I made the move over 4 years ago now (wow). Quite honestly, you can only do so much pre-planning before you you arrive. Really, you gotta spend time here and

I made the move over 4 years ago now (wow). Quite honestly, you can only do so much pre-planning before you you arrive. Really, you gotta spend time here and work out what works best for you. On where to live, quite often it comes down to price. Check housingmaps.com to see what a 1BR works out with in different parts of the town and compare to your budget. You might want a different living arrangement if you are up for sharing and/or want to run a business from home. 2. AirBNB and other couch surfing sites. Do know anyone in SF - staying with them will help you get to know the city quicker than staying on your own. Honestly, I lived here for over a year before I really got to know anyone who had spent time living in the city for sometime (most of the other people I was working with also moved in recently at the time). Point is, I learnt so much more about the city once I spent time with being who had lived here for 5 years+. Also be aware we have a large homeless population, and so as those folks pull themselves out of homlessness, the hostels and residence hotels are their half-way-house/first foot on the ladder. You might not want this to be your first experience of SF. 3. Check Plancast, Facebook events, Meetup.com for SF 4. I could write a book on this subject, gosh... * Consider up front whether you want to run a car or not (I assume you do now living in Mid West) - and price in your budget and where you live accordingly. * SoMa is a great to live because it's close to startups and lots of amenities... but it's not a "neighborhood" in the true sense, dangerous + skuzzy in the middle (5th - 12th streets) and when I lived there I'd go for weeks without ever leaving the area. So consider whether you really want to work + live in the same place. * ...Assuming you are not going to live in SoMa, consider what kind of person you are - as the other neighborhoods very much cater to different types of personality. For every person who tells you to live in Mission (hipsters living in grittyness) you'll find someone who'll tell you to live in Marina or Pac Heights (LA-wannabe party scene in more up-market living). If you fit into one of those personality types you probably won't want to live in the other, etc. * Getting a network of friends + contacts going is really important. I actually spent 6+ months doing this BEFORE I moved here by visiting back and forth (from London, UK no less). * Don't live in Tenderloin or Bay Shore (dangerous) and while Richmond and Sunset areas are much cheaper, they're so far out from anything. (sorry if the above is kinda random and all over the place. Honestly, I've written this out several times - have you tried searching for other threads on this subject?)