Looking for Information on Orange County.

My daughter, who is married to a Japanese national, is currently working in Japan. She loves it there, but my son-in-law loves America (he's a conservative, of course) and wants to become a U.S. citizen. They were recently informed that their visa application would be approved, probably within the month and they would have a fairly narrow window in which to move back to the United States.

My daughter has been offered a management job with a Japanese company not far from John Wayne Orange County airport. I'm trying to help her understand how expensive it is to live in California and how much it has gone downhill, not with the objective of discouraging her from taking what appears to be a great job and citizenship opportunity for my SIL, but just to help direct them to areas which are both affordable and not overrun with two-legged vermin.

Since I haven't lived in California since the 1980's, I'm hopeful that some Orange County freepers can help me with good advice, websites and other information to share with my daugher and SIL. My SIL is a university graduate, Christian conservative and ambitious. He'll make a great American.

I live in Long Beach, and am married to a half-Japanese.

California has many problems. It is quite expensive. But we still really like it here. It just depends. Orange County is a conservative county, so they may feel at home there. But the rest of the state is a liberal experiment gone the way one would expect a liberal experiment to go.

I grew up in Texas. I really miss it. We have considered returning there. Lots of opportunity, very affordable.

I still believe that living anywhere in the U.S. is preferable to Japan. While I find Japan to be a wonderful country, it is still not the USA, which, even during troubling times (like now) is still the greatest country on the Earth.

irvine or newport beach are probably the best prospects for that work location. might want to check the papers online for rental/sales prices, call a few realtors and check into high-foreclosure areas to avoid, and gated-community prices too. check crime areas/rates online. Also check grocery store prices (ralphs, safeway, vons, stater brothers, etc). expect easily $150-300 for electric, easily $50-100+ water bill (if a house). other factors: commute times and auto insurance rates for the area. Hope this helps!

Orange County is very nice, although the costs for real esate are astronomically high and the state tax burden is also very high.

Generally speaking, most areas near JWA are very nice. I would not suggest almost any part of Santa Ana for living, though there are some sections that are okay.

Right near JWA are Irvine, Newport Beach, and Costa Mesa. Of those, Costa Mesa has the more affordable rental options. However, Costa Mesa has some areas not worth living in.

If driving from a distance, North or East of JWA will be generally cheaper than living South. South has Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, etc.

North of JWA on the 405 would be Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, etc. All have plenty of nice areas to live.

East of JWA has Tustin, Orange, and Anaheim Hills. All have great places to live.

The cost of real estate in CA is very high compared to many other parts of the USA. But rentals can be a very good approach. California is loaded with many beautiful places and many great and decent people. If your family is Christian, there are many bible-believing churches. Orange County is a “red” county (as are most in CA) and for the most part there is good law enforcement and reasonable regulation at the county & city level.

However, the State tax burden is now very high. Income tax will be at approx 10% and sales taxes are over 8%. Our state government is poorly run and I expect CA’s problems with spending and taxation to continue to be a problem.

If you only read bad things about CA from cranks on FR and have a low opinion of this place, then rest assured it is a desirable place to live for many. There are great resources, great business opportunity, beautiful scenery, wonderful food, a great mix of cultures, etc. That said, I expect to someday leave CA after 30+ years of living here.

Thanks to all for the comments, both positive and otherwise. This does narrow down what my daughter has to check out just a little.

When I lived in California (San Gabriel Valley area) a quarter-century ago, most of Orange County was still pretty decent though Santa Ana was starting to go downhill.

I've always been of the opinion that California should be broken up into a minimum of four states: Two liberal ones which would include a Connecticut size state covering most of Los Angeles county plus Ventura and Santa Barbara County and another Long skinny state to take up the coastal areas from that northern boundry to Marin, Sonoma and Napa Counties. Then the remainder could be divided at northern boundry of San Bernardino County into two American style states:

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