Most people want to be close to where they work. Get a home in the valley, it's a 100 mile (or more) commute to most jobs. If you're okay working as a lettuce picker, then you can live along I-5 near Bakersfield and be happy. There are a lot of unfilled jobs here in the SF Bay Area due to lack of housing. SAMTRANS has cut service here because they can't find enough drivers, and these are well-paid jobs. Rents are a minimum of $3000/month for a 1-bdrm apt, if you can find them. People don't like commuting over 100 miles each way, because the traffic crawls on most arteries into the Bay Area. Lack of space, long commutes, pick your poison. I can live anywhere, I'm retired. My oldest daughter moved with her family out of state because of the housing shortage, and lots of other young people are also leaving. In CA, the good jobs are in the cities along the coast.
I am not addressing convenience, only lack of space. There is plenty of space in Cali and the Southwest. Desalinization could make a lot of the land useful for homes and businesses.