There’s been an odd increase in police activity in Cardiff over the past week, at least judging by cop cars and sirens. Looks like even NC is going to hell.
On a serious note, my impression is that there are more opportunities in Orange County (no experience with Ventura). When I moved here, I was offered more money by the same company to move to OC over SD (didn’t take it- I was obsessed with the idea of living in SD- everyone wants to live here I guess). When I was looking for jobs, it seemed that OC had more available. I’ve known people to give up looking for a job in SD and then find one easily in OC. Just antecdotal, of course, and these would be mostly entry- to mid- level financial positions in the consumer products/financial services sectors.