Annual living expenses (San Diego: apartment, rental, car insurance)

[v1ss1]

Hello to all.
I have just posted a similar post to the SF forum. I am a medical student for the time being in Europe, but will be applying for a medical residency in USA in the future. I'm mostly thinking of California so I was wondering about the living expenses there.
If I get admitted the starting salary is about $45000 per year. Would this be sufficient for living in San Diego?

I don't know about the specific areas there so, in case I'll be working in their central medical centre thats in hillcrest, so i guess i'd be looking for a flat nearby or with good access to that. This is just a hypothetical issue though as there are many medical centres etc, i'm just trying to get a general idea.

Thanks for the help !

[esmith143]

It would be sufficient. A friend of mine rented an apartment within walking distance from that medical center for $700/month a few years ago. The neighborhood is a bit rough but walkable with lots of things to do. It may even be possible to manage without a car.

[v1ss1]

So that makes it pretty convenient then! Is this the case in san diego approximately or is it just this area that seems to be relatively cheap ?

[Oerdin]

There are certain areas which are less expensive and many areas which are a lot more expensive.

[esmith143]

Originally Posted by v1ss1

So that makes it pretty convenient then! Is this the case in san diego approximately or is it just this area that seems to be relatively cheap ?

700-800/month for a 1-bedroom is below average for San Diego.

[RD5050]

45K should easily be enough ...

However, if you can't afford the type of place or area you want to live on your own salary, consider living with roommates, or renting a room in someone's house.

This is very common in San Diego.

Craigslist is filled with roommate situations available, all over San Diego.

Most are month-to-month leases, so you can easily move out if it doesn't work out.

[kettlepot]

As the others said, $45,000 per year will certainly be enough for you.

A few things about living in Hillcrest:

I disagree with the previous poster who called it "a bit rough". It is urban, congested, and noisy, but it isn't considered rough. Hillcrest is very walkable, and has a lot of restaurants, bars, stores, and activity in the area.

Hillcrest is not considered an inexpensive area of town to live in. I think you will be paying significantly more than $700-$800 per month to live fairly close to the medical center. I think you should think more along the lines of $1000-$1200. The person who was spending $700/month was probably renting a dumpy apartment - which actually may be fine with you as you won't be spending a lot of time there. But even a dumpy apartment in Hillcrest is probably in the $900-$1000 range. All of those medical professionals who want to live close by, really push up the rental rates in the area.

Parking is a problem when living in Hillcrest, so if you can skip the purchasing an automobile that would be a money saving plus. And given your likely age, I presume you're fairly young, and the difficulty in getting affordable car insurance, you will save bundles of cash by not having a car. However, there is a "FlexCar" service in the area, where you could reserve a car and rent it on an hourly basis for shopping trips when you need to stock up on a lot of supplies.

If you still want to be close to the Medical complex, but want a more affordable area, consider University Heights as an alternative. You could easily bicycle to work from University Heights, or take the bus for a 5 to 10 minute ride.