[lnanek2]

Haha, yeah, I stayed at the StartupHouse a bit too. It was great being right in the middle of the city and being able to walk a block for groceries or tech meetups. Got a lot of coding done too! Too bad someone filed a complaint and got it shut down.

I've never found the cost for living terribly high. All I need is a private room in a shared dwelling. The most I've ever paid for that is $2000/month in the center of SF. Dropped down to $1000/month in the southern hills, which was still an easy BART/bus ride into downtown. East Palo Alto was $600 a month, but you had to take a bus to the Caltrain to get anywhere. Currently staying in Walnut Creek on the BART for $1000/month. I only ever rent month to month, so could get way cheaper buying longer too.

[baddox]

> I've never found the cost for living terribly high. All I need is a private room in a shared dwelling.

That's fair enough, and describes me when I moved to SF straight out of college. It's probably also fine (even necessary) if you're a student or bootstrapping your own startup. But I've only been here two years, and it didn't take long for me to get sick of having a home situation that's in many ways worse than when I lived in my college's dormitory and significantly worse than my last two years of college living in a one bedroom apartment. With no lack of great and lucrative career opportunities in the area, I wish I didn't have to either live like a starving college kid in a house packed full of starving college kids or spend 20 hours a week searching for an affordable studio apartment in a tolerable location. Although I've actually been hearing good things about Oakland...

[tommaxwell]

Like the commenter above, I stayed at StartupHouse for awhile, actually until they got shut down. It was pretty awesome to have my own bed, good WiFi, and be in the middle of SOMA for ~$1,000/month. I also interned at a startup in SF and lived pretty happily during that time. I was being paid $40k/year, but it was a 6-month internship so really only $20K. But I lived pretty well. I had a bed to sleep on in the city, I went out with friends on the weekends, and had a great time. I guess it all depends on your priorities and the standard of living you're looking for.

[cmccabe]

You don't have to live like a college student. Move to the south bay and you can get a 2BR place for half of what you're paying now. We have dishwashers, washing machines, garages, and storage rooms here too, oh my!

[tommaxwell]

I stayed at StartupHouse until they got shut down and I have felt the same way. While I interned at a startup I was making $40k/year (it was a 6-month internship, so really only $20K), and I was able to live perfectly happy. I wasn't able to go out and spend money lavishly all the time, but I ate well, went out with friends on weekends, and overall had a good time.