Can I afford the San Francisco suburbs? (San Jose, Oakland: apartment, rent)

[niquej60]

I have visited San Francisco several times and have fallen in love! I really want to relocate but don't know if I can afford even the suburbs on a teacher's salary. What's the most affordable place to live and also where are the teaching or administration positions?

[luau]

Originally Posted by niquej60

I have visited San Francisco several times and have fallen in love! I really want to relocate but don't know if I can afford even the suburbs on a teacher's salary. What's the most affordable place to live and also where are the teaching or administration positions?

Looks like we have another one

DO NOT base your opinon on SF on a vacation! When you were on vacation, you most likely spent much more on yourself for leisure things like nice food, drinks, tours, etc. It isn't surprising that you enjoyed yourself here, the point of your trip was to relax. I mean, I could go on vacation in Iraq and probably enjoy myself.

The only way you'd be able to afford to live alone in the nice areas of SF is if you were able to get special housing because the city officials have deemed it so because of your job. What do teachers make, like 40-50k a year? I think that's around the poverty level in San Francisco.

Even if you do get subsidized housing, think about the stuff you did while on vacation. Would you be able to afford that all the time as a resident here? I have lived in different parts of the United States and I can say that overall San Francisco is the most expensive place to live.

[Carlite]

It's tough without a partner or a roommate. You could rent somewhere, but you could easily wind up spending $1,500 a month on rent. I don't really know what the job market for teachers is here, some folks think it's harder here than elsewhere. The number of children is not increasing as fast as it used to. San Jose might be a possibility as a city with a lot of kids, though it is 50 miles away from San Francisco.

[kttam186290]

If by "suburbs" you mean Fairfield, Vallejo, Richmond, Pittsburgh, Antioch, Brentwood, Tracy...then yeah, probably. But I would highly advise you to do some research before relocating to one of those suburbs.

Now, on a teacher's salary, you could probably do a suburb like Concord or Livermore, which are a little nicer than all of the aforementioned places, but you'll most likely be in a small condo/townhome.

Having another household income to supplement your own makes a big difference in a place like the Bay Area. With two household incomes, it opens you up to the possibility of Pleasant Hill, San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton and possibly parts of Walnut Creek.

[California Vagabond]

I've made this referral on this forum before, but only because I spent time in the neighborhood a year and a half ago and was fairly impressed by what I saw first hand: the Lyon homes south of Leland Road and west of Bailey in Pittsburg sell in the high 200K to low 400K range (roughly), and are either very close or reasonably close to the Pittsburg BART station. You'd be a long way from the central Bay Area and would be getting only a slice of your dream, but at least you could easily take BART to visit S.F. every weekend you felt up to it. (Although you probably wouldn't want to teach in S.F. if you lived in Pittsburg, unless you're especially fond of long commutes!)

[bmw335xi]

You need to be more specific.... what do you mean by suburb, what is your budget, are you single, married, family etc?

I moved here because I fell in love during my first vacation and have fallen even more in love.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

You need to be more specific.... what do you mean by suburb, what is your budget, are you single, married, family etc?

Yeah. As well as where you'd work, how big of a house/apartment you need, and whether you need to live in a good school district because you have kids.

There are plenty of teachers in the Bay Area, and generally they make decent money compared with teachers in other states, maybe around $60,000 or so to start. But I think it would be hard to get a position, all I ever hear about is them laying people off due to budget cuts. There was a big round of layoffs a year or two ago at Bay Area public schools I think.

[lrmsd]

Also, suburbs vary so greatly in the bay area.
Marin is technically a suburb, and it offers a very different lifestyle than, say, pittsburg.
You could also look at southern sonoma [petaluma, etc] for jobs and living. But if you want to live IN the city proper, consider parts of Oakland for a quick(er) commute and lower cost, with some of the amenities of SFO proper. No, it's not the same, but Oakland has its charms/merits.
Depends on lifestyle OP is looking for.
Marin is a fabulous quality of life with pristine physical environment; cost is not any lower than SFO, however.
That's the rub with the bay area-not much that costs a whole lot less, esp when you factor in commute costs, etc.

That said, depending upn the OP's lifestage and goals, it could be worth it to spend a few years in a place he/she loves.
Also, while it may have been vacation for the OP, we all know that we don't fall in love with every place we vacation-some places are special and resonate....
If that's the case for OP, then it's worth researching further.
Good luck!

[Senno]

I Left My Heart In San Francisco - YouTube

[loloroj]

If you have to ask, you can't afford it....