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You mostly cannot move to Northern California and not double your housing costs. SF and SJ are 2 and 3 for highest cost of living in the country. The nicer subu
by rdouble 15y ago
You mostly cannot move to Northern California and not double your housing costs. SF and SJ are 2 and 3 for highest cost of living in the country. The nicer suburbs cost even more than living in the cities. Maybe you can find a cheap place in Fruitvale or Richmond. If those seem too scary check out what it would cost to live in Alameda and take the ferry. That said, I found everything in the east bay to be a major headache if you have to do any sort of dual duty between the valley and SF. I found that trading square footage for location was worth it, but your wife and pets may not agree.
- devs1010 15y agoWell, northern California is a large area, I've checked the area where I grew up (its along I-80, about 70 miles from SF but it would be an awful commute) and its only about 10-20% more to rent a house there than where I am now, but you're right, as far as I can tell, about the Bay Area proper doubling housing costs... and yeah, lol I've been through Richmond enough and know its not somewhere I'd feel comfortable living
- rdouble 15y agoAnything with a reasonable commute and a reasonable size will be in a dodgy neighborhood. If I had a flexible schedule and worked in SV I would choose to live down by Santa Cruz but that's not necessarily going to be cheap, either. If I was working in SF I would just live there and deal with the smaller space. You could also take a look at some of the unfashionable options like Daly City, Colma or South SF.