"If you don’t mind living further away from one of the central locations, you’ll be able to pay half as much for rent for a nicer place than you could afford otherwise (see heat map).
Saving money is great and all..."
For lots of people, saving money isn't "great and all." It's required. Especially if you happen to be an intern living in one of the most expensive cities in the country.
Sounds like you've got some experience with this - are there any particular places you'd recommend? When I was an intern in SF (2011), I lived in Glen Park, which was a half/hour bike ride/couple of BART stops away from work, and I ended up paying slightly over $1,100. I had friends that went and found more distant housing, but we didn't see them all that much/they didn't get nearly as much out of the summer as we did, beyond their company.
A lot (most?) internship salaries include a $1,000 housing stipend, so it ends up being not all that crazy; neither of my internships had more than 25% of income go to housing.
Can you speak to your experience in particular? I haven't met a lot of people who followed your strategy, but I'd love to incorporate the perspective of somebody who did.
Temescal. Macarthur BART has lots of trains to the city and assuming you're going somewhere near a station (like Twitter or Google SF) it's ~ 20 minutes. Strong hipster vibe, and an explosion of restaurants, bike shops, funky secondhand stores, etc. in the last 10 years. Neighborhood is still rough in patches, but rapidly improving. Stay to the North and East of Macarthur BART and you're fine.
Downtown Berkeley. Safe Neighborhood. Lots of young people about, plenty of restaurants. Things tend to close up earlier than in the city. Commute is slightly longer than to Temescal, but the Richmond trains tend to be emptier and so you almost always get a seat.
If you work at Google SF or anywhere downtown, look into the AC Transit Transbay Buses. They are slightly more expensive than BART ($4.20 a ride, last I checked) but you get free Wifi, great views, clean, comfortable coach seats, and nonstop service. That opens up a LOT more territory, albeit mostly away from the concentrations of culture.
But all that said, you're right, SF is the place to be if you can afford it. Don't try to save money as an intern. What you earn during that time is a drop in the bucket, ultimately, and you're only young once. But if you have a crew of people you want to live with, the Easy Bay can be a great bet, and you can spend what you save on trips out of town.
I'm a tech person who rents out a furnished spare room (including to interns in the past) for $1000 in Mountain View, after looking at the going rates; from my experience, your advice isn't too far off. It's just a case of supply and demand, there aren't many people like me in the local area. (Note: We rent via Airbnb rather than their "sublets" specific program, which you call out explicitly.)
If interns team up they can maybe get a short term lease at one of the many south bay housing complexes (Archstone, Avalon, Prometheus, Irvine Company). Most are horrible landlords and several charge ridiculous, but understandable, rent increases if you are shorter term - however, if you're prepared to share and lay out on furniture, it could be a saving over the course of a summer. Plus, could get lucky and find a relocating person or off-season intern to hand off to at the end of summer.
I could recommend several of the peninsula cities near the Caltrain corridor, Sunnyvale, Menlo Park, San Carlos come readily to mind. (in addition to Mountain View and Palo Alto) if you are near the Train station you can pop into SF, or stops with easy shuttle service to Facebook and Google.
East bay near BART is also good if your internship is in the city.
The housing advice in the article is correct - those are the ideal areas. However, it fails to mention the extreme costs and competitive nature of finding a place in those areas.
Living in Berkeley is not a good choice if your internship is in the South Bay. Even if your job is accessible by BART, Berkeley near a BART station is not inexpensive. The nice areas of Oakland are similarly expensive and the not-nice areas of Oakland are a few orders of magnitude more dangerous than the rest of the Bay Area. I used to live in an "affordable" part of Berkeley and had to spend about an hour each way getting to work with walking on both sides + BART. Berkeley and parts of Oakland like Rockridge have their charms, but I do not recommend them if you have the option of living closer to work.
Nowhere in Oakland is an order of magnitude worse. Worse, yes, but few places are that bad. Parts of the Mission, and certainly the Tenderloin (both in the sweet spot on this guy's map) are worse than anywhere BART-accessible in Oakland except West Oakland and maybe Lake Merritt/Fruitvale.
