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Re: San Francisco

#141

Post by bherms »

acdha wrote: post #17
bherms wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Taxes are pretty high, so making $100k w/ benefits, you take home roughly $63k/yr. Then factor in rent and utilities: 1br ($2500+/mo), 2br w/ roomie ($1800+/mo), 3br w/roomies ($1500/mo). So let's assume 2br. You walk away with around $40k/yr. Then take out transport, cell phone, random monthly bills like student loans, etc and you're down to $28k disposable. Take out food and random living expenses and you don'…

$70 a day for “food and random living expenses” is far from not having much left, particularly after your $12K for “transport, cell phone, random monthly bills like student loans” which is pretty generous. Sure, you can definitely spend that much but it's not like you need to have every single meal at a nice restaurant, go to bars every night, etc.

Very true, just speaking from first-hand experience. I'm trying to pay off all my (astronomical) student loan debt as fast as possible, so I'm putting around $1800/mo into loans alone. Factor in my biggest hobby is seeing live music and you'd be surprised how quickly money can go. I've cut back severely on my drinking/partying, but with the occasional trip home to see family, 401k contribution, loan payments, and more, I walk away with about $28k/yr for all other expenses (including food, transport, cell phone, random services like spotify and netflix, and fun). Keep in mind I also got rid of my car, don't have cable, and keep monthly recurring expenses pretty low. $28k sounds like a lot, but when food is about 30% more on average than most of America (just my estimate after being back in Indiana), sales taxes are higher, and everything costs more in general, it goes quickly. I'm adjusting my priorities as I get older, but my salary also goes up and I get closer to having no debt, so it balances out I think.

Re: San Francisco

#142

Post by paul9290 »

paul9290 wrote: post #126
skwirl wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose this outlook is related to where you grew up. To someone from the north, referring to DC as cold and snowy is preposterous. They had one bad year with snowfall a few years ago, but other than that winter they rarely even crack 10" in recent years, and even that usually comes over only a couple of days during infrequent storms. Their mean temperature is above freezing every month of the year.

On average in and around DC we see a blizzard every six years. The last awesome snow filled winter we had was the 2009 to 2010 season. We accumulated up to 80 inches of snow; fun stuff! San Fran weather is awesome, the amount of homelessness makes me sad though!

Ive lived in Baltimore, Philly, NYC and Nashville and never encounter the culture of homelessness that one experiences in San Francisco.

I know part of why it's like that is because of the weather.

Besides being bummed out by being surrounded by destitution the smell of destitution is just as bad.

Re: San Francisco

#143

Post by jusben1369 »

lobotryas wrote: post #88
ryanSrich wrote: post #80

Eh. They can keep it. • Average engineering salary in sf: 116K / year [1] • Average rent for a one bedroom: $2,700 / month [2] After taxes you're coming in around 72k / year - 32k / year for rent You'll have roughly 40k to play with. That may sound like a lot but factor in food, health care, travel, energy, internet, phone, and numerous miscellaneous expenses and you'll be hard pressed to save anything over 10k a yea…

You are forgetting the weather. DC winters: cold, snow, sometimes blizzard, have to scrape your car free from ice if you don't have indoor parking. SF winters: sometimes you have to put in a jacket and sometimes it rains. That's it. This is just one example of many. It's pointless to compare two cities on rent and cost of living alone. Now, if the extra 11k is worth the winter challenges to you then I'm happy. Person…

SF people have to stop quoting the weather. The summer's are miserable with fog. It's as annoying as snow or sleet.

Re: San Francisco

#144

Post by adw »

kryten wrote: post #51
adw wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF is way worse (I used to live in Finsbury Park, now live in the Mission).

Seriously? I lived in a crap hotel in Finsbury Park for a few weeks and it was a dive.

I was down nearer the Highbury end of things, but in terms of drugs/violence/random menacing on the streets SF is way sketchier.

