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Saying even a studio will work, well, I have no clue what you are living in not, but studios can get pretty tiresome and crowded after a while.
Speak for yourself. I've lived in 2 (decent sized with full kitchens) studios the last 8 years and I LOVE them (although my bf wishes I'd get a bigger place...but he's not willing to subsidize my rent ) I make around what the OP makes. Studios or roommates are where it's at at the 50K income level.
When I last lived in sf in 2002 (11 yrs ago), I made 49,500 and took home about 2,700/month (give or take a hundred maybe).
You all are saying that with a shared roommate situation, (which I see many for under 1,000, i've even seen Treasure Island share for $600 even recently), you dont think a person could live some sort of good life? Not everybody is contributing a huge amount to 401k or has a car, but spending about 1k on rent (shared) and having almost 2k left over for the month, seems like a GOOD situation to me! (I dont need much I guess).
I'm just curious how many of you who answer these questinons actually know and perhaps even live the lifestyle the person may want to live. Growing up in SF during the 80,90s, it always had this sort of bohemian lifestyle with people sharing. I know SF has changed, but it always has. I cannot imagine not being able to eek out some sort of life in that pay range.
Well I make just over 45K and I live in SJ and am able to walk to work. I have never made a lot and I did the roommate thing from age 26 to 35. While I tend to think having roommates for a couple of years in a place close to where the OP works is the best option....I know very few people would be willing to have roommates for 8.5 years like I did. And to be truthful, my social life DID suffer as a result. Socking away a lot for retirement was a major goal of mine. Most people don't get serious about retirement savings until they are 40 or older, at which point they are probably not going to have enough saved.
SF is MUCH more expensive for rent than other parts of the Bay Area. It seems to me prices of other items up there are higher as well. On the OPs income, I don't think living in SF is going to be a very good existence. Since the 1990s, SF is much less bohemian, and much more consumerist/yuppie.
Also, you should remember health insurance premiums have skyrocketed since 2002. Everything else has gone up in price as well.
When I last lived in sf in 2002 (11 yrs ago), I made 49,500 and took home about 2,700/month (give or take a hundred maybe).
You all are saying that with a shared roommate situation, (which I see many for under 1,000, i've even seen Treasure Island share for $600 even recently), you dont think a person could live some sort of good life? Not everybody is contributing a huge amount to 401k or has a car, but spending about 1k on rent (shared) and having almost 2k left over for the month, seems like a GOOD situation to me! (I dont need much I guess).
I'm just curious how many of you who answer these questinons actually know and perhaps even live the lifestyle the person may want to live. Growing up in SF during the 80,90s, it always had this sort of bohemian lifestyle with people sharing. I know SF has changed, but it always has. I cannot imagine not being able to eek out some sort of life in that pay range.
It really all depends on your expectations. But take home pay at $50K is more like $2600 after things like health care/401k and taxes.
Take away 1000 for rent. Then another $100 for a bus pass. $200 for food. $200 for sundries. $250 for saving. You are left with about $700 to use. Take away $80 for your smart phone. $30 for internet. $20 for electricity. Maybe yoy have modest student loans, there goes another $250. Down to about $300 of money left. For fun. Other expenses. Etc. It is pretty tight.
Do able if you are single and you have limited debt and other expenses. But if you have debt, a car, medical expenses.....it is pretty impossible.
When I last lived in sf in 2002 (11 yrs ago), I made 49,500 and took home about 2,700/month (give or take a hundred maybe).
You all are saying that with a shared roommate situation, (which I see many for under 1,000, i've even seen Treasure Island share for $600 even recently), you dont think a person could live some sort of good life? Not everybody is contributing a huge amount to 401k or has a car, but spending about 1k on rent (shared) and having almost 2k left over for the month, seems like a GOOD situation to me! (I dont need much I guess).
