San Jose is a workaholic city with a majority of people who have moved from India and China to bring their extreme competitiveness and anti-social attitudes to bear on everyday interactions. I wouldn't recommend moving here unless you are a workaholic who can bring in > $450K/year. The effective tax rate for people who can afford to live here is >52% and with the passing of Prop 30, it seems there will be higher rates to come. If you value friendliness, this is not your place. It's extremely rare to meet someone who can hold a conversation about something other than technology. Those who can will often bring up their frustration at feeling emotionally and spiritually broken by the culture here -- yoga and meditation can't compensate for a lack of friendliness when you are out and about. There's no joy in living life here because everyone is fighting to make ends meet and get ahead. When they aren't competing at work, they are focused on making their kids more competitive -- their agendas are explicitly *not* cooperative. I hide out in my home most of the time because I can. But every week, someone knocks on the door with a well-rehearsed plea for why I should give them $50 and they look hostile when I tell them that I've grown weary of solicitors. Even in a great neighborhood (trees, people who look up when they pass you on the sidewalk >30% of the time, maintained homes and yards) like Willow Glen in San Jose, you'll still deal with weekly neighborhood emails about break-ins, thefts from front porches and cars. I see so much poverty and desperation here and with more budget cuts looming, I fear for the health of our community. Middle-class workers are living paycheck to paycheck. The big corporate employers are losing market share as they become too big to innovate and too risk-averse to make products people need. Start-ups pay poorly unless you are a rock star coder, in which case you probably will fit in here because you'll be a tech geek who cares more about the latest cool app and not about your community or being a well-rounded person.
Alison | Ogden, UT | Report Abuse