I'm not a Californian, but I've lived in this state for 4 decades, in the North, Central and Southern areas. It's most assuredly not the place it once was.
California is huge, like bigger than many countries huge. It's far too large in populated land and populace to be one state and that's the cause of many of our problems. If California was at least chopped into North & South like other state splits, things would be better, but realistically it should be 3-5 smaller states.
Our K-12 education system is absolute shit and our colleges are communist indoctrination centers. But not smart Soviet scientists. The CSU and UC system crank out immature and entitled clowns with overpriced degrees.
Non-violent crime like petty theft has effectively been decriminalized in the cities. Regardless of what's on the books at the moment, the reality now is non-violent criminals have free reign with scant punishments if caught.
The biggest violent crime problem is homeless-on-homeless violence. Lots of rape reports. They generally don't mess with people, but you often see drugged up nutbag behaviors and anywhere they congregate smells like piss and looks like a 3rd world refugee nightmare...in the wealthiest (and most libtard voting) cities in America.
Notice how I separated "homeless" and "people"? Yeah, nobody views them as human. Giant panhandling rats that make warrens under freeways and beg for drug money.
Wildfires have become normalized now. Libtards keep crying "climate change", yet the reports of arson, mismanagement and homeless camps ablaze are the real culprits. It's a regular thing for dozens of acres of urban park areas to go up in smoke, and that's not counting the giant fires involving thousands of acres of forests.
I'm actually cool with the fires. Not great for Man, but vast fires serve their purpose in nature, and if you ever hike in a post-fire area, you'll see what I mean over time.
On the plus side, the beaches and weather are gorgeous. The climate is extremely varied as is the topography. For instance, from downtown LA, you are 2 hours from numerous beaches, multiple snow play mountain resorts, vast empty deserts and all the urban delights you can imagine.
However, the state has declined for decades - mostly due to illegal immigration and other idiocy, but its nearly in freefall now. In many ways, California isn't even recognizably part of America anymore. LA is fast becoming Mexico City, except with way more expensive real estate (but a massive crash is incoming).
The moment I'm in a position to escape, I'm gone. Maybe sooner if the CoronaChan retardation keeps getting more draconian.