Why SO MANY People Live In The Southern California Megalopolis 

California’s big cities have a unique phenomenon called microclimates, in which the weather can change dramatically in just a few miles, especially in LA. The temperature can change by 30 degrees in under 10 miles (Santa Monica vs Canoga Park).

The inland area that includes San Bernardino, Riverside, Moreno Valley, and environs is known as the Inland Empire. Some locals also include the San Bernardino Mountain communities of Crestline, Lake Arrowhead, Running Springs, and Big Bear Lake as part of the Inland Empire. The Coachella Valley communities are also known as the Low Desert, as compared to the High Desert-Victorville, Lucerne Valley, Hesperia, and Apple Valley, located just north of Cajon Pass along I-15. The comparison is due to elevation; most of the Low Desert cities are at an altitude of 500 ft below sea level and lower-the Salton Sea is 200 feet below sea level. The High Desert cities, on the other hand, are above 2500 above sea level. As for the weather, the local joke about San Diego is that there are two seasons-day and night…

The Riverside and San Bernardino area is collectively known as the Inland Empire.

I moved from South Carolina to San Diego in 2018. Not only does weather matter, but access to public transit, something almost completely missing in SC, also matters. Despite the problems here, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

The film industry of the United States started in New York but moved out to Hollywood due to the weather.

People don’t realize that Southern California has a lot of homeless and trash in the urban city parts, which only make up about one percent of the region. The vast majority of Southern California is made up of manicured single-family homes with literally tens of millions of homes valued over $1 million. Southern California is basically one massive suburb for rich people in LA and Orange County, with a lot of struggling people in the inland part of the region.

Great videos and channel, please keep up the entertaining and informative work

Even though LA is notorious for car culture, they are currently rapidly building out new transit for LA. I think a lot of it has to do with LA hosting the 2028 Olympics. And once those Olympics happen, there will be a *lot* of people who ride LA’s transit for the first time, find out that they like it, and soon after decide to reduce their own car use in favor of transit.

Fun fact: the 710 freeway was municipally financed by the City of Long Beach - the only city-owned regional freeway in the country until it was added to the Interstate system.

The slow population growth or even decline is from the houses that once had families in them now just house 1-2 senior citizens as the cities refuse to build new affordable housing for the next generation.

quick note: it is simply, factually untrue to say that SoCal "feels like the NYC of the west." there is honestly no West Coast metro that feels less like NYC. the Bay Area feels more NYC. Portland feels more NYC. Seattle feels more NYC, Vancouver feels more NYC. despite its size, the vibe of LA is the essentially the polar opposite of NYC.

I cannot overstate the fascinating array of topography and climate and culture that Southern California is blessed with. You have cosmopolitan cities, world-renowned tourist attractions, cuisines from all over the world, beaches, chaparral covered hillsides, deserts, mountains with snow capped peaks in the winter. Why relocate across the country when you can move 30 minutes from where you’re at in SoCal and be immersed in a completely different environment and day-to-day experience? There isn’t another metro area on the planet that offers this kind of diversity!

I always enjoy your videos and learn something new each time! Thanks for all the work you put into your channel 😁👏

Homesick now. OC native here, living on the east coast for years now. Thanks for the SoCal rep.

Why didn't I know you were a fellow Wisconsinite? Another reason to love your channel.

Besides the economic opportunities, people are willing to pay a premium for great weather, a variety of authentic food, access to beaches and mountains (LA is one of the few places in the world where you can surf and snowboard in the same day), and some of the best natural scenery in an urban setting. Yeah it's expensive as heck here, but I wouldn't trade it for anywhere else in the country.

I love your work!

I left Southern California three years ago, after living there for 29 and a half years. I don’t miss the traffic, earthquakes, homelessness problems, politics, wildfires, or preposterously expensive cost of living. I’d rather die than live in California again. BUT that said, Los Angeles’ public transportation is very underrated. They’ve done a great job with their improvements, and I say that as someone who rode the LA Metro extensively. And as far as San Diego, I’ve visited a handful of times and never had a bad day there. I wholeheartedly think it lives up to its “America’s Finest City” self-proclamation.

Keep up the good work, I watch every week!

Thank you very much for the video beaver. You are always entertaining.

