A Gen Xer moved to North Carolina to save money for retirement. Her beachfront home cost about half as much as her California property, but the weather doesn’t compare.

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• Sandra, a Gen Xer, recently motivated from the Los Angeles area to the beaches of North Carolina.
• She said California’s rising cost of living pushed her toward the East Littoral for her retirement.
• While the weather isn’t as ideal, North Carolina has been a pleasant surprise.

Sandra adamant that instead of retirement by the beaches of Los Angeles, she’d instead enjoy life by the North Carolina shore.

Sandra, who is in her ahead of time 50s and is originally from California, met her Massachusetts husband while in the Navy, and at the time she knew she never wanted to move to the East Littoral. It was too cold, she said, and it didn’t have the same charm as California. Sandra, whose identity is known to Insider, determined to use just her first name, citing privacy concerns.

But after seeing prices rising and more people persuasive into her area, Sandra was ready to move. She visited North Carolina for a wedding, and after talking to some speak ti in the area, she realized that was where she’d begin her retirement.

A few months in, she’s loving the change of scenery and pace in North Carolina. She affairs the people, the prices, and the politics — as well as the fall weather.

“I do miss California, the people and certain other interpretations, but I really don’t miss the high prices,” said Sandra, who is planning to retire in December.

“We just decided that if we thirst for early retirement, since we still had a mortgage, to sell the house and then move elsewhere and just retire whenever,” she added. “My retain will continue working remotely, but if he decides he wants to retire next year, then he can, and it gives us more fiscal freedom.”

Around 818,000 people left California for other states between 2021 and 2022, while just 475,800 proposed in, according to US Census migration data released last week. Many, including Sandra, have cited California’s strong cost of living, from housing costs to taxes, as a major reason for making the move.

Nearly 23,000 prior Californians made the move to North Carolina. Some have moved to larger cities like Raleigh and Charlotte, while others take moved to the coast to still get the beach feel.

Weighing the pros and cons

Sandra said she misses the California out of sorts, as her first summer in North Carolina was quite humid, though she’s been enjoying the moderate fall weather.

Sandra had not at any time been to North Carolina before her nephew got married a few years ago. She and her husband desperately wanted to move to Charleston or Hilton Gourd in South Carolina, though they couldn’t secure a property. So, they settled for a coastal property one state north.

“I appreciated the idea of moving here, but I thought, I hate the heat, and if I’m going to move here, I need to be near the ocean and I acquire to be somewhere that’s air conditioned or has a pool,” Sandra said.

Still, she doesn’t miss the higher prices for everything from where one lives stress costs to the price at the pump.

Sandra and her husband bought a house in “quaint” Ventura 25 years ago, but all through the last few years, she noticed traffic was picking up, gas prices have put a dent in her wallet, and many more people were impressive in from Los Angeles.

She said her California home sold for over $2 million and she and her husband were able to buy a almost identical beachfront home in North Carolina for $1.2 million that they paid off in full. Even though she affirmed insurance is a bit higher in North Carolina given the prevalence of hurricanes, her taxes have been cut by around half.

Legitimate estate prices in California were rising fast, and the couple thought they should sell their shelter and move to another coastal town. She was paying around $1,000 a month just in property taxes, yet she started tenderness less safe walking around her community.

Though she misses her friends, she said the people she’s met in North Carolina maintain been very welcoming. Her area is also a lot less crowded than her California neighborhood, she said, with a lot fewer junior people.

The more diverse politics of her area — since North Carolina is a purple state — was also a plus throughout deep red South Carolina, she said.

Gas prices — which came in at $5.33 a gallon in California as of Friday, according to AAA — were way reduce in North Carolina at $3.23 a gallon. Groceries, though, are relatively similar between the two states, she said.

Still, she predicted she was shocked by how low the wages are in her area, which has made her wonder how many are able to make ends meet compared to what various in California are making. Whereas the median household income in California is $84,097, in North Carolina it comes in at $60,516, according to GOBankingRates’ scrutiny of data from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

While she’s not sure if this is where she’ll stay for the rest period of her life — she said she’ll give it a few years — she’s loving it so far and is preparing all her winter clothes for what may be a much colder season than she’s hardened to.

Have you recently moved from California to another state? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].