If you're working in the South Bay, yeah, don't live there. But Temescal, for example, is a great option if you're working in the city. Great city feel, lots of cool stuff, and you're still only 20 minutes from the city. That's a shorter commute than many parts of the city itself. It's expensive my national standards, but still cheaper than the city.
You are right, an order of magnitude was an exaggeration. But Oakland's citywide crime stats in most categories are double/triple that of San Francisco.
That said, I don't think crime is the main reason to not live in the East Bay when you are doing an internship. Minimizing transport time to work and/or recreation is why you don't want to live out there. If you are working in SF, live in SF. If work is in the south bay, live in the south bay...or maybe live in SF. It will be expensive but an internship should cover it. If the internship doesn't cover it you picked the wrong internship.
And the point is, depending on where you work, the East Bay is often "closer" in terms of time spent than some parts of the City, because BART is so much faster than Muni or cycling.
The most important thing is to live near other interns. If everyone's in the city, live in the city. If you want to get a house with a few people, or just prefer a more laid-back vibe, the East Bay is a great option.
Yeah, I moved to Oakland because I was tired of my business partner, who lived in West Oakland, getting to my office in SoMA in ten minutes while I endured typically 35-45 minute Muni bus rides from only two miles away in SF, with an astonishing variance of arrival time.
As for the crime in Oakland, some guy got shot in front of his own house in the Mission this morning. People arriving for their internships, not being familiar with SF neighborhoods, shouldn't get the impression that the Mission is some kind of picnic.
Is Oakland really that bad? I really want the most affordable place I can find.
I'm not too scared of crime, I have guns and grew up in a lower class neighborhood, but am worried about theft when I'm not home.
edit: I would basically like to live in a neighborhood like Pilsen in Chicago. Affordable, working class, mexican, and close to transit. Any recommendations?
I live in North Oakland, a nicer part of town. Even here, people get mugged at the BART station in broad daylight. Last year, we had a string of restaurant "take-over" robberies.
The crime problem is pretty bad and getting worse. Most of the murders, 126 last year and 3 just this past weekend, are gang-related and localized to West and East Oakland ("the Flats"). The safer parts of town are North Oakland, near Berkeley, and the Hills.
Per capita, Oakland is the nation's #1 city for robberies, #1 for vehicle thefts, #3 for violent crime, and #4 for murders. Oakland has only 15 police officers per 10,000 residents, half as many as SF and one-third as many NYC and Chicago.
Oakland is depressing because the city has so much potential. It is centrally located in the Bay Area; close to SF by BART, car, and ferry; has an international airport; and has a large shipping port. But many big employers are scared away by crime, so people have to leave Oakland to work or shop, further depressing the city.
Oakland is the only place in the Bay Area I've been held up at gunpoint. Property theft is a problem in both Oakland and San Francisco. Less so in the South Bay. Even if you are not scared of crime, dealing with the aftermath of a robbery or burglary is a headache. Oakland has a lot of boosters but I have never found much compelling about it. I find it similar to southern-midwest cities, whereas SF is a unique place, unlike most other cities in the world.
Edit: it's hard to compare places in the Bay Area to Chicago neighborhoods. There are plenty of hispanic areas near public transport. They aren't like Pilsen, though. The word "affordable" also doesn't mean the same thing.
Oakland is like any other city. There are safe neighborhoods and dangerous neighborhoods. Some of the safer ones are: Temescal, Adam's Point, Grand Lake/Cleveland Heights, Piedmont & Rockridge (not technically Oakland).
Absolutely true. For an intern without a car, the critical factor is probably BART access. The best non-ghetto + BART at a low price is probably around 19th street, so "Uptown", toward Adams Point. There are apartments in the $1200 1BR range, vs. 2-3x that for short term in SF (!!!). I'd still probably suggest trying to find a roommate, sublet, or company sponsored thing, even if it's tiny or sketchy, nearer work and social stuff, in SF or PA/MV, though. Temescal (which is farther up, near MacArthur BART) is also a good choice. There's a weird auto-dealer wasteland in between, which was a horrible zoning choice by Oakland, but they're working on redeveloping that, so it should be a continuous area of interesting stuff from ~16th to ~40th at some point.
