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Ask HN: Cost of living in Silicon Valley - 2012

10 points by tdr ↗ HN
I'm interested in moving in Sillicon Valley, in the startups sector (software engineer).

The older HN discussions were very helpful but are over 1 year old (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1824445 or http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=128872 ).

What are the costs today? I'm interested in:

     - rent (1br - furnished, not shared)
	 
	 - other utilities

     - food

     - transportation (public / private including insurance)	 
	 
	 - Internet & mobile
	 
	 - the ocasional weekend relax & fun
Please add anything I missed.

Thanks in advance!

11 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 32.0 ms ] thread
tigrank
day care cost?
hkarthik
I checked recently, as I've got a family of four with two kids under 4 that need daycare.

Basically I'd be spending more in daycare costs than rent for a 2-3 bedroom house. I spend about $700/month per kid here in Texas. Out there it's about $1500/month per kid.

idoh
$10 an hour for a nanny share in San Francisco
youngdev
You'll have to give more details on where in silicon valley are you planning on moving. The cost varies if you are living in Silicon valley vs. East by which is 45 minutes commute.

Rent in general could be between $1500 to $1900 depending on the area.

tdr
I'm thinking somewhere in the area Palo Alto/Mountain View +5-7 miles, not SF
benjdezi
what city? rent varies a lot from one city to another in the bay area.
tdr
could you give the ballpark figures for the top 3-5 locations?
benjdezi
San Francisco is quiet expensive with rents around $1,800-$2,000+ for an unfurnished 1br (furnished is likely to be a lot more). East bay is cheaper with prices around $1,000-$1,500. South bay is somewhere in the middle.
eshvk
MV/Palo Alto: $1300 - $1900 (The range is wide but the more closer you want to live to downtown,the more expensive it gets. Furnished is going to add a huge cost and getting a 1 br will definitely hike it up even more)

Food: $200 (If you cook and eat very rarely out). However, the average cost of a "cheap" meal is roughly around $10, so do the math for how much that would cost per month.

Transportation: If you are going to live in the valley, you will need to get a car. Things are spread far apart and I am not even sure how good public transport is. If you wanted to come to the city (SF), every now and then, that would be roughly $14.00 by Caltrain for a day pass.

tdr
thanks!

So 2 questions:

1) Would it be more worth it to furnish myself the apartment?

2) Do you really need a car daily? I read a car-sharing service like ZipCar is worth it.

eshvk
1) I rarely see furnished apartments in the bay area. Most of the "furnished apartments" have either been high priced (Say $3K - $4K) or been sublets at someone's place. Depending on your aesthetic sensibilities, furnishing might not be too expensive. For example, I invested in furniture from Ikea when I first moved in and then have been slowly making the apartment nicer.

2) I live in San Francisco where I could just walk everywhere for basic amenities and public transportation is pretty good so in my case a ZipCar does work well. When I lived in Mountain View, I definitely felt that a lack of a car kind of put restricted by mobility to work and home. There is only so much travel you can do with a bike. Again, depending on where you live, where your work place is and what you like to do for fun, you might definitely be able to live without a car.