Am I the only person that hates living on the West Coast?

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How can I list the ways I can't stand living on America's West Coast?

I hate how everyone here is so stuck up and narrow minded, but sees themselves as being so liberal and open-minded. The West Coast isn't liberal or leftist, it's either libertarian or yuppie. I hate how snobby, passive aggressive and reserved people are here. I'm reserved myself, but I am often shunned because I still believe in small talk, befriending my co-workers, and saying "hi" to strangers when I pass them on a hiking trail. People here treat you like a freak for showing basic kindness to others.

I hate the weather. Sure it's "mild" in terms of temperature most of the time, but in the Northwest where I live, it's always damp and for the 3 months it isn't, it's searing hot and dry with no wind. Most of the buildings have little or no air conditioning so there's no escape from this. During winter, spring and fall all my clothes get damp and smelly because they're wet. California is even worse, it's hot even in January, never rains or snows and there's no water. I actually prefer the 4 season climate you get east of the Cascades and Sierras. I love snow and I like summer rain and thunderstorms; weather diversity is awesome. I loved living in Montana and all the crazy weather there, it's like a free form of entertainment. The beaches are miserable places to be, and too cold to swim in even in Los Angeles.

I hate the cost of living here. Rents are obscenely high even in small cities, especially compared to the lack of job opportunities. Unless you are a STEM worker living in a western state is a life of hardscrabble poverty. You'll never get to own your own home or even live without a roommate. And just forget about having kids. The grocery stores like Safeway also tend to be overpriced. Schools are terrible.

I also hate how the West has no discernable culture aside from generic American and Mexican culture. It's not really a community but just a land with a bunch of random people living on it. There's very little solidarity or sense of place and being.

The food scene is also very bad outside of the Bay Area and SoCal. Restaurant food tends to taste very bland; nobody knows how to cook here. The Chinese food where I live in Oregon is especially tasteless.

The only thing the West really has going for it is the nature, but I don't think it's objectively superior in that regard to the East. The West may have big mountains, but it has nothing like the Great Smokies, the Everglades, or Niagara Falls. It's not the end all be all of scenery and most of it is actually pretty arid and ugly looking away from the coast. I find Iowa a lot more scenic than Wyoming sans Yellowstone.

I can't wait to get out of here

Yet, the West Coast and the West in general is the "darling" region of the country that everyone seems to love and envy. I don't get it. The quality of life here is actually worse than pretty much everywhere else in the country and the politics and people are not nearly as liberal and compassionate as people think. Social inequality is probably worse on the West Coast than anywhere else in the country. It's just insane how there's so many rich people here yet so many others who sleep in cars or on the street. It's like Brazil.

All of my family and friends think it's a bad idea for me to leave the West Coast, because they have these false conceptions of how bad everywhere else supposedly is in comparison. "But ... it snows!", "But ... crime!", etc.

Oh yeah one more thing. The West Coast is boring! Call times are ridiculously early and the cities are not vibrant at all. People don't really like to have fun here. Even the strip clubs close before 3.

Like many Europeans I lived on your West Coast for a while, and I disliked it for pretty much the same reasons that you have given. I was working in Hollywood, which was full of the most boring, narrow-minded, pretentious and deeply conservative people. I've met brick walls with more interesting conversation than entertainment industry types. They like to think they're innovative, but they're not. As you say, after about 2am, Los Angeles is like a ghost town and everyone drives everywhere with their car doors locked. All that money slooshing around, yuk! And having to pay for valet parking everywhere.

I rather liked Seattle, though.

But hey, America is a huge, diverse country, so why not go and live somewhere else? I have relatives on the east coast, it's far more interesting. Or how about New Orleans?

Yeah, Seattle is the best it gets here. At least they have an economy. I vastly prefer the Canadian city two hours north of there, though. BC is what the West Coast of America COULD be if it was better, though it does suffer some of the same problems to a lesser degree.

I've thought of moving to the East Coast, or the Midwest/upper South. I don't have any support as far as people I know there really, so it would be hard but damn I can't stand living here anymore. There isn't any future for someone like me here.

And yeah, people here are very conservative. There's this idea that anyone who isn't a Bible basher is a liberal, but West Coast people are just as conservative as fundamentalist Christians, in a different way. I don't find anything Hollywood or the Silicon Valley produces these days original or innovative at all; it's just the same stuff hacked over and over again and everything that's produced is meant to benefit the interests of the elite. The West Coast hasn't been "cutting" edge since the 1970s, the decade the region remains perpetually stuck in.

People are also extremely fake and quiet, being Aspie I'm genuine to a fault and often seem "rude" and loud so people resent me here. I feel like I'd get along with people much better on the East Coast, I loved Toronto.

