Great place to raise a family, really hard for you
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8/27/2021
I'll admit it, I'm biased. So, I can't say what's a lot or a little without outside sources for the most part. I was born and raised in Torrance. I've lived here for 20+ years. It's a wonderful city. I can't imagine living anywhere else, even though it's increasingly likely that I'll have to.
The climate is basically perfect practically all year round. It's not too humid with the highs typically in the 80's in summer and the lows in the 50's in the winter. We do have our own small section of the coastline, so the beach is close by. It rains rarely (though that's typical of SoCal).
There is a large variety of restaurants and retail businesses. South Torrance has both Sam's Club and Costco, right next to each other. At the time of writing, the 7th biggest mall in the US (Del Amo Mall) is the local mall and has recently completed renovations. There are a lot of cool restaurants with reasonable prices practically everywhere too. Night owls might find this city disappointing though, because practically everywhere is closed at 10pm.
Freeway access is mostly in the northern end of the city, as it takes about 10-15 minutes to reach the nearest one from the south end. I can't speak on traffic within the city, as I find the levels to be normal (again, I'm biased).
As far as I'm aware, Torrance Police is responsive and has a relatively good relationship with the community.
Torrance has its own school district. The high schools have a variety of AP courses. One of the AP teachers (when I graduated 5+ years ago) bragged about having a history of 100% pass rate with a high number of 5's and 4's. The schools are going/ have gone through renovation recently as well.
Unfortunately, it's expensive to live here on your own. Rent for apartments can easily clear $2000/month. Plus, the jobs I'm looking for aren't exactly in high demand in the area. The cost of living in California really does stack against Torrance. Plus, it's not a good hub for the jobs I want.
Samantha | Torrance, CA