OTOH, I live in Oakland and drive. I've never gone to anything in Oakland except Amazon locker pickup, Whole Foods (but prefer Berkeley places), and the 580/880 onramps. I step into my car in an underground garage and essentially don't get out until I'm in the civilized/Promised Land (Peninsula).
Berkeley is also maybe more fun as an intern, even if you work in SF, and has BART. I'm not sure what summer housing is like there -- I'd assume there are vacancies in places rented to students during the year over the summer.
Nitpicking: Piedmont is an enclave contained within Oakland (but independent), but Rockridge is part of Oakland. (it's also "Adams Point", not Adam's Point)
Rockridge is definitely part of Oakland, but Piedmont is a separate city. Piedmont seceded from Oakland in 1907 and is completely surrounded by Oakland. I've never heard of any other city engulfed within another.
This property of Piedmont is not even unique within the Bay Area! Fremont (the fourth-largest city in the Bay Area) has an enclave of its own, Newark, which is its own city yet completely surrounded by Fremont.
Just for fun.. The Vatican City is surrounded by Rome, though it's not only a city but a nation state. If you want California, though, Los Angeles has several enclaved cities, such as San Fernando.
Well, plenty of people live there and all, but a few visits combined with Wikipedia [1] have convinced me that I don't particularly want to live there.
There are bad neighborhoods, but it's fairly easy to know where they are. Being street smart + avoiding hotspot areas will dramatically decrease your risk.
The rest of the city has plenty of natural beauty, affordable living, central location, interesting + diverse people, great food, gorgeous weather and fun nightlife.
Wow, true U.S. citizen's problems. I wouldn't even think about crime rates or the need to carry a gun when looking for a place to stay. Come to Europe, it's better.
The 'not so nice' areas of Oakland aren't bad, as long as you stay out of East Oakland.
I'm living in West Oakland right now. My rent is 1/3 the cost of an equivalent room in SF, and my commute is shorter (7 minute BART ride). I feel perfectly safe.
Oakland's crime problems are partially structural. It is much more car oriented and spread out, with a lot of dead zones where nobody is around. Thus it's much easier for a group of people to drive up behind you and rob you and then drive away. Personally, I would not suggest West Oakland unless you are broke. I felt safe, too, until I got jacked.
I don't live in an affordable part of Berkeley and it's still close to an hour each way to SOMA (~10 minutes walk each way, ~30 minutes on BART for Downtown Berkeley -> Mongomery, and a few minutes of slack to avoid missing the occasional train).
Are you sure? I interned in the bay area in summer 2012, and found that my salary was more than sufficient to cover rent in MTV. I received no housing stipend, and rented a reasonably nice place with 2 other interns which was $1200/month each (which I considered absolutely extortionate, not sure if others would agree). Given that my salary was in the $5000/month range, this was, off the top of my head, about 1/4 of my monthly salary, which is to me totally fine.
I don't deny that you can get cheaper outside of SF/MTV (and indeed SF can be much more expensive; my comment is only for MTV), but I dont think that $1200 is 'trust fund' money.
You're correct, I spent two summers interning the San Francisco. The salary most companies pay (at least for engineering interns) is enough to live comfortably in the city... It's just a bit harder to find a place that will sign a 3 month lease, but it certainly isn't out of the question.
It's just as easy to find a two bedroom or one BR+den apartment for 2-2.5k/mo and split it with another intern (or two) and come out well ahead. I know tens of people who did this successfully last summer virtually without issue. The big companies provide generous housing stipends, if not corporate housing, and allocating 20% of your essentially untaxed salary towards housing is well worth it to be a few blocks from work and in the heart of the tech community.
Agreed. But more than pretentious, it's downright inaccurate. I work in SOMA and live in Grand Lake (Oakland), and I have a shorter commute than most of my San Francisco-dwelling colleagues.
Finding a place in SF this summer is way worse than usual because of the America's Cup. It lasts from July-Sept and people are renting houses for $10k/week. Don't thank me, thank Larry Ellison.
Get a place in Berkeley or the nicer places in Oakland and you'll have a great experience and can BART into the city in 15 minutes.