From the weather, to work/life balance, to creativity and innovation, there’s a lot to love about the place we live. What do you love most about North County? Find out what our Stewards said, and tell us your favorite North County aspects on social media!
10) North County has great diversity in population, economy, and even plant-life!
“There’s just something beautiful about North County because we have all these diverse areas. It’s almost like a different world in some ways. It’s very different from San Diego. A lot of people have visited here, and they love it so much they want to move here.” Mayor Rebecca Jones, City of San Marcos
“There’s really no finer corner of the country in my view. Part of it is the diversity of the economic base – from biotech, to manufacturing, to farming – and part of it is all of the natural assets here.” Sandra Kerl, former General Manager of SD County Water Authority
“San Diego is a really biodiverse place in terms of plants. Plants are not this novel thing in North County. They are real opportunities. This is still a community that is very connected to plants as a source of livelihood, as resourced to be managed, improved, and innovated upon, and I like that.” Ari Novy, CEO of San Diego Botanic Garden
(Speaking of plants as a livelihood, the City of Escondido won a 2023 Award of Excellence from CALED for their recent AgTech Hackathon! Look for their next one planned for Spring 2024.)
9) North County has temperate weather year-round.
“The weather here is excellent. I think most of us who moved to Vista, and even those of us who were born here and decided to stay, really appreciate the weather. I had breakfast yesterday with a Vista resident who moved here as a retiree. He’s a meteorologist and a climatologist, and he told me that his friends in the climatology and meteorology industry identified Vista as the best climate in the United States.” Mayor John Franklin, City of Vista
(In fact, the average daily high in the City of Vista is a balmy 70 degrees!)
8) North County provides opportunity for great work/life balance.
“There’s a lot of great opportunities to be outdoors and do fun things, up-and-coming restaurants, just a good community that we can grow. There’s a great opportunity to have a balanced life because you put a lot into your work, so you need to maximize those hours outside of work to be balanced.” Stephanie Baker, COO of Palomar Health
7) North County has great schools.
“We learn from each other, and we are really supportive of the work that we do collaboratively here in North County. We really believe that anybody in our community who seeks a higher education, an opportunity for a good career, and a family-sustaining wage should be able to do that right here in North County.” Dr. Sunny Cooke, President of MiraCosta College
“Great schools play a part in the economic development in any community. If you want a great employer to move here, you need to have great employees who are going to work there, and those employees need great places to send their kids to school.” Cameron Curry, CEO of The Classical Academies
(North County is home to the fastest-growing school in the CSU system – CSUSM – ranked 1st in social mobility in the nation. MiraCosta College is ranked 51st nationally for Best Hispanic-serving institutions, and Palomar College is ranked 9th in California among 2-year colleges.)
6) North County has a small town feel with a collaborative spirit.
“I love the collaborative nature of North County. Across our business organizations, different city agencies, the Innovate78 collaboration… there really is a lot of work they’ve done across city boundaries. It’s just a fantastic way to get things done. Whether a business knows exactly how it’s happening on the back end or not, they can feel that they’re in a very cohesive environment where they’re able to operate seamlessly without necessarily caring where the city boundaries are.” Matt Sanford, EDM of City of Carlsbad
“There’s a neighborhood, small-town feel to North County, but it has matured dramatically over the years. We’ve got great collaboration across the 78 Corridor that doesn’t exist in a lot of places. The time of a person living and working in the exact same city – that’s not how it necessarily works anymore. They might live in my city but work in your city, and we need to collaborate on such things. I think that makes us really unique.” Aaron Byzak, CEAO of Tri-City Medical Center
5) North County provides great economic support for businesses.
“There are very smart, well-intentioned people within our cities in North County that are really working to support our economy, making things easier to operate, and building our communities in a purposeful and intentional way. If you expand that to include our partners like the San Diego North EDC, Cal State San Marcos, MiraCosta College – there are so many great resources and so many great people who are all working together to really grow our economy and improve our communities. It makes North County a really special place.” Matt Sanford, EDM of City of Carlsbad
“[Escondido] is business friendly. It’s cost effective. I was able to survive a pandemic, because I utilized the community and resources to figure out how to continue moving.” Luckily, she had help along the way from Escondido’s Economic Development Managers (EDMs). “Michelle Geller is the reason why SIP is open. She was the economic development manager when I decided to open… If she weren’t the buffer, I wouldn’t have done it.” Cassandra Schaeg, Founder of SIP Wine & Beer
4) North County has close access to rural, open spaces.
“To be able to climb on your horse and ride out the gate of whatever stable you’re in and ride for miles and hours – what a blessing that is. You can get out where you can’t hear traffic, you can’t see buildings. It’s breathtaking if you stop and take it in. I think that broadly is true of North County.” Mayor Steve Vaus, City of Poway
3) North County fosters creativity and innovation.
“There’s a lot of creativity in North County. People here like creating new things, and there’s just so many great startup stories that come from North County, whether it’s in hospitality, apparel, real estate, or the dominating force of life science. It’s cool to see the blend of all these microeconomies. We’re not dominated by one industry, which I think also gives us a lot of sustainability as a region, especially in tougher times.” Brendan Foote, Managing Principal of FABRIC
“We are acting together with the innovation and business community of the region. This is a community that thinks outside of the box about whom to partner with and how to gain that competitive edge in their work. We’ve definitely taken our cues from the community on that.” Ari Novy, CEO of San Diego Botanic Garden
(The City of Carlsbad was ranked the 9th Best City in the U.S. for Startups by Crowdfund Capital Advisors!)
2) North County is a great place for families.
“Once we had a chance to come here and have a look at what was in North County, we just kind of fell in love with it, so we had to be here. The obvious things are the weather and the lifestyle, but for me, I love that my family loves being here. We’ve been here nearly 3 years now. The schools are great, the sports are great, there’s so much accessibility to things. Beaches, nature, golf courses. It’s a bit of everything. What it does for our family being here – that’s what we love about it.” Kurt Stocks, President of LEGOLAND California Resort
(The City of San Marcos was ranked the 20th Best Place to Live for Families by Fortune!)
1) Even if you move here from elsewhere, North County feels like home.
Max Villalobos hasn’t lived in North County all of his life, but he said the people in the region have enriched the lives of his family. “It always comes down to the people. San Diego is so big and so vast, but I love each of the communities that we get the privilege of engaging with across the 78 Corridor. San Diego has not only become our home, but it feels like it has been, all along.” Max Villalobos, North County COO of Kaiser Permanente
(Come for a visit – Oceanside was ranked in Best Cities to Visit in 2023 by Sunset Magazine!)
What do you love most about North County? Comment on our social media!
About the Author
