If you can afford it, the SF Bay Area is the greatest place in the world (San Jose: condo, crime)

[JasonTaverner]

Seriously. I was born and raised in San Jose, spent time out of the country, state and whatnot. I have traveled to 45 of the 50 states, and have been to some great places, some ok places and some horrible places.

Believe me when I say that if you can afford it, the Bay Area is the greatest place in the world. Constantinople to NYC's Rome. The brain trust of the US.

Neighborhoods are diverse, crime is low, most people are educated and open minded, the food is great, dating is easy (you just can't be a jerk and expect people to treat you like a king because you have a degree,) and the weather is sublime.

The only complaint, other than the outrageous home prices, is the bubble. You get used to the bay area and when visiting some place with a bit more bigotry you are shocked people still think that way. You end up forgetting that so much of fly over America is stuck further in the past than the bay.

This is not to say there are no racists or homophobes in the bay area. It's just that we chased most of them to other places (e.g. Florida, Texas) during the 90s.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

It is a good place. But the greatest?

A few issues right off the top of my head:
- Transportation infrastructure (both public and roads) is at best a C+.
- The parochialism that you see between SF and every other community, between individual suburbs / inner ring communities, even between entire chunks of the area, is very juvenile and detracts from a regional spirit.
- It is at a dead end in the interstate highway system.
- The homeless problem.
- The cost of living.
- The decline of the middle income demographic segment.

There are some other great cities that have some of these issues but not all of them. That makes them great-er than our lovely Bay Area.

[04kL4nD]

Definitely NOT the greatest in the world, regardless of whether you can afford it or not. It does come close to what a lot of places in Europe have to offer, so there's that. But it's certainly not the best, and it's definitely not for everyone.

[Mordin]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

There are some other great cities that have some of these issues but not all of them. That makes them great-er than our lovely Bay Area.

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

Definitely NOT the greatest in the world, regardless of whether you can afford it or not. It does come close to what a lot of places in Europe have to offer, so there's that. But it's certainly not the best, and it's definitely not for everyone.

Agreed.

I was born and raised in San Francisco, relocated to the East Bay and currently live in the south bay. My parents are from the south (Georgia) and when I was a kid we used to drive cross country every summer to visit my relatives, so I have some exposure to other states.

As stated previously by the other two posters, the Bay Area is a nice place. But the "greatest place in the world?"

Far from it.

[bmw335xi]

I don't think so, I owned my condo outright, paid 100% cash, so $350 month for HOA, $300 month for property tax and $50 month for utility... $700 total to live here and I can't wait to move. I think the Bay Area is a great place, but it's not my cup of tea. Too much poverty, horrendous architecture and not enough to do (for me anyways). If money was no object and I wanted an urban city, I would choose New York City, Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, a few cities throughout Europe etc over San Francisco any day. If I were living in the more suburban cities in the Bay Area, there are A LOT more cities I'd rather live.

Overall, it's a great area, but definitely not the greatest in my opinion, not even close.

[sav858]

It's true, KPIX ingrained it in our heads during the 90's...

The best place on Earth calling KPIX - SFGate

[SageCats]

This is all a matter of opinion, really. I find that while SF is nice, many things here are very overrated. People have recommended places, restaurants, cafes, stores and have talked it up so much, that I was a bit underwhelmed at these places. I would say San Francisco is nice. I like it here but it is vastly overrated for what you get. I like NYC a little better. (The weather in NYC is horrendous compared to SF's weather.)

[samsara510]

I have lived in many places in the US and one location overseas. I would have to respectfully disagree. The Bay Area is one my least favorite places that I have lived. London, Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, NYC, Washington DC, Boston, and Chicago are all much nicer than San Francisco. I am actually amazed at how bad San Francisco is. I don't remember it being like this in the 90s.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by samsara510

I have lived in many places in the US and one location overseas. I would have to respectfully disagree. The Bay Area is one my least favorite places that I have lived.

I completely agree! I haved lived in 11 different cities and San Francisco is my least favorite.

Originally Posted by JasonTaverner

Believe me when I say that if you can afford it, the Bay Area is the greatest place in the world.

Its not even the greatest place in California!

[ccm123]

It's all a matter of what's important to you and what lifestyle you are looking for. I'm a Bay Area native that was schooled in SoCal and also lived in SoCal for 20+ years. Besides SoCal, I've traveled and stayed for period of time in 30 of the 50 US states and 18 foreign countries.

The Bay Area isn't the best place in the world I've been to, but there are a lot of nice things about it, which is why it is so expensive to live here (strong demand for housing is one variable). Working in technology sales, the job market is second to none and the connections I've made here through my professional life have helped me in countless ways. The diversity is a plus (although it presents it's challenges to communities also), the weather is phenomenal and the natural beauty is second to none. The open minded, educated population is certainly a big plus.

The drawbacks are the high cost of living, the crime, and San Francisco itself is pretty filthy. There are worse places to live.