A Gen X couple moved from California to Massachusetts to escape high housing costs: 'We still pinch ourselves over how lucky we are.'

• Steve Dalton and Sydney Sauber left California for a lower cost of living in Massachusetts.
• Dalton and Sauber appreciate Worcester's cultural diversity and intellectual opportunities.
• They estimate their $560,000 Worcester home would sell for over $2 million in the Bay Area.

Steve Dalton, 56, and his partner Sydney Sauber, 58, were ready to leave the Bay Area of California after nearly two decades.

Sauber was homesick for the Northeast, where she lived for much of her life, though Dalton had never lived anywhere outside the Bay Area. After deliberating staying on the West Coast, they settled on a historic home in Worcester, Massachusetts, the state's second-most-populous city.

The cost of living in Worcester is lower than in the Bay Area, and they've found the city accessible for Dalton's mobility challenges. Worcester also has the intellectual and artistic opportunities both were looking for, and they valued its cultural diversity. Dalton said they "still pinch ourselves over how lucky we are."

"It was really important to us to live in a neighborhood that you could walk in and that physically you would be able to easily go across the street with your bare feet and talk to your neighbor," Sauber said. "People walk their dogs and just hang out in their yards without super loud cars rushing by you."

According to the Census Bureau's most recent tabulation of American Community Survey data, 818,000 people left California between 2021 and 2022, compared to 475,800 who moved in. About 18,500 moved from California to Massachusetts during this period. A Business Insider analysis reveals the typical mover leaving California makes $53,500 and is a millennial or Gen Zer, with many stating they're moving for lower living costs, slower paces of life, or political reasons.

Leaving California for Massachusetts

Dalton, an IT professional for a university, was born and raised in the Bay Area. He grew up in Marin County, directly north of San Francisco, before moving to Contra Costa County further east.

Sauber, a cognitive scientist and learning style specialist, was born in Puerto Rico, then moved around the country to New York, Texas, and Florida. She eventually settled in New England, spending time in Northampton and Salem, Massachusetts, as well as Dover, New Hampshire.

Sauber then moved to California to work on a book, living on a fishing boat in the East Bay. While there, she met Dalton, and they moved into a condo in San Pablo two years later in 2010.

They enjoyed living near San Francisco and Oakland, though both knew the condo was temporary. Sauber said San Pablo didn't have the academic and artistic community she sought, and it was unsustainable for her to have a home office at the condo.

As they reached retirement age, the couple wanted to purchase a house, though they knew that would be implausible in the Bay Area with their budget. As a couple with a single income of just over $100,000, they would need to look quite far from the Bay to purchase their dream home. Zillow estimates the average home price in San Pablo is $605,000.

"As it was, homes we were considering in the North Bay at the time would have required us to spend our entire savings and equity on a down payment and still carry a pretty high mortgage," Dalton said.

Sauber also thought she would have a larger client base as an educational consultant in a New England city than in California. Both also felt moving out of California would mean they would be less affected by the climate crisis, as they worried wildfires or infrastructure failures would damage their future retirement home.

"We lived four miles away from the Chevron oil refinery, and we learned several times, over and over again, that San Pablo is a sacrifice zone," Sauber said, referring to an area permanently changed by environmental damage. "We knew that it was not going to be one of the places that people are going to run to service if something big happens near or in it."

As Dalton is a paraplegic from a spinal cord injury, he wanted a larger space that would allow him to live more comfortably — and would have enough room for a live-in caregiver as he ages.

Settling on Worcester, Massachusetts

They made two "reconnaissance trips" to Worcester, a city of slightly over 200,000 residents. One of their concerns was adjusting to the snow, and one of their trips was during a 10-inch snowstorm. Still, they calculated there would only be a few house-bound days in Massachusetts due to the snow, compared to roughly 25 days a year in San Pablo due to poor air quality.

The couple bought their home in Worcester in May 2022, spending $560,000 on the 100-year-old 2,000-square-foot home — they sold their California home for $480,000. Their neighborhood mostly comprises single-family homes built 75 to 125 years ago. The four-bedroom house is walking distance from parks and grocery stores, and it's a short drive from downtown and many high-quality medical facilities.

"We're able to use some of the money we had in savings to make other investments in the home, make it more accessible for me, and also do some future-proofing, like with solar panels," Dalton said.

He estimates a similar home in the Bay Area would cost over $2 million. They pay less than $2,000 a month for their mortgage, and they had extra money from savings to install a new roof. They also installed an elevator, and their solar panel system will zero out their electricity bill for the next three decades.

Dalton said he's been comforted by the city's healthcare resources. They live close to a few hospitals and specialized care facilities that are not as crowded and rushed as in California.

Dalton said despite his disability, he enjoys taking advantage of nature. He misses the whitewater rafting and adaptive rock climbing of California, though his part of Massachusetts has plenty of parks and nature trails.

As a city with 10 colleges and universities, Worcester is "lively with a rich intellectual life," Dalton said. The couple said Worcester has shocked them with how creative and community-focused the city has become. They've appreciated the city's public gardens, poetry associations, and art projects that have made the city feel inviting.

"Worcester is a city that is doing a lot to progress as a city," Dalton said. "In the not-too-distant past, they had the Red Sox minor league team make their home here, and they have a very nice stadium for that. They're building a lot of nightlife and cultural stuff around that. They also have revitalized their theater and performing arts district."

They've also found the people warm and open, despite stereotypes they heard about New Englanders being standoffish. The community is ethnically and socioeconomically diverse as well. They acknowledged that some longtime residents have noted an opioid crisis has rocked the city or have been concerned about gentrification, though Dalton and Sauber said Worcester is maybe the best place they've lived.

"I didn't want to live in a super expensive, posh neighborhood; I wanted a place that felt safe but also had opportunities to get to know other people from other cultures and backgrounds and at the same time be of service to each other," Sauber said.

Have you recently moved to a new state or left the United States for a new country? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.