Hello all! I was considering moving from Tampa to San Francisco. I was wondering if anyone who lives -or has lived- there has any opionion on the area. What are the good points? What are the bad points (I know it’s more expensive to live there)? How’s the weather? How’s the shore? Anything you can offer would help 
thanks,
broccoli!
(punk snot dead)
*opinion even. That damn typo demon has been following me around all morning…
Great weather. Great food. Lots of multi-cultural stuff. No winter. No autumn. 1-2 hour drive to lots of beaches, some of them clothing optional. Day trips to the wine country, the Garlic Festival, Carmel, Santa Cruz, overnight to Lake Tahoe if you really want snow. 45 minute commutes. 3 bedroom houses in nice neighborhoods near good schools start at $300,000. 25-30% chance of 7-9 point earthquakes in our lifetime. Panhandlers, and lots of them. Poverty level about $25,000. Less than 25% of people living in the bay area can afford to buy a house.
All the best Dopers live there.
Excellent place! A diverse and pleasant atmosphere, excellent restaurants and plenty of places to visit and revisit. The only drawback is the expense of the area, I would suggest living in the outlying areas to make the housing expense more tolerable, then you would have the commute though. It is too bad the really nice places to be are so expensive.
I live in Oakland, which has the advantage of also being a large city with a lot of multicultural activities while being close enough to San Francisco to allow me to frequent the attractions there and still pay much less in rent. You might look into housing out here if money’s an issue. There are quite a few ghetto areas, though. But mostly I find the people out here very open-minded and politically progressive.
One thing:
Don’t call it San Fran. Atleast don’t call it that when you get there.
Oh, and don’t call it Frisco either.
You may want to bring your own generator.
It does depend a bit on whether you’re talking about the Bay Area in general or San Francisco in particular. I grew up in the East Bay and moved to SF 5 years ago. As mentioned before, housing costs are astronomically high. Got a trust fund? If you want to buy, you’re probably going to need one. Weather pretty universally good. (At least compared to Chicago, the only other major metro area I’ve spent any length of time in.) Food is ubelievably good, and competition (in SF anyway) keeps prices surprisingly low. SF has a lousy basic cable offering, if that’s of any concern. Also, as mentioned before, virtually anything you can think of is probably happening somewhere in the Bay Area. It’s extremely diverse.
The SF Bay Area is quite simply one of the most cosmopolitan places in the entire United States.
The variety of restaurants and availability of different foods at the grocery stores is unrivaled anywhere on earth. The economic opportunity is fabulous. The scenery is stunning and the proximity to some of the most beautiful places on earth makes this location unbeatable.
The large amounts of “green belt” land surrounding the major population centers has avoided the “wall to wall housing” of the Los Angeles basin.
The cost of living is extremely high, but is matched by an excellent quality of life. The weather is superb and allows for four-season outdoor activity.
Commuting is pure hell, all these other people keep wanting to move here (nudge, nudge). There are still pockets of poverty in this area. There is some crime, although not at the levels of most major urban centers. During the summer, the pollution can be noticible but overall none of these factors outweigh the general benefits of living here.
The collection of musuems and educational institutions make this one of the most concentrated centers of learning on the planet. The freeway system is one of the finest in the entire nation. The infrequent earthquakes pale next to the flood and tornado problems of the rest of the states. Problems like police corruption are almost non-existent compared to other urban centers.
The strong music and entertainment industries out here make possible all sorts of interesting venues for performances and film going. The high average level of personal education reduces the overall amount of bigotry and other backwater mentalities common to many other areas. The cultural diversity of this region assures you that you will not be in a “white bread” environment.
All in all, a totally kick@ss place to live.
Just a word of advice–if you’re used to more ‘open’, calmer places, San Francisco might creep you out.
I considered moving there some time back–but the city scared me, having lived in ‘smalltown’ my whole life.
Still–I’m looking to move out one day–and the South Bay area looked pretty nice…
More like $700,00 for a three bedroom.
ANyway, try craigslist.com its free & has lots of info & ads.
It’s beautiful, diverse, and expensive. A lot to do and see. Amazing weather. But as one of the posts stated earlier, if you are used to wide open spaces,you may not like San Francisco. It’s one of the most densly populated cities in the country. If you like a little breathing room, Oakland and Berkeley are cool. I’ve lived in SF for the past 19 years, and lived 7 years in Oakland before moving over here. I doubt I’ll ever leave. But if I had to move here now, I probably couldn’t afford it. If you don’t have a good job lined up, or don’t have friends or family to stay with, you may go through your money a lot faster than you would like. If your set, come on out. It’s great.