On the east coast if someone think you're an a-hole or don't want to spend time with you, they will let you know. I like that. Not everyone gets along, even good people don't have to like other good people. On the West Coast someone who secretly hates your guts might hang out with you for years and then stab you in the back.

You're really amusing, I like your approach a lot. Why not send me a pm and we can b***h about the West Coast in private.

Yeah, the East Coast DEFINITELY offers the counter to everything you hate about the West Coast. I would suggest NEW YORK----it's VERY expensive, though----BUT, people DEFINITELY tell you what's what, straight-up!! Other states to consider: Maryland and New Jersey----MUCH cheaper cost-of-living. New Jersey has a really bad rep----it's sooooo dirty----BUT, you're close enough to NY (Manhattan) to take advantage of all it has to offer, but live more cheaply. Also, Maryland has alot of great history, if you like that sort of thing, with the War of 1812 (Fort McHenry / The Star-Spangled Banner), Edgar Alan Poe, the steel industry, railroading, manufacturing, and being a major seaport / trade-port, etc. It (Baltimore) has a great theatre, art, museum district (I can't visit that area, ENOUGH), etc.----has been called "Little Manhattan"----we don't have a "fashion district", though, but.....

Definitely!!

I have heard that about the people before...I have been to California twice once for a school trip and once with my family well except my moms boyfriend who I am not sure I consider family to me. Both those times I did not get much chance to really interact with the people too much so did not get much impression of how they are. But my dad just went out there for a while to stay with his sister(my aunt) cause he was homeless and it was winter here in Colorado...but yeah he says the people there are kind of stuck up, not all that friendly...he likes the warmer weather and the landscape and that stuff but he said as far as people Colorado is way better. It is kind of funny we do get a lot of people from California in Colorado, usually the mellow/chill ones that probably got fed up with the yuppiness.

But yeah a lot of people do seem to have this idea that California and the west coast in general is some like tropical paradise type place, where its some kind of constant vacation where you'd have no cares/worries and just live some laid back nice lifestyle...but based on what I hear from people who live there, or have been there its really not that wonderful and is very expensive.

IN nearby Washington we have the Smithsonian, and all of the monuments, Mount Vernon, and we are near the sea, near the bay, and near the Appalachian mountains. We have history: half of the civil war battlefields are around either Washington, or Richmond (which are only 110 miles from each other) because those were the capitals of the opposing sides. Nature too. There are beaver dams, and bald eagle nests, only minutes from Rockville partment on the C and O Canal.

Just to make sure.....

Naturalplastic is talking about Washington, D.C.

Does anyone else hate the West Coast

I've been in Washington state, the Pacific Northwest, all my life. I see no reason to leave, I am dyed-in-the-wool here.

I came to post "Hey, what about Vancouver!" but I see you already acknowledge our awesomeness.. I live in the suburbs and love it here - especially the natural surroundings. Within a ~5 hour drive we have every climate from glaciers to desert resort towns that hit over 100F in the Summer. Mountains, rainforest, rivers, oceans, cliffs & everything else the world has to offer - all here & beautiful.

The only real downside is the INSANE cost of real estate/living here. We have 2nd least affordable real estate on the face of the planet. (local incomes vs. home prices)

I'd guess you'd like the weather over where I live, then. The weather is always changing. We can rain, snow, fog and sunshine all in one day. Most people hate it. Me, I hate the complaining mostly. "Oh it's so cold, it's horrible and miserable whine whine WHINE!! !" I wouldn't like to live in a climate like yours, either. I hate heat and humidity. When it's freezing in the winter I can put up with that because I have heating and stuff like most people, but in the summer it gets unbearable and it's much harder to escape. Most people don't have AC's, probably because they're too poor or still think they live in an era where the only AC is the wind. I live on the top floor of a building and hot air rises so it's a lot worse and I don't know what I'd do without my AC. But it only keeps my living room cool I wish I had a second one for my bedroom or the computer room... anyway, I've mentioned this only a trillion times, but I'm not very happy living here. Tourists will gush about the natural beauty and how friendly people are and whatever, but it's too isolated. Hardly anything interesting happens and when it does I don't usually get to participate because I'd need a car or a billion other people show up and I can't even breathe there's no room. No wonder drinking is so glorified around here, people probably do it just to forget how boring it is, or to socialize. ha, you'll never catch me trying top be social at a bar. It's bad enough when Tim Horton's is so packed I can't even hear myself talk.

I do like Eugene, where I'm living now, though. Not sure I could live here forever but it definitely fits my needs and I have my brother, sister in law and quite a few friends here.