Want to move to Bay Area... Need suggestions (San Jose, San Francisco: apartment, to rent)
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I live in Wisconsin currently and as soon as I graduate (From UW-Madison) I want to get the hell out and move to the Bay Area, which I find absolutely amazing. Problem is, I'm a history major and I haven't worked that much in college. Out of my 4 years in college, I will have only worked a shade over 2 with some volunteer work.
Could I realistically find a decent job in the bay are (40,000+, preferably?) I really want to live there. I could live in not great areas as long as they were safe and decent. I would ultimately like living near the BART, but this isn't necessary. Is Santa Rosa a nice town? I think it's about an hour north of San Francisco, and I would have no objections to living there other than I would really probably like to be in San Francisco every weekend.
Berkeley would be awesome too, as I eventually would like to go to graduate school there. (Madison is called "The Berkeley of the Midwest" on top of it, mainly for it's loony level of liberalism). I fear, however, that Berkeley is far too expensive for me. I lean toward Oakland, but I've heard horror stories, and one of my sisters friends boyfriends actually got randomly shot there walking home from a bar.
I really, really don't want to live in prefab, cut-and-paste, suburbia "Housing Communities" as Suburbia *cough* San Jose *cough* makes me throw up in my mouth.
Sorry for how discursively the e-mail is written.
Thanks for any help
Last edited by ComfortablyNumb; 01-28-2007 at 05:12 PM..
First, what type of job will you be looking for? History major... hmmmm... teaching? I'm in the educational field myself, as a librarian, and we're not that well-paid around here - but $40K should be possible! If you're looking into corporate/tech jobs, they pay quite well, anywhere from about $55-80K and up. I'd suggest looking on a bunch of job sites, like monster, hotjobs, americasjobbank, craigslist, and sfgate, to get an idea of what each industry pays (and how many openings there are).
As for where to live, I think you'd be happiest in Berkeley, Oakland, or the city of San Francisco. Santa Rosa is pretty nice, but definitely more on the suburban side, and it's one of the harder commutes to San Fran... BART doesn't go up that far, so you'd have to go by bus, car or ferry. Oakland & Berkeley are right on the BART line, which gets you to the city in under 30 minutes! They're both very cool towns, if you avoid the bad neighborhoods like East Oakland. I don't know them well enough to suggest specifics, but I've heard the northern parts are best... I love the neighborhood around UCB - very funky & cool - but I'm not sure about it's safety. In the city of SF, I'd look into the Richmond district, outer Sunset, SoMa (South of Market), Presidio, and Potrero Hill. Of course it depends on your budget, but these are somewhat mid-range & safe. Good luck!
CA. is an amazing place, for a lot of reasons. I am a 4h generation Cali girl, but I have to say, some of the most amazing parts about it are -- AMAZING how expensive it is, AMAZING how long you can sit in traffic to get from the East Bay (just thru the tunnel from Berkeley/Oakland) to get into SF, and AMAZING how many people have the same idea to go to Tahoe on a Friday morning as you! Santa Rosa is a nice town, but has gotten very large, and the 101 is the main artery going from there to SF/Oakland/Berkeley. Traffic there is a nightmare at almost any time! I love California, but we are so sick of sitting in traffic to get somewhere that should take 1/4 the time! BART is great if you live on a line and do not have to drive far to get to it, but it pretty much covers going into the city from Antioch,Fremont, and South SF. You're outta luck if you are in Santa Rosa. You could rent something in Santa Rosa, but in Berkeley/Oakland, ou will be struggling on $40K to rent and pay other expenses. I hate to be the wet blanket, but Madison is a great town with a great cost of living (albeit cold in winter!!). My husband and I lived in Chicago for a time and loved going to Madison. If I were you, I'd try to come out for an extended visit and get a better feel for what you could tolerate in terms of comute to work and cost of living. While I admit we do put out $1500/month on tuition (because the public schools in GENERAL aren't great -- depends on where you are), and have a house, we struggle while making much more than $40K. You could check it out -- if you are living and working in Santa Rosa, you might be ok. I wish you luck!
Madison is indeed a pretty neat city. Way too small for me, though. Good restaurants, nice scenery, nice people, but just way too small. Also, I'd argue the price of living is not that fantastic. I'm paying $850 a month for a 425-square-foot studio on campus. But if you move away from downtown prices are of course a lot better.
Would I be able to get jobs that pay over 50,000 a year with a history degree, do you think? I mean, I'd be okay with living somewhat meagerly as long as I could go out to some nice restaurants and whatnot. We shall see.
I don't want to sound ignorant here either, but I haven't been in San Francisco enough to tell. Is the dating scene in San Francisco okay for single heterosexual guys?
