Many of the people I know at SONGS that are house or long term contract commute stupid distances because of the high price of coast living. I know more than one person that works there and travels over 70 miles to work. When I worked SONGS a lot through the 90's, I liked to stay in San Clemente. It had a reputation for being a nice place to live with safe streets compared to Oceanside and some other reasonable comutes. Last time I was there (2007 - 2008) there were several robberies in San Clemente. One was a deconner trying to get cash out of an ATM in San Clemente, he got beat up and robbed. When I was in San Clemente in 1996, the population of the town was around 45,000. In 2006 when I returned, I believe it had grown by over 20,000. That may not seem significant over that time frame, but for a town the size of San Clemente, it's way too much. When my wife and I were there in 2007, it was a rare day to be able to park my car within' 2 blocks of where I lived. From LA south, California is like a clown car!
I no longer see my self ever wanting to visit southern California again. A place I used to love has been taken over by illegal Mexicans, is over priced in every respect, and really offers nothing other than nice sunshine and crowded beaches. But this is my opinion based on watching the area and living there on and off (not just for outages by the way) for a period of more than 15 years.
Oh, by the way. I just wanted to add at this point that the Mid-coast and North coast of California really suck too...really...you don't want to come here and you need to pass that along to your 20 million southern Californian neigbors...please...
For what it's worth, that is my opinion. And this is from someone that has stayed in the area in the last couple of years and has a 15 year history with the area as well. My taste is not yours, so you might be ok with what I mentioned. So, if you like thousands and thousands and thousands of neigbors, want to pay way too much for a small house, like the idea that english is a 2nd language, like a very poor public school system, huge fires on a yearly basis, plenty of crime...then this might be for you. I will say that San Clemente has Fat Burger...and that is a good thing!