As you consider moving here please don’t discount the high cost of living. Ethilrist said that houses can start at $300,000, but in my experience that is only true for at least 25 miles outside of the city. Right now there is literally nothing listed inside the city proper for less than $288,000 - and only 3 for less than $300,000. And that is just the price it is listed at. Buyers consistantly over-bid by great amounts. Up to $100,000 over the asking price it the most I have personally heard of.
Rent is a similar story. Studios in terrible neighborhoods will go for $1,500 to $2,000. And that is if you are lucky enough to be the one out of the 30 applicants who is actually rented the apartment. Seriously. If you must pay less than $1,000 for your rent, you will without a doubt be living with housemates.
Gasoline is up to 30% more expensive here than it is in SoCal, and the Gas and Electric company (PG&E) just announced a 60% rate hike. Food, is expensive, entertainment is expensive, heck the only cheap thing is the public transportation (MUNI), and you can hardly count on that to get you anywhere on time.
All of these things add up very quickly, and can make for a shocking adjustment if you are not used to it. However after all this doom-saying I do have to agree that it is one of the most beautiful, friendly, and stimulating cities I have ever lived in. I have been here for 5 years, loving it, and still catch my breath at the way the city looks as I drive across the Golden Gate bridge in the late afternoon. And then I hate it for making me feel poor even though my husband and I bring in more than six figures each year.
If you are serious about checking out the Bay Area be sure to take a look at Craig’s List ( http://www.craigslist.org ), which I have no affiliation with; it is fabulous resource for everything from jobs avaliable to rental avalibilities to community activities.
Good luck!
Everything everybody has said is true.
Anybody who has an opportunity to move to the Bay Area should do so, at least for a few years (as I did).
I’ll add two things I liked: the incredible views from the hills in the area, and the sight of fog cascading over the coastal hills.
On the minus side: those pesky earthquakes.
I’ll just nod in agreement with most of what everyone else has said. I’ve lived in many other urban areas ( NYC, Boston, Detroit, etc. ) and I love the Bay Area. Food, greenbelts, geography, culture, - It has most everything. I have no intention of ever moving.
But the expenses are no joke.
Also when folks earlier mentioned “good weather”, you should also read that as “boring weather”. I miss the warm Spring and Summer thunderstorms of back East. SF has one rainy season in the Winter and it is very Seattle-like. Constant cold, gray, drizzle. Even heavy, damaging storms aren’t very spectacular. And flooding more often comes from a week of steady rain, rather than sudden, apocalyptic storms. Last yearwas an exception in that we got some impressive electrical storms.
If you’re of a conservative bent it can be an uncomfortable climate. Even Republicans here tend to be of the Tom Campbell/social libertarian sort. And in SF the running joke is that the local GOP branch holds their meetings in a phone booth 
.
Traffic can be rough and is getting worse.
Finally I will agree with and emphasize the notion that the East Bay is a superior place to live compared to SF. Just MHO, mind you - I know a few who disagree. But I do think it is worth looking into if you come out here. I’m in Alameda myself. Which is absurdly pricey, but quiet and pretty and very central to the rest of the Bay.
_ Tamerlane
Lived in SF for seven years. Never understand why people think the weather’s good there. OK, so it never gets really hot or really cold, but it’s frequently rather chilly, and no matter how warm it might get during the day it’s always cold at night (except for about one week in October). Also, you can’t leave your house without at least a sweater even on a warm day because it’s so changeable - and it might be very pleasant in your part of the city, but significantly colder in another part.
Some people like that, though, I guess.
I wouldn’t recommend the East Bay, except for parts of Oakland and Berkley, which is great. The rest of the east bay seems to be high-crime, ugly, and uninteresting (IMHO) Try the Peninsula or the South Bay. But the best place, the most beautiful and fun place, is definately SF. The demand to live there is incredible, that’s why the prices there are so high.
hehe… don’t worry, I actually don’t call it san fran, i’m just a lazy typist… thank you all for the commentary, and please keep’em coming for anyone else
broccoli!
Why does no one mention the North Bay? It’s the prettiest and least expensive part of the Bay Area (except for parts of Marin, which is often absurd, and not just because of the housing prices). Public transport isn’t quite as good (no BART), but IMHO, the North Bay has highest overall quality of life of any region of the Bay Area. By this I mean there is less poverty and less crime, due primarily to it also being much more rural than the rest of the Bay. Of course, if you’re into being in the city, well, this wouldn’t be the right place for you!