I'm going to be moving from Ohio to start working a new job in OC. The company is in Santa Ana. After doing some research, I was thinking of moving with the family (wife and 18 mo. old kid) either to Costa Mesa or Huntington Beach. Costs for those places seem to work out the best I think, but I'm still unsure, because everyone on the internet seems to think that we'll be living in poverty at my $98K salary there because apparently you need something like $120K to make life even liveable there. Does that sound right? Because it sounds all sorts of ridiculous to me, but what do I know... Anyway, could you guys give me your opinion of those places or suggest others I should be looking at? Also, I was wondering if people could give me some hard numbers on their general living costs, or could put numbers to costs for someone in my situation. How much would you expect a family of 3 to spend on groceries, utilities, and any other related costs?

Are there other questions I've missed here that should be answered? If you could do so that would be great.

Thanks in advance for your time!