What is the best/most affordable neighborhood in the Bay area and why?? (San Francisco: apartment, rental)

[Sparks311]

I recently accepted a job offer in downtown San Francisco. I'm from Minneapolis and the cost of living is much less here. If you were to move anywhere in the Bay area that was affordable where would it be? I don't care about commute as long as I'm close to the BART.

[gone down south]

SF affordable, or Minneapolis affordable?

[ssmaster]

affordable means different things to different people. how much money do you want to spend?

[mdwstrnkid]

I'm from the Twin Cities too and like the other two posters mentioned, affordability is relative. A couple of things to note:

1) BART only covers a small part of the Bay Area, so living close to BART means that you are limiting yourself to areas served by BART.

2) If you've read other recent threads, you'll see that rental rates have skyrocketed in many places around the Bay Area, especially in SF. Even if you are prepared to pay more for housing, you still might be in a shock moving from the Twin Cities.

[Sparks311]

Thanks for everyone's input. I know that I'm gonna have to spend more then what I pay for my apt in Northeast now which is $750. I'm trying to keep it around $1000 a month, which I know I won't find anything in San Francisco for that unless I room with someone and even for that what I have found is pretty minimal. I'm thinking of more like across the bay. Are there nice more affordable spots around Oakland? Berkeley? I've seen my dollars go alot further in areas like Walnut Creek too.

[mayorhaggar]

Berkeley is expensive if you get an apartment but it's pretty cheap if you live with roommates. Oakland is like $1000 to $1400 now for a 1br in most nice areas, a studio would be about $800 to $1000. Walnut Creek is similar in price, maybe a bit cheaper. Somewhere like Concord, San Leandro, Pittsburg, Martinez etc are cheap but have seedy areas.

[gone down south]

Presuming that you're a single person, no pets, no car? What kind of environment do you want - urban, suburban? Nightlife? Walkable neighborhood important to you, or are you OK with car-centric suburbia?

[04kL4nD]

West Oakland 8)

[80skeys]

You won't be able to find a 1bdrm for $1000 anywhere on the Peninsula.
Maybe Oakland.

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

You won't be able to find a 1bdrm for $1000 anywhere on the Peninsula.
Maybe Oakland.

You can, but it would only be in East Palo Alto.