I'm just curious how many of you who answer these questinons actually know and perhaps even live the lifestyle the person may want to live. Growing up in SF during the 80,90s, it always had this sort of bohemian lifestyle with people sharing. I know SF has changed, but it always has. I cannot imagine not being able to eek out some sort of life in that pay range.
It's possible. People on city-data have different ideas of what they want out of life that others may not agree with. Since I don't think income should be a huge secret, I'll explain a bit. I make $59,000 per year. I live in Berkeley and pay a rent of $775 per month for one bedroom in a spacious two-bedroom apartment. I own a cat. I don't own a car, getting around on my bicycle. I contribute 12% pre-tax to a 401(k) and automatically deposit $867 a month into my housing down payment fund. I had about $100 per month in student loans, which I just paid off.
Frankly, I feel rich. I don't buy a lot of stuff, but my purchases are high quality. I have no trouble going out to the restaurants and bars that my considerably higher-paid friends frequent, and don't really hesitate to eat lunch out. I rent cars during the weekend frequently, allowing me to get out to the mountains often. I've been to Tahoe numerous times this season, and have several backpacking trips planned for the warmer months. I visited my sister in Aspen last winter for over a week. It's a damn good life, and this is all while funneling away $867 per month. Granted, $59,000 is more than $50,000, and SF is pricier than Berkeley, but take away that down payment savings to pay a little more in rent for SF and still have a really nice life.
I hope this doesn't come off as a brag, just a reality check on the assumptions about needing some lavish salary just to make ends meet around here.
It's possible. People on city-data have different ideas of what they want out of life that others may not agree with. Since I don't think income should be a huge secret, I'll explain a bit. I make $59,000 per year. I live in Berkeley and pay a rent of $775 per month for one bedroom in a spacious two-bedroom apartment. I own a cat. I don't own a car, getting around on my bicycle. I contribute 12% pre-tax to a 401(k) and automatically deposit $867 a month into my housing down payment fund. I had about $100 per month in student loans, which I just paid off.
Frankly, I feel rich. I don't buy a lot of stuff, but my purchases are high quality. I have no trouble going out to the restaurants and bars that my considerably higher-paid friends frequent, and don't really hesitate to eat lunch out. I rent cars during the weekend frequently, allowing me to get out to the mountains often. I've been to Tahoe numerous times this season, and have several backpacking trips planned for the warmer months. I visited my sister in Aspen last winter for over a week. It's a damn good life, and this is all while funneling away $867 per month. Granted, $59,000 is more than $50,000, and SF is pricier than Berkeley, but take away that down payment savings to pay a little more in rent for SF and still have a really nice life.
I hope this doesn't come off as a brag, just a reality check on the assumptions about needing some lavish salary just to make ends meet around here.
This is good feedback, and it is true that one can make it with frugality and a willingness to make some sacrifices (I, like you, make it on a similar salary, and can attest to the ability to still save/have fun/enjoy life).
However, I do think it is important to point out that for a lot of people making it in these types of situations, it was made possible by pre-2013 rental prices. It is still possible to find cheap rents, but it is becoming REALLY difficult to get the super cheap stuff (especially if you want to be in a decent area). Rents these days are just at asinine levels...it's always been expensive here, but it's just out of control now. Just check out craigslist...to get a 2br in a decent (or even semi-decent) area it is gonna definitely put you above 2k-2.5k (and if we're talking SF, at least 2.5k, more realistically 3k, 4k, or even higher)...this really starts pushing the limits of that 50k salary, even if you have a roommate.
It is definitely still is possible to make it here on little (many people do), but it's definitely getting harder as time goes by. I really do feel for people moving to the area these days...these apt rents in the area are ridiculous. It really wasn't that long ago that rents were at decent levels (~before 2011)...the last few years have been pretty crazy.
This is good feedback, and it is true that one can make it with frugality and a willingness to make some sacrifices (I, like you, make it on a similar salary, and can attest to the ability to still save/have fun/enjoy life).
