Good on you!  I also waited a year to move because my son was doing well...(ADHD though), but I moved back to a place I knew and was comfortable working in.
Look around if you are planning, apply online for jobs...(what professions are you looking to do?), you don't actually have to show up if you get a better offer.
Ask around, anywhere... online... heck here in this forum is a good spot too, lots of folks can feed you a bit of info on places around the states.

I prefer here though....

Thanks for all the comments. As far as the Austin Texas move goes. My wife's family live in Point Venture that's what sparked the Austin possibility. We'd most likely be in west Austin outside of town. Austin has the closest feel to Long Beach probably because a large majority of the now residents are California transplants.

I'm an Executive Chef with a very solid resume and a current near 6 figure salary so job hunting won't be an issue. From what I've seen job wise in that area I shouldn't have a problem nearly matching my current income while decreasing my cost of living nearly 20%.

Just to give an idea of my current cost of monthly living
$2250 3br 1bth 1150sq ft apartment with small garage and no washer dryer in unit.
$171 month basic car insurance for 2000 grand cherokee
$226 month full coverage 2008 honda odyssey
$186 year 1996 suzuki savage
$298 year 2009 883 sportster
$3.89 current price of 89 octane

Last year I paid almost 6k in state income tax and with 3 deductions got barely any of it back.

I've honestly been ready to move away from California since I got here 5 years ago

Austin is gonna be a good step,then. Loads of loaded consumers, you'll be fine.