I am female.

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The answer has already been given in the past, dude!

The reason Bay Area rocks is because you can make a lot of money living here, where as in NY it sucks all the money out of you.

ABQ has a high amount of illegals because neighboring Santa Fe is a “Sanctuary City.” Amazingly enough, Santa Fe has priced illegals out of their city (where have I heard this before???) and so they live in ABQ.

Recently, 2 illegals shot five people to death in a Denny’s restaurant in ABQ.
http://www.mysuncoast.com/Global/story.asp?S=10569749&nav=menu577_2_1

Breitbart has the FBI list of crime numbers. Albuquerque is (IIRC) the same as or worse than Palmdale.

http://www.walletpop.com/insurance/most-dangerous-states?photo=5

ABQ is a big “small town” with all the associated problems of a large city yet without the tax base to support adequate law enforcement.

Q: What CA city is comparable to ABQ?
Ans: I would say its like San Bernardino.

Another notoriously high-rent city, San Jose, Calif., falls at the other end of the spectrum, emerging as the country’s most affordable major city.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/29/cities-family-affordable-lifestyle-real-estate-cities-family.html

Of course they throw in the caveat of a two-income household earning the median $100k salary. Bummer for singles, stay-at-home parents and anyone else without a tech job!

San Francisco did well too:

San Francisco, a city well known for its pricey housing and steep cost of living, turns out to be one of the country’s most affordable. The city may have high costs, but similarly flush wages soften the blow. The average budget only runs to 68% of a family’s income.

According to my car’s external thermometer, it hit 101 degrees in Los Gatos yesterday. Not exactly a cool breeze there.

Incidentally, as someone who has lived in this area for about 7 years, is it me, or are the summers getting warmer?

Makes me wonder what global climate change will do to Silicon Valley over the next 50 years or so.

I went to Santa Cruz and 17 was a beeyotch – even on the way home at 9pm. It was nice and cool over there though. 30 degrees cooler than LG (my thermometer read 105 when I left home at 2pm).

We are #1!

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/107235/10-pricey-cities-that-pay-off.html?mod=realestate-buy

No 1. San Francisco. With the fourth-highest quality of life and the highest trade productivity on Albouy’s list, the San Francisco area — which includes Silicon Valley — comes in first on the list of most valuable cities. There are high wages, but even higher housing costs. Albouy found that housing costs are pushed so much above the wage level because San Francisco residents enjoy a premium beyond income, such as great weather, a thriving local arts community, and lively neighborhoods. But the business aspects of San Francisco outshine even the quality of life. Albouy says it’s often thought that small cities where workers earn lower wages, like Boise, Idaho, are where businesses should start because costs like hiring and renting a building are so low there, relative to cities like San Francisco. But low prices also mean low quality. “Boise is a terrible place to do business, and the low wages are a sign of that,” he says. Compared to Boise, “San Francisco has a highly productive workforce,” he says.