I have to say that $850/month for a studio sounds like a dream here. In Concord, which is through the tunnel from Oak/Berkeley (farther away from SF), you pay about $1200 minimum for a studio and $1800 for a 2 BR apartment. That is a 40 minute commute to SF on BART. Lots of people do it , but the drive is horrendous in rush hour. Again, lots of people do it, that's why the traffic is so bad! You can rideshare and save on the bridge wait and toll from here, though. There is NO way you will pay less than that in Berkeley, and you can't even find a place in SF that will approach that low (usually in the city proper it is hard to find a place unless you know someone who gives you a heads up, but it has gotten a bit better since the dot-com boom ended). It's worth a try as long as you are not stuck on living in SF for under $1500++ a month for a studio. There are lots of places surrounding SF for less, but still expensive compared to what you are used to paying. I'd guess that you could make $50,000 with a history degree, but that is not my field -- seems high to me for an entry level teaching job, but I do not really know for sure. And if you are open to just being within striking distance of SF, you have lots of options, just expensive in general. As for the dating scene, SF is not all gay scene -- there are lots of nightspots that are fun for straight people to go too! In fact, unless you really wanted to find a spot, you'd really have to hit the right neighborhood for a gay bar, and even so, there are some fun places to go in the Castro and have a drink if you are open to just that. The city is not ALL gay bars -- quite the opposite, and even so, it is so nice to be in a place where everyone pretty much just lets everyone be. Good luck with your decision!
I checked some studios in the area, and although they do go much higher than 850, they are usually more than a lowly 420 square feet. But obviously they are still much higher in San Francisco and the whole area.
I don't get all this "teaching" stuff; I am not getting an education degree and I will obviously not having a teaching license. I'm just a history degree because I plan on either going to grad school for Law or Urban Planning (probably the latter). Hopefully my dreams of living in the Bay Area aren't horribly quixotic.
I understand that you are going to grad school -- I guess I was not sure what you planned on doing with your History degree to make $50K while you were in grad school. I assumed you'd teach while going to school, but maybe there is something else you had planned on doing with that while attending school. Sorry for the assumption.
Hey kids -- been checking out this site for about a month - stuck in kansas city for too long and have thought about moving out to Cali for a few years. my best friend moved to L.A. about 5 years ago - -she LOVES it and I've been out to visit her -- LOVED it too but, think I'm more of a NO.Cal girl. She's "in the business" (kick-a** CG / special effects artist) so lives in W.L.A. /Hollywood and doesn't have to fight the traffic and makes killer $$, etc. My business is more industrial and I love the terrain in N.Cal. -- Without knowing yet what kind of $ I might be offered in my field out there, I'm thinking Santa Rosa/renting for starts (yr. or 2). How quick can I get to the shore on the weekends from there? decent beaches? semi-reasonable rents? (800-1400 for a 1 bdr) any input greatfully appreciated . . .
I understand that you are going to grad school -- I guess I was not sure what you planned on doing with your History degree to make $50K while you were in grad school. I assumed you'd teach while going to school, but maybe there is something else you had planned on doing with that while attending school. Sorry for the assumption.
No problem, it's not like I'm offended or anything. You were the second person to say teaching, so it just made me think that was actually a possibility. Is it? What kind of teaching did you mean?
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I'm in the educational field myself, as a librarian, and we're not that well-paid around here - but $40K should be possible! If you're looking into corporate/tech jobs, they pay quite well, anywhere from about $55-80K and up. I'd suggest looking on a bunch of job sites, like monster, hotjobs, americasjobbank, craigslist, and sfgate, to get an idea of what each industry pays (and how many openings there are). 
In the city of SF, I'd look into the Richmond district, outer Sunset, SoMa (South of Market), Presidio, and Potrero Hill. Of course it depends on your budget, but these are somewhat mid-range & safe. Good luck!
Hey kids -- been checking out this site for about a month - stuck in kansas city for too long and have thought about moving out to Cali for a few years. my best friend moved to L.A. about 5 years ago - -she LOVES it and I've been out to visit her -- LOVED it too but, think I'm more of a NO.Cal girl. She's "in the business" (kick-a** CG / special effects artist) so lives in W.L.A. /Hollywood and doesn't have to fight the traffic and makes killer $$, etc. My business is more industrial and I love the terrain in N.Cal. -- Without knowing yet what kind of $ I might be offered in my field out there, I'm thinking Santa Rosa/renting for starts (yr. or 2). How quick can I get to the shore on the weekends from there? decent beaches? semi-reasonable rents? (800-1400 for a 1 bdr) any input greatfully appreciated . . . 
