Rent: I live on Nob Hill in SF. I pay $1950 for a big, nice one bedroom with a little office and a small private yard. (100sq feet.) When I signed the lease I was making good money so it didn't seem expensive. Since then I've decided to focus on my start-up full time, so now it does seem slightly pricey. (I only pay 50% though -- I'm coupled.) I've lived in New York and Seattle, and SF is nowhere near as expensive as New York and nowhere near as affordable as Seattle (in terms of renting, not buying).
Beyond rent, things are very affordable.
Transportation: cheap, cars are optional (I don't need one; I hate mechanics and oil changes and parking...). I get my groceries delivered and use ZipCar when I have to drive. This is a huge savings and a good reason to live in the heart of the city. Instead of a gym, I just walk up the hill everyday.
Healthcare: I'm on Cobra right now, but will qualify for SF City HealthCare for free soon, as I'll be making little money. This is a big reason to live in SF and not the peninsula. http://www.healthysanfrancisco.org
Entertainment: The most expensive thing I do is eat out with friends semi-regularly. However, I've found that for geeks, there are a ton of meet ups and other social events that are 100% free -- and they're usually the best way to have fun.
Other threads are noting the cost of rent in SF, but for me, the city health care coverage and not needing a car (or insurance, or gas, or parking) more than makes up for it.
$1950 per month for sure. For comparison, a similar Manhattan (NYC) one-bedroom (no yard, though) would be around $3000 (rents have fallen some since the peak). Decent source : StreetEasy.com
San Fran cheaper than New York? Brooklyn is I think fairly affordable. I live in Brooklyn and pay $1,100 a month for a pretty decent sized studio apartment.
For transport, I buy the unlimited Metro card, which means I pay $90 a month and can then travel as much as I want on both the subway and the bus. I think that is a reasonably good deal - $3 a day for unlimited travel anywhere in the city.
"I've lived in New York and Seattle, and SF is nowhere near as expensive as New York and nowhere near as affordable as Seattle"
Whoa really? With SF I have generally paid more for food, more for public transit (BART doesn't have an unlimited option plus MUNI and BART are two seperate entities while the MTA is one), and about the same in rent.
Granted, I live(d) in Brooklyn so the rent is definitely more affordable than Manhattan but the accessibility of public transit makes it far easier to live on the outskirts than my experience so far in SF.
I can second this. I lived in the Tendernob (not as nice as Nob Hill, not as crazy as the Tenderloin) a couple of years back and paid 1290/mo for a studio.
Though a studio, it was still a decent size and I was right up the road from a grocery store, used public transportation/bike and feel that besides rent, it wasn't too pricey.
I had moved from Austin, TX and when I added everything up (accommodations, car-related expenses, etc), SF was only a little more expensive.
Since most responses focus on SF or the peninsula, I want to add my 2c. Living in East Bay (Oakland or Berkeley) is also a good option. Rent in Emeryville/South Berkeley/North Oakland is cheaper than SF, but it's still easy to get to SF/Peninsula by BART.
We were renting a 1400sq ft 3 bedroom house in Emeryville for $1750/mo a couple years back, and a 700sq ft 1 bedroom apartment in South Berkeley for $750/mo before that. An 1800 sq ft house in Oakland rents for about $2200.
There's a lot of students in Berkeley, so it's also easier to find rooms/sublets than in SF, possibly. As far as public transit goes, it's a bit more painful than SF, but not too bad. My morning commute from Oakland to work in SOMA takes about 30 minutes - 10 minute walk, 15 minutes (2 stops) on BART, another 5 minute walk. No stress, no driving, no tolls, no parking fees ($3 dollars one way, versus $5 bridge toll, $20 for a day's parking downtown, and a couple bucks in gas you'd spend driving).
http://housingmaps.com/ (craigslist frontend) can give you a good idea about the price ranges around different locations in the Bay Area.
I've lived in Portland Oregon, Seattle Washington, Dallas Texas, and San Francisco as well as Silicon Valley and I can honestly say living in SF or Silicon Valley is way more expensive. Rent probably averages about $1700-$2300 for a decent one bedroom apartment and more for two bedroom per month.
Utilities are about the same everywhere you live. Public transportation is a bit spendier than every other city I've lived in (Caltrain and BART costs). Unsure about the Bus, it's probably comparable.
