Might be moving to San Francisco... (Oakland, Marina: sales, apartments, for rent) - San Francisco - Oakland - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

bldr0720 · 12-26-2010, 09:58 PM

Hello everyone, I appreciate your help and suggestions, etc.

I received a job offer to move to San Francisco, is 70k enough for a single young guy to live in San Francisco? I also have the potential to get a 30% bonus as well...

The job is located at Pacific and Sansome and I have been looking for one-bedroom apts in nob hill, Russian hill, etc areas. Are these good ares to live? Any other suggestions?

Any other comments, suggestions, pointers would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

James

bmw335xi · 12-26-2010, 10:17 PM

$70k is a good salary for a SINGLE person even in San Francisco.

Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Telegraph Hill, Marina, Pacific Heights, North Beach are some of the nicest areas of San Francisco.

Congratulations, I'm sure you'll love it.

llowllevellowll · 12-26-2010, 10:29 PM

James, 70k is a terrific starter salary anywhere, even in the Bay. Congratulations.

My wife originally moved to the Bay on 75k and my salary was rather minuscule as I was finishing up my undergrad education, so most of my time was dedicated to schooling and not working and we made it work just fine - you'll be fine! Granted, we didn't live in San Francisco proper, but in the East Bay, which is considerably cheaper. More accurately, you can at least get a lot more for your money.

The area you're looking around - Nob Hill, Russian Hill, North Beach, Pacific Heights, Marina, Cow Hollow, etc, is anywhere from very nice and highly desirable to extraordinarily affluent.

If that's all your mainly interested in - is whether or not it was safe, etc, then that's the easy part. But if you're also looking at other options in the Bay, then let us know what type of budget you are hoping to stay in when you consider monthly rent, parking and/or public transit (will you have a car with you?) and a lot of people in this forum are very knowledgeable and helpful.

Good luck / Congratulations!

bldr0720 · 12-26-2010, 10:42 PM

Wow, thanks for the quick response and all the congratulations! I am excited, but nervous as well. I am coming from Texas/Oklahoma; I just finished my Master's in Oklahoma, but am from the Dallas area.

Yes, I just want to make sure I know what is safe, good areas, etc. I am not looking to spend over 1500 or so for rent, and I will have a car. Thanks again for the great help!

mayorhaggar · 12-26-2010, 11:08 PM

That is a pretty good salary in SF for someone just out of grad school, you'll be fine so long as you don't expect to be able to afford a 3 bedroom house with a giant yard, and are fine with living in an apartment in SF.

Russian Hill and Nob Hill and North Beach are fine and close to your job, they can be expensive though and parking can be hard. You can pay for a private parking space like in a garage or whatever but that is like $200 a month. Other areas that are further out which would have slightly easier parking would be Pacific Heights, Lower Pacific Heights, the Marina, the Mission, Noe Valley, etc. It can still be really hard to park in these areas, it's hard to park on the street anywhere except the outer parts of SF.

If parking is really a concern you could check out the East Bay, it's easier to park there and is cheaper, and it's about 20 minutes on BART from say Oakland to downtown SF.

A very basic and possibly run down 1 bedroom in any of the areas listed so far would be around $1400 and up, but you can pay more to get a nicer place. A studio might suit your budget better and would be around $1100 to $1200 for a nice one in a good location.

jade408 · 12-27-2010, 12:14 AM

FYI: good coffee is available at the Jackson Place Cafe (I would imagine you are in that building or across the street.) Anyway it is run by a friendly italian couple. They brew blue bottle, execution is a bout a 7 but the mochas are awesome there. Also good food, largely organic.
Jackson Place Cafe - Financial District - San Francisco, CA

andyadhi01 · 12-27-2010, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bldr0720

Wow, thanks for the quick response and all the congratulations! I am excited, but nervous as well. I am coming from Texas/Oklahoma; I just finished my Master's in Oklahoma, but am from the Dallas area.

Yes, I just want to make sure I know what is safe, good areas, etc. I am not looking to spend over 1500 or so for rent, and I will have a car. Thanks again for the great help!

At less than 1500 any apartment in SF will be a complete dump. Coming from Dallas, even the very expensive apartments in SF might look like a dump. At 1500, you are looking at studio or small one bedroom in a bad part of SF with no amenities (dishwasher, washer/dryer, central heat etc.). Figure paying at least 150/month for parking on top of your rent. SF also has horrible weather throughout the year compared to Dallas. Forget about sunny weather and warm days. You are never gonna get it in SF. I am sorry to tell you that with 70K salary you will have a pretty ordinary life in SF. You will be FAR better off with 40K income in Dallas and enjoy life more. I moved here from Dallas and know what the reality is. Don't let the hype about SF fool you into making a disastrous move.

andyadhi01 · 12-27-2010, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bldr0720

I received a job offer to move to San Francisco, is 70k enough for a single young guy to live in San Francisco? I also have the potential to get a 30% bonus as well...

While that's not a bad salary, do note that the crazy high income taxes and sales taxes will seriously eat into that income. The cost of living is way higher in SF than the cost of living calculators predict. For a similar living standard, the cost of living in SF is at least 3 times higher than Dallas. So count on your lifestyle being very basic at that income in SF. Any decent livable one bedroom apartment in a low crime part of SF will be at least 2000 or more. Or you can choose live in the horrid weather in western SF and pay a little less.

I strongly advise you to move only if this job opens up long term good career prospects for you. IMHO, the high cost, bad weather, unfriendly/rude people and a superficial/materialistic culture makes SF a pretty bad place to live for anyone coming from TX.

808islandstyle · 12-27-2010, 12:52 AM

^^^^^^^ wow great way to generalize a whole area with a blanket statement about SF. "unfriendly and rude people"

really? maybe its just because your so use to seeing mainly whites and blacks in texas you dont like the idea of a majorly diverse city....go back to texas if you dont like the bay.

oh, or maybe you can go over to oakland and see how "unfriendly" the people are on that side....you moron.

andyadhi01 · 12-27-2010, 01:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 808islandstyle

^^^^^^^ wow great way to generalize a whole area with a blanket statement about SF. "unfriendly and rude people"

really? maybe its just because your so use to seeing mainly whites and blacks in texas you dont like the idea of a majorly diverse city....go back to texas if you dont like the bay.

oh, or maybe you can go over to oakland and see how "unfriendly" the people are on that side....you moron.

Although your post doesn't deserve a comment let me tell you something. First, SF is not diverse. It's whites and Asians who act and talk exactly like the whites. This is not the place where first generation immigrants or people of color from other parts of US show up. Second, TX is heavily hispanic. So how did you miss that?? Also whether you like it or not, compared to people in TX people in SF (not entire bay area) are not only rude they are more like outright a**holes! Calling them 'rude' is actually my attempt to be polite-