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Is San Francisco representative of metropolitan US cities? In my experience everything is expensive here in SF. In Toronto, I could get relatively nice (warm) m
by lhorie 7y ago
Is San Francisco representative of metropolitan US cities? In my experience everything is expensive here in SF. In Toronto, I could get relatively nice (warm) meals around my office for nearly half of what an average one costs around SF financial district.
- adventured 7y agoThe short answer is: absolutely not. San Francisco could hardly be any further away from being representive of the average major US city. Any use of San Francisco as a comparison point, as though it represents the US well, is going to end up comical far more often than not.
- jrockway 7y agoSF feels a lot like every other major city to me. Do you think New York, Chicago, and LA have low costs of living? They're expensive too. What surprises me about the Bay Area, though, is how expensive the suburbs are. I remember seeing apartments in downtown Mountain View that were $3000/month for one bedroom. Now that's insane and I don't think that happens anywhere else in the world.
- inferiorhuman 7y agoSF feels a lot like every other major city to me. Do you think New York, Chicago, and LA have low costs of living? They're expensive too. The cost of living in San Francisco is dramatically higher than New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. What surprises me about the Bay Area, though, is how expensive the suburbs are. I remember seeing apartments in downtown Mountain View that were $3000/month for one bedroom. Now that's insane and I don't think that happens anywhere else in the world. Right, and you can find one bedrooms in the "outer" boroughs for well under that. Perhaps not for much longer, but still.
- OldHand2018 7y agoI don't think you'll find places like this in San Francisco (or New York, for that matter) https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1430-S-Michigan-Ave-60605/unit-301/home/12733808 https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1430-S-Michigan-Ave-60605/... ~$250k for a 1BR 3 blocks away from Trader Joes and the subway station and many bars and restaurants and parks. The walk/train/bike scores are all >90, so a car isn't needed even though a parking space is included (you could rent it out!). San Francisco is expensive.
- pchristensen 7y agoTo be fair, Chicago is inexpensive by coastal standards, not just SF. Prices comparable to Philly, not DC, Boston, NY, etc.
- inferiorhuman 7y agoYou're not going to find something for $250k within 2–3 hours of San Francisco.
- rconti 7y agoYou're not wrong about the suburbs in the valley being expensive; that said, downtown mountain view is a very walkable 'city', and is just a couple of miles from one of the region's largest employers (Google). In general, it's expensive all up and down the peninsula specifically, because there's not all that much land, not much multi-unit housing, etc.
- hanniabu 7y agoI'm from the east coast and I think it's representative. You can pay $8-$12 for a sandwich that's very unappealing and mostly bread.
- bobthepanda 7y agoAs a counterpoint, New York deli/bodega/sandwich cart culture is still extremely strong, and unless you‘re eating a premium sandwich like a lox and cream cheese bagel, can definitely be had for $5 or under
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago>Is San Francisco representative of metropolitan US cities? No. It's not even representative of the ones on the west coast. It is an outlier in most regards.
- Scoundreller 7y ago> In Toronto Give it time. A lot of the hole-in-the-wall ethnic places probably won't continue to exist. I wish the city wasn't so harsh on food trucks...
- rcfox 7y agoActually, I've been using Ritual daily for the past few years in Toronto and it's been pretty interesting to see new small restaurants pop up around my home and office.
- BeetleB 7y agoI have no idea what the cost of sandwiches are in SF. But in my city (much lower COL), the complaint is the same. Pre-made sandwiches are crap. If you order a sandwich at a proper store it's probably $8-10.