Job in San Fran, cost of living

odysseyelite

So I had a second interview for a consulting job in San Fran. I don't live in the area but have been wanting a move for sometime. It would get me to the next level since I am currently suck at a desktop support role after a lay off a year ago. I did system admin and network roles in the past.

Anyone live in the area? I did a salary.com lookup on the cost of living and could not believe the differance between there and tampa, fl. Can anyone pipe in and say what a decent salary would be for that area?

Their range is 76k to 95k. According to salary.com my 42000 in tampa is close to 72000 in S.F.

millworx

I live in San Jose, provided you don't have a family and children and drive a nice flashy car and require a 4 bedroom apartment. You should be doing fine. It depends on where you want to live in San Fran, and what you are comfortable with. There are not so nice areas which are dirt cheap, or some of the nicer area's you can get a nice 2br apartment for 1800-2200/mos. Transit in SF is pretty good too, if transit is okay with you, you can get into a nicer place in Fremont for a lot cheaper, and then take BART to work.

odysseyelite

The company is called Xantrion, which seems to be getting some buzz around the college areas. I drive a truck, but its low payments. I am single and can live in a fairly small place if needed.

zabatek

Congratulations on reaching the next step of your interview process.

I've lived here in the San Francisco area most of life and have seen salaries jump within the past 10 years in IT. And yes the salaries as a system admin are on point with Salary.com.

You can also check www.indeed.com/salary for salary information.

The reason salaries are alot higher here is because of cost of living. For example You'll find that a 1 bedroom apartment in Tampa is alot more expensive here in San Francisco. Not including the gas prices, and food expenses that follow.

When commuting it would be best to take the San Francisco transportation system due to the heavy traffic in the morning and evening.

We have a great transportation system MUNI (Bus system) or BART (Train System) that can take you to your job site which can save you time and money.

What's great about living here is that you'll find yourself busy interviewing with alot of companies in the bay area due to the demands in IT work. The question is which company will you accept the offer?

Hope this helps.

odysseyelite

The job requires visiting client sites, so I am going to have to drive.

xenodamus

millworx wrote: »

you can get a nice 2br apartment for 1800-2200/mos.

Holy crap!

That would buy a penthouse suite with a maid in Jackson, MS....

Edit: Ok..maybe without a maid. Still a nice chunk of change. Sorry I have nothing constructive to add to the discussion, btw.

Slowhand

What a lot of people in the Bay Area do is work in San Francisco while living in the outlying regions, like the East Bay or South Bay. . . or even Marin and Sonoma counties. You could check out prices for apartments in places like Fremont, Walnut Creek, Alameda, El Cerrito, and other less expensive areas around the bay and commute to San Francisco via the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) light rail.

There are downsides, though. You have to stay away from the high-profile areas like Berkeley which are expensive, and the dangerous areas like Richmond and many parts of Oakland because they're dangerous places to live. If the price to rent/buy is suspiciously low, check out the area first. If it looks nice, you're good to go; if it's rougher-looking, stay away. The places I mentioned above are both nice areas to be and affordable.

I have an apartment for $800/month in the East Bay, (Alameda,) which is relatively cheap compared to other places and is more than affordable with the kind of salaries you find out here. I also live about two miles from a BART station, which means it takes me less time to ride to downtown San Francisco via a bus and a train than it does the carpoolers to drive there from the same town that I live in.

Just because I could work in San Francisco doesn't mean I have to live in San Francisco.

ITdude

Guys, don't forget to factor in the high sales tax and California income tax rates. ouch! If I recall neither in Florida, yes?

However, SF is a great place to live.......

Good Luck!

odysseyelite

Yes there are no income taxes, and sales tax is 7%. However, Florida is limited on the tech jobs and I've lived in tampa my entire life so I am looking for something new.

SteveLord

I know a guy who makes $65k driving a street sweeper in SF. He has a gf and 1 kid...and says it's practically minimum wage.

drew726

My whole family still lives in one house. Total combined income of about 220k. We still complain about money.

ITdude

It is definitely not easy to live in the Bay Area, but if you settle in on a lifestyle that you can afford (read, not going seriously overhead in debt), it is a great area to live.

Not too many other places where you can find beach, mountains, snow, etc. all in the same weekend! Very many weather micro-climates....

Dakinggamer87

ITdude wrote: »

It is definitely not easy to live in the Bay Area, but if you settle in on a lifestyle that you can afford (read, not going seriously overhead in debt), it is a great area to live.

Not too many other places where you can find beach, mountains, snow, etc. all in the same weekend! Very many weather micro-climates....

I agree!!