Re: San Francisco

#145

Post by kaib »

bifrost wrote: post #5

> The coffee is very different than the Italian one I've heard this many times :) His point about SF lacking children is very very accurate. SF basically forces people with families out because its so expensive and the school situation is bad (your kids don't get to go to the neighborhood school). One of these days SF will wise up and at least fix the school problem, but until then the peninsula will get families and…

The comment on schools is incorrect. The school system changed a year back and now you have a very high chance of making it to your neighborhood school. This is both from reading the system description and first hand accounts from friends with kids going to Kindergarden.

Noe Valley is pretty nice and it's hard to say if it's more expensive than say Mountain View in the south.

Re: San Francisco

#146

Post by rdouble »

jusben1369 wrote: post #143
lobotryas wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are forgetting the weather. DC winters: cold, snow, sometimes blizzard, have to scrape your car free from ice if you don't have indoor parking. SF winters: sometimes you have to put in a jacket and sometimes it rains. That's it. This is just one example of many. It's pointless to compare two cities on rent and cost of living alone. Now, if the extra 11k is worth the winter challenges to you then I'm happy. Person…

SF people have to stop quoting the weather. The summer's are miserable with fog. It's as annoying as snow or sleet.

It's never very foggy east of Fillmore street, even in the summer. YMMV but SF weather is only miserable to people from LA.

Re: San Francisco

#147

Post by rdouble »

pfarrell wrote: post #107
Throwadev wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on lack of police? Have you been affected by the crime in Rockridge? I thought it was a pretty decent area the last time I visited.

Oakland has about 600 police officers for a population which requires around 1,100. There have been five robberies on my street in upper rockridge, where we rent. It's an incredibly beautiful neighborhood and we pay a pretty high rent to live there. In 2010, the police announced that for a long list of crimes (including burgularies) they will not come out. We have caught people casing our neighborhood, strangers sitt…

The abduction happened in Rockridge?

Re: San Francisco

#148

Post by subsystem »

spikels wrote: post #14
bifrost wrote: post #5

> The coffee is very different than the Italian one I've heard this many times :) His point about SF lacking children is very very accurate. SF basically forces people with families out because its so expensive and the school situation is bad (your kids don't get to go to the neighborhood school). One of these days SF will wise up and at least fix the school problem, but until then the peninsula will get families and…

Not a great place for raising a family: expensive, bad schools, disfunctional government, drugs on streets, and lots of crazies[1]. Pretty much everyone I have ever know who had kids in SF moved away within a few years. The demographics always reminded me of China where you did not see as many girls because of the one child policy. In SF children of both sexes (10% of population) are just missing: Persons under 18 (2…

Regarding [1], I'd be more worried that there's only one guy helping out.

Re: San Francisco

#149

Post by [deleted] »

jusben1369 wrote: post #143
lobotryas wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are forgetting the weather. DC winters: cold, snow, sometimes blizzard, have to scrape your car free from ice if you don't have indoor parking. SF winters: sometimes you have to put in a jacket and sometimes it rains. That's it. This is just one example of many. It's pointless to compare two cities on rent and cost of living alone. Now, if the extra 11k is worth the winter challenges to you then I'm happy. Person…

SF people have to stop quoting the weather. The summer's are miserable with fog. It's as annoying as snow or sleet.

[deleted]

Re: San Francisco

#150

Post by jusben1369 »

rdouble wrote: post #146
jusben1369 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF people have to stop quoting the weather. The summer's are miserable with fog. It's as annoying as snow or sleet.

It's never very foggy east of Fillmore street, even in the summer. YMMV but SF weather is only miserable to people from LA.

SMH. You know you're drinking the Kool Aid when you try and go neighborhood by neighborhood. SF is terrible, Oakland/Berkeley better but not much (Berkeley gets nailed by the finger coming straight in from the GG Bridge) If you grew up somewhere else where summer meant putting your coat away for 3 months then "Two blocks over here the wind is still biting but the sun is out" isn't much of a consolation. Now, if you hate heat, as some do, then it's wonderful. I just think SF has a fantastic climate April/May and Sept/Nov. Folks need to realize though that there are big trade offs living there. No beach and always needing to have warm clothes if you leave your house for more than a few hours in case the fog comes in.
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