As someone who spent 20 years living in northern California (SF/Santa Clara/Sacramento) and few years in San Diego, I much prefer southern California over Norcal as a single guy. San Diego and OC have the fantastic weather and yes lot of traffic and people but not as crowded as bay area.
But both are expensive to buy real estate (except Sacramento) so not sure if I will stay in San Diego long term or not- if prices drop another 30% then I can afford a place, else will consider Sacramento, Austin, Boulder, Miami and Raleigh as possible options for buying primary residence. But with lenders wanting solid 2 year employment history at one company, I have couple years to worry about it.