Sales Tax is ridiculously higher here than anywhere I've been. If you live in the city and eat out, expect an addition 3-4% health tax charged at most restaurants.
Parking sucks in the city. Street cleaning tickets of $53 to $103 dollars are VERY common. Expect to bankroll a ton of parking meters whether you live downtown or not or pay a lot in parking garages if you plan on using your car to get around the city.
Entertainment costs are also higher than most other places I've lived. A standard movie ticket here is like $11 or so up to $17 with IMAX per ticket per showing. That should give you a rough idea of cost.
Groceries and Household Shopping. I've compared cost of stuff like shampoo and what not to cost I use to pay outside of California and noticed that for the same size bottle or smaller, I am paying possible a couple dollars more even from the same store. So cost of goods is slightly more expensive here base on a few comparisons I've done.
That should give you a ROUGH estimate on how much things cost around here and what it would be like.
This all looks pretty cheap from my London-oriented eyes. Coming from Ireland, I'm used to the equivalent of sales tax being 21%; the UK having 17.5 seems low. A reserved seat (so you don't have to show up early) in my local cinema (Islington Vue) runs to 17.31 USD according to today's rates, and that's just an ordinary cinema, not IMAX. And of course the other side of the equation is the increased salaries (outside of banks etc. in London, anyhow).
Pretty cheap in mountain view. I pay around $600 for rent (2 bedroom with roommate). Food prices are actually comparable/cheaper than other places in the US. If you shop at those asian grocery stores, you can get similar produce at about half the cost that Safeway/Kroger would normally sell at. Price for a normal cheap dinner on Castro St is around $8-12.
If you're renting, Silicon Valley is actually comparable to the rest of the USA. When I lived in Atlanta, I paid around $500 for rent, but I had to drive a lot further to access public transportation.
That is a crazy price for anywhere in the valley. San Jose (not really SV) and further down have some cheap options, but I have yet to see anything at $1200.
Silicon Valley is actually comparable to the rest of the USA
Except anywhere in Palo Alto, and Atherton. The PA are is ridiculously expensive atm, because there are so many startups here again (both office space and living space).
PA is very nice but it is definitely an area where funded startups are over-paying for office space and accommodation. You can save a lot of money by going a bit south or north.
Which is why those suburbs - MV, Burlingame, San Mateo, etc. have seen a spike in prices as well. Last time I looked for office space SOMA was less expensive than almost anywhere on the peninsula.
You only play $1200 for a 2bdrm? I swear you must live in a different MV than I looked at. I'm paying more for a 1bdrm in Sunnyvale, and I moved there to save money.
This isn't credible at all. Two-bedroom in Mountain View for $1200? Please name the apartment complex you are living in. A one-bedroom in Mountain View is already on the extremely ghetto side. Decent places start at about $1400 for a one-bedroom.
I pay $800 for rent a month, have two roommates. But our apt complex is pretty good, with pool and BBQ area.
Food is not bad at all, esp if you stay away from frozen/processed foods and cook yourself. If you eat out, there's a couple cheap places on Castro that are about $8-15. However, that adds up quickly.
I've gotten by without a car, but it's a pain. What you save in money, you lose in time, so I just end up not going anywhere. When the caltrain is running, it's not too bad for getting up and down the peninsula, and having a bike helps.
Food is also a lot more expensive. You can mitigate this a lot by cooking all your own food and not eating out. Shopping from low cost markets like The Milk Pail http://www.milkpail.com/ will help a lot.
My recommendation for eating cheaply is to make sure to have good collection of spices. It costs a lot upfront (~$40-60) but it will allow you to subsist on really cheap food without going crazy. Living off rice and beans is a lot more fun and tasty when you can make masala rice.
If you have the space for it, grow an herb garden. Seriously. :) I never thought I would enjoy taking care of plants, but it's actually quite interesting. My latest addition is arugula, which so far seems super easy to grow and can provide an infinite amount of salads with little upkeep.
The Milk Pail is fantastic. Their produce is very inexpensive and because of the rapid turnover, the quality tends to be really good too. You can usually get great deals on cheese as well if you look for the sale items.
Also, there is Ditmars Gourmet Meats and Wurst-Haus around the corner and up San Antonio. While prices on their other items can be high, their sausages are cheap, made in house, and excellent.
The farmers markets are good too, and you can often find excellent deals on produce if you know where to look. I always liked the Menlo Park one (near the Trader Joe's) for a good balance of selection and affordability.
