4 Reasons You Should NOT Move to Temecula
- The lengthy (traffic-filled) commute
Situated between Los Angeles and San Diego, Temecula has provided the perfect suburban home for those who work in these big California cities. Since its establishment, Temecula remains smaller, calmer, and more quaint than both large cities, a shelter for those who never wish to live where they work. However, to avoid the hustle and bustle of the city, a commuter will sacrifice not just one, but potentially several hours of their day to slow-moving traffic. The distance from Temecula to San Diego is approximately sixty miles, allocating about fifty-four minutes of drive time without any traffic. The standard San Diego Monday through Friday morning commute begins early, around 6:30 am heading southbound. From then until leaving at 8 am, you can expect to spend at least an hour and fifteen minutes stuck in your car. The northbound peak return time is slightly more intense and begins by 2:30 pm. Leaving work anytime within the next three hours sets the driver up for an hour and thirty-five-minute trip back home, dropping to just one hour by 6:30 pm. Think of how much work could be done, how many football games could be watched, how many swings on the park swingset with your kids could have been completed during the three hours you spent commuting to and from work today. That totals out to at least fifteen hours per work week! (The occasional crash or lane closure has not even been factored into the equation yet). The city of Temecula encourages other travel alternatives such as vanpooling, park and ride, or free/affordable public transportation, but the masses unfortunately keep coming. For many successful, business-driven individuals this commute plus the comparison in lower living costs of Temecula are helping them rise to the top. However, this route is not ideal for the family man who wants to eat dinner as a family at a reasonable time and enjoy the Temecula community.
- Electricity costs in those hot summer months
Finally today, in this first week of October, we are all cooling off quite a bit after another heat-filled summer. From June through September the average daily high temperature was above 84 degrees, with August’s average being 88 degrees. We even had extremes of 105 degrees for eight days this year. Our energy companies become overwhelmed in these warm months, allowing the city to become prone to outages and (without a doubt) price raises. Public requests are sent out asking individuals to do their best to conserve energy between certain hours of the day, or incentives may be put in place to encourage energy retention such as, “on June 1st, the income requirements to qualify for California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) were raised so that a family of one that earns up to $31,460 can now receive the 20% off of their monthly natural gas bill. This also qualifies residents for the Energy Savings Assistance Program, which qualifies customers for free energy-saving home upgrades” (temecula.gov). The average electricity bill in Temecula falls around $308 per month, totaling to around $3,696 per year. Unfortunately, the numbers continue to rise, and it is not unheard of to pay $500 to $700 a month throughout the summer. There is always the option to close blinds and utilize fans for a couple of hours in an effort to conserve that energy bill. But if we’re honest, no one wants to sit in a burning home!
- Cost of Living
As I stated earlier, Temecula remains much more affordable than the surrounding San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties. However, it is also smaller, slightly limiting personal way of life operations. For example, Temecula is more home than apartment based, making it a bit harder to find an affordable apartment. Instead, one might be convinced to spend a bit more for an available full house. The California lifestyle is one to be envied, although it does come at a pretty penny. If you are planning to move to Temecula from out of state, do ensure you have solid, reliable employment to afford the high food and gas prices. As the perfect family town for safety with impressive schools and extracurriculars, it is even more imperative to have a good income with children in tow. The $70,000 to $100,000 range seems to be the sweet spot for a family of four to live a comfortable life in Temecula.
- Is Temecula a Small Town?
113,117, the number of Temecula residents in the year 2020. Even since then, from 2021 to 2022, the Temecula-Murrieta metro saw a 4.37% increase in population growth. Temecula locals often express that we live in a “big small town”. After all, it remains impossible to shop at Walmart or play the slots at Pechanga without running into someone you know. The US census defines small towns as “incorporated areas with 5,000 residents or fewer, and big cities as having populations of 50,000 or more”. In spite of this comforting hometown feel, the roads are full, the grocery store lines are long, and the popular restaurants are always packed. Temecula Parkway, the main roadway, runs from one end of the city to another and is full of traffic lights; not created for the influx of vehicles that drive on it every day. One has to search a little harder nowadays for the hidden gem restaurants yet to be discovered or for the freshest box of strawberries at Sprouts that has not yet been compromised by the public. Overall, Temecula is a thriving metro with plenty of places to go and people to see. It is not quite the lazy small town those who were born and raised in Temecula make it out to be, but if San Diego is too big and Fallbrook is too small, Temecula might just be the perfect home for you!
https://www.energysage.com/local-data/electricity-cost/ca/riverside-county/temecula/
