Boston vs. San Francisco
Hi all,
I’ll be moving over from London (UK) to join my wife (US citizen) who will likely start her medical training in one of these two cities.
Which of these cities generally offers more / a wider range of opportunities in the CRE industry? Focusing on the junior level here. Digging through previous posts, most of the focus is understandably on NYC / LA / Chicago, but curious how these two cities fare in terms of the number of openings/opportunities. Currently at a major brokerage in London.
Thanks all in advance for your help!
Based on the most helpful WSO content, both Boston and San Francisco offer strong opportunities in the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) industry, but they cater to slightly different dynamics and markets:
San Francisco:
Boston:
Key Considerations:
Ultimately, the choice depends on your career goals and personal preferences. If your wife’s medical training aligns with one city over the other, that could also influence your decision. Both cities offer excellent opportunities to grow in CRE, so you can't go wrong with either!
Sources: Commercial Real Estate in Boston, Best cities to start your CRE career, Which cities do you think provide the most opportunities?, Job Oppertunity - Commercial Real Estate Finance, The Real Estate Job Hunt - Mid Level
Boston broker here. Is your wife going to medical school or doing her residency? I ask because if it’s med school, aren’t you likely to need to move again after four years? Tough being in brokerage and needing to switch markets more than once.
Hi mate - she’ll be starting residency and not med school. This is a place we’ll be for at least 5/6 years. Open to roles outside of brokerage but trying to move within the firm (JLL/CBRE/CW) might be the best option…
I would base it off of the city that you actually want to live in as they are very different in terms of climate, culture, distance to home (you're a quick flight back home in Boston), etc and moving around in a career in CRE can really deter your long term growth. That said, San Francisco will offer you more opportunities but Boston is no small market either.
Both are big cities so I don't expect you would lack the opportunities in the CRE industry or any for that matter. So, I agree with the point made above - I think you should focus on which city you like more and want to live in. I love Boston, I visit this city with every chance I have. Beautiful architecture, nice people, I just love it. San Francisco is on the opposite end for me, although I find the city just fine, but the general orientation of locals is a bit too much for me. Anyway, I didn't want to make this about my personal taste, I am trying to show you that life is more than a job; you should pick a place where you can imagine yourself living. I mean, both you and your wife. The climate, the distance from home, rent prices, public transportation/parking options - a bunch of small things that affect your quality of life on a daily basis.
I spent four years in Boston in a similar situation and had an amazing time there. Haven't spent enough time in SF to really judge what it'd be like to live there. But agree with the others that ideally you'd spend a bit of time in each city to feel out what you like.
Boston. Boston. Boston. Boston. Boston.
SF is literally a shithole. Only thing it has going for it is the weather and the Silicon Valley environment if you're in tech.
Boston has winters but IMO one of the best cities in the country. Much cleaner, generally safer, better place to raise a family (should that be your perogative), and much easier to become a homeowner/a more reasonable rental environment.
Could not agree more here
On top of Boston being a far better city / close to back home for you / close to other solid places (few hours flight to Chicago / NYC / DC), the political environment is just way milder & more normal. Plus taxes are better
CA will be screwed by global warming + natural disasters + hyper progressives who are raising costs everywhere. Of all the Top 10-15 cities in the US by GDP, Boston is probably a Top 2 candidate for where I'd want to settle down LT
SF is one of the worst cities I've ever been to in terms of people / weather / taxes / costs. The one thing that is good about SF is the Asian food, truly amazing (though you'd find that same quality in NYC or LA easily as well)
Boston is a much better city. One of the US's top-3 happening downtowns (after Chicago and NYC), cleaner, safer, greener, more diverse. (The diversity of Boston's black, white, and latin communities blows those of San Francisco out of the water. San Francisco is only better for Asian.) Comparing the subway systems, the T >> Muni.
If settling down in the suburbs it's a no brainer. Places like Needham, Newton, Weston have much better public schools than Bay Area suburbs (compare the student to teacher ratios). Boston suburbs are also much less expensive than Bay area suburbs. Finally, San Francisco's main commuter rail system, called Bart, is absolute trash compared to MBTA commuter rail. Bart for whatever reason operates like a subway / rapid transit and has no conductors, limited seating, and is a moving homeless shelter at night.
Boston is also better for all careers except tech and VC. It's just that San Francisco is the center of the world for those industries. I'd say Boston overall is the more powerful city these days.
San Francisco is the finance capital of the West Coast, including for real estate. The region is also the center of the world for tech.
I’ve been living in SF, in the actual city, for 20 years and don’t plan of moving unless back home in Hawaii probably when my kids are out of the house. Some of the media and folks with right wing political agendas trash SF constantly, and while there’s some truth, it is largely overblown. They would love to indoctrinate a new person to the US, before you even visit SF.
Pre-COVID, SF was arguably one of the greatest cities in the country, and it matches their political narrative to see it fall. To me, largely the reason for SF’s lingering decline business perception wise: what is unique for the Bay Area is work from home is the strongest here compared to the rest of the nation/world, so the downtown areas have not recovered. I think I read office utilization is around 25%, whereas normal office use is twice or more. There has been more calls for returning to the office among my friends recently.
Is SF a harder place for dating for men compared to non-NYC/LA cities (meaning huge cities), maybe, but you are BYOG (bringing your own girl) with you so congratulations. Not your problem. Like me, I brought my own girl from Hawaii.
I like that SF is home to regional and some home offices to real estate private equity firms. Teams tend to cover the entire West Coast.
Anyways, I’m happy here and spent most of my career in real estate. I utilized access to great schools in the area (MBA from Berkeley). I love my kids’ public school. BART and Muni work fine to me. I love not having to commute far or even drive on a traffic clogged freeway. I love the weather. I do enjoy being close to the action in tech that impacts the entire world.
Boston vs SF I think is a personal preference. They are similar, with really nice suburbs. Comes down to do you want a California lifestyle or a Northeast?
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