Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > District of Columbia > Washington, DC
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 08-22-2013, 09:37 AM
 
189 posts, read 361,368 times
Reputation: 248

Advertisements

I am looking at relocating from DC to the Bay Area California. Anyone here made a similar move? What has been your experience? How much more money should you be making to afford Nor Cal if say you make 90K here?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-22-2013, 02:40 PM
 
Location: SW King County, WA
6,403 posts, read 8,235,812 times
Reputation: 6575
I grew up in the DC area and I live in the Bay Area now. COL is pretty similar if you're single or DINK. If you've got a family, it's a totally different story- the suburbs of DC are far more affordable and you don't have to send your kids to private schools or spend $1M on a SFH. Living in SF will be a bit more expensive than living in the district, but not by a whole lot.

As far as living, I'd say the Bay Area is much more fun, scenic, and exciting. There's tons to do outdoors, the weather is much milder, and the people are friendlier and more laid back. I greatly prefer CA (pretty much anywhere in Coastal CA is more pleasant) to anywhere in the DC area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2013, 09:43 PM
 
339 posts, read 514,141 times
Reputation: 424
Living in SF is *far* more than DC.

I moved to the Bay Area from DC recently. I rented a nice, large, historic studio in Logan Circle for $1,375. For the same quality of studio in in the same quality of neighborhood in SF, my guess is you'd be shelling out $2,500-$3,000. This is why I live in Oakland, where I pay $2,500 for a 1 bedroom.

Having a family in the Bay Area is nearly impossible unless you're a doctor or willing to live in a terrifying neighborhood.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2013, 11:17 PM
 
Location: SW King County, WA
6,403 posts, read 8,235,812 times
Reputation: 6575
Sounds like you had a great deal on a place in DC and you're overpaying a lot in Oakland- not a really fair comparison.

I'm seeing lots of 1BR DC apartments in nice areas (Dupont Circle, Penn Quarter, etc) for $2500+ on Craigslist.

Like I said earlier, having a family is a different story. But if you want to live in the nice parts of DC proper, SF prices aren't a ton more (save for maybe SOMA, Russian Hill, and the super wealthy neighborhoods you couldn't afford on 90k anyway).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-26-2013, 12:26 PM
 
189 posts, read 361,368 times
Reputation: 248
Can anyone else chime in?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-29-2013, 02:30 PM
 
189 posts, read 361,368 times
Reputation: 248
Can anyone else chime in?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-30-2013, 08:11 AM
 
566 posts, read 1,549,719 times
Reputation: 466
I'm from Socal - big difference from Norcal, but still CA, and I do know Norcal well. Biggest difference to me is that people in CA are exceptionally warm and friendly. You rarely find the east coast cold shoulder. If you're from the east coast, you might have to get used to "bay area logic" - e.g. there's an overwhelming hatred of cigarettes, but marijuana is very much condoned. One of my young associates at work is from Berkeley, and I kid you not, he had never heard of Columbus Day because Berkeley long ago renamed the holiday "Indigenous Peoples Day" in honor of the Native Americans mercilessly massacred by European invaders. Outside of DC, the bay area is probably the 2nd most political place in the country (mainly liberal politics).

If you live on the peninsula, expect lots of gray, cool, and drizzly days. COL is so much higher in the bay area because of housing costs. DC is expensive, but you can still get a nice $200K house in Silver Spring and be less than 10 miles from downtown. In the bay area, anything that cheap would have a horrible commute, and traffic in an out of the city (especially on bridges) is awful. If you're a DINK couple, you'll probably find a COL that is not too different from DC, but once you have kids, expect costs to skyrocket. There are some good public schools in the last family neighborhoods (like Sunset or Richmond), but with family flight to the suburbs and astronomical housing costs, demographics are quickly changing.

If you like food, restaurants are infinately better than what we have in DC. There's a good amount of culture in terms of arts and museums, but patronage is probably changing. SF used to be CA's bastion of conservative old money, and I'm not sure how much SF's rich techies are interested in putting on a tux and going to the opera. If you work downtown in banking or insurance, you might be in the small minority of SF'ers who wear a suit and tie to work, but overall, things are much more casual than in DC.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > District of Columbia > Washington, DC

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top