Anaheim is a bustling center of tourist activity in California. Only 25 miles away from Los Angeles, it houses Disneyland, the only to have been constructed under the direction of Walt Disney himself, and is a central location to a few other cities that attract their own kind of attention.
While Anaheim, California, and California itself are beautiful places. It’s not always that way, and there are quite a few reasons why not to move to Anaheim, California.
17. Cost of Living
It’s no secret that California as a whole state is extremely expensive. The cheapest option usually available for apartments in the area is around $900, and that’s per month. It’s unclear if that includes utilities such as electricity and water bills.
Cost of living doesn’t only include the cost of rent each month, but also the cost of affording food in the area as well as gas, and getting places will definitely put a dent in the wallet far more than should be decent, and although inflation is a real problem, living in California will make that a huge pain.
16. Tourist Attraction Area
California is a huge tourist attraction to area, with Hollywood and multiple themes and amusement parks spread across the state. The draw for Anaheim is Disneyland, the only one that was built during the time that Walt Disney was alive and indeed, under his directions.
This means that this particular location for Disneyland is a popular destination for many tourists and that means that they come for other things as well, usually the oceans and beaches and the other themed amusement parks. This makes the area less focused on the residents and more focused on the tourists that come in and create revenue for the parks and recreational things.
While this is usually good for job security, and having jobs, it doesn’t make for a very good atmosphere for anyone, really. Especially with how the area was a hotspot for the pandemic and still struggles with the sheer volume of visitors. Tourists are usually ignorant and don’t know as much about the surrounding area and unfortunately, a fair number of people who get called tourists have a stereotype that is extremely arrogant and rude to residents.
15. Crime in the Area
Crime isn’t the highest as in some other areas of the country, but it is just as prevalent and crime in California is higher than anywhere else in the country.
The city has a D grade in crime rates, which means that the crime rate is higher than in other U.S cities. These crimes range from property crimes such as burglary, vehicle theft, and theft. And violent crimes are much worse and only the tip of the iceberg. It’s not the safest city on the planet, but it’s not the worst city even in all of California.
14. Overcrowded
California as a whole is particularly overcrowded. A lot of the areas are built right on top of each other and the cheaper apartments that can be rented out are usually studio apartments, which makes them extremely small these cramped living conditions can and will have effects on the mental health and happiness of an individual.
Being overcrowded also makes it difficult to have large gatherings or even to gather at all. This doesn’t make the area very friendly for a variety of other things that could cause harm to residents and people who live in the area.
13. Earthquake Fault Line
One of the problems of California is that the entire state sits right on the edge of a major fault line called the San Andres fault. This means that earthquakes are more or less normal there and it’s normal to know and experience earthquakes. Most of the time they won’t be extremely damaging, but they have the potential to be.
As mentioned previously, the housing and yard situations are extremely cramped. Thinking about this through the lens of natural disasters, makes it extremely unsafe, seeing as buildings coming down on residents are among one of the most common causes of death during natural disasters. The likelihood that the buildings were built to withstand an earthquake is slim and that danger is always present.
Having any sort of fear or awareness of natural disasters should have a potential resident staying far from California as it is a hotspot for a few different natural disasters.
12. Wildfires
A natural disaster that happens without fail every year is wildfire. The wildfires that happen in California are extremely destructive and manage to claim lives each time it happens. Anaheim is close to nature and it is reasonable to expect that wildfires can threaten the city just as much as they would threaten the nearby outdoor activities.
Wildfires aren’t things that can really be stopped as it’s part of the natural course of things, and they are extremely dangerous and costly in thousands of dollars of damage each time a wildfire manages to claim houses.
11. Storms and Weather
The storms aren’t too bad if you’re thinking about rain, but the winds can get to be somewhat annoying. Nowhere near Wyoming level gusts, or tornado gales, but with the ocean being right there, the wind can get somewhat biting and rather annoying. For anyone trying to move away from flat lands, and while the wind doesn’t stay away from any places, it certainly makes it less enjoyable to be on the beach or enjoy the warm weather that is prevalent in California.
10. Taxes
Taxes in California are brutal, just as living costs are. Putting how much taxes to expect into a post such as this isn’t something that we can do, since taxes are a personalized affair between the IRS and a citizen.
But, rest it said that taxes are a huge part of why living in California is so expensive, just the same as Anaheim. Even just sales taxes are steep and stifling to those who live there. As if it weren’t enough to have steep living costs and food.