I pay 800$ for a single bed apt(~600-700 sq.ft) in Sunnyvale. Apartments which don't have gated community,pools,gym etc are cheaper. I realized I never used those anyway, so I moved to an apt which have none of these(but has covered parking). Usually these are smaller blocks of ~6 apts and older. There are plenty of those in south bay when I looked.
I live in the Mission and have a ~400 sq foot studio in a not-vintage building (~1970s) for $1600/month (includes $250/month parking spot). I'm 4 blocks from Safeway, Muni rail, Bart, my gym, 2 blocks from other Muni buses.
We rent at $2,200.00/mo for a 4/2 in south sj. That would be 3-3.5k in mountain view or cupertino, when we looked in August. If you time it right, you can find cheaper places. The absolute worse time to move (highest rents) is right before school starts.
Gas is $3.15/gal right now.
Food is ranges from 0%-15% more than the midwest (our comparison point). Shopping at local markets and farmers markets for produce will save you quite a bit.
Other chain stores and casual restaurants seem to cost slightly more than we were used to paying.
Any service that requires direct labor (gardening, cleaning etc) is going to be significantly more expensive than other metros, because the base cost of living is so much higher.
Food is ranges from 0%-15% more than the midwest (our comparison point).
Where in the Midwest did you use for this comparison? As far as I can tell from visiting, most grocery items cost my parents (near Chicago) 50-150% more than I pay for them (in Michigan).
silicon valley is way cheaper than SF, but it's much less friendly to people who don't have cars. If you live near a caltrain and you work for a major corporation, you can probably get away with not having a car (most major companies have company shuttles that go to the caltrain) but it will put a crimp in your social activities.
Silicon Valley is essentially suburb. You can pay as much as you want on the high end... on the low end, a room in a house or shared appartment in the "poor" parts of Santa Clara or Sunnyvale might be $650/month.
the upside, here, is that things near the train stops are generally cheaper. I rented a 2bed 1bath apartment right over the Lawrence express way caltrain in santa clara for $1250/month total ($625 per person.)
If you want to live alone, the low end is $800-$1000.
The interesting thing about the valley is that I don't know of any neighbourhoods south of east palo alto and north of San Jose that I'd feel uncomfortable walking around in at night. And most of San Jose is pretty okay, too, so don't be afraid of the low end.
Food? in the grocery store, as far as I can tell, it costs about the same as anywhere. If you go out to eat, well, fast food is about as cheap as it is elsewhere. If you want to eat at local non-chains, you are looking at $8-$15 per meal, which is a bit more, I think, than most places.
If I were moving here for the social scene, personally, I'd get a cheap shared room close to the hacker dojo in mountain view.
$300/month at palo alto hacker house if you don't mind roommates (who happen to be interested in startups too). i think i was paying ~$700/month at the mountain view hacker house.
It's probably hard to get critical mass, I'm looking for a flatshare in London at the moment and I've posted on my twitter to see if their were any startup folks with a spare room, and despite getting retweeted by some fairly prominent london startup people I didn't get much of a response.
If you can't pull a good response from twitter I'm not sure a dedicated site has any chance.
Definitely depends on where you'll be working and commuting from/to. Commuting is a big deal in my book.
My guide would be: if you work in the City, anywhere between SF and San Carlos is a good bet. You can avoid the morning commute by taking BART.
If you work on the Peninsula, there's Caltrain for getting around. And you can take BART as far as Millbrae. Some companies (notably Genentech) have shuttles that take people from the big transit stations to work, but YMMV.
Beware "The Oracle Mile". It's 1 mile North and South of Ralston Ave. on US-101. It is a parking lot every weekday between 8am and 9:30am. Evening commute also. I know some people have different experiences, but that's been what I run into most often.
Generally, in the Bay Area (at least West Bay), either get to work before 8 or after 10. Otherwise you'll be spending a lot of time with all your other happy morning commuters. :P
Places to live? If you can take the rent, the Peninsula is nice. Half Moon Bay is on the coast and works well if your work is close to the 92 freeway.
I wasn't a fan of living in Pacifica, but some people are. Not much to do there as it's mainly a commuter town.
I live in the mission and pay $1850/month for rent. One nice thing about living in the city is that utilities are pretty cheap. I pay about $100/month for everything. In Texas, electricity was at least twice that. Plus food isn't terribly expensive nor is transportation. In short, rent is terrible, but if you can make that, SF isn't too bad a place to live.
