Live in SF on 70K?

[415_s2k]

Yes. Easily.

I lived in SF on less than $30k in reasonable comfort; I was hardly livin' large, but I could still go out to eat once in awhile and generally got along OK. It more depends on what your obligations are, whether or not you have other mouths to feed, and how you spend your money. SF is expensive, sure, but $70k is plenty.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by tiemyshoe

Curious, can you let me know what negiborhoods I can find for $1K to 1500/month in SF?

Well do you want a studio or a 1br? Those prices I stated are for pretty much anywhere in the city other than really ritzy areas like Russian Hill. You should be able to find very basic 1br's for $1400 to 1500 pretty much anywhere. But again they'll be basic, probably pretty small, probably in older more decrepit buildings, and probably a not-so-great kitchen and bathroom, but you can sometimes find some real steals. A studio from $1000 to 1200 should be pretty decent, if you paid more than 1200 it should be really nice.

I would figure out what kind of neighborhood you want to live in--how close to work, what kind of weather (foggy or sunny?), what kind of density and proximity to shopping and good restaurant areas, then start figuring out what neighborhoods meet your wishes, and look up places on Craigslist just to see what is out there in your price range. Again you should be able to live pretty much anywhere on your budget, but at that price range it will probably be a bit competitive to find a place, so be pushy about getting landlords to take notice of your wish to take a place if you're really interested, and you might have to jump on a place rather than taking your time to find the perfect place. Finding rentals in SF can be really competitive for that kind of price range but hopefully it won't be that bad for you since the economy is still pretty poor here.