9. Traffic
Another part of Anaheim is that it is close to Los Angeles and just as close to the ocean and other sought-after places of retreat and tourist attractions. This means traffic is awful clear down to Oceanside.
Out-of-state drivers serve to complicate this matter and there isn’t really any way to change or help the issue since there really isn’t a lot of space, to begin with. When it could take less than twenty minutes to get somewhere, it could take upwards of four hours to get anywhere on a bad traffic day.
Part of the problem here has to pertain to the proximity of Disneyland to the populace and the other places residents would be commuting from. This causes pretty large traffic jams and makes it difficult to travel at all in the area.
Not only that, but this excessive traffic will take a toll on anyone’s wallets due to the price of gas. Gas is steep everywhere, but especially in California at the moment.
8. Overhyped
California as a whole is usually overhyped about all of its activities and places. Anaheim boasts not only Disneyland but the Anaheim Convention Center, as well as another center. These are attractants for large fan events that are usually overhyped as well as living there sounds wonderful, but if someone is able to pull up seventeen reasons that it’s not as great as it sounds, there is definitely some hype going on that doesn’t stay truthful the entire time.
7. Ocean Close but Cold
While having an ocean not too far away is usually seen as a huge bonus for living pretty much anywhere, it does have its cons. The ocean is full of its own dangers, such as the higher risk of tsunamis thanks to the fault lines in the area as well as people potentially not knowing how to swim.
The most annoying point, however, is that the ocean is cold. Unlike Florida’s weather and waters, the oceans of California are extremely cold and not as fun to be in for people who are fresh to the area or don’t know how to handle the temperature of the waters.
The sand gets literally everywhere, especially when wet and new residents will have trouble learning how to work around this. They also gather trash and become dumping pits for a variety of things, which is awful and isn’t as enjoyable for someone who drives from Anaheim to the ocean.
6. Prevalent Alcohol
The downtown Anaheim area is chock full of liquor stores. While having liquor stores themselves isn’t a bad thing, having easy access to them will contribute to crime rates, as well as dumb choices that stupid teens could make.
With no nightlife, it’s hard to figure out where all that alcohol will be consumed unless it’s right there or at a party. It’s not as nice to bring a family to a liquor store or to enjoy the area if it’s not something that everyone can participate in. In addition to that, liquor and alcohol are also expensive and not worth the effort.
5. Extremely Hot in the Summer
While many boast that California’s weather is superb and awesome to live and be in, it can be quite the opposite. It gets to be rather hot and dry in California and the earlier mentioned winds can make Anaheim a miserable place to be in the summer.
The winters don’t get too cold either, but that means that the heat during the summer is oppressive and a resident is as likely to be as badly sunburned as a lobster or melt into the sidewalk like a wax candle. It’s rather annoying, especially for people unaccustomed to the heat.
4. Bad Neighborhoods on West Side
The West Side is credited to be the worst side of Anaheim and the residents greatly prefer living on the East hills. This is typically according to the crime rates, the renting side of things, and is most likely the cheaper side of town where people don’t have enough to make it to the hills.
It’s a sketchier side of town and with all of the other problems, it makes people hesitant to resort to being in that area. The people who live there are nice but don’t have the same opportunities as others do with their money and jobs.
3. Strip Malls
Strip malls have become rather prevalent in Anaheim, and as such, the residents weren’t pleased to see them come. Strip malls are a string of different stores sharing one long building that has divides built into it. This causes a rather cramped parking lot and makes things like road rage, traffic jams, spending, gas, drunk idiots, and so much more just that much more usual and normal for the areas.
In most other states or cities, strip malls are the places known for drug deals or chains of stores that don’t generally present the best to what a parent would want their kid to see and associate with, as well as not really be a place an adult would want to spend time in.
Very rarely do these strip mall stores have businesses that people want to be part of and give to, and even then the strip malls are so packed or in awkward places that it is hard to even get in to support that business.
2. Hilly Roads
The roads are hilly, and while they’re not backroads and bumpy or dirt roads, they do have inclines and that will take a toll on gas as well since the car has to work harder to get up the hills and driving down hills can sometimes be extremely scary and risky depending on the incline.
1. Job Security
Job security is another problem with California since residents have to be making enough to support their rent and bills and such. The areas in Anaheim can’t be trusted to keep their employees on, not even Disney. Disney has steep rules about working for them and they have to be followed or employee termination is the common way to lose a job.
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