San Fran is so expensive, some tech companies can't convince employees to move

Costs indicate it is full. Going there is like going to Disneyland when it is over occupancy, too expensive and not enough efficiency at that scale to have a good time. The housing&#x2F;rental market of SF is screaming &quot;get out&quot;, unless of course if you own real estate property.<p>All SF tech companies promote how with technology you can be anywhere, but apparently there is a single point of failure on physical work locations, or on the flip a nice real estate funnel for above market rates. SF is part tech play part real estate, the smartest investors are investing and collecting the rents of those investments and salaries.

Zero incentive to move to SF. The cost of living has reached a point where I&#x27;d end up taking home less disposable income even with a significant increase over my current base salary and signing bonuses get eaten up by moving expenses. Barely escaped the housing bubble crash in south Florida a few years back. No way I&#x27;d want to run the risk of experiencing another market adjustment.

I love living in San Francisco. For me, it&#x27;s a near-perfect city and climate. Obviously it is expensive but I find it completely worth it.

&gt; some tech companies can&#x27;t convince employees to move<p>I have outright blacklisted San Fransisco for potential employers. I would avoid travelling to SF even for consulting work for limited duration. I am surprised why tech companies want to setup shop there in first place.

If money is the issue, couldn&#x27;t they convince them with more money?

I live in NYC right now, but you couldn&#x27;t pay me 5 times the salary to move to SF. NYC knows how to build housing. While it can be expensive in the newest buildings in the most convenient areas, if you go to the outer boroughs, you can find plenty of spacious housing for decent costs and a 30 min subway ride to Midtown. SF needs density, and fast or they could keep driving out the average citizens. But tech workers probably don&#x27;t make good firefighters, police, or trash collectors.

I was thinking, &quot;no way I&#x27;m going to try to move a 5 person single income family to SF on a raise that doesn&#x27;t cover the difference in cost of living&quot;<p>Then I realized, I&#x27;m almost 40, no startup wants to hire my geriatric ass.

I (barely) tolerate the bay area to get to do the work I love. It&#x27;s a permanent game of weighing pros and cons and doesn&#x27;t feel sustainable long-term even working at one of the best-compensating companies on the planet.<p>When 40% of the people in your city want to move away, you know there&#x27;s a problem.

I don&#x27;t know about the other cities in the table, but a studio apartment in Chicago does not cost $1490 a month. Even downtown you can find a few studios for around $1200, and in the rest of the city it&#x27;s more like $1000, maybe even less. I live in a 2-bedroom for less than $1490.

I almost purchased a condo in East Palo Alto back in 2013 for $300K. That same 1-bedroom is now selling for $680K; biggest missed opportunity of my life. Here it is on Zillow:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.zillow.com&#x2F;homes&#x2F;for_sale&#x2F;East-Palo-Alto-CA&#x2F;condo_type&#x2F;15636176_zpid&#x2F;11228_rid&#x2F;1-_beds&#x2F;100000-_price&#x2F;375-_mp&#x2F;globalrelevanceex_sort&#x2F;37.491034,-122.104841,37.444982,-122.166639_rect&#x2F;13_zm&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.zillow.com&#x2F;homes&#x2F;for_sale&#x2F;East-Palo-Alto-CA&#x2F;cond...</a><p>There are <i>no</i> 1 bedrooms from Santa Clara to Burlingame for &lt; $350K, and only one two-bedroom for less than $500K.

&gt; And while employees complain about San Francisco&#x27;s high housing costs, the city&#x27;s casual culture means they don&#x27;t have to spend as much on clothing.<p>That&#x27;s...interesting? I always figured this was an industry phenomenon - not a city one.

Why is it San Diego never makes these lists? Proximity to LA? Oakland&#x27;s on there, and it&#x27;s a lot closer to SF. Doesn&#x27;t have a thriving tech scene like all of the others? Like Miami?

I love where I live (CO) and, factoring in the cost of living difference despite higher market salaries, moving to SF would be a significant pay cut--and I&#x27;m far from the only one.

People have different lifestyles and they should choose where they move according to that. Lots of people move to SF from smaller cities and expect to continue living a suburban life.

I got out of Seattle 25 years ago when I saw the writing on the wall. I don&#x27;t regret it. SF has always been worse in terms of cost, density, self-importance, etc.

SF or The City please -- never call it &quot;San Fran&quot;