Property taxes in northeastern states are about three times higher than CA. It is expensive to heat and cool a McMansion there. The total monthly costs to own a house in southern CA or the northeast work out to be about the same. One "benefit" in the northeast is the police state is much further along, while in CA the cops are spread thin, an unexpected side effect of Proposition 13.
Here is my math:
Thirty years ago I rented an Orange County small house (with no yard except a swimming pool) and noisy neighbors for the same amount that:
(wait for it)...
My current mortgage on my own home with 7+ acres of land in the Northeast surrounded by state forest.
Orange County was great—the problem was the home prices were going up faster than my salary—and that was thirty years ago. I had to bail if I ever wanted my family to have a real home and yard.