I live in the Coachella Valley and it is a paradise ln earth.... for 7 months out of the year, the other 5 it is a literall hell on earth.

The San Diego / Tijuana border crossing (actually in San Ysidro) is actually the busiest border crossing in the world.

The direct attack on Geoff

forgetting Orange County is kinda wild ngl

Being from the Bay Area, I would say Californias biggest problem, especially in sprawling LA is the zoning for endless single family houses. Although you can now add an alt-dwelling onto existing lots in many areas, the lack of mixed use zoning for duplexes, triplexes, and multi units is a problem. There are also not enough mid-high rise buildings due to zoning and height restrictions. Necessity will change this eventually, but not soon enough to relieve the housing crisis.

The city of Los Angeles has a bigger G.D.P than most countries. Shocking.

didnt know you were a fellow wisconsin dweller, that’s neat

Quick note: the Angels used to play their first few seasons at dodgers stadium and the no longer standing Wrigley Field that used to be the West coast version of the famous Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Around 5 million people living just in the Los Angeles metro area. Southern California also has a stray dogs' problem. too many stray dogs roaming its streets and freeways.

El Centro & Calexico are not included because they are 2 hours away from Coachella Valley and San Diego, I don’t get how this region cannot grow but from the Mexican side, Mexicali grew a lot and this city has more than a million of people. Also to mention that Rosarito is part of Tijuana metro area, lots of American folks live there.

I dislike how suburbs are laid out in West Coast cities, and Southern California is the worst offender. The rooftops and highways never stop for any parks, forests, or rivers unlike out east

Our country has become so unaffordable & our country seems to have zero interest in improving these issues. Our cities feel disconnected, soulless, bland, unaffordable, etc. I really don't like the direction modern America has gone. We could do so much better. I love this country. I just want to see things improve. The 90's at least had a range of prices & places where people could live, unique things to do & places to go. Poor People, middle, upper class. There was places for people of all economic ranges ~Nowadays we have universally unaffordable cost of living, rent prices, shop rent prices.. (unless you are wealthy) I don't understand how long we can continue to function in this extremely dysfunctional manner?? I hope things change. People stuck in poverty need places to live too.. Our current system pretty much requires everyone to be financially well off or you are screwed 👍🏻 It's so realistic 👍🏻 it's completely impossible for everyone to be financially well off. We need living options. We need places that average people can live, where poor people can live.. Raising wages just continually makes things worse because our country says "it Has to increase things" So it does nothing but make things worse. We need places people can live even if they make below average $ (look at all the rent prices right now? The same goes for the rent of local small businesses too. It's absurd. I know this because my mom runs a local small business in Oregon. So that's 2 insane rents to pay per month! It's the biggest challenge to afford rent. Profit isn't even a thing. Its can we make it to next month? How stupid is that? What kind of quality of life is that?) This is Modern Day America 👍🏻 and when you look at our government, it doesn't seem like anything is going to be addressed or improved anytime soon.. Maybe multiple generations from now, idk? All i know is vast change needs to be done. I'm tired of either side of our government. None of it is working. Hopefully motivated people will come in & help adapt this amazing country so it doesn't collapse in on itself. I don't get how our current situation can be acceptable?

Precipitation that does not need to be shoveled is a big attraction

Cali love.

I've been waiting for this one. I'm surprised you didn't include Victorville and Palmdale, etc in it. Ensenada could be considered too, though it's just a little south of Rosarito. Some may say Mexicali, but it's far enough to be its own thing, more connected to the Salton Sea and Coachella area. Some include Vegas. Even though it's a little distance, a lot of people commute and move between the cities. People joke that Vegas is just the east IE. I'm from Vegas and recently moved to Tijuana, but work in San Diego. Tens of thousands of people live in TJ and work in SD for lower cost of living and higher wages. Arizona and Sonora also have an economic connection with some migration and work commuting at times. West Coast New York is a good analogy. LA is the central hub with a lot of smaller hubs and communities that splay out from it for some distance. But it's basically all one big, connected region. Economically, culturally, politically, etc.

Can you talk about straightest freeways in America?

I use to live 10 mins from Lompoc as a kid!!!

An economic feedback loop: nice weather -> certain industries -> jobs -> more industries -> nice weather -> and so on.

