I got into a conversation today on Twitter about the high costs of housing in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I was looking at houses for sale in the Seattle area, and they are just gorgeous. They have tall pine trees outside, they have views of lakes or Puget Sound or downtown Seattle, they have huge sheets of glass. A lot of them have three or more bedrooms, and some of them even have basements that you can convert into game rooms (air hockey! ping pong!) and/or home theaters. And they aren’t all that expensive.
Someone suggested I look into Omaha, Nebraska, and I found huge houses on huge lots with price tags that seem cheap by Seattle standards…which seem cheap by Bay Area standards. The consensus, whether you’re John Scalzi or Patrick Rothfuss, is that if you’re a writer, it’s best to live somewhere on the cheaper side. Read: not New York City, and not the San Francisco Bay Area. (The happy news is that you live one of those places, everywhere else looks wonderfully cheap.)
It’s a dilemma. For a long time, Silicon Valley kind of irritated me: too much engineer speak, too much social awkwardness, too much busyness competition, and not enough appreciation of the arts. But just when I was beginning to consider a move, it started to grow on me.
I didn’t choose Silicon Valley as my home; I just ended up here. And once I’d started my business, I was stuck here; while the cost of living is absurdly high, that also meant I could charge more. I looked into moving to Portland at one point and discovered that what I’d save in cost of living expenses wouldn’t equal the amount of income I’d be losing, not by a long shot. I couldn’t afford to move.
Now I can afford to move, but I’ve made dear friends in the meantime, and I’m also more aware of the things I’ve been taking for granted. I like the energy of Silicon Valley. I might not like the culture of the busy, but I do like that people are engaged with projects and ideas that they feel passionately about. I like that people here are nerdy and geeky and care about science fiction movies and maker culture and playing laser tag. (Not to say there aren’t people in many other places who care about the same stuff, but I don’t know as many of them.) I like that a lot of people I know are living full-on lives of the mind. I like that people are liberal here, and by liberal, I mean they are supportive of free spirits and different lifestyle choices and basic women’s rights. Not that it’s perfect (because it isn’t), but it’s a step in the right direction.
Then there’s the weather (it doesn’t get much better than this) and the FOOD. I have the choice of at least twenty different types of cuisine within a fifteen minute drive of my condo. Maybe more. And if I’m willing to drive a little further, I have all of San Francisco to pick from. The beach is in driving distance, the mountains are less than a day away. I can take a day trip to a world-class aquarium or go to one of many excellent science museums (the Tech, the Exploratorium, the Academy of Sciences).
So therein lies my conundrum. I live in a beautiful and vibrant place. It also happens to be really expensive. There’s a push and pull that goes on whenever I consider my options.
Where we live matters. And there are always tradeoffs involved.
The Practical Free Spirit 
I lived in Omaha for 10 years, and while it wasn’t all bad, it wasn’t for me. The Bay Area feels like home, more than anywhere else I’ve been.
I wish it weren’t so expensive, but I’m not sure I’d be as happy anywhere else. You can’t buy happiness, but you can rent here.
I do think that your environment is very important to general well being. I knew several people who weren’t good fits for their universities, for example, and did much better after transferring.
The weather is the sole thing, aside from my daughter’s social network, keeping me here. I don’t think I could deal with not being able to ride every day.
I do love me some sunshine.
I lived in San Francisco for four years and then moved back to Seattle because it was cheaper. However, I quickly realized that you always make a trade-off. There weren’t as many public transit options so I drove more, the theater scene wasn’t nearly as vibrant so I stopped going to plays, etc. Yes, I had a house and a yard, but I also had the utility and upkeep bills that came with them.
And I somehow forgot how dark and rainy it is in Seattle in the winter.
I ended up moving back to San Francisco and I’ve now been here another four years and still love it.
I know the cost of housing is high here in the Bay Area, and you have to take whatever path is right for you, but from my experience I found that it was easy to get sucked in by the lower rent prices just browsing around on Craigslist without realizing the impact of all the other changes that come along with moving to a new region.
I think maybe sometimes you can only know for sure how places compare by trying out living in both. But yes, just looking at pretty real estate listings is not a good way to make such a decision. I spent a few weeks at different times of year up in Seattle, and would probably do so again if I was seriously considering a move.
The weather is amazing in California, and I honestly don’t know why people live other places. And I think your food comment is totally spot on – in the bay area or LA/OC, I’m a 20 minute drive from anything I want to eat – outside of maybe NYC or Chicago or London, that’s just not true most other places in the world.
It’s always a trade-off, but for now, I’m happy in CA. I could be happy a lot of other places on this coast, but otherwise, some place would really have to call to me for a LOT of reasons to get me to leave.
As a native Californian, I feel very spoiled when it comes to weather. And man, am I spoiled when it comes to food options. After a few days with only American and Italian food to choose between (and having to eat out all the time due to traveling), I can get quite grouchy.
Yeah, the weather is so much better in the SF area. Other things you can get elsewhere. Food and culture are as good or better around Chicago, and the cost of living is much cheaper. However, the weather… not so great.
Yeah, when I was in the south of France this summer, it was brutally hot, and I thought, yup, California might have the best weather in the world. Although now that I think more about it, Hawaii is really nice.
I moved from San Francisco to the nicer part of Oakland (Lake Merritt). Its 10 degrees warmer with more trees, wider sidewalks, and beautiful hills. Sure I still work in the city and the commute costs and it equals the same cost wise but I live where off-street parking is available, swimming pool & fitness center included. There are beautiful art decco era buildings around here too. Really nice little places to grab coffee or brunch around the lake too.
Its most re-charging because of our life that is really home centered.
If you love to shop, there isn’t anything without getting on a BART train. Also we really don’t stay out late so we don’t have to deal with much of what goes on that is reported in the news.
❤
Lexie
It sounds ideal for your lifestyle! Parking does make SF less appealing to me. And the cold. The year I lived there, I was basically never actually there.
I’ve thought about this a lot. My income doesn’t vary according to location, so it makes way more sense to live somewhere cheaper. However, I kind of feel like I’ll end up back in the Bay Area. The friend density is off-the-charts (for me) and the weather is pretty good. However, if I was choosing de novo, I’d probably go with LA. Better weather, more people.