Just to ad a different perspective from a lot of the people on the list, family housing in Silicon Valley is MUCH more expensive than probably anywhere else in the country.
I just moved out here in August, from Boston. We left behind a decent house in a nice suburb with good schools, for which we paid a little under $600,000. When I bought that home a few years ago, it seemed incredibly expensive. Out here, a comparable property in the heart of Silicon Valley will run you at least $1 million, if not $1.3.
LOL how depressing. Guess I'll just have to live vicariously through the other posters. Lesson to the rest of you, get SV living out of your system before you settle down and have kids.
I'd try and avoid San Francisco. Yes,it's beautiful, and if you know the muni public transportation system you can get around easily without a car, but rents can be high (like $1300 for a studio apartment that isn't scummy). I'd look in Mountain View or Sunnyvale. If keeping costs low is very important, the northern part of San Jose probably has the lowest rents ($800-900 for a large studio / one bedroom appt) for an area near Silicon Valley. Palo Alto and areas north can be quite pricey.
Depends on whether or not you have a car. You won't be able to survive out in the suburbs, but you'll be fine in SF proper. If you have a car for free, then go for the suburbs, but if you have to buy one then the "savings" you get from living in the middle of nowhere might not be very high.
I visited Mountain View yesterday, and it was one of the most depressing places I have ever seen. It's the suburbs, but as expensive as a big city.
It all depends where you live. If you would like to live in the city (San Francisco), one bedroom or studio can go up as much as $2000 per month. If you are considering to move around Palo Alto/Mountain View, the rent becomes around 12-1500s. If you are considering Sunnyvale/San Jose, the rent becomes 1000ish.
If you are going to work at Mountain View/Palo Alto area, I highly recommend to live in Sunnyvale, because the rent isn't as expensive and it's not too far (5-15min drive on 101).
I used to live in Solano County, which is the cheap seats of the SF Bay Area. It is still the most expensive place I have ever lived but was a good bit cheaper than most of the rest of the Bay Area. There are more than 100 cities in the SFBA, so there is some flexibility on how expensive it is. You might try checking out bestplaces.net and city-data.com to get a better idea.
[+] [-] nostromo|15 years ago|reply
Rent: I live on Nob Hill in SF. I pay $1950 for a big, nice one bedroom with a little office and a small private yard. (100sq feet.) When I signed the lease I was making good money so it didn't seem expensive. Since then I've decided to focus on my start-up full time, so now it does seem slightly pricey. (I only pay 50% though -- I'm coupled.) I've lived in New York and Seattle, and SF is nowhere near as expensive as New York and nowhere near as affordable as Seattle (in terms of renting, not buying).
Beyond rent, things are very affordable.
Transportation: cheap, cars are optional (I don't need one; I hate mechanics and oil changes and parking...). I get my groceries delivered and use ZipCar when I have to drive. This is a huge savings and a good reason to live in the heart of the city. Instead of a gym, I just walk up the hill everyday.
Healthcare: I'm on Cobra right now, but will qualify for SF City HealthCare for free soon, as I'll be making little money. This is a big reason to live in SF and not the peninsula. http://www.healthysanfrancisco.org
Entertainment: The most expensive thing I do is eat out with friends semi-regularly. However, I've found that for geeks, there are a ton of meet ups and other social events that are 100% free -- and they're usually the best way to have fun.
Other threads are noting the cost of rent in SF, but for me, the city health care coverage and not needing a car (or insurance, or gas, or parking) more than makes up for it.
[+] [-] mdda|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lkrubner|15 years ago|reply
For transport, I buy the unlimited Metro card, which means I pay $90 a month and can then travel as much as I want on both the subway and the bus. I think that is a reasonably good deal - $3 a day for unlimited travel anywhere in the city.
[+] [-] jamesteow|15 years ago|reply
Whoa really? With SF I have generally paid more for food, more for public transit (BART doesn't have an unlimited option plus MUNI and BART are two seperate entities while the MTA is one), and about the same in rent.
Granted, I live(d) in Brooklyn so the rent is definitely more affordable than Manhattan but the accessibility of public transit makes it far easier to live on the outskirts than my experience so far in SF.
[+] [-] ebun|15 years ago|reply
Though a studio, it was still a decent size and I was right up the road from a grocery store, used public transportation/bike and feel that besides rent, it wasn't too pricey.
