Moving to Bay area from Ireland. (Chico, Dublin: rent, loft, house)

[beermonster]

Hi there,

I am moving to the bay area in 3 weeks from Dublin Ireland. I will be working in Redwood city, any of my new work mates that I have talked to have recommended that I look at SF.

Was thinking of looking around South San Fran. It will take me a while to get settled (transport wise) as I have to get a license and a bike. Just wondering if there are any areas to avoid around the cal train stations?

Any recommendations? Also I have seen some figures banded around for a *livable* wage. Coming from the Euro zone I have no comparison. Would around the 90k mark be excellent wages for a single male or good/bad/indifferent?

Thanks,
BeerMonster.

[sliverbox]

90k is admirable in the Bay Area. You won't be able to buy a home on that level. But rent in comparison in many parts of the area, like the East Bay is a steal, where you can rent a full sized house with a yard for 1/3rd the cost of buying a single room loft in San Fran. 90k will allow you to live fairly comfortably. You'll be pretty much middle class SF wise. By the way, I assume you like beer because of your handle. There are literally hundreds of microbreweries in California that probably never make it to Europe.

Look for these brands:
Anchor Steam ( actually made in SF)
Sierra-Nevada ( Chico CA)
Black Butte
Fat Tire (Boulder Colorado)
red Tail
Langunitas
Alaskan ( from Alaska)
Anderson

And... check out a chain of stores called Bevmo ( beverages and more)

Anyhow, lots of beer festivals too!

[Luke9686]

What about Hef??? The good old Hefeweisen (sp) My all time favorite!

[beermonster]

Thanks for the info.

Visited the HQ before, and yes I do like my beers, and was drinking Fat Tire, not a bad beer.

I was not sure when the offered me the package if it was good or not. Tried looking at some salary comparison sites, but they would tell you what your salary was like in SF compared to what ever US city you lived in at the moment.

Thanks again.
BM.

[sliverbox]

I would recommend you check out the bls.gov site. It is the US government Bureau of labor statistics site and it will give you a general breakdown of job, salary, and so on by state and locality. I'm not sure if you are looking at jobs nationally in the US, but one thing to always consider is that on a scale, SF in general is around 3 to 4 times more expensive than a majority of US metros with the exception of other classics like NYC and LA. For example, if you get a job offer for 60k in TX, that 60k will actually go considerably further than a 100k salary in SF. In some cases, some professions pay more in other areas simply because that industry might be more prevalent in that region.