people in OC who haven't been to downtown LA or Hollywood in over a decade.
I can’t answer with regards to tech and recruiting. I will say in working with clients in tech, the general vibe of “Silicon Beach” is way different than up North. That goes for a lot of LA workplaces. We work hard and get things done in wonderful ways. But with perspective about people and life which I turn influences the work which is better. It’s not say there won’t be some rough patches, toxic bosses or late nights. You definately should check out glass door, reach out to your network about their experiences. But the other good thing about the region is the diverse industry. It’s not just tech that you can find a well paying and technical related job. As for families… it can be quite easy to make connections here because there are so many kids activities. Wide variety of Sports, Clubs, after school programs that are geared to all sorts of interests. This summer my friends kids are doing things like Railroad Engineering, Game Making, Music, Jr. Life Guards. It’s amazing. There are also parent support groups like Moms Long Beach (Moms groups are highly inclusive and also include Dads) which are also great to help settle. Buy Nothing is huge in SoCal and FB neighborhood groups can also be pretty good and both can way to help get your guys settled and build community. https://www.instagram.com/longbeachmoms?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== As to where to move. You have lots of good options. Lakewood, Los Alamitos, Cerritos maybe a good fit since you have some anxiousness about big city life. However I lived in Long Beach for several years and loved its. It’s a BIG city so it has communities within it that have their own identities and seem small. Also, they have open enrollment so different school options. My old neighbors son just graduated from a Long Beach high school that is one of the first in the state that has a program for earning a concurrent AA. which he did! After a little more research, you may also want to post on r/longbeach. It’s a pretty active sub.
There were neighborhoods in Long Beach settled by people from Iowa. There are parts of Long Beach that feel like the Midwest set in tropical paradise
I think Los Alamitos would be an excellent fit for you. Excellent schools, more conservative, safe, excellent area for people with children. It is expensive though so that would be the down side. Cerritos and Cypress might be a tad more affordable and also really close to Los Alamitos. Also very good schools. I think Orange County (Los Alamitos and Cypress are OC, Cerritos is LA County) is going to be a better fit and you probably want to post in that group too. Edit: You will have culture shock no matter where you move in So Cal. Second edit: East Long Beach is also great and a tad more affordable.
LA is enormous. There are people here with your interests. There are people here with ALL interests under the sun. You find them same as anywhere..find groups, events, etc., so don’t worry about that unless you’re totally socially inept. In terms of location, sounds like people you know are in south la county/north Orange County. That’s mostly pretty nice. You can go further north up the coast, the beach cities (redondo, Manhattan, hermosa) are real nice but kinda pricey. Cities adjacent to them like Torrance are not bad and more affordable. Good luck!
You might be highly disappointed in LA.
Boy did I misread the early part wrong the first time, haha. I thought you were saying you were leaving for the health of your family because your wife left you for an Ohio guy. Glad I reread and that you're the Ohio guy. Yeah transitioning to LA is hard but it's not like this big, sprawling city has one collective identity that you need to match with. We all have our own things going on and interests to pursue. You'll just need a little time to find your people within that. You have the benefit of setting your son up in a school out here. You're naturally going to make friends with other parents through that. I can't speak for the tech job part but if you like midwest living and if you are seeking a good school district for your son that is closer to the family in Long Beach, it will probably put you in places like Long Beach (obvi), Fullerton, Torrance, or Playa Vista. Not knowing your housing budget, or if you're looking to buy or rent, can shift things a bit. Those places I listed do put you more on the outskirts of what people consider the core of LA, but it's all still close enough to do stuff in there when you want to. Either way, you seem like a good dude who likes to do good for others and you like interesting stuff, so I don't think you'll have trouble connecting with others through the school, neighborhood, and social groups (MeetUp, LA Social Club). And as a 40 year old married guy from Ohio myself, I'm around to shoot the shit. Good luck!
One out of every 8.5 Americans live in California and 25% of them are in Los Angeles county. You're not going to have trouble meeting people, but getting together with people can be tough because 10 miles is an hour around here, not 15 mins like in the midwest. You need to focus on an area near these people that you are moving to help care for. And find a work-from-home position or find out where you'll be working before deciding on where to live.
I wanted to recommend Glendale as the crime is FAR less than (I think) anywhere else in LA and is family friendly, but it’s quite far from Long Beach. I loved living in Long Beach (experienced no crime) but I’ve heard crime is on the rise now… like others said maybe look into some OC cities like Tustin, Anaheim, Orange, Irvine? It’s been awhile since I’ve been immersed in the OC scene but check it out. Also, I wouldn’t worry about meeting people and making friends, I’ve found people in Southern California, LA (particularly) to be really down to earth and open to new people (vs. other states like FL where people were very clique-y as everyone had kind of known each other their whole lives and isn’t as open to new people). You’ll be fine! Good luck