Relative to Cooch's thought that California should be your starter state for deciding to live somewhere, it should be noted that a recent Census report says that Americans, as a people, are no longer manifesting their destiny.

Seems that the in- and out-migration patterns of the 1990s have most moving Americans heading south, more particularly the southeast. California actually wound up giving people to surrounding states.

The news in this end of the country was also towards the negative, though it seems that New York was mostly bleeding people to New Jersey and Connecticut. Even so, net losses for New England and the mid-Atlantic states over the decade.

Oddly, I suppose, I've never thought about moving to California or the southeast. I'd applied to some law schools in North Carolina, and one in California (Santa Clara, not requiring an application fee, an application I turned around in 20 minutes that led to an acceptance, which suggests an lack of selectivity). In any case, I was more likely to end up in Seattle or Chicago if I was to leave here. Of course, I didn't leave here, which probably says something about me. Not sure what, though I have some guesses.