However, I do think it is important to point out that for a lot of people making it in these types of situations, it was made possible by pre-2013 rental prices. It is still possible to find cheap rents, but it is becoming REALLY difficult to get the super cheap stuff (especially if you want to be in a decent area). Rents these days are just at asinine levels...it's always been expensive here, but it's just out of control now. Just check out craigslist...to get a 2br in a decent (or even semi-decent) area it is gonna definitely put you above 2k-2.5k (and if we're talking SF, at least 2.5k, more realistically 3k, 4k, or even higher)...this really starts pushing the limits of that 50k salary, even if you have a roommate.
It is definitely still is possible to make it here on little (many people do), but it's definitely getting harder as time goes by. I really do feel for people moving to the area these days...these apt rents in the area are ridiculous. It really wasn't that long ago that rents were at decent levels (~before 2011)...the last few years have been pretty crazy.
Yeah, though I was trying to convey that I'm not even frugal. Live without a car and with roommates and you can do all sorts of things without even feeling pinched. And just glancing at craigslist there are a lot of listings, even in the trendiest neighborhoods, at $1,200 and below, so it seems like the numbers you're putting out there seem too high.
That said, if you're looking to live alone, good luck. I'm at an age now where it starts to be more important to have your own place, and I had planned to move to SF just to experience the life there, but dragged my feet on it and then rents jumped up. Finding a studio near BART (a requirement) for $1,500 or less proved nearly impossible. Except Balboa Park, I guess, but then what would the point be of moving to the city?
Yeah, though I was trying to convey that I'm not even frugal. Live without a car and with roommates and you can do all sorts of things without even feeling pinched. And just glancing at craigslist there are a lot of listings, even in the trendiest neighborhoods, at $1,200 and below, so it seems like the numbers you're putting out there seem too high.
Numbers were for 2br apts from a craigslist search from yesterday. 2br apts in SF, especially trendy areas (mission, castro, noe valley, soma/mission bay, pac heights, marina, etc), are gonna run you at least 2.5k, and probably more often above 3k-4k. You could get that 2br 2.5k apt and split with a friend, but you'll be competing with A LOT of people. You could also look at rooms available option (which I'm guessing is what you were looking at), and yeah there are still semi-cheap options around. But even then most of the cheap stuff isn't really in trendy areas (mostly sunset/richmond). And as prices keep going up/stay high for a while, more people with market rate apts (see above) will start charging more for roommates.
My brother's g/f's sister just moved to SF and it took her months to secure a place. She had a temporary (illegal) in law apt way out in the outer sunset until she found something permanent, but it took her forever. She kept getting beat out by the 100 other applicants for those low-end apts in trendy areas...and she makes above 65k (so, not poor)...I offered her to live with me in san mateo (near where she works, mind you), but the idea of not living in the city was foreign to her...anyway, she finally got something in a borderline area of the mission with a few random roommates. Just an example of what it is to make it in the city today.
I obsiviouly don't think it's impossible to move to the Bay Area (see my comment a few pages back), but I do think it is necessary to put an "*" next to any story about making it here on little because a lot of these "success stories" (if you will) were made possible by significantly lower rental prices. For instance, if I moved here today on my salary, I wouldn't even be able to even live in a 1 mile radius of where I live now...and my living situation/quality of life would be significantly reduced. I'm lucky I found something in 2010. All I'm saying is that's it getting harder to make it here as prices soar higher. It can still be done, you just gotta work harder/sacrifice more for it, especially in SF.
I hope this doesn't come off as a brag, just a reality check on the assumptions about needing some lavish salary just to make ends meet around here.
Nah, you just sound like a young person without family happy to have a roommate and no car. /shrug
Do that with 2.5 kids and a dog and I'll be impressed. (partial credit for ya for the cat.)
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) I make around what the OP makes. Studios or roommates are where it's at at the 50K income level.
(partial credit for ya for the cat.)