I had moved from Austin, TX and when I added everything up (accommodations, car-related expenses, etc), SF was only a little more expensive.
[+] [-] va1en0k|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mk|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wickedchicken|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lethargicpanda|15 years ago|reply
I guess that the database is the same (ie CraigsList)...
[+] [-] aeontech|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cincinnatus|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aeontech|15 years ago|reply
We were renting a 1400sq ft 3 bedroom house in Emeryville for $1750/mo a couple years back, and a 700sq ft 1 bedroom apartment in South Berkeley for $750/mo before that. An 1800 sq ft house in Oakland rents for about $2200.
There's a lot of students in Berkeley, so it's also easier to find rooms/sublets than in SF, possibly. As far as public transit goes, it's a bit more painful than SF, but not too bad. My morning commute from Oakland to work in SOMA takes about 30 minutes - 10 minute walk, 15 minutes (2 stops) on BART, another 5 minute walk. No stress, no driving, no tolls, no parking fees ($3 dollars one way, versus $5 bridge toll, $20 for a day's parking downtown, and a couple bucks in gas you'd spend driving).
http://housingmaps.com/ (craigslist frontend) can give you a good idea about the price ranges around different locations in the Bay Area.
[+] [-] _delirium|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] whatevers2009|15 years ago|reply
Utilities are about the same everywhere you live. Public transportation is a bit spendier than every other city I've lived in (Caltrain and BART costs). Unsure about the Bus, it's probably comparable.
Sales Tax is ridiculously higher here than anywhere I've been. If you live in the city and eat out, expect an addition 3-4% health tax charged at most restaurants.
Parking sucks in the city. Street cleaning tickets of $53 to $103 dollars are VERY common. Expect to bankroll a ton of parking meters whether you live downtown or not or pay a lot in parking garages if you plan on using your car to get around the city.
Entertainment costs are also higher than most other places I've lived. A standard movie ticket here is like $11 or so up to $17 with IMAX per ticket per showing. That should give you a rough idea of cost.
Groceries and Household Shopping. I've compared cost of stuff like shampoo and what not to cost I use to pay outside of California and noticed that for the same size bottle or smaller, I am paying possible a couple dollars more even from the same store. So cost of goods is slightly more expensive here base on a few comparisons I've done.
That should give you a ROUGH estimate on how much things cost around here and what it would be like.
[+] [-] barrkel|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frederickcook|15 years ago|reply
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0...
[+] [-] templaedhel|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] veemjeem|15 years ago|reply
If you're renting, Silicon Valley is actually comparable to the rest of the USA. When I lived in Atlanta, I paid around $500 for rent, but I had to drive a lot further to access public transportation.
[+] [-] bl4k|15 years ago|reply
Silicon Valley is actually comparable to the rest of the USA
Except anywhere in Palo Alto, and Atherton. The PA are is ridiculously expensive atm, because there are so many startups here again (both office space and living space).
PA is very nice but it is definitely an area where funded startups are over-paying for office space and accommodation. You can save a lot of money by going a bit south or north.
Which is why those suburbs - MV, Burlingame, San Mateo, etc. have seen a spike in prices as well. Last time I looked for office space SOMA was less expensive than almost anywhere on the peninsula.
[+] [-] Psyonic|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dasil003|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iamwil|15 years ago|reply
Food is not bad at all, esp if you stay away from frozen/processed foods and cook yourself. If you eat out, there's a couple cheap places on Castro that are about $8-15. However, that adds up quickly.
I've gotten by without a car, but it's a pain. What you save in money, you lose in time, so I just end up not going anywhere. When the caltrain is running, it's not too bad for getting up and down the peninsula, and having a bike helps.
[+] [-] niico|15 years ago|reply
Thanks
[+] [-] LeBlanc|15 years ago|reply
My recommendation for eating cheaply is to make sure to have good collection of spices. It costs a lot upfront (~$40-60) but it will allow you to subsist on really cheap food without going crazy. Living off rice and beans is a lot more fun and tasty when you can make masala rice.
[+] [-] nostromo|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] whyenot|15 years ago|reply
Also, there is Ditmars Gourmet Meats and Wurst-Haus around the corner and up San Antonio. While prices on their other items can be high, their sausages are cheap, made in house, and excellent.
