This is BS. A relative of mine has many rent-homes in the Fremont/Newark area, 3-4 bedrooms, nice homes in nice areas, for around $2k a month, including utilit

This is BS. A relative of mine has many rent-homes in the Fremont/Newark area, 3-4 bedrooms, nice homes in nice areas, for around $2k a month, including utilities. You don't have to live in Palo Alto or SF just because you work there. Places like Fremont/Newark/Hayward are 45 minutes to everywhere. 45 mins with BART to SF, less than 45 mins (w/ traffic) to Mtn View/Palo Alto/Sunnyvale, and 45 minutes to San Jose. That's a perfectly reasonable commute. If you really want to raise a family of 5 in the Haight, than that's awesome, but don't cry when your 140K household income isn't enough to give each kid a room AND still have a covered spot to park the M3. Moving to the Sunset is just kidding yourself, since the commute to downtown is going to be just as it would be if you moved to the 'burbs.