You use the the word "improve" frequently to refer to population growth/increase which I'd suggest is a poor choice. "Growth" and "increase" would be better words.

San Diego's downtown has a fun vibe and great nightlife scene. LA just doesn't have the same feel to me...idk

22m people and a public Rail Transit system like a 500k German City 😂 quick build more suburbs and freeeeways

man missed Orange County

The city of WeHo still owns the portion of route 66 that runs through it.

I done when they consider close citys Metro areas

Your analysis is a little thin, but you highlight some important issues. However, there are two that should also be considered. The first is the role of having a comprehensive and efficient public transit system. I live in LA, and getting older as are many other Americans resulting in there being more older people than ever before. I would love to ditch my car and corresponding expenses if I could get where I want to go relatively easily and safely via public transit. The other more important issue is water. It's not being discussed much, but it should be when it comes to how future cities will deal with population growth. The whole area you discuss has been walking the water crisis tightrope for a couple of decades now and I don't clearly see a long term solution. Thanks.

San Diego is it's own metro. Not part of la

Best state in the country

Ventura county is very nice

correction. socal is socal. sd is sd.

Why do you say that when there’s population growth that that it has improved by going up?!?!? Overcrowding and sprawl is not good. And if affordable housing isn’t growing too then that is a huge problem!!

Why did you include Tijuana thata in Mexico

Orange County?

I clicked on this video just because it had a train in the thumbnaila

What about Orange County?

you’ll just say anything won’t you? lack of room in oxnard? how did you reach that conclusion exactly?

Where are you from in Wisconsin?

You forgot imperial county

Animated map zooms on the various areas would have helped keep them in context, or at least highlighting the areas you are currently talking about. Interesting video regardless.

bro they built gta 5 irl

You forgot LA ports

Tijuana is not the second largest city in Mexico. Guadalajara is.

As the token middle-aged rando on your subscriber list, I feel I need to emphasize the following point. Many have noted that the area west of Sioux Falls-Omaha-Lincoln-Salina-Oklahoma City is almost devoid of people. Until you continue west to the I-25 corridor, you don't really encounter any populated areas. Once you do, it gets more and more expensive all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The cost of living is absurd, and housing is especially costly. As is true of the Boswash corridor in the northeast, it is effectively the case that you are either born into it or you are not. As working-class intellectuals, my wife and I would never again consider putting up with the extortionate aspects of the west coast. We were living in the comparatively affordable southern half of NEVADA, and for the amount we were spending to live in a crime-ridden, poor urban neighborhood there, we have found a house in eastern Kansas that is, of course, larger and better situated. The "economy" has ceased to be of interest to us in that it, too, is one more thing that one is born into or not. (Ask a sociologist.) It seems "satirical" to say that most Americans live in areas that no one can afford, but I do wonder what makes anyone not independently wealthy think he has the option of not doing as we have and locating in an area that he might just be able to afford.

You can’t talk about socal and then not bring up orange country bruh cmon

Pfft. The northeast megalopolis is way bigger, feels way bigger and is much more urbanized.

Shit on streets, gas price double the national average. Liberal craziness and corruption. West Coast is terrible to live

SAN ANGELES for all you Demolition Man fans... The Santa Barbara-Los Angeles-San Diego Metroplex that merged in 2011 after The Big One! ;-)

I wish dis dude could change his voice 💀 tired of hearing him spit in my ears

The term “megalopolis” gets thrown around too freely. Two major cities growing together does not make a megalopolis. The northeast has five major cities with countless smaller cities between them. That’s why it’s a megalopolis. It’s going to take a little more than L.A. and San Diego to be a megalopolis.

I grew up in Mission Viejo, I lived there for 38 years. It has become such a Shit-Hole thanks to Democrat policies. Yes even Orange County is Majority Demon-Rat now! This is why I left Mission Viejo in June of 2023. I now hang my hat in Tennessee.

Due to San francisco and oakland politics destroyed both cities single handlily. They will do the same to southern california.

san diego sucks, its boring as hell. Only good qualities are weather, beaches, and the views

You need fresh ideas. These population vids you've been obsessed with are not at all enlightneing or interesting in any way. What is the point of watching these?