Three thousand dollars — or five hundred.

That was the first choice that I had to make as an adult.

I grew up in a low-income family. My mom immigrated from the island of Tonga. My dad was a disabled veteran. While I was working at McDonald’s and at a car wash and deciding where to go to college, friends of mine in San Jose were paying $3,000 for a shared bedroom. In Fresno, $500 got me my own bedroom in a brand-new apartment.

So I chose Fresno, and I came to Fresno State as a walk-on football player, at the tight end position.

When I hit real financial hardship, this community came to the rescue. People fed me, gave me a place to stay, and gave me a chance to make something of my life.

I understand why young families are choosing Fresno. It’s one of the last places in California where you can still plant roots and buy into a community.

Fresno is the fifth-largest city in the state, behind only LA, San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego. It has a big-city feel with a small-town heart, right in the center of the Central Valley. When young families in other parts of the state feel hopeless, they find hope here.

Most of California is moving the other way. Last year, about 288,600 more people moved out of California to other states than moved in, according to the state Department of Finance.

They were running from the cost.

In September, the median home in California sold for just under $900,000. In Fresno, it was about $400,000. Less than half the price.

And in Fresno, less really does mean more. More yard. More room to raise a family. Young families don’t want to raise their kids without a backyard. Here, $400,000 buys a great house with one. In LA or the Bay, that money won’t even get you most condos.

Fresno sits in the middle of the state, and nothing is out of reach. From Yosemite to the ocean, you can get to almost anywhere in California within hours.

And we feed the world. In 2022, Fresno County farms produced about $8.1 billion in produce, and shipped to more than 90 countries.

Everybody calls Georgia the Peach State. Georgia grew about 25,000 tons of peaches. Fresno County grew about 197,000. People think oranges come from Florida. California grows about three of every four oranges in America, and most of them come from the San Joaquin Valley.

Farming is also where some of the most practical work in AI is happening. This summer, Fresno State and the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego launched the F3i Supercomputing Center with F3 Innovate.

So not only do we have the jobs everybody depends on, we also have the future of America’s jobs here, too.

We take safety seriously in Fresno. We prosecute criminals, with District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp, and we back law enforcement. Last year, Fresno had 22 homicides, the fewest since 1974. Young families can feel that difference.

Life here isn’t all work, either. Fresno State gives the city a real college-town feel, and this year the Bulldogs joined the Pac-12.

And if you’re looking for beaches, we have those too. They’re just lakes. If you ask me, I’ll take a lake and a boat over the ocean any day.

Put it all together and you get a place where a kid with nothing can build a life. I know, because I did.

I went from struggling to stand on my own feet, to becoming the youngest legislator in the state. Fresno and its people gave me an opportunity and a foundation to stand on. That should be shared, and I’m glad young families are finding it.

So when people ask me why young families are choosing Fresno, my answer is simple. It’s the same reason I chose Fresno.

The California dream of owning a home, getting a college education, and making something of yourself still exists. You can find it in Fresno.

David Tangipa represents the 8th Assembly District in the California State Assembly.

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