> South Bay & Peninsula housing is actually more expensive than SF
San Francisco is $957/sqft median listing price [1]
Palo Alto is $1800/sqft median listing price. [2]
Hell, I live in Redwood City and the median is $996/sqft.
1. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/San-Franci...
2. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Palo-Alto_...
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/San-Jose_C...
The Santana Row neighborhood ("Winchester Orchards") is pretty comparable, at $910/sf though. I was actually thinking of Mountain View & Sunnyvale, which are considered decent places to live in the South Bay but aren't quite as elite as Palo Alto. They are both about $1.2K/sf:
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Mountain-V...
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Sunnyvale_...
I’m very much not in the Valley or even the U.S. but I’ve seen a lot of videos and photos of SF streets being littered, about homelessness, drug use, something called bopping. Isn’t this real, or is it far less common than those videos make it out to be? Interested to hear this from people in SF.
As a resident, it’s extremely disheartening and must be fixed. The Tenderloin has been bad for years, but fentanyl has taken it to the next level.
However, most neighborhoods are different. Most are free from encampments and open-air drug use. Many residents just avoid downtown and some aren’t wise to how bad it really is.
Hence why the city is still so expensive.
Yes, you pay an SF premium. You pay a premium for most major cities, and the worse housing is, the higher the premium. But I'd bet moving to the South Bay isn't happening for that reason. SF pricing has a halo effect on the South Bay, and your savings will be minimal, if any. (I see little differences in South Bay and SF salaries, for larger companies)
What I'd wager precipitated the move is SF rents are stupidly high , and then you combine that with half the twitter offices being empty. If you believe loopt, San Jose office space is ~ half the cost of SF. Half the space, at half again cost - their real estate bill shrinks by 75%. And given that Twitters bill is likely ~$40M-50M/month, that's a good chunk of savings.