I lived in San Diego for 4 years, and LA for 8 years, and now Miami for 4 years.
Personally I pick Florida.
Girls are better looking, and have a better attitude in Florida.
People aren't nearly as phoney, shallow and materialistic in Florida(except in south beach, and what do you expect?)
No state income taxes in Florida, that saves you about 8%, plus housing is SO MUCH less than in LA. In Miami, you can find a house on the intercoastal with a dock for your boat out back for 600k. In LA you would be lucky to get a crappy house in hollywood or the valley for that. You can't get into a decent house on the water in LA for under 2 million.
Everything else is more expensive in SoCal also. Traffic is much worse, smog is terrible, the politics are wacky, and the '94 quake was no picnic....at least with Hurricaines, you know that they are coming.
The ocean is frickin freezing in Cali, and much dirtier than in Florida.
Florida has better scuba diving.
Cali has better surfing though...
From Florida, you have easy access to the entire western hemisphere. Europe, South America, The North East,and the West Coast and Africa are all reasonably close. And from Miami you can take your boat to the bahamas in a few hours.
I personally LIKE the tropical humid summers down here, but maybe that's just me.
