I am desperate, and thus I am actually considering it.

I did, however, leave Yakima off the list. I do have some standards, low though they might be.

I didn't say affordable, I said "affordable".

To work in Santa Ana and live anywhere that you can actually purchase a home for under $500,000 (if you want to live near Santa Ana, you're lucky to get a condo in a decent neighborhood for $400k), you have to endure a commute over a distance that, without traffic, would take ~20-30 minutes but with normal rush hour traffic can take upwards of 90 minutes - 2 hours. And, seeing as you're likely to want to come into the heart of OC or go up to LA more often than not for entertainment, you'd be making that drive. A lot.

Don't get me wrong, if you can afford the outrageous prices to either purchase or rent, and/or you can deal with abominable traffic, it's got a lot to offer. But it's hard to understate those two issues here.

As much as I would love to stay within the ninth circuit, the unfortunately reality is that it is one of the three most competitive circuits for clerkship positions (the other two being the second and D.C. circuits.) And while I might have a wall full of awards and a ranking near the top of my class, the reality is that I will not have a degree from a top 12 school, and thus there are many judges who will send my resume directly to the round file. Hence, I have to cast a fairly wide net.

Ok, where is this "affordable" housing you speak of.

Affordable, "affordable". When talking OC it's the same thing - not.

Corona/Riverside. Had we been willing to live there and commute, we could have afforded a single family home for what we paid for our condo in Orange (Santa Ana adjacent).

San Francisco is expensive, the rents are outrageous. I only skirted by because I moved back into my old rent-controlled apartment.

That said, the entire Bay Area can be such fun, heck, the entire state of California can be such fun.

I'm sorry Pru, I can't be of any real help except thinking that CA is a good move, it would be a pleasure just knowing you are in the same state. Might havea better chance of crossing paths! :cool:

When I was in law school, the joke ran that there were twenty top ten schools.

My vote is that if you're applying for one year clerkships as opposed to permanent staff attorney positions, local quality of life should not be a consideration. I would think that a Ninth Circuit clerkship for a judge based in Anchorage would be as valuable to a firm, wherever it's based, as one for a judge based in Los Angeles or San Francisco. There might be some variance for district court clerkships, but I doubt it. You should ask your career guidance counselors what they think. If they're not on break.

Anchorage is a great town.

I grew up in Northern CA (not the bay area keep going north). Sacramento isn't bad. My sister lives there and likes it. It's close to the bay area and the sierra's.

Reno was the closest city to us growing up. It's grown a lot in the last few years with a lot of new business and developments. Yes they lost the casino wars but then we never really went to any of the casino's anyway. It's pretty affordable and traffic isn't bad. And it is the "Biggest Little City in the World".