[+] [-] teuobk|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bigbang|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PStamatiou|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] feverishaaron|15 years ago|reply
Gas is $3.15/gal right now.
Food is ranges from 0%-15% more than the midwest (our comparison point). Shopping at local markets and farmers markets for produce will save you quite a bit.
Other chain stores and casual restaurants seem to cost slightly more than we were used to paying.
Any service that requires direct labor (gardening, cleaning etc) is going to be significantly more expensive than other metros, because the base cost of living is so much higher.
[+] [-] kd0amg|15 years ago|reply
Where in the Midwest did you use for this comparison? As far as I can tell from visiting, most grocery items cost my parents (near Chicago) 50-150% more than I pay for them (in Michigan).
[+] [-] bearwithclaws|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lsc|15 years ago|reply
Silicon Valley is essentially suburb. You can pay as much as you want on the high end... on the low end, a room in a house or shared appartment in the "poor" parts of Santa Clara or Sunnyvale might be $650/month.
the upside, here, is that things near the train stops are generally cheaper. I rented a 2bed 1bath apartment right over the Lawrence express way caltrain in santa clara for $1250/month total ($625 per person.)
If you want to live alone, the low end is $800-$1000.
The interesting thing about the valley is that I don't know of any neighbourhoods south of east palo alto and north of San Jose that I'd feel uncomfortable walking around in at night. And most of San Jose is pretty okay, too, so don't be afraid of the low end.
Food? in the grocery store, as far as I can tell, it costs about the same as anywhere. If you go out to eat, well, fast food is about as cheap as it is elsewhere. If you want to eat at local non-chains, you are looking at $8-$15 per meal, which is a bit more, I think, than most places.
If I were moving here for the social scene, personally, I'd get a cheap shared room close to the hacker dojo in mountain view.
[+] [-] jmtame|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Psyonic|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] niico|15 years ago|reply
Like: Name, age, nationality, startup name, coding language, smoke? pets? girl/boyfriend?.
Same for people looking to share their officespace
[+] [-] ig1|15 years ago|reply
If you can't pull a good response from twitter I'm not sure a dedicated site has any chance.
[+] [-] samratjp|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] invertedlambda|15 years ago|reply
My guide would be: if you work in the City, anywhere between SF and San Carlos is a good bet. You can avoid the morning commute by taking BART.
If you work on the Peninsula, there's Caltrain for getting around. And you can take BART as far as Millbrae. Some companies (notably Genentech) have shuttles that take people from the big transit stations to work, but YMMV.
Beware "The Oracle Mile". It's 1 mile North and South of Ralston Ave. on US-101. It is a parking lot every weekday between 8am and 9:30am. Evening commute also. I know some people have different experiences, but that's been what I run into most often.
Generally, in the Bay Area (at least West Bay), either get to work before 8 or after 10. Otherwise you'll be spending a lot of time with all your other happy morning commuters. :P
Places to live? If you can take the rent, the Peninsula is nice. Half Moon Bay is on the coast and works well if your work is close to the 92 freeway.
I wasn't a fan of living in Pacifica, but some people are. Not much to do there as it's mainly a commuter town.
Just my 2c.
[+] [-] j_baker|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kd0amg|15 years ago|reply
About how expensive are groceries? Most of the posts here only really mention rent, which isn't enough to fully describe cost of living.
[+] [-] URSpider94|15 years ago|reply
I just moved out here in August, from Boston. We left behind a decent house in a nice suburb with good schools, for which we paid a little under $600,000. When I bought that home a few years ago, it seemed incredibly expensive. Out here, a comparable property in the heart of Silicon Valley will run you at least $1 million, if not $1.3.
[+] [-] hkarthik|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] whyenot|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jrockway|15 years ago|reply
I visited Mountain View yesterday, and it was one of the most depressing places I have ever seen. It's the suburbs, but as expensive as a big city.
[+] [-] Psyonic|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bkhl|15 years ago|reply
If you are going to work at Mountain View/Palo Alto area, I highly recommend to live in Sunnyvale, because the rent isn't as expensive and it's not too far (5-15min drive on 101).
[+] [-] niico|15 years ago|reply
The only time I would need to move from there would be, maybe to attend to a meetup, meeting, etc.
The question would be.
How do I move from side to side. Public transportation? Is it safe to walk at night (Past 10/11/12pm).
THanks
[+] [-] Mz|15 years ago|reply